By DCist Food and Drink contributor Jamie R. Liu When I asked my friend to come along with me to Daruma in Bethesda, his response was something to the effect of “Bethesda is a culinary wasteland filled with mediocre chain restaurants.” But hidden away from frustrating pedestrian traffic and the main dining areas of Bethesda sits Daruma — a hole-in-the-wall Japanese market that sports a decent food counter with a small seating area in the…

By DCist Food and Wine Writer Michael Mugmon. Like Hall & Oates, DCist is so close, yet so far away. On Tuesday afternoon, we stopped by our local Subway sandwich shop at 20th and M Streets NW for a footlong meatball sub. When we asked for the two Sub Club stamps we thought we’d earned (one stamp for each six odd inches of grunt), the cashier brusquely informed us that the venerable Sub Club program…

By DCist Food and Wine Writer Michael Mugmon. Before putting fork to mouth, DCist considers a restaurant’s prospects by examining the quality of its wine list. If it’s evident that a restaurant owner cares deeply about the wines served with the food, then it’s likely the owner also cares deeply about the ingredients going into the kitchen and the dishes coming out of it. Too often in Washington, a restaurant’s wine list reveals the owner’s…

By DCist Food Writer Melissa McCart. If you haven’t been to Rice, you might have heard that it’s tough to find, that it’s a bit New York, and that it’s too expensive. None of which is true. Though the door is marked by a tiny nameplate on 14th Street between Q and Corcoran, it is more effective to look for a more visible landmark: the bright yellow sign for our favorite jazz haunt-slash-cafeteria, HR 57,…

By DCist Food and Wine Contributor Michael Mugmon. After work on Friday evenings, DCist ponders our many social options. Head over to the local T.G.I. Friday’s and tell the wait staff that it’s our birthday? Think earnestly about exercising before deciding to watch What I Like About You? More often than not, DCist eschews –- well, postpones –- these alternatives and makes a beeline for the Wine Specialist and its weekly Friday night wine tastings….

Drinking In is a new DCist feature that offers wine pairing suggestions for each Eating In recipe. Look for Drinking In the day after an Eating In is published. By DCist Food and Wine Contributor Michael Mugmon. Lobster macaroni and cheese screams out — well, burbles furiously -– for a buttery New World chardonnay. And not one of those flabby, backyard fence-scented oak bombs that sparked the “Anything But Chardonnay” movement. Rather, DCist recommends a…