Free Stuff: On Friday, if you show up at a Chick-fil-A between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. and ask for Heinz Dip & Squeeze ketchup, you'll receive a free medium order of waffle fries, one limit per customer. What is this special ketchup? It's the same old Heinz ketchup you're likely used to, just in [...]

Will Liquor License Vultures Start to Circle? Georgetown's Mendocino Grille and Wine Bar is closed after the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue seized its sales tax license and its liquor license, which is a hot commodity in a neighborhood with a liquor license moratorium: "OTR has also levied the liquor assets in the restaurant [...]

Allow me to offer a disclaimer before I start: You can trust my picks for the District's best shopping districts as much as you can trust Bernie Madoff's financial advice. Through years of selective focus, I can walk through any neighborhood and ignore all manner of shoe shops, clothing stores, and perfumeries, my mind singularly [...]

Last week, I raised the indelicate question of whether Nando's Peri-Peri had totally wimped out its concept for the suburban stroller and babyspit crowd in Silver Spring. Yesterday, I got an official response from one Burton Heiss, managing director for the Nando's Restaurant Group based in D.C. Heiss decided to kill me with kindness:

Based on my mouth-watering experiences at the Nando's Peri-Peri in Chinatown — and I mean that literally, since the African pepper-laced peri-peri sauce caused pools of saliva to form at the base of my tongue — I went easy on myself at the new Nando's in Silver Spring. I ordered a quarter chicken "medium," which [...]

It's Monday, which means it's time to dig into a big, heaping plate of food news. We start with an item close to home: Amsterdam Falafelshop is looking to franchise. Where and when? The guessing (begging?) game begins. (DCist) New Tex-Mex joint to replace AM PM Carryout at 14th and V: Liquor license and sidewalk [...]

There seems to be a difference in the way Nando's markets itself in the states vs. Down Under, where this commercial aired. Is it because America's more uptight about sex...or we have better taste?

College Park-based Joe Spinelli has been in the restaurant business for more than 30 years, consulting and supplying and troubleshooting for some of the biggest (and smallest) eateries in the country, from California Pizza Kitchen to the Amsterdam Falafelshop. He's probably consulted on more restaurants than most people have eaten in. As such, Spinelli's seen [...]