Teaism’s salty oat cookies, those hefty golden-brown rounds packed with oats and plump raisins and sprinkled with sea salt, have garnered something of a cult following around Washington. Purists may balk at their newish chocolate sibling, but I think it's terrific. They’ve got the same perfect balance of crispy to chewy and salty to sweet as the original, but a dark, chocolatey batter binds the oats and each chubby cookie is studded with lots of chunks of Belgian chocolate. Can’t decide between the new and old versions? A combination six-pack ($11.95) offers three originals and three chocolates.

Chocolate salty oat cookies, $2 each at Teaism in Dupont Circle (2009 R St., NW; 202-667-3827), Lafayette Park (800 Connecticut Ave., NW; 202-835-2233), and Penn Quarter (400 Eighth St., NW; 202-638-6010); teaism.com.

Overwood calls itself a “wood-fired American kitchen,” so you’d probably guess that the draw at this brick-lined Old Town dining room would be charred meats and fish crisscrossed with grill marks. You’d guess wrong.

Yes, you’ll see flames in the open kitchen, but it’s the hissing, popping fryer that should get top billing. Here, the bad-for-you eats are what’s best. A nearly half-foot-tall stack of thickly sliced green tomatoes—breaded, fried, and oozing peppery cheese—is finished off with Jackson Pollock–like scribbles of jalapeño aïoli and reduced balsamic vinegar. Simpler but no less tasty is an array of mozzarella-filled ravioli crisped to puffiness in the fryer and paired with chunky tomato sauce. A heap of lightly battered calamari hides frizzles of lemon and red onion.

Only a year old, Mia’s Pizzas in Bethesda is turning out some of the area’s best pies. Chef and owner Melissa Ballinger let us look as she and her staff went through the process of producing the simplest pizza on the menu. From the two flours she combines to make a flavorful dough to the Parmesan cheese rinds that infuse her tomato sauce, Ballinger’s many little touches add up to big flavor.

Photographs by Stacy Zarin-Goldberg.  

Remember Halloween in grade school, when peeled grapes doubled as eyeballs and cooked spaghetti became varicose veins? For the average seven-year-old, it was creepy. But no matter what age you are, it’s not so appetizing. 1789 Restaurant chef Nathan Beauchamp has played with the idea of freaky foods—but in more appealing versions—for the Georgetown dining room's special Halloween tasting menu. Because Halloween night is a typically slow shift, Beauchamp is serving some Fear Factor-type foods bizarre enough to make a “This one time I ate . . .” list. Though he had professed to keep the five-course menu a secret, we twisted his arm for details.

As of yesterday, fall has finally arrived—just in time for tomorrow’s Oktobeerfest at Rustico in Alexandria. Out back in the restaurant’s parking lot, seasonal brews will be flowing from noon to 6 PM, rain or shine. There’s more than just drinking involved—bring the whole family for live music, kids’ activities like pumpkin-decorating and moon-bouncing, and a smorgasbord of food.

Admission is free, but tickets will be sold to trade in for featured suds, such as Spaten Oktoberfest and Red Hook Late Harvest, and food from Rustico and its Neighborhood Restaurant Group siblings (Evening Star Cafe, Tallula, EatBar, Vermilion, and Buzz). The chefs have all contributed to the autumn-themed roster of comfort food—think bratwurst, Emmental cheese and Cambonator ale soup, porchetta sliders, pumpkin ravioli, and more. Of course, across-the-street neighbor Buzz will have lots of cupcake flavors on hand, as well as hot chocolate to quench the little ones. Proceeds go to a local chapter of Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN).

Rustico, 827 Slaters La., Alexandria; 703-224-5051; rusticorestaurant.com.

Where will Jamie Stachowski wind up next?

The four-year-old Restaurant Kolumbia fills the bellies of many of K Street’s professionals come lunchtime. It’s no wonder, because a $9 lunch special gets you such entrées as a juicy kielbasa sandwich or grilled-squid saffron risotto. But on October 27—just two days away—the eclectic American-meets-Eastern-Euro spot will be no more.

We’ll miss spending less than ten bucks on chef Jamie Stachowski’s handcrafted charcuterie, smothered with purple cabbage between two slices of pumpernickel-raisin-walnut bread. Though Stachowski and wife Carolyn are promising another venture, it could be a while—“somewhere between here and eternity,” he says.

But Carolyn entertains the idea of resurrecting the lunch specials when they open a new spot. It all depends on the neighborhood and whether the area can drive a big lunchtime turnout. “I like Dupont,” she says. “Then again, we live in North Arlington, and something right out there could be great.” NoVa does like to eat lunch . . . but as much as K Street? Perhaps.

The Source, Wolfgang Puck’s first DC restaurant, has been open just a few weeks, so it’s too early to weigh in with any formal judgments. But it seems as if everywhere we go, people are buzzing about this place. Last night, we stopped by the sleek downstairs lounge to check the place out. 

The upstairs fine-dining room and more casual lower level have separate menus and kitchens, but you can sample upstairs dishes from a perch in the downstairs lounge (our young server wasn’t sure but confirmed that with the general manager). The serene upstairs room was only about a third full, but for a Monday night, a decent-size crowd hung out downstairs, sipping ginger mojitos and classic negronis from the bar and munching on Kobe-beef sliders and designer pizzas.

The lounge menu is snacky and fun. Even the “small plates”—such as crispy chicken spring rolls, tamarind-glazed ribs, and General Tso-style chicken wings—offer portions generous enough to share. Four “bigger plates,” seven pizzas, and a handful of extras, including artisan cheeses and tempura onion rings, round out the roster. Of the bigger plates, the “sausage & pretzels” sounded most intriguing—soft, buttery pretzels paired with two fat links of sausage and house-made mustard for dipping. The mustard was so delicious I was tempted to ask for a bottle to take home.