Just FYI, “Small Bites” will be the title of my blog posts that cover little bits of unrelated news and information.
So here goes:
- Breaking news flash for bacon lovers, if you haven’t already heard. At Geoff Tracy’s Lia’s restaurant in Chevy Chase, as well as his three Chef Geoff restaurants, diners can now order from a special all-bacon menu on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The Bacon Bar, as it’s called, includes a bacon-wrapped fig, shrimp and melon appetizer; bacon-wrapped quail, and chocolate bacon caramel corn for dessert. Lia’s assistant manager Nick Goldman said the idea simply came from “the fact that everybody likes bacon.” Check out the photos on Tracy’s Facebook page. You have to see the tempura-battered, deep fried, house made espresso-cured bacon with sweet and spicy dipping sauce to believe it.
- Sushiko restaurant in Chevy Chase will be holding an interesting six-course dinner, at which each course will be paired with a craft beer. Think edamame with Port City Pale Ale, spicy broiled mussels with Coronado Island IPA, nigiri sushi with Brasseurs Illimites Imperial Stout and more. The meal (and beer) is $85, and will be held in the restaurant’s private dining room on Tuesday, June 26 at 7 p.m. For reservations, call 301-961-1644.
- Another special eat-and-drink fest is being held at Bethesda’s Mon Ami Gabi—a five-course dinner that will feature ingredients from local farms, each paired with a different wine (from Joseph Drouhin, a French winemaker). Courses include butter lettuce salad with Stonyman Gourmet aged goat cheese, Walnut Hills Farms hanger steak with caramelized shallots and Westmoreland Farms blueberry brown butter tart. The cost, which includes the wine, is $65 (plus tax and tip). The dinner will be held on Monday, June 4 at 6:30 p.m. Call 301-654-1234 for reservations.
- If you’re still hungry for breakfast after all this, note that Matchbox Vintage Pizza Bistro on Rockville Pike in Rockville is adding some new items to its brunch menu: New Orleans French toast with fresh strawberries, candied pecans and caramel rum syrup; the BLT Benedict, an English muffin topped with maple-glazed pork belly, fried green tomatoes, poached eggs, hollandaise and arugula; house-cured gravlax and eggs served on herbed flatbread, and a peanut butter and banana waffle stuffed with bacon and drizzled with maple syrup.
- And speaking of peanut butter, I just had to finish with this what-were-they-thinking product announcement that crossed by cyber desk. It’s not a local product by any means, but Holland’s Van Gogh Vodka is introducing its newest flavor—peanut butter and jelly.
