Tag Archives: friendship heights

Food and Drink, The Features
By

Bryan Voltaggio’s Range Set to Open in Friendship Heights

Range by Bryan Voltaggio bonappetitfoodie

Get ready, DC—Bryan Voltaggio is coming to town. And he’s making a bold entrance with a 14,000 square foot, 300 seat, multi-station restaurant complete with tatted up, Converse-sporting staff in Friendship Heights. RANGE is set to open to the public on December 18th.

The open and airy RANGE (yep, in all caps) is built around the concept of an open kitchen with individual stations dedicated to specific foods–a charcuterie station, raw bar, rotisserie, wood fired hearth, baker, dessert and candy and coffee bar. However, the entire menus is available wherever you decide to sit.

Much like the restaurant space itself, the menu is expansive, ranging in dishes such as a smoked trout roe with potato-shallot tots, to headcheese with a sunchoke relish, to roasted pork cheeks with celeriac and moustarda. If our taste of kimchi linguini with briny uni and bay scallops was any indication, there’s going to be a very long wait for a table here. Other highlights included a refreshing kampachi (similar to a yellowtail tuna) tartare with pine nuts, lemon and coriander, and a creamy ricotta ravioli with braised meat ragu. The added bonus was extremely thin crust pizza topped with bacon and charred onions.

Prices don’t appear to put you over the edge. Entrees hover around the $15-$30 range, though there are the obvious ones that are more pricey, such as the 36-day-aged new york strip, wagyu beef tenderloin or rotisserie lamb neck. Sides and smaller plates go from $3 for dishes like cornbread with bacon marmalade up to $13 for specific charcuterie.

Cocktails on the menu run the gamut from simple, “the name says it all” drink is just a vodka with soda, to more complex punches like the “serpentine overtone” with tequila, cranberry, hum liqueur, lime and black pepper. Draft beers and wine are also available by the glass. If you’re going for non-alcoholic drinks, there are some house sodas that we can’t wait to get our hands on, like grapefuit and ginger beer.

After the jump, you’ll find a photo slideshow of RANGE that We Love DC caught a sneak peek at. Make sure you check out the retail space on the side of the restaurant, where you’ll find kitchen tools that Voltaggio has worked with Williams Sonoma to pick out, a rotating selection of goodies from the chef’s purveyors and more.

Continue reading →

Adventures, Business and Money, Life in the Capital, News, The Daily Feed
By

Nordstorm Rack Coming To Friendship Heights

Photo courtesy of

”
courtesy of ‘erin m’

Friendship Heights is finally filling the long vacated Linens ‘N Things shop with a Nordstorm Rack. For those unfamiliar with the shop, it carries merchandise from Nordstrom stores and Nordstrom.com at 50-60% off original Nordstrom prices. Nordstorm Rack also features items purchased specifically for the shop at savings of 30-70% off original prices.

The 41,000 square-foot store, located next to competitor Loehmann’s, is scheduled to open on May 19 at 5333 Wisconsin Avenue, NW. Nordstorm’s currently owns 76 Nordstrom Rack stores in 21 states, with the Friendship Heights store representing the sixth Nordstrom Rack in the greater Washington D.C. metropolitan area.

Food and Drink, We Love Food
By

We Love Food: Comet Ping Pong

Photo courtesy of
‘Outdoor Ping Pong’
courtesy of ‘M.V. Jantzen’
Over the last couple of years, I’ve eaten in a lot of nice restaurants. And after the foie gras, the caviar, the course-upon-course of decadent food, what have I learned? I’ve learned I love pizza. I really love pizza. I love it in all its forms – artisan Neopolitan right down to the new crust at Dominos. But if I have to pick one incarnation, it’s always going to be the personal pizza with the funky toppings. That leaves me with 2 Amys, 7th Hill, and my personal favorite, Comet Ping Pong.

The first time I tried Comet, I had high hopes for the pizza. The food didn’t disappoint, but I was most impressed with the feeling of the place. It left me a little bummed that I wasn’t, ahem…a few years younger and that I couldn’t turn this restaurant into my high school hang out. My Peach Pit, if you will.

