The road to franchising your restaurant is paved with good intentions. Amsterdam Falafel proprietors Scott and Arianne Bennett would know: “To be honest, I was thinking about [franchising] from day one," says Scott. "We have a very franchisable model, so why not?” But, four years ago, when the Bennetts set out to open up a [...]
Capitol Hill is inching ever closer to its first burrito bowl. The Examiner reports that the planning and zoning committee of local Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6B on Tuesday voted 10-0 in favor of a special zoning exemption that would allow ubiquitous Mexican eatery Chipotle to set up shop along 8th Street SE. Fast food restaurants [...]
Supporters of iconic Capitol Hill hangout the Tune Inn have organized a fundraiser to benefit employees not covered by insurance in the wake of a devastating June fire at the venue. The event will take place from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m., July 15, at the American Legion Post 8, located at 224 D St. [...]
Tune Inn owner Lisa Nardelli tells WTOP that she "expects the bar will be shut down for the summer, perhaps for up to 10 weeks," following last week's devastating fire at the iconic Capitol Hill watering hole. Nardelli pegs the damages at "hundreds of thousands of dollars." WTOP takes a peek inside the disaster zone: [...]
Why garnish your burger with fresh toppings, as Wendy's late founder Dave Thomas always endorsed, when instead you can use good old-fashioned canned precooked meat manufactured by the Hormel Foods Corporation? As part of its new summer menu, Ted's Bulletin on Barracks Row recently unveiled the "Hawaii Five-O" burger, made with grilled pineapple, teriyaki glaze [...]
The rustic but iconic storefront was all boarded up last night with a sign posted from owner Lisa Nardelli (pictured) encouraging volunteers to help pick up the pieces in the aftermath of Wednesday's kitchen fire at the Tune Inn on Capitol Hill. The Hill is Home has a rundown of all the media coverage of [...]
Chef Nick Sharpe, the guy who carefully cooked D.C.'s first tattooed pig, has left Ba Bay. Washington Post critic Tom Sietsema brings the news via his weekly web chat. Owner Khoa Nguyen is taking over in the kitchen and planning a dramatic overhaul of the venue's Vietnamese menu. "There will be more fish sauce everywhere,” [...]
Open for Business: The federal government may be shutting down, but that doesn't mean some of the city's hot restaurant areas, like H Street NE, will be dark. Tweets one neighborhood denizen: "Feds might shut down your computer, B'berry, send U home, but #HSt will be OPEN!! Great food, cold beer, baseball on big TVs. [...]
Food Court News: Sbarro, which operates four locations in the District, including Union Station and the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and will be restructured. The chain has been "[b]attered by the recession...[and] closed more than 150 restaurants in the past two years." [Bloomberg, [...]
Here's an interesting food-ordering dynamic The Feast's Rachel Tepper picked up on regarding Matchbox, the Chinatown restaurant that has expanded to include outposts on Capitol Hill and in Rockville: "Diners in Rockville tend to linger more during their meals, [co-owner Perry Smith] said, staying longer and ordering more desserts—twice as many as their downtown counterparts." [...]
