So says DCist and our own Loose Lips over at City Desk, who wrote that “the Black Rooster has been revived, Lazarus-like, from the dead.

Playing Jesus in this scenario, says owner Jody Taylor, would be Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans.

‘The Black Rooster will crow again,’ Taylor says. Asked what happened to prompted the reversal of fortune for what had been slated to become a General Services Administration conference room, ‘I don’t really know to be honest with you. Jack Evans had a lot to with it….Once I talked to the landlord, he was extremely gracious. Everybody came to terms. It’s good all around.’”

If you ever doubted the fame of Ben Ali and the tiny chili stand he started in 1958, all you have to do is look at the news coverage detailing his death yesterday. News outlets across the country either ran the AP story or wrote short, tribute-oriented pieces of their own.

Here are a few of them:

• The New York Times‘ Diners Journal: “There is perhaps no better way to end a punk-rock evening in Washington, D.C., than with a brisk walk up from the 9:30 Club to the bright lights of Ben’s Chili Bowl, home of the chili-laden half-smoke sausage, for a snack.”

Read More “The Death of Ben Ali: What Others Had to Say” »

DCist is reporting that Mocha Hut has closed. We agree with the bloggers that its brunch was super awesome and relatively cheap. It literally was one of two decent options in the corridor. It was always Mocha Hut or Busboys and Poets for brunch. This will surely mean the lines at Busboys will be that much longer.  I wonder why they went out of business considering that the U Street coffee shop always seemed busy (at least on weekends). DCist writes:

Read More “Mocha Hut R.I.P.” »

People are brilliant. People are mindless cows. Today’s roundup has a bit of both. 

• Chow.com tells us how London’s fast-food chicken outlets have escaped the Colonel’s hatchetmen, including the creatively named Kent’s Tuck Inn Fried Chicken.

Read More “Daily Food Blog Roundup: Random Sample” »

The time has come, I think, to say no more stories on Joe Englert’s H Street Country Club until he opens the damn place. This tease has been going on way too long. We here at the City Paper have been particularly susceptible to the hype; we started in two years ago with this item and have been aggressively updating the narrative with each word dropped from Englert’s lips. You can blame me for this item in March 2007 and for another update, on the Ann Cashion connection at H Street CC, in September of last year.

And now comes DCist’s “Early Look” at Englert’s putt-putt playground. It’s an “early” look in the loosest sense of the word. These are construction site photos! (Though, I have to admit that the hanging coffee pot lights are pretty cool.)  There’s not much new to the posting, except for the photos and for blogger Eric Denman’s musings on whether alcohol and putters will mix. Writes Denman:

Read More “H Street Country Club: Still Puttering Along” »

Today officially marks the release of the 2008 vintage of Beaujolais Nouveau, a period of drinking and merrymaking that I compare to New Year’s Eve. It’s for rookies.

Read More “The 2008 Beaujolais Nouveaus Are Here! Who Cares!” »