amanda mcclements

Dear Sparky's cappuccino and everything bagel with egg and cheese, Oh, how I will miss our mornings together. You were such a good companion on days when I was too lazy to brew my own coffee or when I needed your extra caffeine boost. And how I loved the way the microwave-melted cheese smushed into the foil, so I could pick the pieces out so nothing would go to waste. I hope that you will find another location soon, as your sign says you intend to, preferably in the same neighborhood. Until then, I will have to drag my weary, caffeine-starved body an unbearable extra few blocks to Mocha Hut or Busboys and Poets or even Starbuck's. Signed through my tears, Metrocurean

This week's Five Bites come from Dan Herbst, an associate at Reed Smith LLP, who writes: "As I spend most of my life, and therefore meals, within a few short blocks of Franklin Square, I will dedicate this week's bites to those which may be obtained within a few short blocks of the beloved square." 1. Seared sea scallops, garlic mashed potatoes and chardonnay sauce at Corduroy (bonus with buffalo mozzarella porcupine appetizer) 2. Classic smoothie at Juice Joint 3. Gyro platter with Greek salad at Port of Piraeus 4. Hand carved roast beef sandwich at Café Phillips 5. Asian noodle salad at High Noon Five Bites is a weekly opportunity for you to tell Metrocurean readers which dishes you're enjoying around town. E-mail five of your favorite dishes or drinks and whether you'd like your name and a picture included to metrocurean@gmail.com.

Huge news for the Shaw neighborhood from today's "Ask Tom" chat : The highly regarded Corduroy restaurant will move to 1122 Ninth St. NW in early 2008. The Four Points Sheraton that housed the restaurant is being torn down to make way for a high-end office building. Fans of chef Tom Power's cooking shouldn't panic: The restaurant won't close until January, according to Tom Sietsema. In other noteworthy restaurant changes, former Firefly chef John Wabeck is back at New Heights , where he served as executive chef for several years. Former Equinox chef de cuisine Ethan McKee is head chef at the forthcoming Rock Creek at Mazza . JohnPaul Damato recently left his post as executive chef at Mio to return to a gig with Jose Andres; sous chef Ryan Wheeler is overseeing the kitchen. Lisa Scruggs is no longer at Buzz . Taking over the dessert kitchen is Josh Short, who returns to D.C. after a stint as the owner of From Scratch Baking Co. in Charlottesville. Karen H...

Forgive the headline, but seriously, according to The Examiner , the owners of Ben's Chili Bowl plan to open a new spot next door in what used to be The Casbah , a U Street club of yesteryear. The Examiner reports that the new restaurant/lounge plans to serve alcohol and a different menu from Ben's. Not to delve too far into territory I can't verify, but the space reportedly also operated at different times as the Music Box, the Jungle Inn and the Blue Moon. In the 1930s, the club was reportedly run by the famous jazz musician Jelly Roll Morton. Read more here . If any new owner could keep the spirit of the space's history alive, it's certainly the Ali family of Ben's. Stay tuned to see what shapes up. An ad for The Casbah offers dinners for 90 cents to $1.50. (Ben's photo property of Metrocurean; Casbah ad from this site .)

I've had several anxious inquiries about what will replace the Aegean Taverna -turned- Mama Quan's Tiki Hut in Clarendon. A new restaurant featuring an eclectic American menu, named Restaurant 3 , is scheduled to fill the space at 2950 Wilson Blvd. later this summer. The owners of Whitlow's on Wilson are behind the new project. Chef Brian Robinson, who has previously worked at Georgia Brown's , will helm the kitchen. (Thanks to informative tidbits from The Washington Business Journal , The List , the GOG Blog and DonRockwell.com .)

It's been just more than a year since Agraria opened on Georgetown's waterfront, and Metrocurean recently heard that a second location is planned for 1900 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. According to the parent company's web site , the second outpost is scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2008. An agreement was reached in April to lease the 8,750 square foot space. Initial plans for the farmer-backed restaurant concept called for five locations across the country. The restaurant, which is owned by farmers, got off to a rocky start when the original chef left days before the opening. Ricky Moore, who has worked at Galileo , Vidalia and Equinox , was named chef a few weeks later and is still manning the kitchen. Read more about Agraria's concept here .

