‘shrimp n grits’
courtesy of ‘@heylovedc’
New (and even old-time) Tweeters can learn a thing or two from Chef Geoff Tracy.  With @chegeoffs, Tracy might not hold the record for the most tweets per day, but all the messages he sends out are either informative (specials of the day), enticing (pictures from the kitchen), or funny (as you will see below).

The famed chef from Chef Geoff’s and Lia’s writes on his Twitter profile “Don’t get pissy here.” Love it. Tracy has about 1,700 followers and is constantly telling them what’s on his mind and what’s coming up at his restaurants. His account is unique and personal.

This week, Geoff wins We Love DC’s Food Tweet of the Week with:

Now, I don’t claim to know anything about sports, but even this made me laugh during the work day.

Interestingly enough, Tracy believes that Twitter is a lousy platform to complain on and an “even lousier platform to address complaints.” He says the communication is too brief and customer service needs a more intimate form of communication – so if you have a problem, speak with a manager in the restaurant before you leave.

When I asked him if he thinks that restaurants not on Twitter are missing out, he replied, “It would be best if all my competitors never find Twitter and left this platform to me.” So yes, the humor in his account is genuinely his.

Tracy’s favorite Twitter story comes courtesy Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. “@NewtGingrich came into the restaurant in Tysons and tweeted how much he enjoyed my new restaurant.  It was back in 2009 and I didn’t really understand Twitter.  The server said the Mr Gingrich had mentioned that he had 75,00 followers so I went to look it up.  He actually had 750,000.  (He now has 1.3 million).  I was like ‘Holy S%#!’  I decided then to figure this thing out.”

On a side-note, Tracy tells me that he gets 80% of his news from Twitter and the rest from the TV/Internet. But who is his favorite news person to follow? Easy: @norahodonnell, his wife and NBC/MSNBC anchor.

Looking for another fun chef to follow on Twitter? Try @ChefJoseAndres of Jaleo, Zaytinya, Oyamel, Cafe Atlantico & Minibar.

Tricia Barba

Tricia is a native Washingtonian, born and raised in Columbia Heights. She loves DC so much that she was only able to leave the city for one year after college and immediately came running back. Tricia works in PR during the day, and spends her nights trying out new restaurants in DC with friends or watching The Good Wife, Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice. Tricia recently decided to eat her way though all of Zagat’s 2011 restaurants until she realized she would be old and broke by the time she finished. Follow her on Twitter and email her at Tricia (at) welovedc.com.