Or Johnny’s Half Shell! Allow me to explain why.

The wife and I had just got to the Strathmore Music Center. We were running late as we scampered to find our seats for last night’s Lyle Lovett concert. Carrie assumed the task of securing our seats. I headed to the restroom.

When Carrie got to our seats, she found that they were occupied. Now these were no ordinary seats. These were my birthday-present seats, located smack-dab in the middle of the first row of the Grand Tier. (The photo above gives you an idea of the view from these seats.) There was only one seat available, and Carrie took it, hoping to work out the problem. The occupants of the other seats started teasing Carrie:

Where is your husband going to sit? they wondered. (”On my lap,” Carrie told them.) What’s your husband’s name? (”Tim,” she said.) Well, maybe we don’t want Tim to sit with us; we like you better. (“No, you’ll like Tim, too,” Carrie added.)

They were having a jolly friggin’ time without me.

When I finally emerged from the restroom, the usher was still trying to sort out the seating snafu. The occupants rightfully had tickets to those seats, too, the usher told me. I was about to get annoyed by this double-booking when the usher finally figured out the problem: The seat squatters were supposed to be in the level above us. He promptly filed them out of our seats.

That’s when I really got a good look at who had stole our seats:

Read More “I’ll Never Step Foot in Amsterdam Falafelshop Again!” »

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.

I absolutely refuse to feel ashamed that D.C.’s best taqueria is run by a Harvard-grad gringa with a James Beard Award to her credit. Hell, if that were the case, I’d also have to feel bad that one of the District’s best hamburgers is produced by a Frenchman (Michel Richard at Central). The truth is, Ann Cashion is a student of la cocina mexicana, and her tiny takeout behind Johnny’s Half Shell proves she has deep respect for a cuisine too often bastardized for an easy buck. (You listening, you Salvadoran-Mexican joints?) I’m still trying to figure out how her corn tortillas taste so fresh when they’re not even made in house.

Taqueria Nacional, 400 N. Capitol St. NW, (202) 737-7070

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Members of the esteemed Southern Foodways Alliance descended upon D.C. this past weekend to down potlikker and spread the gospel on the deep-fried ways of the South.

Ann Cashion, an SFA board member, hosted the Potlikker Film Festival on Saturday at Johnny’s Half Shell, an event that featured not only some of the District’s best Southern-flavored chefs (Vidalia’s Jeffrey Buben, the General Store’s Gillian Clark, and Creme’s Terrell Danley) but also four documentaries on subjects ranging from sweet potato pie to Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack in Nashville.

(Let me pause here and say for the record that Buben’s version of pigs in a blanket — which he called, with a flair for the highfalutin, “heirloom pigs in handstitched blankets” — was the best goddamn thing I put in my mouth all weekend, a sort of rich, fragrant homemade sausage wrapped in buttery pastry.)

One of the visitors this weekend was John T. Edge, director of the SFA and writer for…well, everyone. He conveniently Twittered his way through his dining adventures while in D.C. You can read his purloined Tweets after the jump. (Text has been boldfaced by Y&H.)

Read More “John T. Edge Eats and Tweets His Way Through D.C.” »

The disappointments were stacking up yesterday morning by the time I took my huevos rancheros back to the car. For reasons I couldn’t explain, I wanted a plate of warm, airy beignets dusted with powdered sugar. Maybe all the talk of Mardi Gras had made me miss New Orleans. I don’t know. Whatever the reason, I knew I could get them at Johnny’s Half Shell. What I didn’t know is that I could get them only til 9:30. I was a good 30 minutes late.

So I ducked behind the Half Shell and ordered a to-go box of huevos rancheros from Taqueria Nacional.

Read More “Please Drown Me in the Refried Beans at Taqueria Nacional” »

I have just one word for you: celebrities. Y’all love ‘em. They dominated the top two spots this week on the Young & Hungry blog.

1. Jessica Alba, Tom Hanks, and Others Seen Dining at D.C. Restaurants
2. Denzel, Dustin, and Tyra: You Know You Want to Know Where They Ate
3. Can’t Get into Your Favorite Restaurant on Inauguration Night? Just Wait
4. Inauguration Drinks: Party Like It’s 1829
5. Johnny’s Half Shell Figured Out How to Deal with Inaugural Traffic: Never Go Home

Whether on foot or in the car, traveling was a pain in the ass during Inauguration Weekend. John Fulchino, co-owner of Johnny’s Half Shell, knew it would be, which is why he and five other managers didn’t leave the Capitol Hill restaurant for several days.

From Saturday through Tuesday night, Fulchino and company made work their home. When the hungry masses finally left each night—by Fulchino’s best estimate, Johnny’s served up more than 2,100 meals during the four-day period—the managers simply pulled out their air mattresses and “French Foreign Legion” cots and went to sleep. The rest of the staff crashed at the homes of other workers who lived nearby. Chef Ann Cashion, who lives in Mount Pleasant, opted to take the Metro home.

Read More “Johnny’s Half Shell Figured Out How to Deal with Inaugural Traffic: Never Go Home” »