Image: Joan Crawford and Franchot Tone, Dancing Lady (1933).
It was another busy week, with good news and bad for the dining world. On our site, we are winding down activity as the year ends. We did our last art post of the year staying with the theme of feasts. Sadly, the biggest news of the week is the wave of infections. Be patient and supportive of staff as we turn into the teeth of this storm. But enough of the preliminaries! Read on for our week in review.
Updates to Recommended Restaurant List
No places were added or removed this week, but there were some updates.
Boqueria – We checked in on the reliable Spanish spot that now has both locations open.
The Italian by way of Japan restaurant Tonari is to reopen. Though, like Hanumanh, plans may change.
Popville reported that Mercy Me is going all Call Your Mother during the day.
DBGB DC is not converting to a Bar Boloud pop-up as previously announced. They appear to be sticking with the original concept. It feels like there are more twists in this tale.
D.C. Dining News
If you are looking to spread some cheer, Service Bar is doing a fundraiser Monday night for the family of a staff member.
Across the board, the surge in Covid cases is hitting places. Many are shutting down temporarily if staff test positive or scaling back service to be safe. Be sure to check before you go. Maketto has moved to take-out only.
Neither of these places are on our list for different reasons, but pour one out for both Tortilla Coast, which Barred in DC reports is finally given up the ghost, and Lucky Bar, which is changing ownership after spending years building a soccer community in D.C.
Laura Hayes crushes the end of the year with a big stand back piece. There is a little musical chairs going on right now among D.C. journalists. Not sure if Hayes is up for anything, but we continue to believe she needs to be paid more. Washington City Paper stood clearly above the crowd in covering the important issues of the last two years.
A short history of Chinatown, including the fact it was not the original location for the community but the fallback position after they were pushed out by federal buildings.
In quintessential D.C. dining news: POTUS can’t cook an egg.
The Post also covers the Cream Cheese shortage as representative of the supply chain and, quelle surprise!, puts it in the Food Section. Bravo.
Also in the Food Section, they do a profile of the women in the Masroor family who run Bistro Aracosia and its sister restaurant in Virginia. More of this please!
Other Dining News
The Wall Street Journal documents what is obvious to many of us who dine out: menus are getting shorter and simpler to both cut costs and mitigate supply chain problems.
A grand tipping gesture in Arkansas goes haywire. Anela Malik, who now lives in that neck of the woods, points out that there was another incident that did not go viral and even was openly papered over. Her post is not for subscribers only, but that doesn’t mean you can’t subscribe when you’re done reading.
Olive harvest in Sicily is captured in a photo-essay in the Times. Pretty pictures to soothe your soul while you dream of relaxing travel again.
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To you, our dear reader, we wish the very best. Be safe and be kind. We are off next week due to travel, so our next recap will be in the new year.
If you have read this far you probably know what is coming next. If you are looking for a place to eat in D.C., our dining guide has 300 recommended restaurants that you can sort by cuisine, neighborhood, and current operating status (dine-in and/or take-out, etc.) in either LIST or MAP format.
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