The roasted-red-pepper-and-crab soup at Harry Tap Room’s is so popular that the Clarendon restaurant sells gallons of it each day. It’s no wonder then that one of our readers requested the recipe. Executive chef Alex Reyes describes the soup as having a strong red-pepper flavor with a little bit of a kick. For the best results, he suggests searing the peppers instead of just sweating them. He also recommends using non-pasteurized local crabmeat. For his kitchen, he seeks out blue crab from Virginia.
At a time when everybody’s looking for good dining deals, Karma Kitchen’s one-page menu is a big attraction. It changes almost every week, but the prices don’t: There aren’t any.
Instead of a bill, diners receive a note explaining that their meal is a gift from a previous patron. The only request: Leave what you will to cover the next person’s meal.
We’ve got barbecue on the brain. Where's the best?
The combination of summer weather and the upcoming Fourth of July holiday means we’ve got barbecue on the brain. We’re thinking of everything from super-saucy ribs to pulled-pork sandwiches. We need you to tell us: Where’s the best place in Washington to find good barbecue? Let us know in the comments!
One woman's quest to eat through Washingtonian's 100 Very Best Restaurant List.
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 Marvinis 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.
An upscale July 4th pig roast, a summer beer tasting, and more in this week’s food event roundup.
Tuesday, June 30 Summer white ales and beer-based cocktails are paired with a beer-flavored entrée and dessert at Belga Café’s monthly beer-tasting event. Starting at 6:30, Belga’s chef and beer sommelier will guide diners through the meal and answer questions about the brews. Reservations recommended. Call 202-544-0100 for more information. $49. Wednesday, July 1 Five-dollar burgers and half-price wine? Sounds too good to be true, but it’s on every Wednesday during Wine & Dine at Eighteenth & Red in DC’s Adams Morgan. Dinner is served from 5:30 PM to 1:30 AM. No reservations required. Call 202-234-8866 for more details.
The hot dog has long occupied the same realm as the chicken nugget: Both are mystery meats that taste delicious as long as you don’t know where they come from or what’s in them. But there’s nothing to fear in Red Apron’s kitchen. Nathan Anda, the former chef at Tallula and EatBar, crafts dogs with a non-scary blend of local dry-aged beef and pork fat that’s encased in sheep intestines. Unlike many grocery-store varieties, the hot dogs contain no nitrates or preservatives, but smoked paprika, roasted garlic, and coriander all get added. Anda’s hot dogs are currently sold at Planet Wine (2004 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria; 703-549-3444), the Penn Quarter FreshFarm Market (Thursday 3 to 7 on Eighth St., NW, between D and E sts.), and the Ballston and Crystal City farmers markets (Fridays 11 to 3 in Welburn Square; Tuesdays 3 to 7 on Crystal Dr. between 18th and 20th sts.). Anda works his meat mastery out of the kitchen at Tallula, but he’s currently looking to find Red Apron its own location. A sign he means business: He says he won’t cut his hair until it happens. Watch the video below.
Every week, we wrap up what food news has been going on in Washington.
• President Barack Obama took his daughters, Malia and Sasha, to get a frosty treat on Saturday at the Dairy Godmother, a shop in Del Ray that specializes in frozen custard. The New York Timesreports that the family cut the line to get their serving of the Wisconsin-style dessert, which is lower in calories, fat, and sugar than conventional ice cream. So what did they eat? All of them got vanilla custard; Sasha had hers in a brownie sundae, Malia’s was in a waffle cone, and their dad had hot fudge and almonds on his. The President offered to leave a tip, but shop owner Liz Davis doesn’t allow them. Instead, she sent him home with some of her “puppy pops” for the First Dog, Bo.
• Breadline, the popular sandwich-and-salad lunch spot in downtown DC, was slapped with 19 health-code violations on Monday, which forced the place to close temporarily. The Washington City Paper’s Tim Carman secured a copy of the entire report, a startling piece of evidence that includes such problems as operating with a suspended license and a food slicer with “old food particles present.” The most offensive, though, is probably the health inspector’s discovery of “excessive live fruit fly activity throughout the establishment.” Eek. Carman also got a copy of Thursday’s inspection report, which shows that Breadline cleaned up its act quickly. The document has a list of “standard operating procedures” from the health department, including these two items: “Cold foods must be kept cold” and “Hot foods must be kept hot.”
Tons of Fourth of July parties, fireworks, pool parties galore, a pig roast, the closing of the Folklife Festival and Artomatic, and lots more in this jam-packed weekend guide.
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Though Ann Limpert graduated from Connecticut College with a degree in art history and creative writing, she spent most of her time in New England debating the merits of warm, buttery lobster rolls vs. cold, mayo-y ones. She spent two years covering the internet for Entertainment Weekly magazine (highlights include interviewing the Beastie Boys and dancing to "Livin' la Vida Loca" with Penn Jillette), then left to hone her kitchen skills at the Institute of Culinary Education. She has worked as a cook at several New York restaurants, researched and edited cookbooks, and now writes about food and restaurants for the Washingtonian.
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Kate Nerenberg
Kate Nerenberg started as an editorial intern at The Washingtonian in January 2008 and became an assistant editor in September 2008. A native of West Hartford, Connecticut, she spent the first half of her writing life as a sports reporter, and was the editor of the athletics section for the newspaper and student-run magazine while at Middlebury College. A joint Spanish and Art History major, Kate graduated in 2005 and took off on a year-long journey around the world. After tasting everything from fried crickets to lavish Turkish breakfasts, she realized she wanted to devote herself to writing about food, a lifelong passion. She lives with three roommates just east of Logan Circle in a house that's often filled with the smell of sauteed garlic, warm banana bread, or fried bacon and eggs.
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Rina Rapuano
Rina Rapuano's English degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond put her on the path to becoming a managing editor of a weekly business magazine; a freelance copy editor; and assistant managing news editor—and later the lifestyles editor—at a weekly paper in Maryland. But she realized her true calling when her descriptions of meals to friends and colleagues always seemed to end with the same statement: “You're making me hungry.” Frankly, it was making Rina hungry, too. She chucked her day job in 2006 to become a full-time freelance writer focusing mainly on food, and now works as assistant food and wine editor at The Washingtonian.
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