Serious Eats, Ed Levine’s must-read site for food lovers, tested president-elect Barack Obama’s Midwestern-style chili recipe. Its verdict? More salt please. Oh, it could also use some fresh chili peppers and more depth of flavor. In other words, it sucks.

Hey, at least it’s not a cheeseburger pizza.

Kelly Young, City Paper’s former operations manager and a beer geek nonpareil, took my original question (”Will the move out of the state affect your opinion and/or purchase of Old Dominion beer?”) and gave me a master’s thesis on the importance of drinking local. An edited excerpt is below.

Now there are myriad decisions I make when purchasing brews. I like to try new and exotic things and explore this country and the world via its fermentables, but I always keep a special place in my heart for the local; after all this is, to me, what brewing is about at its core: a locally produced foodstuff. I think back to when I travelled frequently and there was nothing more disheartening than being at some far-flung locale and there being no local flavor at all. Stipmallism. [i.e., strip-mall-ism] One of the points of pride I had when visited here by fellow beer drinking brothers and sisters was introducing them to Tupper’s or Oak Barrel Stout (still in production, sort of). We could lay claim to it as ours, a truly local product. You could go to the brewery and drink out of the fermenters. You could talk to the actual human beings that brewed your beer. Now if you want to drink Dominion out of the fermenter or talk to the human that brews your “local” beer it’s 100 miles one way to Dover. BTW all their talk of environmental concern is bullshit. If they wanted to be truly green they’d leave ODBC alone and let them drive the 30 miles to downtown from Ashburn and sell their other product in Delaware. Bit of rant that.

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After visiting 16 bakeries, consuming 35 pounds of sweets, and ingesting more than 11,000 calories per taster, the Washington Post finally declared a winner in its Cupcake Wars contest. Georgetown Cupcake took the top prize after sweeping the first seven spots in the Food section’s list of the highest-rated cupcakes.

Food Editor Joe Yonan and his team deluged readers with stats and tips (otherwise known as “commandments“), but they still didn’t satisfy all of my questions about the paper’s hard-to-resist eight-week series. Yonan was good enough to take my questions. His responses have been edited, paraphrased, and otherwise mangled, though hopefully not in a Deborah Solomon way.

What was your methodology? With two exceptions, the tasting team visited each bakery anonymously on Tuesday in the early afternoon. They’d buy one of every kind of cupcake available that day and bring them back to the office, where the sweets would be brought to room temperature (if necessary) and eaten within “a couple of hours” of purchase. This was not a blind tasting; logistics prevented such a tasting. The four tasters would each silently eat one quarter of a cupcake and make his or her evaluations on a number of criteria. Only then would the tasters compare notes and calculate a score. No bakery was ever visited twice. “The time involved would have made it just impossible,” Yonan says.

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As City Desk reported on Monday, after November 30, Cap Hill residents will no longer be able to turn to the Ben and Jerry’s on 7th street S.E. for a diabetes-priming scoop of Super Fudge Chunk. Though on election night the brightly lit storefront was full of families being served by joking, neatly-uniformed teenagers, the business, owned by the Latin American Youth Coalition, is going bust. “We’d been considering closing the store for awhile,”says Scott Perry, who runs the LAYC division in charge of the spot.

The Ben and Jerry’s “Partnershop,” which opened in 2002, did well for about four years, Perry says. People frequented the business and scores of youth received job and life skills training there. But over the last two years, things have gotten tough. Perry blames the economic downturn, the Eastern Market fire (which slowed down pedestrian traffic for a period) and the Baskin Robbins that opened on nearby 8th street.

About ten employees, most of them underprivileged teens employed for the first time, will lose their gigs.  Perry hopes to place the kids at LAYC friendly businesses like Target and Staples.

Perry recalls that when Ben and Jerry’s Corporate found out the shop was struggling, they came by and suggested the outlet “push” its cakes and catering service. Thanks in no small part to the effort put forth by the store’s employees (they gave out free samples and made friendly sales pitches) the plan worked. Cake sales went up and the store got a catering job about every two weeks, leading to the shop having “its best summer in a long time.” But it was too little too late.

Asked what will happen to the storefront after Ben and Jerry’s vacates, Perry has the scoop, he says the French restaurant next door, Montmartre, plans to take over the lease and expand in some way.

I have a friend who hates cilantro, which tastes like soap to him. We’ve learned to cook around his fussiness, which, believe me, is a bitch when making a good salsa. I have another friend who claims to get headaches when eating anything made with non-organic oils. I don’t cook for him anymore (only joking, Kelly!).

These are the only phobias/allergies I have to deal with in my personal cooking life. The area’s chefs, on the other hand, have to confront an army of hypochondriacs in their dining rooms, many of them merely faking allergies because they’re too embarrassed to admit they just don’t like certain ingredients.

In our new Food Issue, staff writer Ruth Samuelson talks to a few of these fakers—and to the chefs who wish they’d just act like grownups. It’s a good read. So read it already.

