BON APPETIT – Dishcrawl: Touring D.C.’s Best Foodie Neighborhoods, One at a Time
May 1, 2013
Alex Barron
Restaurant Critic
Bon Appetit
Photos: Elise Vu/DC Spotlight Newspaper
A couple of young doctors from New York take their place around a large square table next to a group of Georgetown law students, a retired couple from Takoma Park and a thirty-ish woman from Arlington. (“I usually meet my girlfriends here, but they’re out of town and I didn’t want to miss it,” she explains.) The setting is Smith Commons, an updated version of an English neighborhood pub, [...]
BON APPETIT – Passion Fish Restaurant: The luxury ship of seafood cuisine
April 1, 2013
Alex Barron
Restaurant Critic
Bon Appetit
Photos: Elise Vu/DC Spotlight Newspaper
In light of the recent ocean cruise boat disasters, prospective passengers might be forgiven if they suddenly feel a little hesitant about hopping aboard a luxury ship. A safer journey might be to Reston, Virginia’s Passion Fish, an upscale seafood restaurant owned and operated by D.C. chef and restaurateur Jeff Tunks. The restaurant’s interior — divided into multiple decks and bursting with aquatic blues and greens — is a modern [...]
BON APPETIT – Ambar Restaurant: D.C., meet Serbia and enjoy
March 1, 2013
Alex Barron
Restaurant Critic
Bon Appetit
Photography: Roshan Ghimire
As more and more quality restaurants pop up in and around D.C., the scene as a whole continues to grow in increasingly diverse and cosmopolitan directions. A night out in almost any of its most popular neighborhoods offers a vast array of ethnic cuisines: Mexican, Thai, Mediterranean and increasingly, Ethiopian, Vietnamese and Peruvian. But to even the most experienced eaters, Balkan food is generally an alien concept. (Not that it requires an adventurous [...]
BON APPETIT – Drafting Table: Fourteenth Street’s Newest Attraction
February 1, 2013
Alex Barron
Restaurant Critic
Bon Appetit
The décor at Drafting Table, the new neighborhood bar located on the perpetually evolving Fourteenth Street Corridor, evokes the studio of an architect: the framed blueprints of various Washington landmarks adorn the walls, and patrons sit in revolving wooden-backed chairs that could have been borrowed from a high school shop classroom. The whole concept foreshadows the menu, the result of meticulous planning and tinkering, but it also reflects the current state of the neighborhood, which [...]
BON APPETIT – Bistro 112: A Francophile’s Dream
January 1, 2013
Hanna Mangold
News Writer/News Assistant
Bon Appetit
Photos courtesy of Deborah Tucker
Shepherdstown, West Virginia, is a hidden enclave of art, shopping, recreation, and dining located in the eastern panhandle of a much-overlooked state. Just an hour and a half from Washington and Baltimore, tucked away on the banks of the Potomac River, this town of about four thousands residents hosts a liberal arts college, Shepherd University; the Contemporary American Theater Festival; and many small, locally owned boutiques and restaurants. The town [...]
BON APPETIT – Zengo: Fusing Innovation with Longevity
December 1, 2012
Alex Barron
Restaurant Critic
Bon Appetit
When Zengo opened its doors in Chinatown more than seven years ago, the area still had a reputation for being dicey—the kind of place that would send Capitols and Wizards fans flocking back to the Metro the moment the game at the Verizon Center ended. Times have changed on Seventh Street, however. As the area becomes hipper and trendy restaurants pop up one by one, Zengo has been established as a reliable mainstay.
It is a [...]
BON APPETIT – Restaurants presidents love in Washington, D.C.
Photos: DC Spotlight Newspaper/Drew Angerer
November 1, 2012
By Alex Barron
Restaurant Critic
Bon Appetit
For D.C. restaurants, not much is better for business than a visit from a president. Case in point: After the Obamas dined at the Blue Duck Tavern for their 17th anniversary in 2009, the restaurant became one of the hottest reservations in town.
Three years after the fact, any reference to this West End
restaurant is often accompanied by a mention of the presidential milestone that it hosted. A [...]
BON APPETIT – Bistro Vivant: Breathing New Life into McLean’s Culinary Scene
Photos: Joshua Lanier/DC Spotlight Newspaper
October 1, 2012
Alex Barron
Restaurant Critic
Bon Appetit
McLean, Virginia, has always had a reputation as a pleasant suburb, known for its opulent mansions and appealing location adjacent to Great Falls Park. However, given that McLean is close to Bethesda in terms of demographics, one might be surprised to find that it offers relatively few dining options. Until recently, a trip down the heart of Chain Bridge Road—the main drag, as it were—featured a Domino’s, a Japanese restaurant, and [...]
BON APPETIT – Johnny’s Half Shell: Seafood to Die For
September 1, 2012
By Alex Barron
Restaurant Critic
Bon Appetit
The reinvention of Johnny’s Half Shell over the past six years is a great American success story. Prior to 2006, the inconspicuous oyster shack in
Dupont Circle was popular with locals, but relatively obscure to the District at large. When managing partners Ann Cashion and John Fulchino moved to a piece of prime real estate within eyeshot of both Union Station and the Capitol Building, they received flak from fans who worried that the restaurant [...]
TOP 10 (#4) Geri Mendelson: Meeting Chris Botti, beating cancer
August 1, 2012
By Marie Dandie
News Writer
Top 10 Most Interesting People 2012
Bon Appetit
“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain,” said the late musical icon Bob Marley. Geri Mendelson, a native of Adelphi, Maryland, would agree with this statement. Mendelson has suffered from thyroid cancer since 2007 and often finds herself irritable, down, and tired. However, after her second time attending Chris Botti’s jazz concert, she said that the show had uplifted “[her] psyche and [...]
Top 10 (#5) Virginia Ali: Matriarch of the Ben’s Chili Bowl Legacy
August 1, 2012
Jordan Schatz
Reporter/News Writer
Top 10 Most Interesting People 2012
Bon Appetit
If after calling Ben’s Chili Bowl you find yourself placed on hold (chances are you will—the restaurant is very busy), the recording you’ll hear is of comedian and TV star Bill Cosby, thanking you for dialing his favorite Washington D.C. eatery.
Cosby began dining at Ben’s Chili Bowl when the restaurant first opened in 1958, forming a close friendship with the establishment’s founders, Virginia and Ben Ali. From [...]
Top 10 (#8) Lauren DeSantis: The Cook of the Capital
August 1, 2012
By Raquel Reichard
News Writer/Reporter
Top 10 Most Interesting People 2012
Bon Appetit
Daytime attorney and nighttime blogger, Lauren DeSantis is the host of one of Washington D.C.’s most celebrated food shows. “Capital Cooking,” which takes its viewers on a culinary expedition to capital cities around the world, offers its audience exclusive recipes for unique cultural dishes.
The 30-year-old food-lover grew passionate about cooking as a law student at Duke University. Miles from home, DeSantis could no longer gobble down [...]