Black truffle mac 'n' cheese at The Passenger

It's "Burger Week" at Belga Cafe. [Burger Days]

Another beefy development: Z Burger has opened on the Southwest waterfront. [Prince of Petworth]

Converted firehouse Sixth Engine opens Feb. 10 for dinner. Expect grilled tenderloin with black truffles and foie gras pierogi, among other items. [Urban Daddy]

H Street's latest eatery Boundary Road opens Feb. 13. [H Street Great Street]

Winnette McIntosh Ambrose and Timothy McIntosh of Barrack's Row bakery The Sweet Lobby are the winners of Cupcake Wars. [Examiner]

Time to sign up for your summertime CSA program. [DCist]

Cedric Maupillier

Cookie-themed café Uncle Chip's has opened in Truxton Circle [Prince of Petworth]

Oh, truck it: The guys behind nightspots Ultrabar, Lima, and Barcode are launching two new food trucks. One is Latin themed. The other is Italian. [Dining Bisnow]

Who cares about the Top 100 Very Best Restaurants? D.C. standouts ChurchKey and Ripple each make the grade on Garden & Gun's coveted Top 50 Southern Bars list. [Washingtonian]

How many local bars, restaurants and breweries incorporate the D.C. flag into their logos? Let's see. There's The Passenger, District Kitchen, Sticky Fingers Bakery , DC Empanadas, Chinatown Coffee Co.,  DC Brau, Chocolate City Beer, Three Stars Brewing.... [Metrocurean]

Photo courtesy of Mintwood Place

The Food Network show Heat Seekers tackles DC-3's Q's Seoul Bulgogi & Kimchi Dog (pictured) and Three-Alarm Cruncher. [HuffPo]

A peak inside Irish Whiskey [Washingtonian]

St. Arnold's Mussel Bar opens tonight in Cleveland Park [Uptown Girl]

From General Tso's to Buffalo-style: some new sweetbreads at Cafe Saint-Ex. [Twitter]

The gang behind Petworth's forthcoming Chez Billy are hosting a preview at Montserrat House in Shaw. [Prince of Petworth]

Old wood lends a new look to The Passenger. [DCist]

Poll: restaurateurs are more worried about health care reform than menu-labeling legislation [The Daily Meal]

The maker of Twinkies is filing for Chapter 11. [LA Weekly]

Image courtesy of DC-3

Food & Wine

Which local watering hole are you most incensed about not making the cut?

Photo by Melissa Doroquez/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

Photo courtesy of Corduroy

Photo by Rachel Tepper

Mike Isabella

Eater DC chats up Graffiato general manager James Horn, who dishes a bit about the sort of celebrities that chef Mike Isabella's neo-Italian starfucker clubhouse, um, celebrates:  "Our VIPs are people like [The Source's] Scott Drewno and [Proof and Estadio's] Haidar [Karoum] and [The Passenger's] Derek Brown and people that work their asses off just the same as we do. I tell you, if Scott and [movie star] Brad Pitt walked in at the same time for a table of four, Scott would be seated in a much more timely manner than Brad Pitt. I welcome Brad Pitt, but those are our VIPs, those are our celebrities. People that inspire us."

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Derek Brown

Allegedly invented at the behest of a bawdy lobbyist named Col. Joseph Kyle Rickey, the first rickey was mixed by bartender George A. Williamson at a dirty, cobwebbed bar called Shoomaker’s. In an age before air conditioning, D.C.’s muggy summers were made a bit less brutal by glasses of bourbon or gin with seltzer and half a squeezed lime.

A simple drink with a storied history, the rickey has become a crusade of sorts for Brown, the brains behind the Passenger, the Columbia Room and countless cocktail programs across the District.

For the last four years, Brown and his colleagues at the D.C. Craft Bartenders Guild (of which he’s is a founding member) have celebrated July as "Rickey Month." But now, things are official. Only a month ago, Brown brought the issue to the attention of Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans, who, in turn, added the drink to the city’s list of official symbols last week.

Derek Brown

1331 Bar & Lounge stands where the old Shoomaker’s once did, a fact Brown revels in. He spent the last week training its bartenders on the art of making a proper rickey. “It is amazing that right now we are drinking the rickey in the place it was created,” Brown noted during the plaque's unveiling. “The rickey belongs to D.C. It belongs to all of us.”

