When we found California-raised ostrich eggs at Whole Foods in Alexandria, the first thing we wanted to do was cook one. And the second was ask someone how. The massive orbs—ostriches are the world’s largest birds—clock in at roughly three pounds, pack the equivalent of two dozen chicken eggs, and cost around $30.

We asked Westend Bistro chef Joe Palma to take on the ostrich-egg challenge. Instead of a simple scramble or hard boil—the American Ostrich Association says the latter takes 90 minutes—he concocted a rich ostrich-egg custard with goat cheese, served “on the half shell” with a toss of chorizo, oyster mushrooms, potatoes, and spring garlic. The combination was tasty enough to earn a place on his upcoming brunch menu with chicken eggs.

Cracking the fortress-strength egg shell isn’t easy. If you don’t have a hand saw, try a hammer. In this recipe (below the jump), Palma uses one ostrich egg, which makes 24 six-ounce custard portions. You can store the mix in the fridge up to three days, or Palma says, the same custard formula makes a tasty quiche: Pour the mix into a two-inch-deep store-bought pie crust and bake it in a 325-degree oven for 45 minutes.

Just like everyone else with any business sense in Washington, restaurants are jumping on the Stephen Strasburg craze. But as Strasburgers flood the market, how can foodies tell the aces from the minor-leaguers? We visited three area restaurants to rate their burgers for taste, presentation, and creativity—also known as “Strasburgness.” In each category, we ranked them from 1 (bottom) to 14 (tops) in honor of the phenom’s debut game with 14 strikeouts.

The thing about shrimp—and this goes for the grill or the stove or the oven or wherever—is that it’s extremely easy to overcook. More than a couple of minutes is often too much. I like shrimp at the point where they’ve just lost that translucence, where they’re still pliant and not yet firm. That’s hard to get. It’s a feel thing.

Always, always take them off the pan or the stove or the grill before they’re done—well before. As I said, it’s a feel thing, but you want them to have a slight translucence. They’ll continue to cook from the heat they’ve built up, eventually taking on that just-lost-their-translucence look you want. It’s a little like making scrambled eggs: By the time they look done in the pan, they’re ruined, because they’ll harden and become rubberized on the plate.

A good olive is a well-cared-for olive. You don't want anything soft or mushy—you want an olive that's been well-preserved. Nothing canned. Jarred is better, but even better is getting something at an olive bar at one of the better grocery stores.

The route to great olives is to take home a container of olives—whatever you like—and doctor them.

Ashley Messick, who spent the last year eating her way through The Washingtonian’s 2009 100 Very Best Restaurants list, recently crossed the finish line with a meal at Obelisk—almost a week before her self-imposed deadline. Through it all, she maintained her sense of humor and adventure as she chronicled each meal on her blog, From Komi to Marvin.

Here, she reflects back on her year spent as a volunteer food critic.

Washington isn’t lacking in hot dog options. From the housemade franks served by Peter Smith at PS7’s to the cheap dogs smothered with onions and mustard at the divey Vienna Inn, there are plenty of spots to indulge.

But what if you’re hosting a cookout? When grilling a mountain’s worth of hot dogs for a hungry crowd, you want to make sure you’re serving the tastiest. With that in mind, we here at Washingtonian.com gathered for the ultimate summer eating challenge: a hot dog taste test.

To find out the best brand available in local grocery stores, we assembled a crack panel of tasters. The scene: a steamy summer evening on a rooftop in DC’s Shaw neighborhood. The panel: nearly a dozen Washingtonian staffers and assorted friends. And, most important: the hot dogs. Here’s a list of the brands we sampled.

Ashley Messick dines her way through the Washingtonian's 100 Best Restaurants—and blogs it all along the way.

Ashley Messick has a thing for lists—even her book club focuses on reading the 100 best novels of all time. So when the 27-year-old Capitol Hill staffer saw The Washingtonian’s 100 Very Best Restaurants in February, a familiar bell went off, and suddenly she was eating—and blogging—her way through the places on the list. From Komi to Marvin is a blog where she shares her experiences through charmingly snarky write-ups and the occasional Food Porn Pic of the Day. (Shrimp toast at Four Sisters, your honor has been compromised.) Over dinner at Eatonville (a new restaurant that’s not on the list) we got to know the woman who’s showing us the love.