I was trying to get to the restroom during my most recent visit to Graffiato, Mike Isabella’s new neo-Italian starfucker clubhouse, when a photo-op blocked my way. Isabella and fellow Top Chef alums Carla Hall and Antonia Lofaso were huddled for a snapshot. As it happens, you see a lot of these snapshot sessions at [...]

Less than three weeks after opening, America Eats Tavern is losing its chef. No, not José Andrés. We're talking about Richard Brandenburg, the former head chef at Cafe Atlantico who stayed on to help Andrés conceive the historically themed America Eats pop-up concept, which Y&H reviewed last week. WaPo critic Tom Sietsema reports that Brandenburg [...]

Glove Shack, Baby! D.C.'s second Shake Shack location opens next week at Nationals Park. [Eater DC] You Gotta Try the Blasé Burger: Critic Tom Sietsema is nonplussed by all the fuss over Danny Meyer's double Shack power play. "At this point, the opening of another burger spot is about as exciting for some of us [...]

Smoky wood aroma? Check. Light, puffy crust? Check. Char marks that leave an ashy black residue somewhat resembling coal dust all over your fingers? Yeah, pretty much. All indications suggest that Edan MacQuaid is in the house. Washington Post critic Tom Sietsema broke the news Wednesday that the prominent D.C. pizzaiolo is back at the [...]

Dining To Distraction: The Washington Post's Tom Sietsema is getting ready to review two restaurants with "sound levels over 100 decibels. That's like eating to jackhammers." Any guesses? [@tomsietsema] NIMBYs Watch Would-Be Hip Strip Newbie: In Columbia Heights, some neighbors are concerned about the parking, noise, late-night crowds, and your usual garden-variety development issues. [PoP] [...]

Even the Fractured Prune Didn't Think of That: D.C.'s tantalizer-in-chief Erik Bruner-Yang is at it again. The chef behind the cover-charge-worthy pho dog has again partnered with U Street Music Hall proprietor Jesse Tittsworth on some inventive new menu items set to debut at the club this weekend, including a pork belly doughnut (pictured above) [...]

Yes, But Will There Be Customer-Behavior Videos? Silver Spring's Pacci's Neapolitan Pizzeria will be opening up a sibling restaurant in the old General Store space in Forest Glen where Gillian Clark, her fried chicken, and her video production work once found a home. [Eater D.C.] Smoothing Things Over: Oh, Spike Mendelsohn. He is clarifying his [...]

Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema grabs his first bite of the fare at Todd Gray's new hotel restaurant Watershed, finding a lot to like in the chef's special barbecue shrimp and grits (hazily pictured): It's no challenge for a diner to succumb to that shrimp and grits, ramped up with garlicky, barely cooked spinach [...]

Poor Boy? On today's dining chat at Washingtonian, Todd Kliman takes a closer look at Bayou and notes that Rusty Holman's po' boys are, well, expensive. "The po' would be hard-put to come up with the change to eat any one of these, however. The cost at dinner is $17; even with two good sides [...]

Bethesda diners, brace yourselves! This weekend, The Washington Post's Tom Sietsema has a Sunday restaurant review on Food, Wine & Co. If you read Carole Sugarman's "Why Washington Food Critics Hate Bethesda" piece in the current issue of Bethesda magazine, you'll probably assume that Sietsema will automatically hate the place. In fact, Sietsema kicks off [...]