The bacon bacchanalia recalls the old comedy skit on MTV's The State where actor Ben Garant extolls the many virtues of bacon—ultimately slipping into a little bacon dress and breaking out in bacon-themed song. Bring on the bacon:

Video courtesy of MTV

Aaron Gordon

More info:

No Real Rabbit at Rabbit Restaurant, Just 'Rabbit Food'

The Best 'Rabbit Food' Has Pork In It

Photo by Chris Shott

Gordon tells Y&H that his personal favorite thing on the menu is the Cuban sandwich, priced at $10.50. "The braised pork is slow roasted in beer for 24 hours so that it's incredibly tender," says Gordon. In addition to the prerequisite ham, sliced pickles, and cheese, the sandwich is sauced with house-made mustard aioli and served atop a fresh-baked ciabatta roll.

As a side dish, well, you can probably guess that part. It comes with, yes, salad.

Photo by Chris Shott

Dear Attendee,

There was a just a fire in the restaurant next door to Rabbit and they cannot get it fixed in the next few hours. THEREFORE, WE CANNOT HOLD THE PARTY TONIGHT. We are rescheduling for next Monday, July 25, from 6-8 PM. The restaurant apologizes profusely for the inconvenience. So do we.

Sincerely,

The Bisnow Team

Photo by Chris Shott

Rabbit

Just to be clear: the place derives its name from the phrase "rabbit food," that is, salads and such, which it will serve. Not actual rabbit, as in bunny meat, a rep recently confirmed for Y&H.

Consider the venue's signature "rabbit salad," featuring roasted carrots, shaved carrots, diced carrots—well, you get the idea.  Basically, it's the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. of salad. Gordon has enlisted former Café Atlántico head chef Katsuya Fukushima to develop the menu for the glorified 2,000-square-foot salad bar.

As part of its grand opening celebrations, the venue plans to hand out free Red Velvet cupcakes. Full announcement after the jump.

Rabbit Brings Innovative, Seasonal Salads with Grilled-To-Order Proteins and

Red Velvet Cupcakery Confections to Clarendon

Arlington, Virginia, (July 5, 2011) — Aaron Gordon, owner of the Red Velvet Cupcakery and Tangysweet frozen yogurt shops in Washington, DC, Reston, and Tucson, Arizona is pleased to debut the opening of his next project, Rabbit, located at 3035 Clarendon Boulevard in Arlington, VA.  As an introduction to the neighborhood on opening day, which is anticipated for late July, Rabbit will welcome neighbors by serving complimentary Red Velvet cupcakes while supplies last and no purchase is necessary. The restaurant will open seven days a week from 11 AM to 11 PM, and serve inventive, thoughtfully prepared sandwiches and enticing salads served with grilled-to-order proteins. The recipes for Rabbit are the creation of Consulting Chef Katsuya Fukushima.

No stranger to the DC culinary scene, Katsuya Fukushima worked alongside José Andrés for fifteen years, becoming one of Andrés’ closest and most trusted collaborators.  Fukushima served as ThinkFoodGroup’s Executive Chef for Special Projects and prior to that, Head Chef of Café Atlántico.  He played instrumental roles in opening both the critically acclaimed minibar by josé andrés in Washington, DC, and the Bazaar by José Andrés in Los Angeles, Esquire magazine’s best new restaurant of the year for 2009.  Most recently, Fukushima served as Executive Chef of José Andrés Catering by Ridgewell’s, his final position before leaving the company.

Rabbit strives to provide a straightforward menu with a selection of Simple Salads, Chef Crafted Salads, Sandwich Plates served with simple salads and Warm Dinner Plates that include made-to-order protein, simple salad, and house-made mashed potatoes.  All dishes are served with artisanal breads from a local bakery, which are baked fresh daily.  An assortment of freshly squeezed carrot juice and other seasonal juices will also be available at Rabbit including a boutique selection of wines by the glass and beer.  In everything, the emphasis is on fresh, organic and locally available products.

Standout salads include the Beet Salad, made with fried breaded goat cheese croquettes, orange slices, arugula, pine nuts, pickled beet stems, fresh beets, mixed greens and a citrus vinaigrette; Seasonal Fruit & Prosciutto Salad, made with grilled peach halves (seasonal), sliced prosciutto, ricotta, arugula, toasted hazelnuts, honey drizzle, cracked black pepper and balsamic vinaigrette; Nicoise Salad, made with boiled potatoes, olives, haricots verts, egg, roasted tomato, seared tuna and a lemon vinaigrette, as well as the signature Rabbit Salad made with roasted carrots, shaved carrots, diced carrots, blanched snow peas, peas, mixed greens, pea sprouts, shredded mint leaves, carrot top pesto and topped with citrus dressing.  Prices range from $5.50 for Simple Salads to $10.50 for Chef Crafted Salads.

Handcrafted Sandwiches and Warm Dinner Plates will also be available. Tempting choices include Seared Tuna with roasted red pepper aioli; Vegetable Sandwich with green and red bell peppers, zucchini, tomato, romesco and pineapple; Grilled PB&J, as well as a rotating selection of grilled cheese sandwiches incorporating various artisanal cheeses.  All sandwich plates will include choice of Simple Salad.   Price for the Sandwich Plates and Warm Dinner Plates is $10.50.

Additionally, twelve varieties of signature cupcakes from Red Velvet Cupcakery will also be available at the Clarendon restaurant.  Highlights include Devil’s Food, a rich chocolate buttermilk cake with Valrhona bittersweet chocolate ganache frosting garnished with a 24K gold leaf; Peanut Butter Cup, delicious chocolate buttermilk cake infused with chocolate chips and peanut butter topping and the Southern Belle, the shop’s best-selling and signature red velvet recipe topped with whipped cream cheese frosting.

