Introducing Counter Culture in the Capital

President Obama at Ben's Chili Bowl.

It doesn't seem possible, but it has been almost 3 years since we left South Jersey and moved to Crystal City, just 3 Metro stops from Washington, DC.  Almost as soon as we arrived, I began writing The Prices Do DC blog.

The blog is designed to appeal to 4 groups of people:

• residents of the DC area
• people who are planning to visit DC
• people who had visited DC and really liked what they had found and/or
• readers who are interested in politics, history, and culture based in DC that had an impact in all of the country.

Over the intervening months, I continued to make content and design changes. Now, it is time for the most major change of all.

During upcoming weeks, I will be splitting The Prices Do DC into 4 blogs, all dealing with specific topics.

The 1st - Counter Culture in the Capital - is being introduced today.

The blog will provide a look at food and great dining spots in DC, with an emphasis on eateries that won't break your budget.

There will be all kinds of articles. For example, some posts will offer personal stories (Mother's Day and soft-shell crabs). Others will be openings of new eateries or eateries in new locations such as Shophouse Asian Kitchen (Chinatown) or Ben's Chili Bowl (Rosslyn). Still others will explore new kinds of food (montaditos) or news about food (Was pad thai actually stolen from the Chinese?).

But our food posts are only part of the story. There are also lists to help you narrow the bounty of DC food choices. These include:

• restaurants by Metro stop
• the 100 best restaurants in DC
• 40 dishes everyone in Washington should try and
• the Counter Culture best DC dining by specific food category or type

In addition, the blog will include stories from other sources on such topics as area chefs, area restaurants, and area food trends.

You can find sites that will discover and rate restaurants. You can even find sites that will tell you how and where to dine like Barack and Michelle Obama.

There are 3 basic ways to access Counter Culture in the Capital:

1. You can bookmark or favorite the site and check it periodically - Counter Culture in the Capital.
2. You can like the blog's Facebook page - Counter Culture on Facebook.
3. You can follow the blog on Pinterest - The Counter Culture Pinterest page.

Oh course, the best and most complete method for enjoying all that Counter Culture in the Capital has to offer is to follow it all 3 ways since each site offers features exclusive to that page. However, all posts will be available on all 3 sites.

We love DC. We like food. We like to dine out. This blog is our attempt to fuse all 3 of those interests. We hope you'll take a look and, if you like what you see, follow Counter Culture on a regular basis. But no matter what, we wish you good eating and happy dining. Ciao for now.

Saturday Supplement: Food for Thought

Each Saturday we will offer a round-up of a few online articles not originally published in The Prices Do DC which are of interest to both Washington area residents and visitors.

I guess you could call this our February food special post. Maybe you can find a place to take that special someone for Valentine's Day from these articles. 

Jose Andres' Zatinya is in the top 10.

Here is the just released annual list of Washington's 100 best restaurants. (from The Washingtonian)

Small plates were big in 2013

Here are the top food trends in DC for last year. (from Best Things on the Menu)

Try Oohs and Aahs for some savory soul food.

Here are 4 DC eateries profiled in Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives (from Flavortown)

Guy Fieri checks out the burgers at The Tune Inn

Here is the DC food scene as seen on TV (from The Washington Post)

Thriving Restaurant Scene Faces Worker Shortage

The writing staff of The Prices Do DC is on holiday break. For the next few days, we will be running posts from other sources about interesting subjects geared to both residents and visitors. Original posts will resume after our break.

Longtime Washingtonians may remember that once upon a time, you could find some French restaurants in the city, some Italian, maybe some Chinese. Then you had steakhouses like Blackey's, and cafeterias like Sholl's.

But fast-forward to the present, and in 2011, the District boasted more than 2,100 eateries, of all culinary stripes. That was nearly a 5 percent increase from 2010. And if you look at this year, in spring alone we saw roughly 50 new restaurants open their doors around town.

"There's been a huge influx of restaurants from established chefs in D.C. as well as an influx of chefs from other parts of the country and other parts of the world," says Omar Hishmeh, general manager of Woodward Table, the 300-seat restaurant that opened near McPherson Square last fall.

"But if you have a finite amount of labor in D.C., it makes it a little bit difficult to kind of spread it out, thin as it is," he adds ... 

Continue reading post from WAMU (American University Community Radio)