amanda mcclements

Today's Five Bites comes from Capitol Hill Barbie , who strives to bring "order and decency to a world filled with nude lipstick with dark lip liner, fuchsia eyeshadow, and streaky highlights." Metrocurean wishes her well on her mission. 1. Steak salad with diablo sauce at Ray's the Steaks 2. The sunny delight or diamond roll at Sushi Sushi 3. Ostrich burger and Old Bay waffle fries at Bourbon 4. Crispy squid at Thai Square 5. The bacon at BlackSalt (at right) brunch Have a top five you swear by? Or just five great things you've eaten recently? Five Bites is your opportunity to tell Metrocurean readers which dishes you're enjoying around town. Send your list and whether you'd like your name and a picture included to metrocurean@gmail.com. (Photo from blacksaltrestaurant.com .)

Restaurant openings are notoriously difficult to predict, but April could just shape up to be a busy month. Feel free to interpret that to mean May is shaping up to be a busy month. That said, here's a look at some of the restaurants that are slated to open their doors in April: Brasserie Beck 1101 K St. NW Chef Robert Wiedmaier's second restaurant, which will showcase Belgian cooking, is expected to open in mid-April. Expect a more casual vibe and softer prices than its older sibling, Marcel's . Cafe du Parc 1401 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 202.942.7000 This classic French bistro, adjacent to the Willard InterContinental Hotel, plans to open April 2. Antoine Westermann, a Michelin-starred chef, supervised the creation of the menu, which includes dishes such as duck confit, les paupiettes de veau (stuffed veal fillet bundles), and Alsatian apple tart. Housemade pastries will be available for carry out. Hook 3241 M St. NW Chef Barton Seaver (formerly of Cafe Saint-Ex and Bar Pil...

The D.C. area is fortunate to have a dedicated organization like FreshFarm Markets making it easier for city folk to support local farms. What sets the six FreshFarm Markets apart is their commitment to the region. They are producer-only markets, meaning participating farmers and producers "must grow, raise, catch, produce and hand-craft what they bring to market," according to the organization. And next week, the markets around town get into full swing. First up, the Dupont Circle market enters its 10th year (congrats!) on April 1. Vidalia chef RJ Cooper will be on hand for a cooking demonstration at 11 a.m. The Foggy Bottom market gets going April 4, and the following day, April 5, the Penn Quarter market opens its season with a cooking demo by PS 7's chef/owner Peter Smith at 5 p.m. FreshFarm's H Street Northeast and Silver Spring markets kick off May 5. The Dupont market runs Sundays year-round in the 1500 block of 20th Street, between Massachusetts Avenue a...

When I was a kid, I'd fight for the crisp buttery edges when my grandmother or parents made David Eyre's pancake for breakfast. It was a special dish to wake up to, a step above the normal weekend pancakes. It was sweet, rich and a little tart, thanks to a squeeze of lemon juice. And it was so cool looking with its awkwardly puffed edges and depressed interior. (See a recent rendition above.) My overactive childhood imagination created a story to explain the "family recipe." David "Air"—who with a name like that was obviously a dashing pilot—was a distant relative whose brilliant pancake recipe had been carried on by generation after generation. Turns out I was only right about that last part. When I finally thought to research the origin of the breakfast delight, I found out that David Eyre was neither a pilot nor a relative. (I wasn't the only one who had it wrong. Josh Friedland of The Food Section called it "John" Eyre's pancake.) Eyre...

Fellow blogger and writer Kriston Capps of Grammar.police submits this week's Five Bites. 1. Virginia Beach oysters at Hank's Oyster Bar 2. Shrimp and grits at Buck's Fishing and Camping 3. Uncle Brutha's Fire Sauce No. 10 (pictured) 4. Minted cabbage at Yazuzu 5. Sushi-grade ahi with braised ginger, baby Shanghai bok choy and five-olive tapenade at Viridian Have a top five you swear by? Or just five great things you've eaten recently? Five Bites is your opportunity to tell Metrocurean readers which dishes you're enjoying around town. Send your list and whether you'd like your name and a picture included to metrocurean@gmail.com.

