Food Network’s Bobby Flay and Guy Fieri return to D.C. this weekend as Metro Cooking DC comes back for its ninth year to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, 801 Mount Vernon Place NW. This year’s show includes television chefs, the James Beard Foundation cooking stage, hundreds of specialty food exhibitors selling their products, cooking demonstrations, cookbook authors, a beer, wine and spirits pavilion and workshops.

Visitors to Metro Cook DC can visit booths of more than 300 vendors. (Photo: Hot Sauce Daily)

This year’s show will have many special features including the Grand Tasting Pavilion with dozens of local restaurants and chefs sharing samples of their signature fare, L’Academie de Cuisine cooking classes and an area dedicated to children’s cooking activities.

Fieri headlines two Saturday shows plus a Guy’s on Fire cookbook signing session. Known as a “culinary rock star,” Fieri hosts Diners, Drive-ins & Dives and Rachel vs. Guy Celebrity Cook-off. Highlighting Sunday’s line-up, Flay, the chef, restaurateur, cookbook author and star of Iron Chef America and Throwdown with Bobby Flay, will take the stage for two shows and will also be available to sign his new cookbook Bobby’s Barbecue Addiction.

More than 300 vendors will be offering samples and selling their wares. Sample favorites from a wide variety of DMV restaurants, chefs, caterers, food trucks and specialty manufacturers on Sunday from 13:30-3:30 p.m. for $65, which also includes general admission.

General admission tickets are $24.50, children ages 4-12 are $12.50 and children ages 4 and younger are free. General admission tickets allow entrance to demonstrations, presentations and vendor booths on the exhibit hall floor. Admission to celebrity theater is additional.

The show is open Saturday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Guest chefs offer late night dinner at Daikaya

Daikaya will host a late-night guest chef event at the izakaya tonight from 11 p.m.-1 a.m. Fans of the Japanese restaurant will have a chance to sample creations form executive chef/partner Katsuya Fukushima as well as dishes from guest chefs Jonah Kim and Jesse Miller of Bar Pilar and Café Saint-Ex, Danny Lee of Mandu and Will Morris of Vermilion.

Daikaya will host guest chefs late night Saturday. (Photo: Epicurian)

The special menu includes charred octopus with shiso, preserved lemon curd and potato; simmered chicken and miso meatballs with cabbage; cup-o-pancit, a cup of noodles with palabok sauce, ground chicharon, fried salted shrimp, scallions, chopped hard-boiled egg and calamansi; tokwat baboy, pork belly, pig ears, tofu, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, onion, scallion and chili; kinilaw, mackerel, vinegar, chili, garlic, ginger, shaved red onions, calamansi, and chayote; ojinguh gang hwae, chilled boiled squid, scallion ribbon with a gochujang vinegar dressing; udon bok ki, steamed bean sprouts, spicy dashi and fish cake; lamb belly and guanciale hayashi stew over rice with daikon style; mixed mushroom salad with chilled miso consommé and lemongrass ponzu; mandu fried chicken, double fried with spicy soy glaze; eastern hash, egg and nori omelet, spam hash with a spicy gochujang sauce; and bungeoppang soft serve.

City Tap House hold fundraiser for Foundation 4 Heroes

City Tap House, 901 9th St. NW, is partnering with The Washington Capitals to host a fundraiser benefiting Foundation 4 Heroes. Hockey fans are encouraged to stop by Sunday, Nov. 9, from 5-7 p.m. to meet John Carlson, Karl Alzner and Troy Brouwer of The Washington Capitals who will be guest bartending during the two-hour event.

City Tap House will host a fundraiser for Foundation 4 Heroes Sunday along with the Washington Capitals. (Photo: Mark Heckathorn/DC on Heels)

The $20 entrance fee entitles guests to a complimentary beverage, and a $10 fee for all autographs with 100 percent of the proceeds benefiting Foundation 4 Heroes, a non-profit organization which inspires and supports children battling diseases to discover the Superhero inside of them and overcome challenges they face.

Also, a silent auction with items such as hockey paraphernalia and Fender guitars signed by Alice Cooper, Dierks Bentley and Steve Lukather will be available to the highest bidder. Tickets can be purchased online.

Monday night is burger night at Nage Bistro

Nage Bistro, 1600 Rhode Island Ave. NW, is firing up the grill and turning Monday night dinner service into gourmet burger night. Guests can enjoy a rotating selection of made-to-order burgers paired with hand-cut fries.