It’s been a historic time for Virginia. On Tuesday, the state turned blue, voting for a Democratic presidential nominee for the first time in decades. In March, the state will lose its signature brewery, according to Greg Kitsock, the suds guru for the Washington Post. The Old Dominion Brewing Co. plans to shutter its facility in Ashburn and increase production at its other plant in—wait for it, wait for it–Delaware. (Hey, doesn’t Delaware already have a famous microbrew?)

Local beer geeks are deciding whether they will remain loyal to the area’s oldest microbrew once it abandons Virginia. What do you think? Will you continue to buy Old Dominion? Or will you tell it to kiss off, much like Old Dominion has done to the state after which the company took its name?

In the meantime, I suggest Old Dominion change its name to Small Wonder.

The most troubling talk about Michel Richard Citronelle has nothing to do with lost stars or with the dress habits of pre-pubescent diners. It has to do with a persistent rumor that it will be closing or moving out of the District.

The rumor, for once, has a basis in reality. Citronelle’s dated dining room has been facing a major overhaul for years now, but since 2007, when Interstate Hotels & Resorts of Arlington and Harte Holdings of Ireland bought the Latham Hotel, the renovation talks have progressed into real action. Designers and contractors have visited the hotel, says Mel Davis, PR coordinator for Citronelle.

The rumor is also based on recent history. When Roberto Donna closed Galileo for “renovations” in 2006, he was supposed to move back into a new-and-improved space at 21st and L streets. That hasn’t happened yet—and looks like it never will. Some fear the same fate could befall Citronelle if the Latham closes for renovations.

Davis says Richard is “always looking” for new spaces. It’s almost part of his DNA. He’s looking for places for a possible burger joint, for a steak joint, perhaps even for Citronelle. Davis doesn’t know when renovations will actually begin or even really how long they will take, but the makeover could start early next year.

OK, but are the rumors true? Will the renovations push Citronelle out of the Latham and maybe out of the city? “I don’t think Citronelle is leaving the city, and more than likely, we’ll be staying right here,” Davis says.

Yeah, we know, you’re still in a post-coital stupor over Obama’s victory last night, and all you want to hear are sweet nothings whispered in your ear about our country’s new love object/president-elect. But in a brilliant counter-intuitive editorial strategy, we at City Paper are following up the most historic election since 1876, when His Fraudulency stole the race, with our latest Food Issue. We think it’s better than a McCain presidency.

Inside this year’s issue, devoted to the fussier side of food, you’ll find:

• Jule Banville on whether the New York Times‘ ultimate chocolate chip cookie is worth the multi-day prep.
• Ruth Samuelson on diners with fake food allergies.
• Anne Marson on the fear and loathing of plastic bags at farmers markets.
• Mike DeBonis on the fussiest menus in the area.
• Darrow Montgomery and Jule Banville on the step-by-step process that food stylist Lisa Cherkasky follows to get a dish photo-ready.
• Me on a quest to find the area’s most obsessive chef.

It hits the stands and the Internet tomorrow.

Leave it to Michael Landrum, the self-proclaimed “Improprietor” of Ray’s the Steaks, Ray’s the Classics, and Ray’s Butcher Burgers, to post this love note to Tom Sietsema after the Washington Post critic’s recent dust-up over a First Bite review of the Commissary:

The one thing that doesn’t make sense to me about this whole thing is what was Tom doing dating someone from Logan Tavern/Merkado/Grillfish in the first place? I mean, isn’t that a little like Louis Menand dating Danielle Steele? Or Pauline Kael dating Michael Bay? (Don’t get me wrong, Danielle Steele and Michael Bay are very successful at what they do and very good at their craft, but imagine how the conversation would go when Michael Bay has a new movie out…”So, honey, seen any good movies lately? No? Well, what should we go see? You know, I heard about this really good new movie that just came out. It’s a provocative, insightful, layered post-modern hommage to a classic Hollywood masterpiece. Except instead of a dark, wild, disturbing projection of our deepest psycho-sexual fears and un-tamed longings in the form of a giant ape named Kong, it’s got cars that turn into giant robots from outerspace…Whaddya mean you won’t see it…You never want to go to ANY of my movies…I’ll be on the couch.”

Not that I’m jealous or anything, but if Tom really wanted to date someone in the restaurant business, would it have hurt him to at least call?

As if you needed any more confirmation on the subject, Forbes.com reports that the Inn at Little Washington is one of the priciest restaurants in the country. With meals starting at $148 (midweek) and $168 (Saturdays), the Inn rates right up there with New York’s Masa and the Bay Area’s The French Laundry.

Yeah, but do those other high-price eateries always leave you feeling like a perfect 10?

Opening a restaurant isn’t cheap, particularly in the District where rents and expectations are ridiculously high. Peruvian chef Javier Angeles-Beron, the former executive toque at Latin Concepts, has found one way around the problem: He’s opening his new restaurant, Aroma, in Olney. You read right: Olney, as in way the hell out there on Georgia Avenue.