Congratulations to the nominees for the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington's annual awards: • New Restaurant: BLT Steak, Blue Duck Tavern, Farrah Olivia, PS 7's and Rasika • Fine Dining Restaurant: 1789, CityZen, Komi, Restaurant Eve and Vidalia • Informal Dining Restaurant: Bangkok 54, Corduroy, La Chaumiere, Pesce and Tallula • Chef: Cathal Armstrong, Restaurant Eve; Yannick Cam, Le Paradou; RJ Cooper, Vidalia; Robert Wiedmaier, Marcel's; and Eric Ziebold, CityZen • Pastry Chef: Naomi Gallego, PS 7's; Huw Griffiths, Tabard Inn; Kate Jansen, Willow; Steve Klc, ThinkFood Group; and Tom Wellings, Maestro • Rising Culinary Star: Nathan Beauchamp, 1789; Amy Brandwein, Bebo Trattoria; Tony Conte, The Oval Room; Mark Hellyar, Blue Duck Tavern; and Barton Seaver, Cafe Saint-Ex • Wine and Beverage Program: 2941, Citronelle, Restaurant Eve, Taberna del Alabardero and Vidalia • Neighborhood Gathering Place*: Ardeo, Busboys and Poets, Ha...

To usher in the first official day of spring, all 103 Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants in the Washington area are giving away free iced coffee all day. Why iced? To help customers put winter “on ice,” according to the company. With today's high only set for 48 degrees, we need all the help we can get. And I just knew that my friends over at Free Ride would have this promo all mapped out, literally . Follow the map to hit five Dunkin Donuts.

Nominees for the prestigious James Beard Foundation Awards were announced today. Representing D.C. are: • Michel Richard of Citronelle and Central for Outstanding Chef • Cathal Armstrong of Restaurant Eve and Eamonn's for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic • RJ Cooper of Vidalia for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic • Frank Ruta of Palena for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic • Citronelle for Outstanding Wine Service For a complete list of award nominees, click here . Congratulations to all the nominees!

OK, Bobby Flay. You've already taken down one of D.C.'s finest (see Battle Frozen Peas ), even though Morou was clearly robbed. So here's hoping your next "Iron Chef America" match-up with a Washington chef ends differently. The Spanish " boy wonder of culinary Washington ," Jo sé Andr é s, will battle the "Boy Meets Grill" Iron Chef on April 1, and Andr é s is throwing a big ol' screening party/fundraiser at the Crystal City Jaleo , starting at 8 p.m. Admission is free with donations and proceeds from the evening going to DC Central Kitchen . Guests can sample Jaleo's paella and Spanish ham and order off the regular tapas menu. The show will air at 9 p.m. on big-screen televisions. Joining Andr é s in Kitchen Stadium will be Caf é Atlantico chef Katsuya Fukushima and Ruben Garcia. Call Jaleo Crystal City at 703.413.8181 to reserve space and cheer on Andr é s. And watch out, Flay. From the looks of that expression, Jos é ...

Just in time for Saint Patrick's Day, chef Cathal Armstrong of Restaurant Eve , Eamonn's A Dublin Chipper and ( soon ) The Majestic , appeared on "The Martha Stewart Show" this morning to cook fish and chips. (And he made it look so easy!) Click here for the Dublin native's recipe for battered cod. Fans of the sauces at Eamonn's will be pleased to see recipes for the Marie Rose , Kitty O'Shea and tartar sauces, as well. Cheers to Cathal for tipping up a Guinness with Martha. Speaking of chefs in the news, congrats to CityZen chef Eric Ziebold for being named one of 10 tastemaking chefs by Forbes. (Thanks to Counter Intelligence for the tip off.)

Carolyn, who writes Eat.Drink.DC. , shares her Five Bites with us this week. 1. Bacon, egg and cheese salad at the bar at Restaurant Eve 2. Chocolate pot de creme at Bar Pilar 3. Panang chicken curry takeout from Thai X-ing 4. Linguine carbonara at Sonoma 5. Lemon-lavender polenta cake with blueberry ice cream and dried lavender at Viridian Have a top five you swear by? Or just five great things you've eaten recently? Five Bites is your opportunity to tell Metrocurean readers which dishes you're enjoying around town. Send your list and whether you'd like your name and a picture included to metrocurean@gmail.com.

