Red Hook Lobster Pound truck: street food makes the Dining Guide WaPo's Tom Sietsema released his 2010 Dining Guide online yesterday, and in between other tasks, I've been combing through it to understand how the critic views the current restaurant scene. Before I get to the nuggets that I've mined, though, I should note what [...]

Before it became base camp for an army of celebrity chefs, the District’s restaurant scene was ruled by steakhouses—big, gaudy ones where the size of your porterhouse determined your status. These were steakhouses for politicos, lobbyists, fundraisers, and influence peddlers, folks eating large on someone else’s nickel. With stints at Morton’s and the Capital Grille, [...]

While reporting out this week's column on the 2011 Zagat guide, I talked to Michael Landrum, who's something of a student of the biennial survey. He surprised me early in our conversation when he said: Ray’s the Steaks never deserved to be a 27-rated restaurant, as much as I’d like to say this, but it [...]

The question of the day is whether or not Ray's Hell Burger, the prez's preferred patty, will be opening a D.C. location at CityVista. Prince of Petworth, as is our liege's habit, teases us with such a rumor. But DCist, you know, actually did some reporting and asked owner Michael Landrum if he's planning an [...]

Y&H conducted an e-mail Q&A with Todd Kliman, the Washingtonian's food and wine editor, in advance of his reading this weekend for his recently released, The Wild Vine. He'll be reading and tasting wine (presumably Norton, the subject of his book) from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday at Fern Street Gourmet in Alexandria. The Q&A [...]

Love her or hate her, Carole Greenwood is a kitchen talent as inseparable from the Buck’s Fishing & Camping brand as Michael Landrum is to the Ray’s empire. Or so I thought. It turns out that Buck’s is a concept flexible enough to accommodate multiple visions of it. Vickie Reh, a former sous-chef at Food [...]

If any one thing defines Y&H Nation, it's our insatiable need for more (and more accessible) outlets for craft and imported beers. When the urge strikes — and when doesn't it? — we want to walk to the neighborhood Safeway for our Dogfish Head fix, not climb into the car and drive to a gourmet wine-and-beer shop [...]

I think it's safe to say — though you never know with him — that Michael Landrum finds some parts of Y&H's job rather shallow. Like reporting on what President Obama eats at Ray's Hell Burger. I think the last thing he told me yesterday as I was rushing off to beat the competition was [...]

Is it my imagination or is President Obama deliberately and almost ostentatiously squeezing Dijon mustard onto his hamburger? Take that Hannity. After the jump, check out a candid photo snapped by Y&H's bud, Joe Epstein, when the D.C. editor of Thrillist happened to be a few doors down at Ray's Hell Burger Too, as the [...]

This just in: President Obama, fresh off firing his commander in Afghanistan, stopped at Ray's Hell Burger with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. The crowd gave the two presidents a standing ovation, says owner Michael Landrum, who was there for the surprise visit. "It happened in a blink of an eye," Landrum tells Y&H. "No advance [...]