amanda mcclements

OK, so maybe not a real food fight, but a water balloon fight channeling the spirit of a food fight. It's hot, tomorrow marks the start of Washington's favorite month to hate, and boredom is seeping across the city. That's why I got excited when I read about Jaleo 's "La Tomatina" water balloon fight, scheduled for Aug. 24 at the Penn Quarter FRESHFARM Market . The fight, part of the restaurant's Aug. 14-27 La Tomatina festival, pays homage to a giant tomato slinging party (see photo) that takes place the last Wednesday of August in the small Spanish town of Buñol. Thousands of people descend on the town and proceed to hurl 300,000 pounds of ripe tomatoes at one another, leaving the streets covered in red pulp. Sounds a lot better than running with the bulls in Pamplona. We won't be so lucky back here in civilized D.C., but a $10 entrance fee will arm participants with water balloons and a "La Tomatina" t-shirt. The battle will get started ar...

I spent the weekend in lovely Asheville, N.C., visiting family and attending a wedding at the Biltmore Estate. The home of George Vanderbilt is the largest private residence in the country, with four acres of floor space, and its winery claims to be the most visited. We explored a fraction of the estate's 8,000 acres, boasting tranquil mountain views, rolling pastures, a farm village, inn and immaculate gardens. Epicurean highs: Plucking sweet blackberries, warm from the sun, off the vines in the Biltmore kitchen garden (see photo), and enjoying a fantastic meal downtown at Table , including almond-stuffed dates wrapped in bacon, a perfectly juicy pork chop, and a Frangelico peach milkshake. Epicurean lows: Eating fried mozzarella sticks under a cloud of smoke at TGI Friday's (I had no control: It was the default post-wedding hotel bar), and the too-warm wines (both whites and reds) in the Biltmore Winery's tasting room.

It gets pretty quiet round these parts come August, and though Restaurant Week will keep some of you well fed from Aug. 14-20, a few spots will be quietly closing for vacation. Most notably, Occidental (pictured) is closed now through November, as it renovates its kitchen in preparation for its 100th anniversary. Yes, folks, 100 years. Read about the restaurant's venerable past here , including the secret 1962 meeting between an ABC-TV State Department correspondent and KGB agent credited with sparking the resolution of the Cuban missile crisis. Also taking a short break is CityZen , which will close from Aug. 20 to Sept. 7. Maestro will also be closed Aug. 22 to Sept. 11. If you know of any others, leave them in the comments section.

Typically for your own birthday you expect people to give you gifts. But in an act of gelato generosity, Dolcezza in Georgetown is celebrating its two-year milestone by giving away free Mexican vanilla bean affogato, a scoop of Mexican vanilla gelato with a shot of espresso on top, from now through the month of August. Check out the gelato cafe's blog and print out the picture to get your free dessert. Happy birthday, Dolcezza! Dolcezza 1560 Wisconsin Ave. NW 202.333.4646

An afternoon distraction ... Thanks to the members at donrockwell.com for posting this link to Galileo chef Roberto Donna, a few pounds ago, cooking with Julia Child. And while we're at it, here's Citronelle chef Michel Richard, also looking svelte, making desserts for Julia.

If I could direct your limited Monday morning attention to the bottom of the sidebar on the right, you'll notice a new box that allows you to subscribe to Metrocurean via email. Simply enter your email address, and as long as there is new content, you'll get the latest posts from Metrocurean sent to you every 24 hours. But don't forget to come back here to leave all your witty comments and complaints.

What people are talking about locally ... ... Urbana in Kimpton's new Hotel Palomar opened this week for dinner at 2121 P St. NW. At a packed preview party on Wednesday night, Metrocurean sampled the tasty pizzas and appetizers, including buttery crostini topped with tomato and mozzarella and a spin on tuna tonnato offering a slice of rare tuna atop a tender piece of veal. The space, in typical Kimpton style, is striking and modern with a hint of retro swagger. A sign of glowing green wine bottles lures you down the steps, where the doors open into a long bar with lounge seating. The pizza oven, positioned behind a second bar, is covered with mirrored mosaic tiles — chef Richard Brandenburg affectionately called it the "disco ball" oven. Check out a few other takes on the new place on FreeRide and DCist . ... ... Bar Pilar 's new menu is settling in nicely, if the crowds are any indication. Highlights during my recent visit included a nice array of roasted olives, ...

