While milling around Cleveland Park on a weekend walking tour, I ducked into the recently expanded Palena Cafe and Restaurant and spoke to general manager Sarah McCarty. She was nice enough to let me snap a few photos and tell me more about the changes at the newly opened space. While the cafe has expanded [...]

Looks like there will be a lot of empty bags this Halloween. It's time, once again, for our semi-regular news round-up, handy for those folks who actually have to work during the week and can't obsess over their favorite food blogs. After nearly 10 months of speculation following  the abrupt closing of Fiamma, former Maestro chef Fabio [...]

The way chef/owner Frank Ruta explains it, Palena must clear three separate hurdles before the highly regarded restaurant can expand into the adjacent Magruder's, which closed down in May. The first hurdle — an agreement to take over the former grocery — has already been cleared, Ruta says. But the final deal is contingent upon [...]