Brothers Nizam and Kamal Ali recently opened Next Door, a new bar and restaurant next to their famed Ben's Chili Bowl. How are diners taking to chef (and Hell's Kitchen winner) Rock Harper's cooking? Do the crab cakes and mussels hold a candle to Ben's vaunted half-smoke? We set up our camera to find out.

Have you been to Next Door? What were your thoughts? Let us know in the comments!

Please baby Jesus, make this season more interesting pronto!

It’s been three weeks since we’ve seen the bright knives in the big city, and there was just no easing into it: The episode opens with Stefan saying he can “run circles around Hosea.” The Grinch lives on past Christmas.

Is Padma a little self-conscious about her post-holiday-gorging physique? What else could explain the odd choice of Diet Dr. Pepper as the episode’s sponsor? But the contestants don’t even have to use the fake-sugar soda in the quickfire challenge. The only stipulation is that they can’t use any sugar. Maybe I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! will sponsor the next episode and the chefs won’t be able to use fat.

Michelin-star-studded pastry chef Jean-Christophe Novelli is there to judge the chefs’ dessert-making skills. The Frenchman praises Stefan but notes that Fabio’s dessert is partially undercooked, which causes some sideways glances and tension between the infamous duo. Rhadika’s challah bread pudding ends up on top.

The second outpost of the frozen-yogurt shop Tangysweet opened its doors today in Penn Quarter (202-347-7893), and until 11 tonight, it’s giving customers a free small fro-yo (plain, pomegranate, or green-tea flavor) with one topping—choices include fresh pineapple, chocolate chips, and Cap’n Crunch cereal. If the tart snack leaves you with too much of a chill, head next door to sister spot Red Velvet Cupcakery (202-347-7895) and warm up with a cup of Valrhona hot chocolate ($4) and a cupcake ($3.25). Former DC Coast pastry chef David Guas has created the trendy confections, which come in flavors such as lemon cake with coconut frosting and espresso cake with mocha buttercream.  

Present takes fried rice beyond the ordinary with fresh lump crab and big, firm shrimp. Photograph by Chris Leaman.

When chef Luong Tran arrived from Vietnam this year to cook at Present (6678 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church; 703-531-1881), he asked owner Gene Nguyen two things.

The first was to see how Americans eat. Nguyen, the owner of Pho Hot, a popular soup shop in Annandale and Centreville, obliged him. He treated his new hire to meals not only at Huong Viet and Four Sisters—pillars of the local Vietnamese food scene—but also at such top restaurants as 2941 and Citronelle.

The next question came as Nguyen was outfitting the serene dining room with oak lattices and a trickling waterfall. Why, Tran asked, did they need a freezer? The kitchen was promptly overhauled.

Tran, who built a reputation in kitchens from Saigon to Hue to Hanoi, is as demanding of himself as he is of others. It’s one thing to favor fresh lemongrass over frozen stalks and insist on soup bases made from bones instead of bouillon cubes; it’s another to stop each plate that’s ready to exit your kitchen so you can carve—to order—a blossoming-rose garnish from a radish or carrot.

Like many other 26-year-old guys, Andrew Markert says he has little more than “pickles and beer” in his refrigerator at home. But in his other kitchen—inside Arlington’s Tallula restaurant—the young chef surprises diners with the likes of jasmine-tea-infused rabbit pappardelle and seared foie gras with apple butter and butterscotch.

A native of Baltimore, Markert worked in Rhode Island for a few years after culinary school and then moved to DC to be closer to family—and for a job in the kitchen at Citronelle. He spent time at Dish, Notti Bianche, and Vermilion under mentor Tony Chittum before becoming executive chef of Tallula and EatBar, Tallula’s gastropub sibling next door, this past July.

Markert chatted with us about some of his food favorites, from his soup of choice to the EatBar cocktail that made a gin drinker out of him.

Imbibe magazine recently combed the country for the 101 best places to get a beer. In case you missed it, beeradvocate.com has posted the list, broken down into ten categories, including best Irish-style pubs, best bottle list, and best beer shops. We know Washington is full of places to down a draft or crack open an unusual brew, and we’re glad to see that Imbibe agrees. The list gave the thumbs-up to Birreria Paradiso, Rustico, the Brickskeller, Brasserie Beck, Granville Moore’s, and Chevy Chase Wine & Spirits.

The raw bar at PassionFish is packed with lobsters, oysters, Wellfleet clams, and stone- and Dungeness-crab claws. Photograph by Stacy Zarin-Goldberg.

PassionFish, the latest offering from Jeff Tunks’s Passion Food restaurant group and the newest addition to Reston Town Center, is surprisingly understated given its pedigree. No soaring mermaids à la DC Coast, no shiny pagodas or life-size Buddhas as at TenPenh. Instead, the seafood emporium’s touches are more subtle—fishtail knives and forks, chandeliers that call to mind oceanic bubbles, sweeping curves of iridescent tile.

The sprawling piscine menu will sound familiar if you’ve visited Passion Food’s other restaurants. The gumbo, which has an almost mole-like complexity, recalls Louisiana-inspired Acadiana, the Yucatán shrimp ceviche is straight out of the recipe book of the Nuevo Latino spot Ceiba, and the red curry with pineapple that shows off curls of butter-poached lobster is cribbed from TenPenh.

The most successful dishes are PassionFish’s alone. Fried oysters are dabbed with tarragon aïoli and set atop cool ribbons of apple. A Parmesan-crusted dip, inspired by clams casino, had us tearing through a baguette to get the last bits. And a simply roasted whole branzino with Meyer lemon becomes a standout with a slathering of herb-packed green sauce.