My mom often tells stories about how she would find a grubby-handed, 4-year-old me, hidden behind stalks of green in our backyard garden, crunching away at the sweet sugar snap peas that were growing there. I consider myself lucky to have witnessed firsthand at an early age that food actually grows out of the dirt (thanks Mom and Dad), but not every child has that opportunity. Enter this weekend's Green Kids at Market Day: an event sponsored by the D.C. Chapter of Les Dames d'Escoffier to help kids understand the importance of eating fresh and healthy seasonal foods and feel a stronger connection to the land and local farms. On Saturday, kid-friendly events will take place at the Arlington Farmers' Market at Courthouse Square and the FRESHFARM Markets at Sixth and H streets NE and in downtown Silver Spring. On Sunday, take the kids over to the Dupont Circle FRESHFARM Market and Takoma Park Farmers Market . From 10 a.m. to noon each day, kids can take part in treasure hunts...

My civic duty as a juror concluded yesterday, and among other more profound legal lessons, one of the biggest things I learned is jury duty lunch doesn't have to be depressing. I decided to donate a part of the $30 daily juror payment to the " Subway -depresses-me-and- Au Bon Pain 's-not-much-better" fund. And I won't even touch the subject of the courthouse cafeteria. With a whopping 30 bucks burning a hole in my pocket, I spent my lunches away from the courthouse (and the code red air) at Rasika (see below), 701 , Andale and Teaism . And I didn't even have to blow more than half my budget.

Urbana , the restaurant in the brand spanking new Hotel Palomar , is slated to open for dinner Thursday. The former site of Gabriel , the restaurant's space on P Street has undergone a complete renovation. Designed to evoke an old world Tuscan wine cellar, the Kimpton restaurant offers 173 seats, a lounge and details of white marble and dark oak. On the menu will be dishes inspired by Northern Italy and Southern France, as well as 30 wines by the glass and about six quartinos (or 250 ml). Heading the kitchen will be chef Richard Brandenburg , a native of the D.C. area who has worked at Le Bernardin in New York City, Fifth Floor in San Francisco and Atelier in London. Locally, Brandenburg worked in the kitchens at Restaurant Nora and Red Sage , according to Tom Sietsema's Weekly Dish in the Post. I'm a sucker for a well-made cocktail, and Urbana's bar will be pouring cocktails created by Jacques Bezuidenhout, a master mixologist who has made a name at Harry Denton...

What's the best thing about serving jury duty in the District, besides the $4 transportation check ... oh and the informative and entertaining video that reminds you how important your civic duty is? Being mere steps away from Rasika for lunch! I'll call it a jury duty oasis, the polar opposite of the depressing courthouse and its monotone monotony: the addictive crispy spinach of the palak chaat, the fluffy naan, and a nose-tingling tuna tawa, coated in spicy mustard seeds with a tangy green apple relish. The worst part of jury duty? Getting picked. Please excuse any prolonged blog absences next week. Just fulfilling my civic duty.

In today's dining chat, Washingtonian's Todd Kliman reports that Cleveland Park's Palena is moving to Dupont Circle. Chef Frank Ruta had previously hinted to the possibility, and Kliman followed up with today's news: Well, there's no denying it now. Palena is moving. Ruta and Ann Amernick, the owners of the three-and-a-half star Cleveland Park restaurant ( "100 Very Best Restaurants," January), are ready to sign a lease to take over the Westinghouse Mansion in Dupont within the next year. As Ruta indicated earlier, the move to new digs spells the demise of the restaurant and cafe "as we know it." Though the move will release the popular restaurant from its less-than-desirable location directly beside a gas station, Kliman expresses concern that the move could change Palena completely. I, selfishly, am simply happy to hear it'll be closer to home. I can't count the nights I've wished I could walk to Palena's bar for a $10 bratwu...