The Nageburger and frites. (Photo: Nage)

Under new executive chef Dwayne Motley, the new burger offerings change weekly. The featured burgers will be available exclusively during Monday night dinner service, from 5-10 p.m. Nage Bistro’s eight-ounce burgers are made with a blend of ground beef (chuck, short rib and steak) and cooked to order over an open flame. All burgers are served on a fresh, toasted roll.

Motley’s creations will include burgers such as the lamb burger with feta cheese red onion cumin aioli; the French onion burger with blue cheese, gruyere cheese, arugula, caramelized onions and bacon jam; the Greek burger with avocado, feta, tomato and cucumbers served on pita bread; the Nola burger seasoned with the chef’s own blackening spice and topped with pepper jack cheese and grilled peppers; the Caribbean burger topped with grilled pineapple and spicy Caribbean jerk sauce. Non-traditional varieties are also available including the Oaxaca burger with Hass avocado, manchego cheese and mole xico sauce; the banzi burger with Asian slaw, crispy pork belly and kimchi ketchup; the smoked beet burger with feta, cucumber, tomato and butter lettuce; and the turkey burger with goat cheese, sautéed onions and sun dried tomato aioli. Additionally, guests can choose from four varieties of hand-cut fries. Options include Nage frites; garlic fries; ghost chili fries and duck fat fries.

Burger prices range from $13-$18.

Vinoteca launches vermouth hour on Mondays

D.C. restaurant and wine bar Vinoteca, 1940 11th St. NW, will host a “Vermouth Hour” on Monday evenings beginning Nov. 10. The hour-long tutorial on all-things-vermouth offers guests special pricing on all vermouths, served in several different ways including neat, in flights, in classic and signature cocktail creations and even by the bottle.

Vinoteca will offer vermouth specials on Mondays. (Photo: Popville)

From 7-8 p.m. each Monday, bar manager Horus Alvarez will lead an hour-long discussion from behind Vinoteca’s indoor bar, chatting with guests about all-things-vermouth including history and origin, types and flavor profiles, use in classic and modern cocktails, and more.

And all night from 5 p.m.-close during “Vermouth Hour” Mondays, guests can enjoy specials on the five vermouths including Dolin Dry, Dolin Blanc, Dolin Rouge, Cocchi Americano and Carpano Antica. The aperitifs can be served neat or on the rocks for $5; in a choose-your-own flight of three for $10; in five classic and signature cocktails created by Alvarez, such as a classic Manhattan, Martini, Boulevardier, Negroni, and his own take on the Martinez, the Alvarez with mezcal, vermouth, maraschino liqueur, chocolate bitters and orange bitters; or by the bottle for $25 served with a recommended mixer and garnish for each different aperitif, such as soda or juice.

Zaika offers veterans a 40 percent discount

Zaika, the modern Indian restaurant at 2800 Clarendon Blvd., Clarendon is offering 40 percent discount for individuals with a military ID on Tuesday for Veterans Day. The discount applies only to food and cannot be combined with any other promotion during lunch and dinner service.

Zaika is offering 40 percent discounts to military personnel on Veterans Day. (Photo: Zaika)

For the remainder of the year, Zaika will give a 10 percent discount daily for lunch, dinner and brunch service to individuals with a military ID. This offer also applies to food only, and cannot be combined with other promotions.

Zaika will be open Tuesday from 11:30 a.m.-2 :30 p.m. for lunch and from 5-10 p.m. for dinner.

BLT Steak offers Veterans Day specials

BLT Steak, 1625 I St. NW, is offering veterans or active military members at 50 percent discount for parties of two or less or a 25 percent discount for parties of three or more off of the total check on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

BLT Steak will offer a discount to military and veterans on Veterans Day. (Photo: Popville)

Proper military identification is required to receive the discount. On Veterans Day, lunch will be served from 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and dinner from 5:30-10:30 p.m.

Restauranteur and Food Network star Bobby Flay will be at the opening of his new Bobby’s Burger Palace in Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda next Tuesday, Oct. 22. It is the 16th location for his burger chain.

Bobby Flay at the opening of one of his Bobby’s Burger Palaces. (Photo: Bobby’s Burger Palace)

Flay will open the doors to his newest restaurant and greet customers at noon. He will sign autographs and be available for photos.

The menu offers six-ounce burgers with 10 topping combinations and any of the patties, which can be “crunchified” with potato chips, or made with ground turkey or chicken breast instead of beef.

