Lombardi’s: Is it everything New Yorkers think it is?

And now the moment I’ve been waiting for (so I can have my life back again): The City Paper’s debut Young & Hungry Dining Guide finally hits the streets tomorrow.

Actually, I had a great time exploring our city, its suburbs, and all (well, many of) the varied places to eat in this region. The fact is, I had a helluva time trying to come up with only 50 of my (current) favorites. It’s harder than you think. My working list included more than 130 restaurants and takeouts, almost any one of which could have made the final cut.

I’m hoping the Dining Guide inspires even more discussion about D.C.’s best places to eat: the ones on my list you agree with, the ones you don’t, and the ones I was obviously so stupid to overlook.

Read More “The Dining Guide Comes Out Tomorrow. Y&H Is Out Today.” »

Did you hear that? Utter radio silence.

Y&H expected a cacophony of food blog and board commentary today following the announcement of the 2009 James Beard Awards for restaurants and chefs.  But after the D.C. area got the cold shoulder last night at the Beard ceremony in the Big Apple, there has been little hand-wringing about the snubs, aside from an implication of favoritism among judges (Don Rockwell), an honor-to-be-nominated pep talk (Michael Birchenall), and a straight-forward, just-the-facts-ma’am report (the Post’s Joe Yonan, an award-winner himself this year).

What’s missing? Arguments, fussing, and outraged commentary about the New York-orientation of this year’s winners. However, if you study the 2009 winners, particularly national categories in which nominees come from all parts of the country, you’ll find that New York chefs and restaurants won 8 out of 9 times.

WTF? I mean, WTF?

OK, yes, everyone who follows food in this country understands that NYC is still the epicenter of the known universe when it comes to dining. Just ask a New Yorker — or even someone who just writes for a New York publication — and they’ll tell you.

This year’s winners got me to thinking about the process behind the voting. On the foundation’s Awards Policies and Procedures page, you can find this explanation under the Restaurant and Chef Awards:

Read More “D.C. Chefs/Restaurants Shut Out in 2009 Beard Awards” »

My wife, Carrie, and her lil’ sis, Molly, were recently in New York City , where they saw this placard hanging in a Whole Foods window on the Lower East Side. They shared a good laugh over Whole Paycheck’s marketing ploy to pair Pilgrims with peel-and-eat shrimp.

I had a really hard time believing Whole Foods was that stupid, so I checked its Web site, where I found this bit of brilliant marketing-speak: “Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFMI) today announces the arrival of “Shrimpsgiving” in its seafood departments nationwide.”

Here’s the pertinent paragraph from the press release:

Read More “Whole Foods Wants to Sell You Shrimp for Thanksgiving” »