You have to salute Mike and Elizabeth Bober over at Capital Spice. They know how to take one for the team.

The husband-and-wife food bloggers have compiled a Google map featuring the places that made the Washington Post, Washingtonian, and the Washington City Paper’s annual best restaurants lists. Just as helpful, they’ve also included the highest-rated eateries from the 2009 Zagat guide and have plans to add the 50 restaurants on Northern Virginia’s list once it becomes available online.

In a post today on their blog, the couple explained why they invested so much of their free time in providing this public service:

Read More “Capital Spice Maps Out the Critics’ Favorites in the Metro Area” »

In some ways, I don’t even know why I’m pimping this year’s Best Food Writing collection, which is due out today. If you’re a die-hard local gastronome, you’ve probably read 10 percent of the book without even purchasing it.

How so?

Five of the 50 essays included are from D.C. area writers, including Joe Yonan, Monica Bhide, Jane Black, Todd Kliman, and yours truly. Not to make too much of this showing from local scribes, but let’s do a quick comparison of how the D.C. market fares against those cities with long-established food cultures, like Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. (Forget New York City; we don’t stand a chance.)

Here’s the break down of Best Food Writing 2009 contributors from each city (based on a quick scan of the 50 essays; errors may occur, as they say):

Read More “Best Food Writing 2009 Due in Bookstores Today” »

The Washington Post placed in four separate categories in the Association of Food Journalists 2009 awards contest in New Orleans last week, including nods for Tom Sietsema, Jane Black, and the Food Section as a whole.

Black won or shared two awards. She earned a second-place finish for Best Newspaper Food Feature, circulation 250,001 and over category, for her profile on Patrick O’Connell, chef/owner at the Inn at Little Washington. She also shared a first-place award for Best Newspaper Special Food Project with Anthony Faiola, Dan Morgan, and Steven Mufson for “Clipping, Scrimping, Saving.”

Read More “Local Food Scribes Fare Well at 2009 AFJ Awards Contest” »

Yesterday afternoon, Eventide General Manager Dave Pressley was so excited about his restaurant’s inclusion in Tom Sietsema’s latest Dining Guide that he pasted the Post’s link onto his personal Facebook page.  Someone at the Clarendon restaurant also posted the news on the eatery’s Twitter feed.

There was just one problem: The guide wasn’t supposed to go live yet.

“[T]he page listing my 50 favorites went online, inadvertently, and was taken down when it was brought to our attention,” Sietsema e-mails Y&H this afternoon. The Post food critic didn’t know how long the guide was live.

That wasn’t the only hiccup, either. The guide wasn’t complete yet.

Read More “Sietsema’s 2009 Dining Guide Makes Premature Appearance on Web” »

If you ever doubted the fame of Ben Ali and the tiny chili stand he started in 1958, all you have to do is look at the news coverage detailing his death yesterday. News outlets across the country either ran the AP story or wrote short, tribute-oriented pieces of their own.

Here are a few of them:

• The New York Times‘ Diners Journal: “There is perhaps no better way to end a punk-rock evening in Washington, D.C., than with a brisk walk up from the 9:30 Club to the bright lights of Ben’s Chili Bowl, home of the chili-laden half-smoke sausage, for a snack.”

Read More “The Death of Ben Ali: What Others Had to Say” »

OK, if Zagat’s time is over, as Y&H argues in tomorrow’s cover story, where do you turn for reliable commentary and ratings on restaurants? Yelp? Chowhound? Urban Spoon? DonRockwell? Or some other outlet?

I don’t think we’ve reached any sort of consensus yet, but the early response to my question this week is leaning hard on the standard media over the online newbies.  That’s right, the Toms, Todds, and Tims have it (even Tyler, who’s online but hardly new media).

The first person to respond to the question was Richard, who wrote in quickly and succinctly, if sloppily: “Hands Down, it’s Tom Sietsma [sic] at Brand X.” I asked Richard to elaborate on his choice, and here’s what he wrote back:

Read More “Which Sources Do Readers Trust for Restaurant Commentary? The Ts Have It.” »

Last week, over at Brand X, I wrote a piece about fishing for Spanish mackerel with my in-laws. Well, to be more precise, it was a piece about not fishing for Spanish mackerel, since I got sicker than a Hill intern on a weekend bender.

Among the haters who commented on the story was united100, who wrote this:

Read More “Is Spanish Mackerel Really a Stinky Oily Fish?” »

Y&H has already tooted his own horn like Miles Davis after several lines of toot. But Holly Hughes, editor of the annual Best Food Writing anthologies, e-mailed Y&H yesterday to let me know who else in the D.C. area made the cut in this year’s collection. It’s an impressive showing.

The honorees (the list could expand, given that Hughes may not know all the D.C. writers by name):

Read More “D.C. Well-Represented in This Year’s Best Food Writing Collection” »

Zaytinya: You practically get a metal concert with your mezze.

Y&H still remembers, more than  a year ago, when the dining critic at Brand X wrote a Sunday magazine cover story about noise in restaurants and even instituted a special feature measuring decibel levels at every restaurant he reviews. What a waste of time, I thought, writing about something that’s so subjective. One diner’s noise, after all, is another diner’s buzz and excitement. (OK, critiquing food is totally subjective, too, but go with me here.) Only old folks and babies, I figured, care about noise in restaurants.

Well, I’m officially a geezer now.

Read More “Oh, the Noise, Noise, Noise, Noise in Restaurants” »

My Advil-providing coworkers know I enjoy Birreria Paradiso as much as the next fellow, but Georgetown’s paucity of public transportation means I only go there half as often as I’d like. Now that Paradiso’s Dupont location has expanded (and moved closer to the Circle), I have nothing to bitch about.

The new digs have 12 taps and a cask, and 180 bottles, according to bar manager Greg Jasgur. And although the bar itself physically looks like Birreria’s (a nice touch), Jasgur said the draft list will mostly feature different beers than Georgetown. Guess I’ll still be making the long haul to Fancyville.

I went this opening weekend and sampled many a fine beer, from Allagash’s new saison to that “Mad Bitch” beer those WaPo geniuses used in their unfunny routine. Pictures and the drool list after the jump.
Read More “Drool List: Pizzeria Paradiso at Dupont Circle” »