Some nuggets from Carman's profile:

"...Clark and her four older siblings were not allowed to call anyone 'stupid' or tell them to 'shut up.' 'My mother didn't raise me to be rude, and she'd be horrified at the notion that I was anything but gracious to somebody,' she tells me."

Says Ann Cashion of Cashion's Eat Place: "She doesn't feel any need to sort of disguise how she feels if somebody is being ridiculous. That is sort of how she deals with everybody in the world. ... She's always dishing it out."

"In April 2003, she wrote a long note to The Post's Tom Sietsema defending her rule for no-dish substitutions or customizations at Colorado Kitchen. 'Personally, I prefer the way Herbert von Karajan conducts Beethoven's Third Symphony,' she wrote. 'But I would never ask Zubin Mehta to finish the Adagio with the hesitant 3/8 that Herb finishes with.'

[WaPo]

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Coming Soon:

• People's Bao, a bao food truck will be hitting the streets sometime around February, serving up Asian specialty steamed buns with a variety of fillings. (Metrocurean)
• Three-level neighborhood bistro Smith Commons, which will feature a globally inspired menu, is scheduled to open on Tuesday at 1245 H St. NE. (Y&H)
• Tim Carman got the scoop on Gillian Clark's grand plans for a new Colorado Kitchen near Union Station. (WaPo)
• Big things are happening in Crystal City. Only a few days short of the grand opening of its first Buffalo Wild Wings, Fairfax-based Paisano's Pizza has also announced it will be adding a location at Market Square at Potomac Yard. (ARLnow)
• Crystal City isn't the only place getting a new pizza joint: Angelico's Pizza is on its way to 1421 H St. NE. (Prince of Petworth)
• And the next NYC restaurant heading to D.C. is...Hill Country BBQ! A Penn Quarter location at 406 7th St. NW is slated to open in March and will feature all sorts of barbecued goodness. (PQ Living)
• After nearly three years of speculation, multiple sources are claiming that U.K.-based noodle shop Wagamama may finally be on the path to opening in Chinatown sometime next year. (DCist)
• The D.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Board has granted the Dupont location of Hank's Oyster Bar permission to expand into its neighboring retail space at 1622 Q St. NW. (Borderstan)

Openings:

• The Big Cheese truck
• Tegeste in Columbia Heights
• Pho DC in Chinatown
• Yola in Dupont Circle

Photo of some nice looking Xiaolong bao from Shanghai by Flickr user Gary Soup using an Attribution 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license

Photo of a grilled cheese sandwich by Flickr user pirateyjoe via a Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license

I have no idea how long Colorado Cafe has been around on Colorado Avenue NW in Brightwood, but it's just a few doors down from the late, lamented (and long ago demolished) Colorado Kitchen, home of chef Gillian Clark's homey gourmet comforts and ur-mom rules.

I snapped this photo last night, long after the coffee shop had closed for the day. Today, I tried to call the cafe, but it has no listed phone number. Seriously.

So I called Clark instead. She was familiar with the business that's obviously trying to exploit the good Colorado Kitchen name that she developed and nurtured for years.

"They've duped some people," Clark says via the phone from her kitchen at the General Store in Silver Spring.

Clark believes that the coffee shop changed ownership about a year ago — and changed names soon thereafter. She says she has trademarked the name "Colorado Kitchen" and its logo.

So has Clark thought about suing the owners of Colorado Cafe?

Nah, she says. "If it helps them sell coffees and their stale bagels, I'm not going to get too upset."

One by one, we’re running through the 50 restaurants that made the cut on this year’s Young & Hungry Dining Guide. If you have visited the day’s featured restaurant, let us know what you think. If you’re planning to visit for the first time, tell us about your meal when you return.

Gillian Clark and partner Robin Smith had to wage battles on several fronts to finally launch their folksy eatery, the General Store, in the former Forest Glen post office in Silver Spring. Montgomery County, historic preservationists, even the landlord—everyone, it seems, wanted to tell Clark and Smith how to build out the 19th-century structure, down to the exact number of parking spaces they needed. It was enough to make Clark and Smith want to walk away from their project, which they seriously considered doing. I’m glad they stuck with it. The joint exudes a sort of sterile country vibe, part old-timey kitsch and part burn-unit clean, but Clark’s food remains as down-home and comfy as ever. Well, when she still has some to sell. The General Store has already developed a reputation for running out of its famed fried chicken before closing time; fortunately, there are tasty backup options. I’m thinking specifically about Clark’s chunky tarragon chicken-salad sandwich, which employs the namesake herb without allowing its anise flavors to dominate, as they so often do. The fish tacos are an excellent handheld bite, too, stuffed to capacity with fried whitefish, avocado, and melted cheese. At this point, the only unresolved issue for Clark and Smith is the opening of the downstairs Post Office Tavern. But even that hurdle will be cleared by next week, when the pub officially opens to the public, serving up pizzas, brats, and other beery foods.

The General Store, 6 Post Office Road, Silver Spring (301) 562-8787

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Prince of Petworth broke a juicy piece of news yesterday when he announced that former Colorado Kitchen chef/owner Gillian Clark had signed a letter of intent to open a nearly 4,000-square foot restaurant at Park Place, a mixed-use development at the corner of Georgia and New Hampshire avenues. Just one small correction, my liege: Clark tells me that the name of her restaurant will be the Georgia Avenue Meeting House, not the Meeting House.

She also says that the GA Meeting House will be, by 2011 or so, the third of hopefully five or more restaurants in her budding empire, co-owned by Clark and business partner, Robin Smith. "We're going to be the next new restaurant group of D.C.," Clark says. The partners plan to open restaurants in "spots where nobody wants to open" places, including the Benning neighborhood and other areas east of the Anacostia.

The two partners will likely be working with investors and/or developers to realize their plans, Clark says. "It'll be harder to do with just the two of us," she deadpans.

In the meantime, the opening of their General Store and Post Office Tavern in the Forest Glen neighborhood of Silver Spring has run into another bureaucratic snag: Montgomery County, Clark says, requires at least 30 parking spaces for the twin-concept operation.

"We're short 23 spaces," she says. "We had no idea that this was a requirement."

Clark and Smith have applied for a parking waiver. If that fails, Clark says, there is an office next door that has agreed to let the restaurant use its lot. The chef is confident the General Store and Post Office Tavern will open in early January.

Her Takoma Park operation, which will serve Eastern European cuisine and rotisserie chicken, is also rolling along. Plumbers are laying pipe now for a new sewer system. Clark and Smith are aiming for a spring opening date.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery