David Hagedorn

Washington, Washington, D.C., Washington, D.C., United States

Restaurant critic: Arlington/Bethesda Mags; WaPo contributor; cookbooks author; creator/chair: Chefs for Equality, for the Human Rights Campaign🌈 he/him/his

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Articles

From Bethesda Magazine: Six new pizza spots in Montgomery County

1 week ago | bethesdamagazine.com | David Hagedorn |Josephine Jack

There’s something so alluring and irresistible about the simple combination of dough, sauce and cheese fresh out of the oven, which may explain why pizza shops are always opening. Here are six Montgomery County spots that have opened since 2023 and garnered our attention.
From Bethesda Magazine: Silver and Sons Barbecue levels up

3 weeks ago | bethesdamagazine.com | David Hagedorn

Photo credit: Brendan McCabeI’ve been following Jarrad Silver’s career since he was laid off from his chef’s job at D.C.’s Birch and Barley restaurant in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic and struck out on his own, starting a takeout barbecue business in 2021 called Silver and Sons Barbecue from his Kensington home. He parlayed that into a food truck business, retrofitting a retired mail truck.
The Best Cheap Eats In and Around Arlington, VA

1 month ago | arlingtonmagazine.com | David Hagedorn

Food costs are rising and economic conditions are tenuous, leaving many of us in a budget-conscious state of mind. But there’s more to life than eating in. Our restaurant critic hit up 10 casual eateries for terrific meals that come in around $25 or less. The prices that follow exclude beverage, tax and tip. For a heady mix of complex flavors, the “Create Your Own Tiffin” special ($21.95) at Delhi Dhaba, a longstanding destination for Indian food in Courthouse, is hard to resist.
This Arlington Cooking School Has a 92% Job Placement Rate

1 month ago | arlingtonmagazine.com | David Hagedorn

It’s an early spring morning and Jonathan Aponte is heading from his home in Woodbridge to the Hilton Arlington National Landing, where he works as a hotel kitchen supervisor. His duties include checking in orders, reviewing invoices, taking inventory, helping the chef and sous-chef with recipes, and making sure multiple walk-in refrigerators, freezers and storage rooms are orderly and well-maintained.
20 Things to Eat at Marufuji Japanese Market in Tysons

1 month ago | arlingtonmagazine.com | David Hagedorn

Move over H Mart, Great Wall and 99 Ranch. Tysons has a new Asian market and it’s a stunner. Opened in January, the 18,000-square foot Marufuji Japanese Market is a Japanophile’s dream, chockablock with (mostly Japanese) food products, plus some home goods thrown in.
From Bethesda Magazine: Italiamo Kitchen, a cultural crossover restaurant

2 months ago | bethesdamagazine.com | David Hagedorn

While the menu is part Italian and part Persian at Italiamo Kitchen, a counter-service restaurant that opened in Derwood in December, its bestseller is the solo item that’s a fusion of Mexican and Persian fare: a tahdig taco. “Once you taste it, you’re going to love it,” I overhear co-owner Matt Mahjoub telling a diner, referring to the dish that lured me there in the first place, thanks to Instagram.
From Bethesda Magazine: Maryland’s first Teso Life now open in Rockville

2 months ago | bethesdamagazine.com | David Hagedorn

New York City-based Teso Life Asian Department Store opened its first Maryland location in Rockville in November.The store, in The Shops at Congressional Village shopping center, is a wonderland of things I didn’t need but had to have. The shelves are full of mostly Asian, especially Japanese, goods, including housewares, beauty products, toys, stationery, school supplies and frozen and packaged food items, heavy on snacks and candy.
From Bethesda Magazine: Chevy Chase’s Elena James serves nostalgia on a plate

2 months ago | bethesdamagazine.com | David Hagedorn

Make sure you get the salad isn’t often the first suggestion I make when asked what to order at a new restaurant. But in the case of Elena James, which opened in Chevy Chase Lake in November, it’s advice I could easily say twice.
Muffaletta Is the Star of This Del Ray Sandwich Shop

2 months ago | arlingtonmagazine.com | David Hagedorn

Sometimes you need child care, lunch and a moment to answer a few emails. Or maybe you just need a really good sandwich. Enter Shorty’s Deluxe, the 12-seat café tucked inside Mulberry Lane, a Del Ray day care and coworking space that Stella Borou launched in partnership with Neighborhood Restaurant Group (NRG) in November.
The Smashburgers at Jon’s Joint Are Smashing

Mar 2, 2025 | arlingtonmagazine.com | David Hagedorn

Safa Farighi’s passion for Jon’s Joint, the smashburger restaurant he opened in November with his best friend, Amaan Jan, matches the thrill I felt with my first bite of their OKC—two patties heaped with onions and melty American cheese on a buttered, toasted potato bun that does this Oklahoma City specialty proud. The onions steam into the meat, their juices enhancing the umami flavor of the halal beef, which the partners source from a farm in Bealeton, Virginia.