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton showed up for the official dedication, which she conducted with drink in hand. “This is more than a government town,” she said, adding that in despite of all the things that D.C. does not have— voting rights, anyone?—“today we’re defining ourselves by what we’re pleased to have.”

Like all drinks of legend, the Rickey’s story has some holes. Colonel Rickey may not have actually invented the drink. George Rothwell Brown, author of Washington: A Not Too Serious History, points to an unknown stranger from the West Indies as the true innovator. By some accounts, Colonel Rickey wasn’t a big fan of the drink and resented his association with it, altogether. In a 1901 article in the Wellsboro Gazette, the colonel unloaded his frustration:

“I was Col. Rickey, of Missouri, the friend of senators, judges and statesmen and something of an authority on political matters and political movements... But am I ever spoken of for those reasons? I fear not. No, I am known to fame as the author of the 'Rickey', and I have to be satisfied with that. There is one consolation in the fact that there are fashions in drinks. The present popularity of the Scotch high ball may possibly lose me my reputation and restore me my former fame. 'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished for."

Regardless of Rickey's actual like or dislike of the drink, it still became wildly popular. Its original character, however, has become muddled over the years. The original base spirit, bourbon, the colonel’s favorite, has been surpassed by gin in popularity, and many more variations exist today. In fact, the D.C. Bartenders Guild holds a yearly party featuring more than a few. At this year’s event, which takes place on Aug. 1, more than 2o bars and restaurants will serve up their own versions of the historic libation, with add-on ingredients ranging from hibiscus to rosemary to coconut.

Expect to see some seersuckers there, too. At 1331, Brown wasn’t the only blue-and-white-clad imbiber in attendance. Eric Felten, a former Wall Street Journal writer who won a James Beard Award for his drinks column, was sporting the breezy fabric as well. “Seersucker is the sartorial equivalent of the gin rickey,” he said. The outfit, like the drink, is all about staying cool—a distinctly Washingtonian pastime.

Photos by Rachel Tepper

In my experience as a bartender, I find it is often the booze of choice for "penalty shots." And, by that, I mean the punitive libations that a sadistic bartender will make his fumbling colleague consume after that same unfortunate coworker breaks a glass or screws up a customer's drink order.

Drinking Campari is punishment for more than a few reasons; most memorably the way it seems to numb your entire mouth, so tasting anything after even the smallest sip appears entirely futile.

The classic cocktail recipe employing this dubious liquor is called a "Negroni," named for Count Camillo Negroni who legendary invented the drink around 1919. But at D.C. hooch haven The Passenger, which seems to share my dislike of that particular spirit, they've managed to make a bizarro version of the same drink without using any of the vile stuff.

The so-called "Notgroni" swaps in a different type of Italian bitters, Gran Classico, pleasantly changing the color and flavor of the drink altogether.

Combined with the Negroni's traditional gin and vermouth, the Gran Classico alters the normally garnet-glowing drink into a tawny treat. It was thick and sweet, with back hints of honey and rhubarb. Its earthy pungency and sweetness stuck with me long after I departed.

The Passenger, 1021 7th Street, NW, (202) 393-0220

Trixie Tamerlane is the author of From The Other Side: Pourings from the Mind of a Bartender

Photo by Trixie Tamerlane

Dishes We Dug

Overheard Outside Georgetown Scoops: "People are too nice here. I can't take it."

I Know I Ordered an Old-Fashioned But This Is Ridiculous: Last call, um, called at 10:45 p.m. last Tuesday at The Passenger because Pepco planned to shut-off the power in order to install some new lines.

Most Obvious Earth Day-Related Advice to Area Diners in a Press Release: "Car-pool, walk, ride a bike, or take public transportation to your favorite restaurant. According to CNN Money, each vehicle in America uses an average of more than 600 gallons of gasoline per year, which translates into a lot of emissions. And with rising gas prices, these modes of transportation also double as budget-friendly alternatives." [National Restaurant Association]

With reporting by Stefanie Gans

Photo by Rochelle Hartman/Creative Commons Attribution License