• Good Stuff Eatery/We the Pizza chef/owner Spike Mendelsohn is getting a third shot at bringing home a cooking-competition crown. Eater reports that the Food Network announced its contestants for the fourth season of The Next Iron Chef, and Mendelsohn is in the lineup. Mendelsohn was on season four of Top Chef and on the most recent version, Top Chef: All Stars.
• The blog ARLnow.com reports that Jill Erber, owner of the Del Ray cheese shop/cafe Cheesetique, will open a second location at 4056 Campbell Avenue in Arlington—currently the home of the Curious Grape, a wine and gourmet-food store. Erber tells the blog there aren’t many details set in stone, but she’s planning to open in the fall.
• The same Web site tells us that Taqueria Poblano is coming to Arlington’s Columbia Pike. The Mexican restaurant has locations in Del Ray and North Arlington.
• Nycci Nellis wrote on Twitter that Famoso restaurant and sibling M Café in Chevy Chase both closed suddenly because of a landlord dispute. She says there are plans to relocate the Italian eateries.
• Tom Sietsema of the Washington Post has some details on El Centro D.F., the second joint venture from chefs Richard Sandoval (Zengo, La Sandía) and Kaz Okochi (Kaz Sushi Bistro). El Centro D.F., a casual taqueria just a couple of storefronts south of their first restaurant, the Asian/Latin fusion joint Masa 14, will open May 5. Sandoval tells Sietsema there will be a tequila sommelier to oversee the 200-bottle collection, a roof deck, and a DJ booth in the basement.
• After last weekend’s rainstorms, Washington Harbour flooded the Georgetown waterfront, causing major damage to a number of restaurants, including Tony and Joe’s Seafood Place, Farmers & Fishers, Bangkok Joe’s, and Sequoia. A DCist tipster sent in photos of the water-logged area; the water rose higher than the bottom of patio umbrellas. The Washington Business Journal says Farmers & Fishers estimates a $20,000 to $40,000 revenue loss for every day the restaurant is closed.
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