The kitchen’s closing, and it’s last call. In less than one week, I leave my native Washington, D.C. for the San Francisco Bay Area. For someone who loves food and drink, the move means fabulous produce (some, ideally, from the fruit trees in my future backyard), proximity to wine country, wonderful restaurants, and burritos, burritos, burritos! But it also means leaving family, friends, and food memories here in the District. So before I skedaddle, I’m…

By DCist contributor Analiese Bendorf The Big Apple’s Harvest Export Attention, all ye who still doubt whether one may dine seriously in DC (and we hope there aren’t many of you left), you may soon be tempted to cancel that weekend jaunt to Manhattan. Washingtonian’s Todd Kliman reports in this week’s online chat that high-profile chef Eric Ripert, of N.Y.C.’s famed Le Bernardin, plans to bring his four-star culinary talent to D.C., where he will…

By DCist contributor Mike Roscoe They may have problems managing income inequality in their post-independence, Hacienda-style economies, or dealing with the lingering social effects of the brutal military dictatorships of the past, but there is one thing that South Americans have got down pat: grilling meat. As skilled and deft as any Texan tending smoking mesquite, South Americans know how to raise it, season it and cook it. From the churrascarias of Brazil to the…

By Amanda and Ben Page These days, it seems as if every restaurant puts together a special Valentine’s Day menu, replete with red-hued items and cute names. We usually wouldn’t shun a tasting menu opportunity, but most Valentine’s Day menus come off as mediocre and repetitive. And besides, the “romance” loses its appeal when you’re surrounded by 75 other diners who are all indulging in the same thing you are. Whether you love or loathe…

Back in January, the new Congress passed revamped ethics rules theoretically intended in part to minimize the influence of lobbyists on lawmakers and their staff. How our elected representatives hate lobbyists, with their wee beady eyes and those smug looks on their faces. “Oh, you’re gonna vote for ethanol subsidies, oh!” How can they hate lobbyists? The lobbyists put addictive chemicals — money, swag, and trips — in their dealings with lawmakers that make them…

By new DCist contributor Analiese Bendorf Ducks and Creeks Fans of Bethesda’s calorie-conscious Rock Creek Restaurant will soon be able to nosh on guilt-free grub at a second location in the District, where owners Tom Williams and Judy Hammerschmidt plan to open Rock Creek at Mazza Gallerie. Tom Sietsema reports in this week’s Dish that former 1789 chef, Ris Lacoste, will lend a seasoned hand by interviewing potential chefs for the Mazza location, before turning…

Although the DCist Food and Drink team would prefer to associate the word “turnover” exclusively with “apple,” we also recognize that staff “turnover” is an inevitable fact of the blogging world. Two writers recently left us for print publications, and three others retired from service. In short, we’ve run low on qualified Food and Drink writers. When we need to restock, it’s not as simple as heading to the local Whole Foods for wild-caught salmon…

It is the winter, and D.C. is a condo town. We don’t have a plot of land, and space in the local community garden is impossible to come by. Even if we did have a patch of our own, it’s so frigid outside that even Joel Salatin couldn’t farm grass on it. So, how to indulge our green thumb indoors? Enter the AeroGarden. The AeroGarden, which costs about $150, is an aeroponic garden that relies…

By Amanda and Ben Page We were on a budget last time, but that got tiresome quickly. Besides, how could we resist the allure of Restaurant Week? So, we gathered up some friends and checked out crowd-favorite Mie N Yu in Georgetown. Of course, the great thing about dining out with multiple people is that we’re able to try a number of items off the menu. Hands down, our favorite protein item was the Miso…

By Amanda and Ben Page This week, we took the phrase “Eating In” very seriously. With those pesky credit card bills from the the holidays rolling in, we decided to forgo dining out for inspiration and turn instead to the cold hard cash in our wallets. We gave ourselves exactly $10* to purchase ingredients for a delectable meal for two. We wanted three components (protein, vegetable and starch) on our plates. And we still intended…