Daily dispatches on the Washington, DC area's food, restaurant and dining scene.

The Wrap-Up: The Week in Food

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Every Friday, we fill you in on what’s been happening in the local restaurant world.

By Ann Limpert   Published Friday, August 29, 2008

A lime cupcake with coconut icing from Hello Cupcake. Photograph by Jennifer Smoose.

• In the mood for a cupcake? Apparently. Dupont Circle’s fanciful Hello Cupcake (1351 Connecticut Ave., NW; 202-861-2253) debuted Monday morning with long lines and hour waits for its $3 peanut-butter/chocolate and root-beer-float confections. But that wasn’t the only cupcake shop that came on the scene this week. Old Town’s Lavender Moon Cupcakery (116 S. Royal St., Alexandria; no phone number yet), made a quieter splash when it opened last Sunday, but we’re itching to try the farmers-market-inspired creations such as peach-and-basil. to try the farmers-market-inspired creations such as peach-and-basil.

Comments

Hummingbird to Mars was overhyped and underwhelming...doesn’t hold a candle to PX, Tailor, or even the Tuesday night bar at Bar Pilar. First, the ambience was horrible -- it was stuffed into the upstairs at Bourbon, which is a great bar downstairs, but the upstairs doubles as a dance club on weekends and has a reminiscent feel to basement rec rooms. Second, the crowd seemed to be there for the gimmicky aspect of going to a speakeasy...and when I say crowd, I mean crowd. The place was packed. Not too mention, they screwed up our reservations and had us stand in the middle of the place, waiting forever. And lastly, the drinks were unbalanced and tepid, derivative of the frou-frouness we’ve been reading on a lot of cocktail blogs lately. The exclusionary pretentiousness of a "secret" bar was spot on, but everything else lacked. The Professor Jerry Thomas just might be turning over in his grave right now. In all honesty, a few tweaks here and there would probably set it straight, but hopefully the hummingbird can get its head on straight before the fad runs out.

Posted by: fairest, Sep 15, 2008 09:07:20 PM

I tried out Lavender Moon Cupcakery on Saturday, and the cupcakes were delicious-- from the buttercream frosting, to the fillings, to the moist cake. Write up here:
http://houndstoothgourmet.com/lavender-moon-cupcakery-116-south-royal-street-in-old-town-alexandria/

Posted by: Ramona-The Houndstooth Gourmet, Sep 01, 2008 07:24:44 AM

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