Birch & Barley/ChurchKey, the long-delayed project from the ever-expanding Neighborhood Restaurant Group empire, should open in September, even though NRG still hasn't hired a chef for the gastropub in the former Dakota Cowgirl space on 14th Street NW. So says Michael Babin, co-owner of NRG. "I say that with all the necessary anxiety and stress," [...]

Hey, isn’t this supposed to be summer, when all we do is kick back and soak up the sun, along with those tart seasonal cocktails?  The local dining scene has not exactly taken a vacation this July. Here are just a few of the stories Young & Hungry has been following in the past week [...]

The question of the week — Have we stopped caring about the Obamas' restaurant visits? — has apparently been answered. That would be a big  "no." A Y&H item on that question was the most-read blog post this week, barely topping another item about Frank Morales' surprising departure from Rustico. Without further ado... Have We  [...]

Former Rustico chef Frank Morales told Tom Sietsema on Friday that he left the Alexandria gastropub because he had done everything he could at the Neighborhood Restaurant Group property. What Morales apparently didn’t tell the Post, though, is that he still has much more to accomplish in the area of beer-related food. "Rustico gave me [...]

Frank Morales III, executive chef at Rustico, is addressing a group of ninth graders from the Minnie Howard campus of T.C. Williams who are considering restaurant careers. "When you get in the restaurant business, it's really cool," he says. "You get to choose where you'll work 80 hours a week." Morales is a natural ham [...]

For reasons that don't bear close scrutiny, I found myself last week wandering the streets around Logan Circle on an unseasonably warm afternoon. Like others in the 'hood that day, I pressed my face against the window of the old Dakota Cowgirl space, hoping to see how far construction crews were on the forthcoming Birch [...]

Rustico Executive Chef Frank Morales had cautioned me that his deep-dish pizza wasn't exactly Chicago-style, that it would have neither the thickness nor the density of toppings found on a real Windy City pie. But even with Morales' warning, I guess I didn't expect this. Morales' round was thick, but in a puffy, spongy sort of way; just as problematic, the [...]