Before the temperature plummets back down to freezing on Friday, get outside while you still can and enjoy some cocktails! Thanks to Washingtonian 's Best Bites blog, you can even whip up a batch of Oyamel 's fabulous salt air margaritas. Check out this post for simple instructions on how to create the crown of salty foam that sits atop the Mexican restaurant's drinks. The recipe calls for a hand-held blender, but it sounds like this also could be a job for the Primo Latte . I might just give it a whirl. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

Just a few nights ago, I stood under a canopy of South Carolina pine trees and stars, clutching the edge of a plastic table cloth. About 15 of us flanked the sides of a wooden picnic table, holding up the edges of the cloth to create a giant trough of sorts. We waited, mouths watering, for Jerry to dump an enormous, steaming pot of Frogmore stew onto the table. With the bonfire flickering in the background, the moment of truth arrived. Onto the table tumbled enough plump local shrimp, hunks of smoked sausage, potatoes and corn to feed a small army. Once seated with dinner contained to the middle of the table, we passed around a platter of frog legs, fried just minutes before. And to wash it all back? Mason jars of blueberry moonshine from North Carolina. I've died and gone to heaven, I thought to myself. It was meals like this one that made an already enjoyable weekend spent on a friend's Low Country plantation (above) even more memorable. Lunch earlier that day consisted of sw...

For this week's installment of Five Bites, the mind behind monkeyerotica.com offers the top five sandwiches in DC. 1. The Big G Man at Mangialardo and Son 2. The reuben at Deli City 3. The roast beef at Hodges Sandwich Shop 4. The Ahab burger (bacon, bleu cheese and mushrooms) at Sign of the Whale 5. The New York strip sandwich at Stoney's Have a top five you swear by? Or just five great things you've eaten recently? Five Bites is your opportunity to tell Metrocurean readers which dishes you're enjoying around town. Send your list and whether you'd like your name and a picture included to metrocurean@gmail.com.

Zaytinya has long been a favorite of mine, especially when I'm looking to impress out-of-town guests on a limited budget. The wrench in those plans, however, has always been the predictably long wait for a table. But that's changing thanks to a new reservations policy, announced on Zaytinya's web site. Previously, the restaurant (at right) only accepted reservations until 6:30 p.m. for dinner. The restaurant is now taking a limited number of reservations throughout the evening. "We hope this will encourage some of our guests to plan their evening with us and avoid an extended wait," the announcement states. Bravo on the new policy, Zaytinya! Meanwhile, Zaytinya's newly relocated sibling, Oyamel (where the grasshopper tacos have been flying out of the kitchen), is also taking reservations. (Photo by Maxwell MacKenzie.)

In case you need a reason to head out for dinner this evening (and order more than usual), don't forget that tonight is the annual Dining Out for Life event. Around 150 area restaurants will donate 25 percent or more of sales from this evening to Food and Friends, which provides daily home-delivered meals, groceries and nutrition counseling to individuals in the community who are battling HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-challenging illnesses. Restaurants donating a noteworthy 100 percent of sales include Ristorante Tosca , Addie’s and Freddie’s Beach Bar and Restaurant . Check out the complete list here . (PS to my email subscribers: Apologies for the "About the Author" email this morning. It seems that any time I edit an old post, the email service sends it out again. D'oh.)

They always get you at the cash register. Those cleverly packaged, point-of-purchase products prey of your impulsive nature. And so it was at Pulp last week, when I couldn't help but succumb to these timely and shockingly smelly bacon mints. They smell, no, they reek like bacon bits, and so will your fingers after you've handled them. And the taste? Did you really think I bought them to eat? No, just to laugh at and show off to company. But I did eat one. And only one. They taste like mint coated in faux bacon flavoring. Mmmm. Strips of gummy bacon were also for sale at the counter. Uncle Oinker's Savory Bacon Mints $3.25 per tin Available at Pulp (Metrocurean photos.)

This week's Five Bites come from Kate Marshall of Culture Me, DC , which covers everything from ticket giveaways to festivals to restaurant openings. 1. Hamachi with pickled papaya, red onion, shiso and citrus soy at Zengo 2. Fontina risotto cakes at Vermilion 3. Skordalia dip (potatoes and garlic) with pita bread at Zorba's 4. The Q Special pizza at Matchbox 5. Cumin crusted sea scallops with sweet and spicy slaw at Georgia Brown's Lots of new restaurants are popping up ( Oyamel , Central , Il Mulino ), with many more expected to open this spring, so keep the Five Bites coming! This is your opportunity to tell Metrocurean readers which dishes you're enjoying around town. Send your list and whether you'd like your name and a picture included to metrocurean@gmail.com.

Could there be relief on the way for the long lines at 2 Amys ? According to local blogger Layzeesusan , the wildly popular pizza joint is set to grow by about 30 seats into an upstairs space. Layzeesusan also reports that the new upstairs level, with a bar, is expected to be adults only. (Photo from 2amyspizza.com .)