amanda mcclements

Options for New Year's Eve have been thoroughly covered, and if you still don't have a plan, check out the links in the upper right column. But let's just say that you go easy on the bubbly, and getting dressed and leaving the house on New Year's Day is actually a goal you aspire to. Where to find sustenance? Nage has cooked up a creative and curative promo, offering Gatorade cocktails and an over-the-top dish dubbed the morning-after kill it skillet that piles on truffled mac and cheese, fried potatoes topped with chorizo and a sunny-side up egg (pictured above). Three Gatorade cocktails will be featured, including the Orange Electro-Lytesaver, a mix of Orange Gatorade, Bacardi Limon and ginger ale. Stop in from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Call 202.293.8000 for reservations. Check out this post from Going Out Guru Erin Hartigan for more New Year's Day eats.

The final Five Bites of 2007 comes from DJ Phu (at right), who calls himself a "pro-am eater that spins music on the side while keeping down a full-time job." 1. Le cassoulet maison at Bistro D'Oc 2. Lobster mac and cheese at Zola 3. Peking duck at Peking Gourmet Inn 4. Linguine carbonara at Sonoma 5. Barbecue sandwich with slaw at Little Richard's Bar-B-Que in Winston-Salem, NC (a Metrocurean favorite as well, so I let the non-DC entry slide) Thanks for all your excellent Five Bites submissions this year. I'm sure you'll find plenty more delicious bites in 2008, so tell Metrocurean readers which dishes you're enjoying around town by e-mailing five of your favorite dishes or drinks and whether you'd like your name and a picture included to metrocurean AT gmail DOT com.

I recently had the pleasure of sitting next to renowned chef Eric Ripert during a media lunch at his new Westend Bistro in the Ritz-Carlton. Ripert (above right in Westend's kitchen) was a charming and very down-to-earth host for the afternoon. He and chef de cuisine Leonardo Marino (above left) treated guests to some of the bistro's specialties, including ratatouille, macaroni and cheese with ham, and roasted chicken with bread stuffing. We were also served a hearty pistou soup inspired by a recipe from Ripert's grandmother. The restaurant graciously shared it with Metrocurean. The soup is not on the menu, but it would make a perfect winter's night dinner at home. It's also a great recipe to keep around come summer when basil surpluses abound. Eric Ripert's Pistou Soup Serves 4 For the pesto: 3 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves 2 large cloves of garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon Parmesan For the soup: 1/3 cup ...

After working through a backlog of delicious bites with double doses each week (thanks to all of your wonderful submissions), Five Bites slims down to its original single-serving format today. Marie Fritz, a doctoral candidate at the University of Maryland who works at a non-profit housing organization, offers today's selections. Her dinner at Blacksalt was the result of a lost wager in which her friend chose the restaurant. Despite being a seafood joint, the restaurant put together a fantastic vegetable dish. 1. Egg and cheese on a bagel from the Kalorama Deli 2. Vegetable cous cous from Pyramid Restaurant (where "the sweetest woman cooks great and affordable Moroccan food") 3. Gnocchi appetizer and veggie plate with strawberry shortcake for dessert at BlackSalt 4. La Capra pizza at Faccia Luna 5. Chocolate bombe with a Pom Fizz cocktail at Tallula Tell Metrocurean readers which dishes you're enjoying around town by e-mailing five of your favorite dishes or drinks ...

Heaven knows I eat too much meat around the holidays. Scratch that. I eat too much meat all year. And we all know that the fish-heavy Mediterranean diet is touted as one of the healthiest on the planet. That's why I love the Italian holiday tradition of the Feast of Seven Fishes. You get to feel indulgent even though you're eating some pretty healthy food. Two of DC's best Italian restaurants are offering a fish feast over the holidays. At downtown's D'Acqua (pictured above), you can dine on a multi-course seven fishes menu through Dec. 31. “As a child I recall spending an entire day traveling between fish markets with my mother to select all of the fish for the feast,” says the restaurant's chef and co-owner Enzo Febbraro. “Don’t dare have less than seven different fish on the table. More is great, but it had better be at least seven,” he says. D'Acqua's eight-course menu, priced at $75, offers pan-fried oysters with black truffles and prosecco flavor...

