• It’s official: Now that Roberto Donna has closed his Crystal City trattoria, Bebo, he’ll reopen his shuttered downtown dining room, Galileo . . . sort of. The new place, in the old Butterfield 9 space, will be called Galileo III and will have fewer tables than Donna’s old quarters. The Washington Post’s Tom Sietsema reports that Donna is also resurrecting Laboratorio del Galileo, a lavish, 12-plus course, open-kitchen dinner served to a small audience of diners. Now the big question is, will he bring back his late and lamented lunchtime sandwich grill? We want pork shoulder!
• We don’t necessarily associate oxygen facials with a followup brownie, but Bliss, the whimsical New York-based spa chain is all about laying on the indulgence. It’s looking for a killer brownie to serve at its new location in the soon-to-open W Hotel here, and it has narrowed the candidates down to three: Bread and Chocolate, Baked and Wired, and Heller’s. Bliss held an online vote this week—youbethefudge.com—and although polls have closed and the winner hasn’t been announced and the poll is open through June 30. Baked and Wired had the lead when we checked yesterday.
• Aside from Domku, DC’s Petworth isn’t known for any kind of restaurant scene. But that might be about to change. Washington Business Journal’s Missy Frederick reports that the owners of cool-kid magnet Marvin are scouting a spot on Georgia Avenue. One developer involved with the deal claims that the plan is to do something similar to the Southern/Belgian bistro named for Marvin Gaye. But co-owner Ian Hilton says he’s a couple of weeks away from releasing any details.
• Georgetown restaurant Agraria, which has gone through a string of chefs over the past few years, is getting an image makeover. Capitalizing on the popularity of sister restaurant Founding Farmers, it’ll now be called Agraria Farmers & Fishers. Sauce on the Side has the new menu, which is as all over the map as its siblings’s: chocolate-dipped bacon lollipops and hamachi crudo share space with “truck-style” tacos and chicken and dumplings. Expect the full menu to debut June 24.
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Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