Michael Birchenall, editor of Foodservice Monthly (and a regular photo contributor to Metrocurean), offers this week's Five Bites. In the spirit of full disclosure, he writes: "My five are from a recent surge of media roundups (that means I didn't pay), but my experience in years of freebie food is that the odds don't necessarily move up in your favor in the hope that the food and/or service will dazzle. Not so here, I would gladly pay for these." He's pictured in the blue shirt at right in Nicaragua. 1. Nigiri-style wild sockeye salmon flown in fresh that day to McCormick & Schmick's F Street location 2. Any West Coast oysters at Brasserie Beck 3. The Belgian frites at Brasserie Beck with the mussels in curry and apple to accompany them. "Robert Wiedmaier serves them in a shallow casserole so you can get at the liquor on the bottom," he writes. "Best fries I've had forever and even better when tossed in the mussel dish and fis...

When I entered the shiny Penn Quarter kitchen for a Brainfood class, a handful of high school students were sauntering in, some wearing headphones, a few gossiping about school. You know, standard teen stuff. But within a few minutes, they had been mobilized by the Brainfood volunteers and were busily chopping hot peppers and melon for a salsa. Burners were fired up, and a few guys in the class confidently manned the stove, where they cooked tilapia and salmon. Pictured above, the students prepare a red pepper sauce during the class. It was fun to watch but even more fun to talk to the students about how much they enjoyed cooking. Introducing young people to cooking and healthy food and giving them confidence and self-respect in the process is a noble goal. Brainfood , a local nonprofit organization, does an amazing job with that goal, teaching life skills to D.C. high school students through cooking and food. The group operates two kitchens, one in Columbia Heights, one in Penn Quarte...

The winners of the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington's annual awards were announced last night in the boa-packed ballroom of the Wardman Park Marriott. Pictured above, chef Cathal Armstrong (third from left) receives the Chef of the Year award from chefs Roberto Donna, Jeff Tunks and Jeff Buben. And the winners are... New Restaurant: Rasika Fine Dining Restaurant: CityZen Informal Dining Restaurant: Tallula Chef of the Year: Cathal Armstrong of Restaurant Eve, Eamonn's and The Majestic Pastry Chef: Huw Griffiths of the Tabard Inn Wine and Beverage Program: Restaurant Eve Rising Culinary Star: Nathan Beauchamp of 1789 Hottest Bar Scene: Zaytinya Power Spot: Georgia Brown's Neighborhood Gathering Place: Sonoma People's Favorite: Lebanese Taverna Restaurant Employee: David Voorhees, 2941 Restaurant Manager: Ellen Kassoff Gray, Equinox (Photo courtesy Michael Birchenall.)

Metrocurean reader Diana Cosgrove offers this week's tasty Five Bites. 1. Warm dates, filled with mascarpone cheese, topped with olive oil and dusted in sea salt at Komi 2. Cheese sliders from Matchbox 3. Bunuelos de bacalao with honey allioli from Jaleo (pictured) 4. Kilic Sis (grilled swordfish kabob marinated in lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and paprika served over lemon rice) at Cafe Ole 5. Warm brioche and chocolate chip bread pudding at Little Fountain Cafe Five Bites is a weekly opportunity for you to tell Metrocurean readers which dishes you're enjoying around town. E-mail five of your favorite dishes or drinks and whether you'd like your name and a picture included to metrocurean@gmail.com.

Adding another option to D.C.'s relatively small roster of independently owned coffee shops, Big Bear Cafe opened last weekend in Bloomingdale. They're offering coffee and espresso from Counter Culture Coffee (of my hometown!) and fair trade and organic teas from Rishi Tea. Pastries are coming from Severna Park's Hawthorne Fine Breakfast Pastries . The cafe replaces the former Big Bear Market at 1st and R streets NW. Keep up with the new cafe on their nifty blog . In other Bloomingdale news, a new producer-only farmers market starts this Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the 100 block of R Street NW. Farm fresh veggies and quality coffee sound like an ideal recipe for Sunday morning. (Thanks to Robin for the tips!)

