238 East 14th Street
New York, NY  10003
646.669.8889
www.baohausnyc.com

The chef owner of Baohaus has been getting a ton of press lately from being featured on a Bourdain show, having his own show, and to guest blogging appearances on eater.com.  He comes off more as a pot-smoking, urban rap star than as a chef but you need only to stop by Baohaus in the East Village to know that he's created something that you will crave at any time of the day.

228 East 10th Street
New York, NY  10003
212.387.9545
www.dieciny.com


We discovered this place after deciding that a 90 minute wait was simply too long for wait for the buns and noodles at Momofuku regardless of how good they were.  Oh, and we were really, really hungry.  Just around the corner on 10th is Dieci.  Its not very big at all and if you go too far down 10th, you're liable to miss it.  As you walk in, you immediately notice that the restaurant isn't much bigger than most NYC apartments.  I've read that it seats 30 but I'd be hard pressed to figure out how unless people were sitting on top of each other.  Regardless, the two times that I've been to Dieci, it's been packed but we were always seated quickly.

728 King Street
Alexandria, VA  22314
703.299.8384
www.eamonnsdublinchipper.com


Appropriately dubbed (i'm here all week folks, and twice on Sundays) a Dublin Chipper, this is Cathal Armstrong's take on a traditional Fish & Chips joint.  The restaurant is no-frills with a few tables up front and wood paneling across the span of the place.  You order up from the cash register and then try to get lucky and snag a place to sit.  Fittingly, they yell out your name and order and you run up to the cashier to get it and head back to your seat to enjoy a treat.

380 Lafayette Street
New York, NY 10003
www.chinatownbrasserie.com


Chinatown Brasserie is the type of place you end up eating in when you haven't really thought about dinner plans since you spent the day participating in a run for charity (The Terry Fox Run for Cancer Research) and then decided to spend the afternoon drinking in a dive bar (The Emerald Inn).  So, after naps and getting ready for dinner, you haven't made any reservations and taking a cab to a random spot in the city where there are many places to eat seems like the most sensible thing to do.  This is when you end up at Chinatown Brasserie.

713 H Street NW

Washington, DC 20001

202.289.4441

www.matchboxchinatown.com

When I think of pizza, I think of the unique way certain areas love to make them. I've tried pizza in Montreal where the sauce goes on last, sampled some deep dish from Chicago but my latest pizza experiences have centered around New York's versions from places such as Grimaldi's (Brookyln Style) and Lombardi's. It was with this mindset that I ate at Matchbox in Chinatown thinking that I would get a semblance of New York Style pizzas. What I got was something completely different but just as satisfying. I ordered half a Matchbox Meat and Coppa Italian Ham & Arugula pizza (as recommended by Jessica the bartender). I expected the MM side of the pizza to be heavy and greasy with plenty of savory goodness. It was savory but a tad spicy and a lot lighter than expected. The crust was thin and crispy with no hints of sogginess and hardly any grease. The coppa side seemed fordmidable at first since you can hardly see the pizza in the sea of arugula they top it with. But the combination of the arugula, tomato, coppa ham and pesto sauce was a wonderful surprise and a new take on pizza for me. While it was only my first visit to Matchbox, it really changed my idea of what a pizza should be. To me, without having tried it, Matchbox represents California's take on pizza or at least how I've heard it described. Substituting the traditional to make it more varied and slightly more healthy.

2300 Wilson Blvd
Arlington, VA  22201
703.841.7297


I guess I've never bought into the great American steakhouse obsession.  The only two steakhouses that have truly blown me away were the Peter Luger Steak House in Brooklyn and The Strip House in the West Village.  Part of the reason is that most steakhouses don't offer very much variety and I've always enjoyed preparing steak at home and due to home field bias, I think my steaks tend to taste better also.  But, it's always good to have a steak restaurant in your back pocket in case you have friends who share the great American obsession.  Ray's the Steaks is always talked about and the reviews looked great so how could you possibly miss?

1739 N Street NW

Washington, DC 20036

202.331.8528

http://www.tabardinn.com/restaurant

You can find the Tabard Inn on a secluded side street near Dupont Circle which is surprisingly hard to find by car (one way streets and me do not get along).  The street is typically scenic and tree-lined with brownstones all along it.  As I got closer, I started to get a little worried as the front of the Tabard Inn looked pretty run down and there was a really tacky sign for valet parking on the sidewalk.  When you walk inside, the check-in area and the waiting area for the restaurant are musty and the furniture was run down.  However, walking into the restaurant, you're transformed into a whole new world.  The front dining room is lined with windows and full of sunshine.  The outside patio looked like a wonderful garden setting but unfortunately there were intermittent showers on the day I ate brunch there.