Continue reading →

Adventures, Business and Money, Essential DC, Food and Drink, News, The Features
By

Whole Foods Opens In Friendship Heights

Morning Coffee Bar by pquill

Starting today, the Whole Foods Market (WFM) at 4420 Willard Avenue NW opens its brand spanking new, gourmet delicacy-revealing doors to the public.  This latest addition to The Shops at Wisconsin Place and the Whole Foods Market chain is twice as large as the current shop on River Road and, as experienced in yesterday’s blogger preview, brings new and innovative offerings to the area and highlights local growers, products and farmers.

According to my tour guide Ellen James, Whole Foods defines the term “local” as any location within one day’s drive of the store. That means the truck needs to leave and return to the store within 24 hours. So we’re reasonably talking PA, MD, DC, VA, DE, and WV.  If you really pushed it, perhaps NC, NJ, NY, etc. but WF knows that’s pushing it.

Throughout the tour it was clear that deep thought and local area market research went in to the design of this facility and hot sauce store. Not only will you find the traditional WF staples (salad bar, global cuisine bar, olive bar, meat counter, cheese shop, fish monger, soup station, etc.) but some additions and features specific to our regional palates. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
By

There Will Be A Test. It Will Just Be A Test.

Photo courtesy of
‘Metro Station Platform’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

Should you be near the Friendship Heights Metro station this Wednesday around midnight, you’ll be seeing a fair amount of law enforcement, as the Metro Transit Police Department’s special response team, the FBI, DCPD, DCFD and emergency medical services personnel practice a staged emergency response exercise.

According to WMATA’s website, the exercise (a staged shootout) will test their communication and joint response to a major incident on the Metrorail or Metrobus.

Metro should not be delayed as the drill will take place shortly after Metro closes for the evening.  Police activity will remain in the area until around 3:30 a.m.

The Features, Where We Live
By

Where We Live: Chevy Chase

Photo courtesy of

‘Chevy Chase Trolley Turnaround’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

Welcome to another installment of Where We Live.  As we’re wrapping up the District’s neighborhoods (if there’s one I haven’t yet covered that you’d like to see, speak now!) before moving onto Maryland and Virginia, this week’s feature tackles a town that sits in both the District and Maryland: Chevy Chase. This neighborhood has a charming residential character, and beautiful tree-lined streets, and it’s tucked away from the hustle and bustle of downtown.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
By

Sale: Big Deals on Duds for Active Gals

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

It takes a lot to get me excited about a sale on clothes, and it’s happening this week. Mail-order seller Title Nine is bringing a blowout sale to Friendship Heights from Thursday through Sunday.

They have fun fitness and casual clothing; a little summer skirt I bought from them is my favorite and has been worth every penny. Some of their clothes have eco-friendly materials, and I like that they use everyday women to model for their catalog.

I’m happy because there’s a limit to what I’ll spend for workout wear, and this promises savings of up to 60%. While I don’t have any ties to the company, I am hoping to have a new pair of their winter running pants soon.

Entertainment, Food and Drink, Special Events, The Daily Feed
By

61st Annual St. Mary Armenian Church Food Festival

Photo courtesy of
‘Skewers on the Grill’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

Starting yesterday and continuing through this weekend  you can enjoy the culinary delights of the 61st Annual St. Mary Armenian Church Food Festival at St. Mary’s Armenian Apostolic Church (Metro Red Line to Friendship Heights Station).

The festival highlights delectable Armenian foods such as: lahmajoon, kufta,  stuffed grape leaves, grilled shish kebobs, lamb skewers and other traditional fare. You can also partake in authentic Armenian beer and grape wine.  Portions are ample and pricing is reasonable.

Lunch:  October 7, 8, 9 and 10th from 11AM to 2 PM

Dinner: October 10th from 5 PM to 9 PM

News, The Daily Feed, WMATA
By

Guy Falls On Metro Tracks

Washington Post reports that an unidentified male has fallen on to the Metro tracks at Friendship Heights Station. WJLA says he is “unresponsive” with “minor injuries,” and that he has been removed from the rails. WMATA Service Disruption alerts still have delays on the Red Line in both directions due to the incident, as well as an earlier switch malfunction problem. WTOP says Metro has turned off power to the third rail at the station and are single-tracking trains between Cleveland Park and Bethesda.