In a city woefully void of street food options, put a few good eats on the sidewalk and we get really excited. Lots of people have been buzzing about the variety of food available at this year's Downtown Holiday Market . The day I hit up the strip, the stand (pictured above) was dishing out beautiful crepes with sweet and savory fillings. The food vendors change from day to day, and you have until Dec. 23 to check it out. Fresh doughnuts, pad thai and Italian sausages have also been available. The market runs from noon to 8 p.m. at F and Seventh streets NW.

This spring, a major redevelopment project under way at the corner of Bethesda Avenue and Arlington Road on Bethesda Row will welcome two spots with DC roots — the second outpost of Dolcezza and Redwood , from the Sonoma and Mendocino Grille crew. The delicious Dolcezza of Georgetown (and area farmers markets ) will open a second location around March or April in the new section of Bethesda Row. (Check out their snazzy new web site and click on locations to see what flavors are currently available.) For the shop's interior, owners Robb Duncan and Violeta Edelman are bringing in big antique frames and mirrors from flea markets in Edelman's hometown of Buenos Aires and an old antique chandelier. The Argentine capital is also home to the couple's old gelato teacher, who has been crafting artisanal gelato for 55 years. Dolcezza's gelato production will stay in the Georgetown shop, "so we can stay on top of the quality," Duncan says. And with quality in mind,...

Restaurants come and they go ... and sometimes they up and move, which is the case for two spots on today's Five Bites lists. Read on to find out what popular Vietnamese restaurant is relocating. Missy Frederick, whose writing can be found in The Examiner and on DCist and DCFud , offers a Virginia-centric list of bites to start us off today. 1. 54's spicy roast duck and pineapple fried rice at Bangkok 54 2. Qaubili palau (meat sauce and lamb on top of rice with carrots and raisins) at Bamian 3. Shrimp toast dipped in just about any soup, like shrimp won ton and rice noodle, at Four Sisters (Check out Tom Sietsema's Thursday food flash on an upcoming move for the popular Falls Church restaurant.) 4. Pecan-crusted catfish in creamy lemon sauce with garlic mashed potatoes at Old Hickory Grille 5. Cajun fries with bacon and cheese at Dr. Dremo's Katie, a self-proclaimed ravenous foodie, dishes up the second set of bites. 1. White truffle ice cream with apple-mosc...

What is a pintxo , you ask? From Spain, home to the greatest grazers in the world, the pintxo (PEEN-cho) is a small bite tapa from the Basque region's San Sebastian, usually served on a toothpick or a slice of bread. In other words, the perfect food with cocktails. Starting Dec. 17, Jaleo is bringing back happy hour pintxos, after they proved so popular during the restaurant's Pintxos Festival in October. The little snacks will be available every Monday from 5-7 p.m. for $1.50 each at all three Jaleo locations. Among the pintxo fans back in October was The Washington Post 's Food section, which highlighted the bites here . The pintxos will be presented at the bar. Choices include mojama con pipirrana, salt cured tuna with cucumbers, green peppers and tomatoes; pulpo a la gallega, boiled octopus with paprika and olive oil; anchoas con piquillo y queso de cabra, Spanish anchovy with "piquillo" peppers and goat cheese; and escalivada con caña de cabra, roasted veget...

Just recently, Metrocurean took a look at some prominent restaurant naming trends in the DC area. To update, it looks like we could have the makings of a fluffy-tailed fad on our hands. Erin Killian of the Washington Business Journal reports that T.S. Muttly's (awful name) in Adams Morgan has new owners who plan to transform the space come January into a bar and restaurant dubbed Black Squirrel (awww). The name, of course, is a nod to those elusive black beauties that have roamed our concrete jungle since they were imported from Canada in the early 1900s. I don't know about you, but I always get excited when I spot one. Had I grown up here, I totally would have subbed in "spot the black squirrel" for the dumb punch bug game. (Read more on the history of the black squirrel here .) As someone who has admittedly eaten squirrel (probably gray), I was happy to read that the critters will not be on the menu. Instead, Killian says to look for "comfort food with a ...