The burger chain has two other locations in Maryland — College Park and at the Maryland Live! Casino in Arundal Mills — as well as This is the third Bobby’s Burger Palace for Maryland—as well as one at 2121 K St. NW and another at Potomac Mills. Another is planned for Baltimore’s Towson Square.

In other burger news, Smashburger, which opened a restaurant at 1739 Connecticut Ave. NW in Dupont in September and another at 10160 Fairfax Blvd. in Fairfax, will open additional locations. One at the Shops at Seneca Meadows, 20640 Seneca Meadows Parkway, Suite D1 in Germantown is set to open next Wednesday, Oct. 23. Two Virginia locations — Washington and Annandale Roads in Falls Church, and Leesburg Pike and Westwood Center Drive in Vienna — along with another at 4903 Cordell Ave., Bethesda, are slated to open in December.

City Tap House to replace 901 Restaurant

City Tap House will move into the former 901 Restaurant. (Photos: PoPville.com)

Philadelphia-based City Tap House is opening mid-November at 901 I St. NW, where 901 Restaurant and Bar had been.

The D.C. location will be similar to the Philadelphia restaurant with “an elevated American pub fare and gourmet brick oven pizza menu,” according to the eatery’s website. The online menu includes blue crab mac and cheese, charred octopus, mussels, seven brick oven pizzas and daily supper specials. It will have a rustic, comfortable dining and bar setting adjacent to an open kitchen.

The craft-beer focused bar and restaurant will serve microbrews from around the country and the world with 60 rotating craft beers on tap plus a lengthy bottle list. There will also be seasonal outdoor dining on a patio.

The group behind City Tap House has Public House and Harrington’s Pub and Kitchen in National Harbor.

Sandoval names new corporate pastry chef

Chef Jose Luis Flores (Photo: Alma de Cuba Restaurant)

Chef Richard Sandoval has hired Jose Luis Flores as the new corporate pastry chef of Richard Sandoval Restaurants. Flores will oversee the dessert menus for all of Sandoval’s Washington restaurants including Zengo, Masa 14 and both El Centro D.F. locations, plus the upcoming Toro Toro.

In 2010, Flores joined Richard Sandoval Restaurants to serve as the executive chef at Zengo New York. His role was expanded to oversee the kitchen at Toro Toro, Sandoval’s Pan-Latin steakhouse in Miami.

Born in 1973 in a small town outside of Mexico City, Flores’s grandmother was a cook for wealthy families and would often bring home ingredients that were exotic to the Mexican pantry, piquing Flores’s culinary curiosity. After losing his father at the age of eight, he took over cooking for his family under the tutelage of his mother. When he turned 16, Flores decided to make cooking his career and found a job as a dishwasher in a local restaurant. Eventually he moved his family to New York City and began working at the China Grill in Manhattan where he eventually became head pastry chef.

He later partnered with Chef Douglas Rodriguez, taking on the responsibility of corporate executive chef & pastry chef at the award-winning restaurants Patria in New York, Alma de Cuba in Philadelphia, Deseo in Scottsdale, Ola Miami and D Rodriguez Cuba in Miami.

Prior to joining Sandoval, Flores worked for Emilio and Gloria Estefan under the restaurant group cb5. Together they opened Bongos Cuban Café at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood. Flores is the author of the cookbook Dulce: Desserts in the Latin American Tradition. It is one of the first cookbooks to be devoted to Latin-America sweets.

Flores trained at the Edwal Notter Confectionary School, as well as Canainpa, the National Industry of Bread in Mexico City.

New desserts will include Coconut Profiteroles, cream puffs, toasted coconut ice cream, Manjar Blanco and chocolate sauce at Zengo; Chocolate Terrine Masa 14, triple-layered deep chocolate brownie cake, dark, milk and white chocolate and black plum sauce at Masa 14, as well as the Banana Tres Leches, passion fruit sauce and toasted soft meringue at El Centro D.F. and El Centro D.F. Georgetown.

The Heights will close to remodel Oct. 28-Nov. 1. (Photo: PoPville.com)

The Heights to Close for Remodel

The Heights in Columbia Heights will close after Oct. 27 for a five-day makeover before opening with a new chef.

EatWell DC, which owns The Heights along with others including The Pig, Logan Tavern, Grillfish and Commissary said it will temporarily close The Heights to remodel it.

