IN THE NEWS: Highlights of Washington City Paper’s Best of D.C. 2008 include Frank Ruta and his Palena restaurant, as Best Chef and Best Restaurant, respectively. washingtoncitypaper.com … A new restaurant owned by a contestant on the “Top Chef” television series is slated to open on Capitol Hill in late May, with plans to open more throughout the region, the Washington Business Journal reports. “Chef Spike Mendelsohn will bring Good Stuff Eatery to 303 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, the site of former stationery shop Pulp on the Hill. The restaurant will focus on comfort food — hamburgers, hand-cut fries and milkshakes — using locally farmed ingredients. Plans call for five more restaurants in the next two years and 50 nationwide over the next decade, according to Spike Mendelsohn, who is the chef de cuisine at Mai House, a Vietnamese restaurant in New York’s Tribeca neighborhood. washington.bizjournals.com … The Washington Times’s Scott Haring reviews Aqua Terra (164 Main St., Annapolis; www.aquaterraofannapolis.com). washingtontimes.com …

The Washington Post’s Tom Sietsema reviews Ici Urban Bistro (806 15th St. NW, Washington, DC) and has a first bite at 701 (701 Pennsylvania Ave. NW). … Sietsema also reports, “Six months after helping launch Hudson Restaurant and Lounge (2030 M St. NW; 202-872-8700), chef Kyle Schroeder is leaving the West End establishment to join his former mentor, Timothy Dean, in a project in the new National Harbor development in Prince George’s County. Taking Schroeder’s place at the stove: Ryan Arnold, 35, who came to Washington last year to open branches of the Belgium-based bakery-cafe Le Pain Quotidien in Georgetown and Alexandria.” … Worth the Trip visits Catania Bakery (1404 North Capitol St. NW, www.cataniabakery.com), while Good to Go considers Silva’s Patisserie (167 Glyndon St. SE, Vienna), and Eve Zibart reviews L’Enfant (2000 18th St. NW, Washington, DC). washingtonpost.com

Compiled by Pat Embry, WhereTheLocalsEat.com

Filed under: Washington D.C. Restaurants | Tags: Aqua Terra, Catania Bakery, City Paper Best of 2008, Frank Ruta, Good Stuff Eatery, Hudson, Ici Urban Bistro, L'Enfant, Palena, Silva's Patisserie, Spike Mendelsohn |