Everywhere I go, all people are asking me about is pumpkin beer! Well, OK, no one ever actually recognizes me, but I have a habit of bringing up beer in the first minute of any conversation. The other person usually ignores this and inexplicably keeps the conversation on some non-beer topic like telling me what they do or asking me to please be quiet, the movie is playing. But if I talk long enough for the person to find out that I write about beer, then they ask me: Which pumpkin beer do you like?

I don’t know. I know I liked the squashy, not-too-sweet Pumpkinator at Capitol City, which will be in the Beerspotter column next Thursday. But there’s so many, and most of the time I don’t get down with a pint of cinnamon syrup. So bless the people at Capital Spice, who tasted 13 (!) pumpkin beers and rated them on presentation, flavor, and the all-important label art. Personal favorites by Southern Tier and New Holland were sipped, as well as more mainstream ones by Blue Moon (ahem, MillerCoors) and Michelob (A-B InBev).

Which pumpkin beer was the best? Read the results, and quit asking me!

Mike and Elizabeth Bober, Y&H’s friends over at Capital Spice, were the ones to introduce me to the Gondar Fine Dining service at Almaz, the subject of this week’s column.

On their blog, the husband-and-wife team have posted a bite-by-bite break down of our dinner together at Almaz, and I think, between our two pieces, you get a good idea of what to expect with the Gondar service. Their recap, in particular, includes one moment that I had wanted to write about, too (but ran out of space!):

We made a tactical error when our servers came by to inquire about what we enjoyed most: we answered. In short order, we found ourselves facing another helping of each of our favorite dishes. Next time, we’ll know to keep quiet – or offer our compliments with an apology that we’re too full for seconds.

Read More “The Unusual Economics of Almaz’s Gondar Fine Dining Service” »

Hey bloggeroos, don’t forget that tomorrow is the Blogtoberfest happy hour (which admittedly sounds way more fun than “planning meeting”). Throughout the month of October we’re getting local bloggers, foodie and non-, to share their beer stories on their own blogs. Cross-linking and conversation will ensue. Meet at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow at Axis Bar and Grill.

And one week later, come out to CommonWealth for October’s Food Blogger Happy Hour. Meet fellow bloggers, swap links and ideas, and say the word “blog” more times than you’d ever want to. Thanks to Capital Spice, Arugula Files, Gradually Greener, Modern Domestic, and We Love DC for their organizational prowess in putting it together.

Read More “Two Events for D.C. Bloggers, With Beer!” »

The traffic is outrageous on Vermont Ave. during rush hour!

No one needs to tell you, least of all Y&H, that in this blog-eat-blog, 24-hour news-cycle world everyone is required to have an opinion. But, really, shouldn’t everyone wait until the object under criticism has actually opened?

I’m speaking about the new FreshFarm Market by the White House, which the busy non-profit opens today with guest appearances from First Lady Michelle Obama, Mayor Adrian Fenty, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.  Last month, Mother Jones was first out of the block in predicting dark things about the market:

[I]f this idea becomes reality, the Obamas should be careful to make it a sustainable market for local farmers rather than a kitschy tourist attraction bogged down by pins and t-shirts that say “Yes We Can Farm” and “Change We Can Grow In.” But let’s face it, due to the massive security detail the market would require and the overwhelming draw for Washingtonians and tourists alike, the latter is more likely.

(Just for the record, Capital Spice has an excellent run-down of the vendors, none of which appear to be hawking pins and t-shirts.)

WTOP continued the early hand-wringing with a story about potential rush-hour traffic snarls:

Read More “White House Farmers Market Draws Criticism Before Its Opening” »

This is embarrassing — for Y&H and for many other sources that have consistently equated the dishes served at Makoto to the more formal kaiseki dining found in Japan.

I spoke with Michiko Lecuyer, a manager at Makoto, who assured me that the tiny Palisades restaurant does not specialize in kaiseki. Rather, Lecuyer says after consulting with the kitchen, Makoto prefers to be known as an omakase house, where the chefs prepare a free-form, multi-course menu based on their own tastes and the whims of the season.

