This week the team behind Dupont Circle's Scion and Crios Modern Mexican opened a new location in Silver Spring.

In the 4,500-square-foot space two blocks from the Silver Spring Metro station, the new Scion boasts a 70-seat dining room featuring an Asian-themed comfort food menu and a lounge and 12-seat bar offering a large rotating selection of American craft beer and a modest list of wines and cocktails.

The food menu is nearly identical to the original location's. Chef Allan Javery has added some new entrees including hand-made gnocchi with shredded duck ragu and goat cheese topped with flash-fried spinach, and a spring risotto with asparagus, summer peas, and an over-easy egg.

Bar manager Tim Liu has taken advantage of D.C.'s lax alcohol laws to stock the Dupont restaurants with out-of-market beers from breweries like Colorado's Funkwerks and Oregon's Oakshire and Gigantic. But because of Montgomery County's more stringent regulations, he describes the current list of 12 drafts and 35 bottles as "a work in progress" and expects to have the bottle list up to 60 by the end of the month. Read more New Scion Opens in Silver Spring

Where in Town: ChurchKey, 1337 14th St. NW

Price: $3/4 oz, $7/11.2 oz

If You Build It…

Their Navy Yard brewery may not be up and running until later this summer, but Bluejacket’s Megan Parisi and Greg Engert have spent the last year making beer with respected brewers from across the U.S. and Europe. Their partnership with Brasserie de la Senne of Brussels produced the 17th of 20 preopening releases showcasing the flavor-first methods the local duo will employ in their own brew house. Equipped to craft a variety of specialized and slow-matured brews, Bluejacket’s setup is a brewer’s wonderland meant to attract collaborators—past and future—to D.C. Read more Brew In Town: Bluejacket and Brasserie de la Senne Gray Jacket

Karl Graham, a general contractor and former partner in New York Avenue Beach Bar, opens his new bar The Elroy at 1423 H St. NE tomorrow at 7 p.m.

The bar is named after the Jetsons' character, who is painted on the wall with Astro, the dog, downstairs. Some of the more "futuristic" flourishes to go with the name: outlets and USB ports along the bar, TVs in the bathroom mirrors, frosted glass restroom mirrors that switch on and off, and funky glassware.

The cocktails, which were created by a bartender at Smith Commons, will also be named after Jetsons characters. (The menu was still being finalized when we stopped in this afternoon, so stay tuned.) There are also three beers on tap and a small wine list.

The food options will be limited since The Elroy doesn't have a full kitchen. Instead, the bar will warm precooked food purchased from a vendor. Among the options: chicken wings, stuffed clams, cheese plates, fruit plates, salad, and other bar food.

The space has a larger bar downstairs, and a small bar with lounge area upstairs. Graham says there will occasionally be live music. One of the main summer attractions, however, will likely be the backyard deck and patio, which stretches from the back of the building over to Maryland Avenue NE. The outdoor space will include picnic tables and a grill.

As a contractor, Graham built much of the bar himself. "We started in February," he says. "But I've been dreaming about it all my life."

Check out more photos of the space below. Read more First Look at The Elroy, Opening on H Street NE Tomorrow

The landlord of Zeke's DC Donutz didn't just complain about doughnut fumes, leading to the shop's temporary closure—they also sued them.

The complaint, filed by Grosvenor Urban Retail in D.C. Superior Court on April 25, also says owner Aaron Gordon owes $88,996.68 (plus legal fees) related primarily to the space's previous tenant Tasti D-Lite, although both parties say they are working that out. "We're going to try to resolve it amicably," says the landlord's attorney Eric Mitchell. "We're all trying to work together here."

While the complaint was filed a month ago, Mitchell says the landlord has held off on serving Gordon. He says it was a mutual decision for Zeke's to shut down while it worked out some of the issues related to the smells. Regarding what the lawsuit calls "unusual and objectionable odors" coming from the doughnut shop, Gordon says he's hired engineers and contractors to find a solution. He says there is still a chance that Zeke's might relocate elsewhere.

As for the money, Gordon confirms that most of it dates back to the bankruptcy of Tasti D-Lite, which subleased the space from him before he opened Zeke's. "They left me hanging," Gordon says. "Their headaches became my headaches."

After the jump, read the complaint:

Photo by Will Sommer Read more Landlord Sued Zeke’s DC Donutz, But Hopes to Resolve Things Amicably

Char and smoke are in. [Express]

The evolution of Tryst's beer menu [DC Beer]

GBD sells 2,000 to 2,400 doughnuts per week [Eater]

Where to drink Memorial Day Weekend [Drink DC]

Indian street food coming to H Street NE [Frozen Tropics]

A slideshow of summer cocktails [Post]

The best martinis around D.C. [Zagat]

Photo via Shutterstock

Beuchert's Saloon really, really wants to prove Tom Sietsema wrong about its pie. In his 1.5 star review, the Post critic wrote: "Chess pie in a slip of a crust would be better if it had less sugar, but I like the orange note that brightens the filling."