When it reopens, Chef Kerry Tate, formerly of Slate Wine Bar, will be at the helm with a focus on local dishes and ingredients sourced from the restaurant group’s farm in La Plata, Md. New dishes will include maple-brined pork tenderloin with cider-Dijon pan sauce and fried oysters with jicama kimchee. The beverage program will also be overhauled with “unique beers” and handmade cocktails.

In advance of the closure, the restaurant is throwing a sale on its closing day with 50 percent off all food and drinks. Also look for all-night happy hour in the lounge when it reopens, set for Nov. 1, and a garden party with half-price beer that weekend.

100 Montaditos opens in Bethesda

100 Montaditos opened Oct. 12 in Bethesda. (Photo: Patch)

Spanish chain restaurant 100 Montaditos opened Saturday, Oct. 12, in the former Green Papaya space at 4922 Elm St., Bethesda.

A montadito is tapa-sized roll filled with the ingredients such as Spanish ham, chicken, cheese or vegetables. Montaditos are essentially charming bite-sized finger food and can be served hot or cold. About half of the restaurant’s ingredients will come from Spain.

The space has been completely remodeled with dark salmon-colored walls covered with old-time photographs of Spanish buildings, street scenes and monuments in antique frames. A white marble-topped bar rings the right side of the restaurant and there is a 100 Montaditos sign made with Spanish tile at the entrance. The tables and chair were imported from Spain. It seats 83 people inside and 12 outside.

There are 100 montaditos, including dessert montaditos, that range from $1-$2.50; entrees of French fries or brava fries (potato wedges) are $1.50 for a small or $3 for a large; tapas including iberico ham, iberico ham and manchego cheese, herb chicken wings, fried clam strips and calamari are $5; and Ceasar, Mediteranean, arugala goat cheese and Asain salads are $5. Every Wednesday is Dollarmania with $1 montaditos, appetizers and soft drinks. Spanish mixers, beer, wine, larger appetizers and salads are $2. You can also order three samplers that include six different montaditos for $8 or two for $14.

While some of the international chain’s restaurants have counter-service, this location will have wait staff. This is the international chain’s first U.S. restaurant outside Florida, but there are plans to open several more U.S. locations Arlington and New York City.

TruckerBOO coming Oct. 25

The D.C. Food Truck Association is holding one last food truck festival at the Fairgrounds near National’s stadium this year with the return the Halloween-themed TruckerBOO on Oct. 25. In 2011, the last time TruckerBOO was held, participating trucks were decorated for Halloween.

More details to come!

Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine opens in Dupont

Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine opened in Dupont recently. (Photo: Shannon Morgan)

Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine opened this month at 1134 19th St. NW in the former Singapore Bistro space next to Science Club.

Sophie’s offers the experience of a bustling, fast-paced Cuban neighborhood restaurant with authentic tasty food made fresh all day from the highest quality ingredients, according to the restaurant’s website. Dishes include Cuban sandwiches, ropa vieja, ox tail stew, rice and beans, fried sweet and green plantains, beef patties, yuca and picadillo.

Owner James Lambert, a Reston native, hired general manager Carlos DiLaudo of Bethesda and head chef Ed Reynoso of Beltsville, Md., to help run the fast-casual dining eatery. The restaurant was started in Manhattan by the Luna family. They currently have eight restaurants in New York City. This is the first franchise.

The restaurant offers dine in, take out, pick up, delivery and catering. It is open Monday-Friday 10 a.m.-8 p.m.

Pub and the People coming to Bloomingdale

Pub and the People will open in this vacant building the Bloomingdale neighborhood by the end of the year. (Photo: Google Street View)

Construction is slated to begin at the end of the year with opening set for next summer of Pub and the People at 1648 N. Capitol St. NW in the Bloomingdale neighborhood. The building is currently vacant.

The pub/restaurant will be a neighborhood restaurant and bar with 70 seats inside and a potential for up to 100 outside. The largest patio in the area will also provide a view of the U.S. Capitol Building. Indoors, the space will resemble the city’s early pubs and restaurants with exposed brick and wood, one of the owners, who is also one of the owners of D.C. Reynolds told the the PoPville blog.

Chef Dan Dalcin, currently the sous chef at Black Salt in Palisades, will be the new restaurant’s chef. His menu will offer traditional American cuisine with influence from Southern, Southwestern, seafood, Asian and vegetarian cuisine. The restaurant will serve generous portions — no small plates here — using local ingredients when possible and some interesting new twists on old favorites. Drinks will include craft beers and cocktails with an emphasis on D.C,-based breweries and distilleries.