Today's first helping of bites comes from MB of mbpalaver.com . 1. Wahoo crudo with a mini mint leaf at Hook 2. Crispy skate wing à la Jacqueline (pictured at right) with garlic spinach at Brasserie Beck 3. "Gaspacho" estilo Morelia (salad of jicama root, mango, cucumbers, jalapenos and Mexican sour orange) at Oyamel 4. Pea fritters with tomato chutney at Curry Club 5. Cherry cheesecake with balsamic-cherry compote and graham cracker tuile at Ardeo Bill Walsh (pictured at right), national copy desk chief at The Washington Post and proprietor of The Slot: A Spot for Copy Editors , offers up the next set of well-edited bites. 1. Bacon-apple biscuit from the bread service at PS 7's 2. Barbecue pork bun at Banh Mi DC Sandwich 3. Four-way Cincinnati chili at Hard Times Cafe 4. The House Special (New York strip au poivre with brandy-mushroom cream sauce and bleu cheese crumbles) at Ray's the Classics 5. Saltenas at My Bakery Cafe (Alexandria) Join the fun and tell M...

Thanks to artful sweet treats for sale at two area restaurants, you can look like a pastry pro at your holiday party without ever picking up a whisk. And the icing on the cake: both desserts raise money for good causes. Just in time for the first real snow, Citronelle 's adorable snowmen (pictured above) are back. The $12 snowman kit ($4 is donated to St Jude Children's Research Hospital) includes the snowman meringue, all the accessories like a chocolate hat and red marzipan scarf, and instructions for assembly. Call 202.625.2150 to place an order for pick-up. Next up, Café du Parc at the Willard InterContinental is offering a gorgeous buche de Noel (above), designed in partnership with Placido Domingo, the world famous tenor and conductor of the Washington National Opera. The foot-long, opera-inspired cake is available in carry out boxes from Café du Parc through Jan. 1. (Disclosure: I received one as a gift and can say it feeds a crowd of at least eight.) A portion of the ...

The future looks uncertain for one of the mid-Atlantic's most treasured getaways. Chef and owner Andrew Evans is putting the Inn at Easton up for sale and closing its renowned dining room for the winter Jan. 1, according to The Baltimore Sun 's dining blog (via donrockwell.com ). The post points to the chef's divorce as the reason for the sale. The talented chef has other plans, however, for the Eastern Shore town: He'll open a Thai restaurant called Thai Ki at 216 East Dover St., according to the blog's author, Elizabeth Large . The report leaves open the possibility that Evans could reopen the dining room if the inn doesn't sell. If a sale does go through, the post mentions that he could continue to oversee the restaurant for the new owners, while running Thai Ki.

When it's miserably cold and windy outside, I get a hankering for spicy soups. My favorite go-to is pho, the traditional Vietnamese noodle soup. At home, I've been tinkering with a pho recipe from " The New Best Recipe " that takes a shortcut with chicken stock enhanced with star anise, cinnamon, ginger and garlic. It's tasty but not really authentic. Meanwhile, my friend Brys of Cookthink has inspired me to up the effort ante with an excellent and appetizing blog post on how an experiment with homemade beef broth morphed into pho. Loyal fans of Five Bites may have noticed how often pho from Pho 75 pops up on people's lists. (It's now a Five Bites All Star .) There are locations scattered all around the area, and Washingtonian says the outposts in Rosslyn , Langley Park and Falls Church are the best. If you have time to make your own noodle soup, by all means give it a shot. But when you'd rather have your pho fuss-free, where do you go?

When the Year of the Pig began back in February, I wrote this post with intentions of pointing out piggy goodness for the months to come. Though I've enjoyed my fair share of the other white meat this year, I've fallen down on the pork reporter job — my last porcine post was back in March on these slightly creepy bacon mints . With only about two months before the completely unappetizing Year of the Rat begins, I'm bringing back the failed feature with this shout out to the delightful Smoky Bacon Russian dressing (at left) at DC newcomer Chop't . The recently opened salad shop in Penn Quarter is a great place to score a healthy meal, with fresh greens galore and plenty of flavorful fat-free dressings to choose from. But (thankfully) the menu does not deny customers the American right to make something inherently healthy utterly fattening by drenching it in creamy dressing. This particular creamy dressing packs some serious bacon flavor and nice tanginess. Even better, ...