Not exactly the most scalding remark, but apparently a good enough excuse for some gimmickry: The Eastern Market restaurant is launching a "Stand By Your Pie" campaign to call the critic's pan of the pie "BS." (Get it?) On select days between now and June 20, Beuchert's will give out free slices of chess pie (in seasonal flavors) to anyone who photographs the dessert and then posts their thoughts on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. (Follow the restaurant on Facebook or Twitter to find out which days the promotion is on.)

A publicist delivered a free pie to the Washington City Paper office this afternoon so we could have a try. It's got a decent crust and a pleasant hint of citrus from the orange peel, but the staff consensus? It would be better if it had less sugar.

Photo by Jessica Sidman

When all the watering holes shut down, D.C. can feel like it needs life support, a place to house the hordes of hungry children-of-the-night searching for something to eat. The Coupe, Columbia Heights’ bar/diner/coffee lounge, is one such sleepless stead. I staked it out on a recent Saturday night/Sunday morning to find out what goes down during the last half of the graveyard shift.

1:30 a.m.

A bartender shakes a Bombay Sapphire martini at the bar, where 15 or so patrons are posted. In the lounge, tech types plug away at their keyboards, sipping single-origin slow-drip from mugs on vintage sofas.

2:00 a.m.

Bargoers funnel into the restaurant. A man wearing a purple crushed velvet top hat and cape enters. Read more Couped Up: What Happens Late, Late at Night at The Coupe

The Dish: Guacamole Sur

Where to Get It: El Centro DF, 1819 14th St. NW, (202) 328-3131; richardsandoval.com/elcentrodf

Price: $12.95

What It Is: Guacamole with grasshoppers mixed in

What It Tastes Like: While these hair-raising insects threw me into a Fear Factor–like fit of panic at first, the guac is delicious. Whole, buttery avocados are mixed tableside in a stone bowl with fresh green tomatillos, cotija cheese, onions, lime, sea salt, and a dash of beautiful, red chile cascabel powder. If you can get over the appearance, you’ll be rewarded with a plethora of flavors and textures, not the least of which is the crunchy, almost nutty taste of the grasshoppers. Read more Are You Gonna Eat That? Grasshopper Guacamole at El Centro D.F.

Proof that no event is too small for a bar special: Behold the Sinkhole de Mayo cocktail. [HuffPost]

How to have a legit central Texas-style barbecue [Post]

Elevated cuisine: Dining tables suspended in the air by cranes are a thing. [WSJ]

Trummer's on Main revamps menu with cocktail omakase.[Eater]

The best cheap eats in D.C. [DCist]

Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken now open on weekends. [PoPville]

RAMMY-nominated bar programs [BYT]

Photo by Will Sommer

Even though I know it’s coming, it’s hard not to feel sticker shock when I get the bill at The Rye Bar in Georgetown’s new Capella hotel. On my tab: a $22 Manhattan and an $18 Old Fashioned. With tax and tip, the whole thing rounds out to $50. For two drinks.

Don’t get me wrong, the cocktails at The Rye Bar are very good, and the Manhattan is one of the best I’ve ever tasted. It’s made with Dad’s Hat rye, a small-batch whiskey from Bristol, Pa., Dolin sweet vermouth, and French aperitif Byrrh quinquina, all aged together for six weeks in American white oak barrels, making it so smooth that the buzz catches you by surprise.

It almost cost less. Before The Rye Bar opened in March, bar manager Will Rentschler had priced the Manhattan at $18. But after doing some market research and re-evaluating the labor and products involved, he bumped it up $4. “Our intention was to make the best possible Manhattan, so we weren’t as concerned with the price of the ingredients going in,” he says.

Everyone else in town, though, has been quite concerned with the price: The cost of the barrel-aged Manhattan has set off a food-media frenzy. The Washington Post declared it “The Most Expensive Non-Champagne Cocktail in D.C.”

That’s not even true. José Andrés’ new “cocktail lab” Barmini offers a drink for $25, which was bumped up from $17 two months ago when more premium ingredients were added. The “Big in Japan” consists of Japanese whiskey, muscat, Amaro, and a yamamomo berry, a marble-sized red fruit known as a “mountain peach” that grows only in Japan.

Bourbon Steak tops that with its $39 Centenaire Smash with Grand Marnier Cuvee de Centenaire, lemon juice, and mint served over crushed ice. And the new Penn Quarter seafood joint Azur briefly offered a $40 cognac-based drink. Meanwhile, craft cocktails at most upscale bars and restaurants in D.C. now average between $14 and $16. It’s no longer unusual to find cocktails that cost more than entrées. Which may have diners wondering: Just how much is too much to spend on a single drink? Read more Proof of Purchase: Cocktail Prices Are Reaching New Highs. How Much is Too Much?