• Dean Gold, owner of Dino in DC’s Cleveland Park, tells TBD that he’s scouting spaces for a second restaurant. Frontrunners for a location are Dupont Circle, Capitol Hill, and Columbia Heights. Gold says that while the new place will be Italian and wine-oriented, it won’t be a carbon copy of his five-year-old restaurant.
• Nycci Nellis reported on Twitter that First Lady Michelle Obama ate dinner with two friends at J&G Steakhouse in the W Hotel in downtown DC. This might be the first aberration in the Obamas’ streak of restaurant choices, which shows a commitment to homegrown chefs. J&G is owned by Jean-Georges Vongerichten, who has many, many restaurants all over the world.
• Tim Carman of Washington City Paper reports that Granville Moore’s has expansion plans in the works—good news for anyone who’s had to wait upward of two hours for a bowl of mussels at the H Street, Northeast, watering hole. Chef Teddy Folkman explains that he’s trying to figure out if the added space—approximately 26 more seats—will go into an adjacent storefront or the basement. He hopes construction will start in the fall.
• First, Mediabistro wrote Tuesday that Top Chef is returning to New York for its next season, which is filming now (it was also there two years ago). Wednesday, Eater threw out the rumor that it’s going to be an all-star edition featuring past contestants. That speculation included local chefs Mike Isabella (season six, formerly of Zaytinya), Spike Mendelsohn (season four, Good Stuff Eatery/We, the Pizza), and current Top Chef DC contestants Angelo Sosa (from New York) and Tiffany Derry (from Texas). Finally, a Grub Street tipster saw the whole cast Thursday morning at a grocery store. There’s confirmation on Mike, Angelo, Tiffany, and Silver Spring-based chef Carla Hall, but no Spike.
• Taylor Gourmet, the ode to Philadelphia sandwiches on H Street, Northeast, and the City Vista building at Fifth and K streets, Northwest, opened the garage doors to its third location this week. The latest is in Bethesda at 7280 Woodmont Avenue, and it has the same industrial look that earned it praise in Dwell magazine.
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