• On Monday, the Washington City Paper’s Tim Carman spilled that Citronelle chef/owner Michel Richard might open a restaurant in the former Maestro space in the Tysons Corner Ritz-Carlton. For a time, it looked like British chef Gordon Ramsay would move into the dining room, vacated in 2007 by Fabio Trabocchi. But Carman got ahold of documents that Michel Richard Restaurants sent to potential investors laying out plans of a “10-year primary lease.” Even though Mel Davis, Richard’s publicist, brushed off the rumors, Tom Sietsema wrote on Washingtonpost.com’s Going out Gurus blog that the chef told him “maybe, maybe, maybe.”

• Frank Hankins, owner of Atlas District coffee/wine bar Sova, announced that he’s strengthened his wine and cocktail lists with the help of restaurant veterans Derek Brown and Dan Searing. Brown, former sommelier at Citronelle and Komi and current lead mixologist at the Gibson, was instrumental in luring Jamie MacBain—well known in Portland, Oregon, for his inventive cocktails—to tend bar.

• Teddy Folkman, the chef at Granville Moore’s, made his Food Network debut in July when he beat Bobby Flay in a throwdown of steamed mussels. DCist tells us that he’ll appear again on the TV channel in June, when the 2009 season of The Next Food Network Star begins. For the last six weeks, Folkman has been filming the show, in which the winner earns his or her own show on the Food Network.

• Tim Carman of Washington City Paper reports that Michael Kosmides and Jose Garcia, owners of Teatro Goldoni in downtown DC, will be opening a Mediterranean restaurant at 19th and I streets, Northwest. Teatro’s chef, Enzo Fargione, who has resurrected the Italian restaurant from the dead, will help the owners with their new venture, which is slated to open in December.

Is Johnny Monis this year's Rising Star Chef?

No matter how long the lines get each year for, say, one of Thomas Keller’s smoked-salmon cornets, or how many chefs awkwardly stare at their feet on the silly red carpet, the annual James Beard Awards ceremony remains one of the food world’s most hotly anticipated events. This spring’s gala—co-hosted by pocket-size Iron Chef Cat Cora, garlic-obsessed TV chef Emeril Lagasse, and as always, a random actor (last year, Kim Cattrall; this year, Stanley Tucci)—will be held May 4 at New York’s Avery Fisher Hall. The nominees were announced this morning—on Twitter, naturally—and we’re happy to report there are many locals to root for.

Johnny Monis, who opened Dupont Circle’s Komi five years ago at age 24, is once again nominated for Rising Star Chef. Among others, Monis is up against Sean Brock of Charleston’s McCrady’s, the restaurant where Monis started his career. The Best Chef Mid-Atlantic category is dominated by local folks: Cathal Armstrong of Restaurant Eve, Peter Pastan of Obelisk and 2 Amys, and Vikram Sunderam of Rasika.
 

If you’re still mourning local girl Carla Hall’s loss on Top Chef, we have some good news for you: There’s a new culinary reality-TV show with not one but many Washington contestants to root for. The Chopping Block, which airs Wednesdays on NBC, features two-person teams competing for a $250,000 prize, which they’d use to open their own restaurant. The show stars Marco Pierre White, a screaming, pot-throwing, foul-mouthed British chef who trained the famously short-tempered Gordon Ramsay.

Washington contestants include Mikey Torres, executive chef at Gifford’s Ice Cream, and partner Chad Phillips as well as Alex McCoy, head chef and bar manager at Rugby Food and Spirits, and his brother, Nate McCoy. And then there's Vidalia events coordinator Khoa Nguyen, 29, and his cousin Denise, 22. We admit we had high hopes for the pair, but in a surprise twist they closed out the first episode by standing up to White and walking off the show. 

We recently hung out with the cousins, who talked about their restaurant dreams and just how scary White can be.

The crazy in Carla has won us over. You go, Big Bird!

In her monotone, dragging voice, Leah opens this episode by telling us that cooking is the only thing she’s ever been able to do really well. Winning, she says, would be a validation of her hard work. Do we sense a sliver of enthusiasm?

Long-haired chef Wylie Dufresne, known for his quirky molecular gastronomy at Manhattan’s WD-50, is on hand as the guest judge. He’s obsessed with eggs (who knew?), so for the Quickfire Challenge, the chefs have an hour to create an egg dish that “will surprise our egghead,” says Padma, laughing.

Red in the face, Fabio exclaims, “I’m pissed!” when Dufresne puts him in the bottom for his sunny-side-up eggs two ways. He’s joined Hosea, who tried too hard to incorporate eggs into a Japanese-style breakfast, and Leah, whose potato ravioli were too heavy and greasy. Stefan (obviously) lands in the top with a whimsical eggs two ways—a poached eggs Benedict and a panna cotta with a mango “yolk.” But it’s Carla’s green eggs and ham that takes the cake for its playfulness.

Did you just get waited on by the best server you’ve ever met? Or pay $25 for a piece of bland foie gras? Did your delivery pizza show up delicious—or was it a greasy mess? We know you’ve got loads of opinions on local restaurants, and we want to hear them. That’s why we’ve just launched reader restaurant reviews on Washingtonian.com. Now you can rate a restaurant on a scale of one to five and let us know if it’s a good spot for, say, a date or a business meeting and then write your own review.

Old McDonald had a farm, and on this farm he had several Top Chef contestants. That's how it goes, right?

As the episode opens, we see that Hosea (wearing an “I [heart] Padma” T-shirt) has taken Fabio’s place as Stefan’s rival. Meanwhile, the other contestants refer to the Europeans as boyfriends.

In the kitchen, the chefs find season-three winner Hung Huynh, who looks rather petite next to Padma and her flowing hair. From under a white cloth, Padma unveils a slew of canned foods, such as Spam, peas, and beans. For this Quickfire Challenge, the contestants have to pull something together from, as Jeff describes it, this “pile of garbage.” In honor of Huynh, “the fastest chef in Top Chef history,” they have 15 minutes to work.

Stefan comes out on top with his Spam grilled cheese and baked-bean-and-ham soup. “Dammit,” utters Hosea under his breath. If only he hadn’t given Stefan that extra can of Spam.

For the elimination challenge, the nine chefs are separated into three groups: lamb, chicken, and pig. They’ll create a family-style lunch for 16 based around their protein. Ariane is worried about her lovebird partners, Hosea and Leah, while Carla knows she’ll have to mediate between Cocky and Feisty, also known as Stefan and Jamie.

The next day, as he heads out of the city to get food, Fabio notes, “All of a sudden, there are booshes. This is not the Whole Food Market.” They arrive at Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills, where farm-to-table guru and chef Dan Barber awaits with his three head farmers. The chefs will do their “grocery shopping” on the farm, and their lunches will be served to the farmers’ families.