Bar Pilar is set to unveil its new menu Wednesday. Created by executive chef Barton Seaver and new chef de cuisine Joshua Whigham, the menu will feature 10 to 15 items that will change daily to reflect what's fresh at the markets. Dishes will range in price from $4 to $8. Seaver, who also heads the kitchen at Café Saint-Ex and is a trained sommelier, has put together a well-priced selection of wines by the glass to complement the menu, in addition to a reserve list featuring lesser known bottles. On Bar Pilar's new menu, diners may find dishes like beet carpaccio with goat cheese, mint and pine nut; crispy polenta with smoked corn and basil; tilefish crudo with orange oil and celery; Manila clams "a la plancha" with red wine and rosemary; and lamb merguez with spicy cucumber and red onion. Seafood will be sourced from sustainable fisheries, while a good deal of other ingredients will come from local family farms. The menu also features charcuterie and cheese plates....

Chef Morou Ouattara gave a strong showing Sunday night on Food Network's Iron Chef America, but it wasn't enough to beat out Bobby Flay in Battle Frozen Peas. The former Signatures chef and soon-to-be chef/owner of Farrah Olivia in Alexandria turned out a creative pea-filled menu, including tempura fried pepperoncini stuffed with pea puree, lamb with pea salad and a judge-pleasing sweet pea cream cheese stick coated in chocolate for dessert. Morou won the chance to compete on the show in October, when he squared off in a local battle against former 1789 chef Ris Lacoste and Ristorante Tosca chef Cesare Lanfranconi. Quote of the night: Author and judge Julie Powell's proclamation that "There's much pea-ness going on here, which is nice," in response to one of Morou's dishes.

When France and Italy square off on Sunday for the World Cup championship game, a different kind of match will play out on the bar at Agraria , where sommelier Derek Brown will lead a tasting of wines from each country. Luckily, it just so happens the two countries produce some of the best wines in the world. It might not have been so easy with a Mexico vs. Ghana match. The tasting will run from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. The game, which starts at 2 p.m., will be shown at the bar. And all next week, Agraria will feature a World Cup by the Cup flight of the wines from the first-, second- and third-place winning countries. For other places to watch the game, check out these suggestions from the Post's GOG Blog.

I was too busy eating Locopops this past weekend to note Metrocurean's one-year milestone. What started as an experiment to see how easy Blogger was to use quickly turned into something more serious and, I hope, useful to the people out there who enjoy eating as much as I do. Looking back at some favorite posts, Metrocurean dissected the anatomy of a fry , whined about paper coffee cups, searched for a weeknight joint, uncovered Tabaq's location , debated Starbucks' popularity, doled out some tips for a new resident, peeked into Icing-gate at CakeLove , and brought you lots of news on restaurant openings, closings and happenings. Thanks for all your comments and tips this past year, and most of all, thanks for reading.

Wasabi , a new conveyor-belt sushi joint on Farragut Square, officially opened its doors today. Back in February, Metrocurean got the scoop on the new spot from chef Miguel Choy, who comes to D.C. by way of London, where he was executive chef at K-10 and Yuzu restaurants. Choy also has plans to open several more restaurants in the area, including take-out kiosks and a possible rooftop lounge. On the menu at Wasabi is traditional sushi, delivered kaiten-style via a 50-foot conveyor belt, along with soups, salads and grilled dishes like salmon and chicken basted with teriyaki sauce and Peruvian-inspired anticucho , prepared with panca and amarillo chilies. A selection of sakes will be available once the liquor license gets out of limbo, most likely in the next few days. Dishes on the belt are color coded by price ($2 to $5) and include labels to help you sort out what you're eating. The restaurant also offers take-out service, including sushi boxes, salads, drinks, charcoal-grilled...

Dispatch from Durham, N.C. ... Strawberry balsamic popsicle from Locopops Cool, refreshing and perfectly portable, popsicles are one of summer's simplest pleasures. So I was so delighted to finally get the chance to try Locopops while visiting my family in Durham this weekend. The tiny shop, which has been open just over a year, sells Mexican-style paletas, or popsicles, and regularly has a line out the door. Owner Summer Bicknell spent three months in Mexico learning to make the frozen treats before deciding to set up shop in Durham. Locopops' motto is "Blending the traditions of Mexico with the flavors of the world." A giant whiteboard behind a plain counter and four large freezers displays Bicknell's creative flavors, divided into paletas de crema (cream-based) and paletas de agua (water-based). At $1 for a small paleta and $2 for a large, it's easy to justify trying several flavors. The strawberry balsamic packs an invigorating tang, while creamy lime tas...