Aaron Gordon, a D.C. area native, came up with the whimsical name for the new restaurant while talking with friends about shopping for salads.  “A friend of mine once asked me how long it had been since a good salad was thought of as ‘rabbit food,’” says Gordon.  “I liked the idea of turning this phrase of slight disdain on its head and decided that “Rabbit” would be the name for my newest venture.  To me, Rabbit incorporates many of the traits of the Slow Food moment…providing the highest quality ingredients, cooking them with finesse and care, and presenting them in a rich, relaxing environment. At Rabbit, our chefs will produce food in a timely manner, while presenting the exact opposite of fast food.”

Photo by Benny Mazur/Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Deals: It's Bethesda Row Restaurant Week. Feel the excitement of "fabulous meals offered at low prices!" [We Love DC]

Breaking News! A cable television reality chef has disclosed his recipe for pepperoni sauce. [WaPo]

Confused Concept: In Clarendon, the new general manager of the new Mad Rose Tavern admits that the menu was a bit scatterbrained. Except for the pigs in a blanket, the menu is changing. Make way for calamari, shrimp and grits, and chicken Zydeco! [ARLNow]

Road Trip Advisory: There's a restaurant in the National Harbor complex called Ketchup! It serves six different kind of ketchup. "Look, I’m not going to say the overall experience was horrible, but it didn’t leave me super excited at the prospect of a second visit." [DCFüd]

Photo by Flickr user JCardinal18 using an Attribution 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license

The world of New Haven–style pizza has been expanding locally. Pete's New Haven Style Apizza, which has locations in Columbia Heights and Friendship Heights, has opened its new Clarendon Boulevard location in Arlington.

What makes New Haven pies so special? Read this primer on the subject.

Photo a slice from Pete's from the Y&H archives

Back and Forth: For those keeping score in the battle between Gillian Clark and her landlord over the now-closed General Store near Silver Spring? Tim Carman tracked down Spiro Gioldasis, who said there "was a simple reason for his tax woes: Clark and General Store co-owner Robin Smith owed him back rent dating to April 2010." [WaPo]

A Dive Bar in Condo Land: As Clarendon's redevelopment continues to push into the N. 10th Street corridor, could these be the last days of Jay's Saloon and Grille? [ARLNow]

Historic Nugget: Macaroni and Cheese "is actually English. Well, kind of. It’s apparently been popular in England for the last hundred years or so, but its American heritage wins out because Thomas Jefferson reportedly enjoyed it at the White House in 1802. There you go, Yanks, getting everything good before we do." [Washingtonian]

Lingo: At the new Hill Country BBQ in Penn Quarter, there's new vocabulary to speed service along. "Tommy!" "Dolly!" "Texas black-eyed caviar!" [The Feast]

Photo by Flickr user kalleboo using an Attribution 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license

The general manager and bar manager at Eventide have left the Clarendon restaurant citing differences in how the bar and rooftop have been "going in a different direction." TBD notes how Eventide's highly acclaimed restaurant has stood out from the rest of Clarendon where "the preference in the neighborhood seems to be for huge sports bars with deep discounts." [DonRocks, TBD]

The Benethiopia food truck is going on hiatus until mid-February. [WaPo]

The former chef at Bezu in Potomac has bought out Rock Creek in Bethesda and wants to talk with the new owners of the Brickskeller who had wanted to name the reborn Brick as Rock Creek. [Potomac Patch, TBD]

Need an injection of Iron Chef chatter? Capitol Spice chats with three of the local competitors "vying for our slavish loyalty," Spike Mendelsohn, Carla Hall, and Mike Isabella. [Capitol Spice]

Let's get straight to the news:

• Volt chef and owner Bryan Voltaggio is apparently scouting around for another restaurant, which may or may not be the second coming of Volt. (Washington Business Journal)
• Tis the season for tying one on. Tis the season for hangover remedies, too. A number of local heavy hitters explain their best morning-after cure. (Brightest Young Things)
• Eater looks back on R.J. Cooper's unfortunate loss on Iron Chef America on Sunday, while Best Bites Blog runs a Q&A with Cooper's sous chef for the challenge, David Guas, who explains how the whole contest went down.

• The Capital Video Sales store on 8th Street SE will be closing to make way for a Latin tapas joint called Pacifico. (Prince of Petworth)
• Just before Thanksgiving, President Obama dished out two presidential turkey pardons outside the W Hotel. The spared birds were aptly named "Apple" and "Cider." (WeLoveDC)
• The Thrillist folks take us through a first look of Penn Quarter's newest joint: Merzi. (Thrillist)
• Foxhall sandwich shop Jetties will be opening a second location in Bethesda early next spring. (Bethesda magazine)
• Can't make up your mind on savory or sweet? The Cakespy's recipe for cinnamon rolls stuffed with Thanksgiving pie leftovers should do the trick. (Serious Eats)
• Bubbly anyone? On Dec. 11, EatBar is hosting its annual Sparkler Tasting and Sale, where you can sample all things bubbly, from your standard champagne to imported sparklers from Italy and Spain.
• New York City tapas joint Boqueria is currently on the prowl for a spot in the District to open a new location. (Eater)
• The self-proclaimed "first FIT restaurant and bar in America" Funxion at 1309 F St. NW is looking to switch to a 24-hour schedule. (Prince of Petworth)
• While the downtown D.C. branch of NYC-based Crumbs Bake Shop has already launched, the folks in Clarendon continue to await an opening date. (ARLnow)

Photo courtesy of Boqueria via Eater.com