On the Rise: According to the Survey, diners report eating out more often than in the last Survey with an average of 2.8 meals per week, up from 2.6, but still below the 3.0 frequency pre-recession. Furthermore, 33% say they are spending more than a year ago, compared with 9% who say less. While surveyors report the average tip has reached a generous 19.3%, a 61% plurality says that service is their main complaint. This is consistent with the other 45-plus markets surveyed by Zagat in the U.S. and indicates that service is still the "weak link" in the industry. Overall, 37% of DC surveyors say the dining scene is better than last year, compared to only 2% who say worse; in Baltimore, 24% say the dining scene is better, while 3% say worse.Read More
It's time to update the Eater 38, your answer and ours to any question that begins, “Can you recommend a restaurant…” This highly elite group covers the entire city, spans myriad cuisines, and collectively satisfies all of your restaurant needs, save for those occasions when you absolutely must spend half a paycheck. Every couple of months, we'll be adding pertinent restaurants that were omitted, have newly become eligible (restaurants must be open at least six months), or have stepped up their game.Read more
There might be better places for fish—a big-ticket sushi bar, a chef-driven seafood restaurant—but the meal will be pricey. Ferhat Yalcin keeps it simple. Inspired by the fish stalls around the Bosphorus, the Istanbul native—a former general manager at DC’s Corduroy—features at least three kinds of fresh fish daily, including salmon and sometimes rockfish and bluefish Read more
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Apparently, Fishnet isn’t just a place to catch good fish, but some stellar French fries, too.
The Berwyn restaurant won this week’s Readers’ Choice poll for best fries in College Park, but the joint didn’t glide to its victory. For a week, the establishment was in a neck-and-neck flip-flop race with another eatery new to the city: Bobby’s Burger Palace.
It was a late Thursday-Friday surge in the poll, and a 5-star rating in the Patch directory, that pushed Fishnet to the win....Read more