In preparation for the slow, sweaty days of summer, area restaurants are offering enticing deals to drum up business. 1789 is offering three courses for $36 through Sept. 11. Click here to sign up to receive the required coupon. One coupon is good for an entire party. Dino welcomes the return of its Menu della Sera : Order before 7:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and you can get three courses for $24 . In honor of its second birthday, OYA is offering a $19 three-course lunch and $29 three-course dinner , both offered with a glass of sparkling wine. Your food is free, however, if you happen to find yourself in the preselected "dining on us" seat. And on Sundays and Mondays, OYA is offering a list of 30 wines for $30 a bottle. Don't forget about Charlie Palmer Steak 's year-round $20.07 three-course lunch deal . And finally, Restaurant Week returns Aug. 6-12, spreading $20.07 three-course lunches and $30.07 three-course dinners across town. New to town? Here are ...

Thanks to a flood of submissions, Five Bites has been granted a stay of execution. Watch for the tantalizing lists of what your neighbors are eating to roll out through the summer. To celebrate, I figured it was time to offer a list of my own. (As a disclaimer, my schedule has been packed with media dinners recently and some of these dishes come from those events. Makes them no less delicious though.) 1. Baby octopus paired with a quail egg over sliced avocado, lentils and pig knuckles at Komi 2. Trout roe with cava, brioche and creme fraiche at Hook 3. Soft shell crab pie at Comet Ping Pong 4. Guava flan at Las Canteras 5. Poh pia (chicken, jicama, bean sprouts and cilantro wrapped in small pancakes) at Straits of Malaya Five Bites is a weekly opportunity for you to tell Metrocurean readers which dishes you're enjoying around town. E-mail five of your favorite dishes or drinks and whether you'd like your name and a picture included to metrocurean@gmail.com.

Thanks to Foodservice Monthly editor Michael Birchenall for sending along this photo he snapped of chef Frank Ruta of Palena with his James Beard award medal ... finally. Thanks to a snafu at the James Beard Foundation awards in New York, Ruta wasn't sure if he'd be getting a medal at all. Confusion over who won the award for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic erupted after last month's gala when Ruta's name wasn't announced as a winner. The chef, who didn't attend the ceremony, shared the prestigious honor with Vidalia chef R.J. Cooper in a tie, but only Cooper's name was announced that night. The day after the awards were handed out, the City Paper 's Tim Carman jumped on the story and broke down how the mishap came about. Seems only the script was wrong, but that mistake set off at least a day's worth of confusion, and Ruta was left wondering whether he really won. He finally received the well-deserved medal in the mail. Better late than never, right?

I know some people think soft shell crabs are nasty, but ... Thanks to The Examiner 's Patrick Gavin for sending in this humorous misprint, spotted at Market Salamander in Middleburg. Hey, typos happen to the best of us.

Head over to Acadiana this Sunday from 6 to 9 p.m. to support the Southern Food and Beverage Museum . The New Orleans-based museum is "a nonprofit living history organization dedicated to the discovery, understanding and celebration of the food, drink and the related culture of the South." Read more about its mission here . The museum is housed in a temporary site and is hoping to establish a permanent home soon. Acadiana owners Jeff Tunks, Gus DiMillo and David Wizenberg are hosting the benefit, which will offer a selection of Southern dishes, an open bar, signature Southern drinks and music. A $100 per person minimum donation (tax deductible) is requested and goes directly to the museum. In addition to Acadiana and Tunks, participating chefs and restaurants include pastry chef David Guas, Ann Cashion of Cashion’s Eat Place and Johnny’s Half Shell , Louis Osteen of Louis's at Pawley’s in Pawley’s Island, SC, Linton Hopkins of Restaurant Eugene in Atlanta, and Jeff Bu...

Word from the owners of Dolcezza is that they have loads of local strawberries from Toigo Orchards, and they are putting the fruit to good use in strawberry sorbetto infused with mint and strawberry gelato made with Lewes Dairy cream. Be on the lookout for new flavors popping up regularly, like strawberry sorbetto with local lavender and strawberry sorbetto with anejo tequila. (Mmm.) Visit their gelato blog to find out what flavor chef Ris Lacoste likes with strawberries. (Photo AVA Strawberries.)

Five Bites has had a great six-month run, but it can only continue with your input. Don't be shy, step right up, and let us know what you've been eating! E-mail five of your favorite dishes or drinks, and whether you'd like your name and a picture included to metrocurean@gmail.com.