Food

The Wrap-Up: The Week in Food

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 Times reports 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.”• BGR the Burger Joint will open another location in DC’s Dupont Circle, reports the City Paper’s Tim Carman. This news comes about a month after Don Rockwell announced that the Bethesda burger restaurant is also opening an outpost in Old Town. Marck Bucher, a co-owner of BGR, told Carmen that the Dupont location will have about 40 seats and will open in September at the earliest. The Alexandria outpost will start serving patties in August.

• Ezra Klein, a regular economic-and-domestic-policy blogger for the Washington Post, announced on the Internet Food Association’s Web site, where he’s a contributor, that as of July 1 he’ll be penning a food-politics column for the newspaper’s food section. What’s the title of the biweekly column? Klein and Post Food section editor Joe Yonan are letting readers pitch ideas. We personally like one of the suggestions left on the Internet Food Association page: “Butter Than Ezra,” from commenter P-Funk.

• Want to be on TV? Over the next couple of months, frequent these restaurants: J. Paul’s, Old Glory, Georgia Brown’s, Paolo’s, Neyla, and Pik a Pita. They’re all part of Capital Restaurant Concepts, a group that yesterday announced it signed a deal with MTV for the cast of the Real World: DC to eat at their businesses. If you catch a glimpse of cameras rolling, let us know—we’ll put it on our Real World DC Watch map.

More>> Best Bites Blog | Food & Dining | Restaurant Finder | Follow Best Bites on Twitter