Fried Chicken Frenzy Returns Fried chicken fanatics have something to get excited about. Both Colorado Kitchen and Ray's the Classics have restored their famous versions of the dish. Everyone lamented when Gillian Clark pulled her chicken from the menu a few years ago. But now, she is hosting burgers and fried chicken nights on December 11 and January 8 (the second Tuesday of the month). Apparently her chicken is so good that she told......

Countdown to Westend Bistro It's almost here. The opening that all the foodies in town have been waiting for. The one that all the critics are getting more than a little excited about. The chef that makes all the ladies swoon with his French accent. Westend Bistro by Eric Ripert at the Ritz-Carlton on Thursday, November 8. Menus have been posted to their web site leaving many, including Don Rockwell posters, mystified. Rather than......

Written by Vince Wadhwani When Vegetate and Queen of Sheba applied for liquor licenses in September 2005, Shiloh Baptist Church unexpectedly protested, causing both restaurants a lengthy delay which, in the case of Queen of Sheba, is still ongoing almost two years later. For Vegetate, however, the news is brighter, with legislation being passed earlier this year allowing them to serve wine, beer, and cocktails. Many restaurants may have folded up under the pressure of......

Written by DCist Contributors Gayle S. Putrich and Mike Roscoe Awards season: long gone in Hollywood; just getting started for D.C.'s restaurants. If you don't believe us, just ask Cathal Armstrong of Restaurant Eve, Eamonn's, and the forthcoming Majestic. Armstrong has been named a contender for two awards in as many days: Best Mid-Atlantic Chef from the James Beard Foundation on Monday and now Chef of the Year by the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington.......

Last week, Top Chef returned to the Bravo network for a second season, complete with a new host and a fresh-faced group of hungry culinary hopefuls. And one of this season's contestants on the excellent cooking competition — which pits aspiring cooks against one another in immunity and elimination battles to win $100,000 in prize money, a feature in Food & Wine magazine, an appearance at the Aspen Food & Wine Classic, Kenmore PRO appliances,......

Though much of D.C.’s ever-diminishing Chinatown can now be found over in Rockville, a few stalwarts remain to pacify the tourist set with beef and broccoli, while delighting locals with more obscure fare. Eat First, along with Full Kee and Chinatown Express, is part of what we consider the trifecta of D.C.’s great Chinatown dining. The tiny vestibule that leads into the restaurant is festooned with all manner of coloful photocopies of local food media......

Yesterday, we received an e-mail that nearly fell to its death in the spam filter. Hidden among Nigerian flim-flam scams, phishing attempts, and advertisements for products purporting to be able to enlarge our manhood (this morning's: "Does 8 incches enough 4 U?") was a message advising us that DC Style magazine seemed to be holding a "10 Hottest Chefs in DC" competition. First thing that sprang to mind? Glamour shots of cooking hotties sporting nothing......

It's been a while since we brought together some of D.C.'s musical minds. In the name of open forums and discussion, we bring you the third installment of DCist's Music Roundtable. This time around we asked our panel about the effects of emerging technologies on the music industry. Will record labels become obsolete? Is a proletariat uprising of music fans in our near future? Does MySpace really make a difference? We got some input from......

Eamonn, Brother There is no stopping the Armstrongs, proprietors of Restaurant Eve in Old Town. Not only are they whizzes in the kitchen, their fecundity (both physical and entrepreneurial) has begot another place to eat. According to Tom, Cathal and Meshelle plan to open Eamonn's/A Dublin Chipper sometime this summer. The place will be a casual joint, unlike the formal (and so worth it) affair that is Eve. It looks like fish and chips will......

By new DCist Food and Drink Contributor Erin Zimmer As legend has it, when a Waldorf-Astoria guest back in the 1940s forcefully requested the hotel's secret red velvet cake recipe, the hotel gave it to her—along with a hefty bill for the prized information. The miffed guest, whose lawyer supposedly advised her that she had to pay, apparently took revenge by spreading the recipe everywhere she could. Whether the Waldorf-Astoria tale is real or no......

"For whatever reason, we're the restaurant you all love to hate," remarks Chef Gillian Clark of her Brightwood restaurant, Colorado Kitchen. Some patrons have complained about slow service. Others are put off by the tone of the menu. "Are you starving?" it reads, "...you'd better have a salad and stop staring at the folks in the kitchen with that anxious look in your eye. You're making them nervous." PCists are skeptical of her more recent......

Writing this column has given us wonderful satisfaction. For the past eight months we’ve been scoping out good eats in top-notch seafood restaurants, swanky wine bars, and even hole in the wall late night dives. These dining experiences have inspired homey simple fare, impressive evening canapés, romantic dinners for two, and even a morning cure for the night that went on too long. Hunting for inspirations, however, has been only half the fun. The......

(Editor's Note: This is the third in an ongoing series on the D.C. area's overlooked museums. Here are Parts I and II.) Nothing to do this weekend? Stuck in town while your friends go to the beach? Make them wish they had been around and gone with you to one of these sleeper museums. You’re sure to have a story to tell. And if you don’t, make one up. Kick Memorial Day Weekend off right......

Julius Caesar's March surprise left him dead and legendary. One wonders if Caesar Cardini, creator of the "Caesar's salad", was surprised when his creation became legendary as well. Like Steak Tartare, Caesar salad used to be prepared tableside with fresh ingredients while a patron overlooked its genesis. But in most of its current incarnations, the salad is hastily prepared in the kitchen with pre-made dressings and little attention to detail. Limp lettuce leaves arrive at......

Washingtonian magazine wants you to know: teens are smoking pot. Their sprawling article on pot use by even "honors" teens from their November edition, is what this week's City Paper has blasted as a "classic contribution to America's tradition of drug-use hysteria." The story is rife with breathlessly told stories of drug use among teens: A box of Phillies blunts is empty on the kitchen counter of a nice house in Bethesda. Beside it is......