Now Olney is not exactly a culinary wasteland. The village formerly known as Mechanicsville (good call on the name change there, folks) already hosts one of my favorite bagelries and an under-appreciated Belgian joint, Mannequin Pis (with the comically incontinent cherub). Angeles-Beron’s Latin-American place, scheduled to open Nov. 25, is located just up Georgia Avenue in the former Bella Notte space.

Angeles-Beron forwarded me an early menu, and it’s stuffed with a number of promising options, including ceviches, tapas, and even the occasional chifa dish, such as the Peruvian wontons stuffed with fresh cheese and served with avocado cream. It looks like we have one more reason to jump into the Global Warming Machine and head to Olney.

Joe Yonan, editor of the Washington Post’s Food section, contacted me earlier today to clear up the paper’s position on future reviews of EatWell DC restaurants, which include The Heights, Grillfish, and the Commissary. David Winer, a partner with EatWell DC, had earlier sent a letter to his mailing list, saying that the Post had agreed never to review his restaurants again following critic Tom Sietsema’s hard, pipe-hitting First Bite commentary on the Commissary, which the Post has since retracted and pulled from its Web site. (The review is still available here.)

Says Yonan: “There is no agreement not to cover any of the Commissary owners’ other businesses.” The only agreement is that Sietsema will not handle any of the Post’s future coverage of EatWell DC’s restaurants.

So why did Winer think the Post had agreed never to review his places again? I don’t know. But I have a call into him. More as I know it.

UPDATE (2:14 P.M.): Winer called back to say he wasn’t interested in continuing the war of words. Here’s what he would allow: “I never spoke to Joe Yonan, and that’s the fact of the matter.” Winer also said that, from the beginning, he had only one issue with the Post: “My sole problem in all of this is a conflict of interest,” Winer said, “nothing more.”

I have mixed feelings about posting this item, given my general belief that foods alone don’t determine your health, long-term or otherwise. (Well, short of a nasty hurl due to food poisoning.) But Gourmet magazine has posted a short piece about the alleged benefits of eating turmeric on a daily basis. Here’s the pertinent part:

Intrigued by the fact that the elderly population of India has one of the lowest rates of Alzheimer’s cases in the world, researchers at UCLA began looking at differences between the American and Indian diets and landed on turmeric. Turmeric, a staple in Indian cooking, is featured in curries, soups, and meat dishes. It’s as common in Indian cuisine as salt and pepper are in American cuisine. Bharat B. Aggarwal, a senior cancer researcher at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, says the average Indian eats turmeric at every meal—about a gram a day. The UCLA group hypothesized that curcumin, a chemical in turmeric, might clean up or block the buildup of amyloid plaques, which scientists believe may contribute to Alzheimer’s.

I guess I’ll be seeing y’all at Rasika or Indique or Passage to India tomorrow after the polls close? I’ll be the one conducting memory tests on chefs.

Three weeks ago, as we were preparing the latest installment of Dishing Expedition, I was all ready to offer up a one-paragraph summation of my lone visit to the Commissary in Logan Circle, but at the last minute, the item got cut due to space limitations. Given the ongoing flap over Washington Post restaurant critic Tom Sietsema’s now-retracted First Bite review of the eatery, it seems a fitting moment to resurrect the commentary:

Scorn in the U.S.A.

I have only one comment after picking at an overcooked cheeseburger, a limp croque-monsieur, and a dry, flavor-challenged margherita pizza at the Commissary, the new flag-waving haunt in the old Merkado Kitchen space at 1443 P St. NW (202-299-0018): The economy’s gonna have to get a lot worse before I dine regularly at this cheap-eats spot.

I specifically want to highlight the time frame of my original jab at the Commissary—mid-October, well before Sietsema’s piece. Earlier today, EatWell DC partner David Winer, one of the owners of the Commissary, said he fears retribution from the “covey of restaurant food critics” who, for all he knows, may “have coffee together.” Winer may well view this posting as a sympathetic pat on the back to Sietsema, but I offer it up as evidence that a conflict of interest does not inherently mean that the original criticism was unfounded. I understand Winer’s frustration, but I’d encourage him to look at his food as much as the critic reviewing it.

Don Rockwell, founder of the online foodie board donrockwell.com, has come to Tom Sietsema’s defense after the Washington Post retracted the restaurant critic’s First Bite review of the Commissary in Logan Circle. Writes Rockwell:

This is a tough standard, and I stand solidly behind Tom on this one (while at the same time understanding the Post’s decision). Perhaps he should have mentioned a disclaimer, but from what I know about Tom Sietsema, he is professional enough to remain objective, regardless of any potential conflicts of interest, actual or perceived. He’s done it in the past with Breadline, Stoney’s, etc., and from where I view things, he’s maintained extremely high integrity, year after year. I’ll come right out and say that I’ve dined with Tom in the past where he is recognized (and fawned over), and it did not affect his reviews in any way that I could see. Ever since I became forum host at eGullet, I’ve used aspects of his approach as models for my own behavior, and these remain in place to this very day.

Your turn: What do you think about Sietsema’s mini-review and the Post’s retraction?