I pressed Lecuyer on this because so many food outlets refer to Makoto as a kaiseki or kaiseki-style house. Y&H has committed this sin. So has the Washingtonian (even in passing). Ditto for Capital Spice, Chowhound, Food & Wine, Fearless Critic, and no doubt countless other writers who have temporarily escaped my attention.

Read More “Once and For All, Makoto Does Not Specialize in Kaiseki Cuisine” »

D.C. Restaurant Week is in full swing, which means that you’ll likely do one of the following: 1) Fight with hundreds of others for the best places to enjoy this twice-annual promotion; 2) Suffer the indignities of small portions, large upcharges, and limited menus; or 3) Ignore the whole damn ordeal and just wait out the weekly promotion until it’s safe to return to your favorite restaurant.

Whatever your experience during Restaurant Week, few people are without strong opinions on the event. Over the years, City Paper writers and critics have just about experienced it all: the good, the bad, and the surprising. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you can trip all the wires in one week.

This time around, we want to hear what you have to say about Restaurant Week. I’ll publish the best reviews daily on the Y&H blog, complete with your byline. Here’s all you have to do: Find the restaurant you visited in our Rater database and start dishing about your RW experience. When you’re done, drop me a line at hungry@washingtoncitypaper.com so I know that your review is in the system (or write me if your restaurant is, perhaps, not in the system yet).

Read More “Restaurant Week: Tell Us What YOU Think” »

After all the is-he-or-isn’t-he Michel Richard news, the baguette competition, and Food Day, Y&H has barely had a moment to pet his wife and kiss his dog. Or is that vice versa? Whatever, it’s time to play catch up on some of the news and opinion floating out there.

• Prince of Petworth sort of, kind of reports that Radius at the Ohio is on hold, which adds another chapter to the troubled history of the H Street NE location.
• Fritz Hahn over at Going Out Gurus says that Adam Bernbach, the mixologist behind our 2008 Best Cocktail Menu at Bar Pilar, will be leaving the 14th Street NW operation. But not before a final blow out on May 19.
• Frozen Tropics breaks the news that Derek Brown — this year’s Best Bartender and The Atlantic food channel’s resident distilled muse — has created a line of cocktails for Sova Espresso & Wine Bar. [Also of note in the item, Dan Searing is looking to open his own wine bar, Room 11, in Columbia Heights.]
• Speaking of the Atlantic,  the online food channel has mixed feelings about CityZen. Corby adores it. The chemistry dude: Not so much.
• Capital Spice caught Food Day fever and blogged their own “average” eating experiences. (They also stole my Facebook profile!)
• DCist was the first to announce that organic grocer Ellwood Thompson’s is putting its D.C. project on hold. The company still has a lease with DCUSA but can’t afford to build the store in Columbia Heights.

So secretive that D.C. “cheftestant” (man, it pains me to type that word) Carla Hall couldn’t tell her husband, Matthew, that he has a ticket to the biggest sports event of the year, which, ahem, takes place this weekend. The good folks over at Capital Spice attended the Top Chef watch party last night at Spike Mendelsohn’s Good Stuff Eatery and report on events from the burger joint. Be forewarned: It contains spoilers for those who haven’t yet caught the latest episode.

Image courtesy of Bravo’s Top Chef

Young & Hungry’s ever-obsessive buds over at Capital Spice have done it again. They’ve invested countless hours, time that they could have used celebrating the golden anniversary of the aluminum can, creating yet another Google map for the benefit of the rest of us slugs. This one surveys the landscape of this winter’s D.C. Restaurant Week.

Aside from the usual rewards of such a map—one click access to phone numbers, addresses, and directions—this baby also shows the sheer reach of this season’s Restaurant Week, which extends north to Frederick (VOLT), west to Herndon (Sake Club), south to Alexandria (Farrah Olivia, among others) and east….well, east only to Northeast (Napa 1015). It almost makes you wonder why Alexandria even bothered to develop one of its own.

Young & Hungry’s friends over at Capital Spice have compiled this cool, interactive, incredibly helpful Google map that lists all 213 bars/clubs/restaurants that will be offering beer, wine, and Obama-themed cocktails until 4 a.m. during Inauguration Weekend—or whatever you call that four-day drinkathon to better times. Think of this has your Blitz-keg war map.