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

20 Things to Eat at Marufuji Japanese Market in Tysons

1 week 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

3 weeks 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

1 month 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

1 month 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

1 month 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

1 month ago | 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.
Restaurant Review: Modan

2 months ago | arlingtonmagazine.com | David Hagedorn

I’m sitting at the sushi bar at Modan, gazing upon a pristine Kumamoto oyster topped with Hokkaido sea urchin and golden pearls of Kaluga caviar. It’s the first of 15 courses coming my way as part of the “omakase experience” at this sleek Japanese restaurant, which opened in November inside the luxury Heming apartment building in Tysons.
From Bethesda Magazine: Starting from scratch

2 months ago | bethesdamagazine.com | David Hagedorn

Bernie Rousseau, a Potomac resident and co-owner of Scratch Kitchen in Olney, was one of 20 food business owners to be awarded a $5,000 grant this past July by OpenTable and Regarding Her, a nonprofit organization of women who run food- or beverage-related businesses. (Disclosure: I was one of the judges for these awards.) In addition to receiving the grants, awardees also became Regarding Her Scholars, accessing a 10-week Zoom course aimed at helping them grow their businesses.
From Bethesda Magazine: Introducing Eat A Lao

2 months ago | bethesdamagazine.com | David Hagedorn

Flavors and textures explode with my first bite of the Rice Me Up salad at Eat A Lao. Puffed rice, peanuts and chunks of curried fried rice provide crunch, makrut lime leaves and lime juice offer tang, and cured pork sausage adds funkiness, a flavor hallmark of Laotian cooking. Add the sweetness of ginger, herbaceousness of fresh mint and cilantro, and heat from chile peppers, and you get one palate-jolting dish.
Our Dining Critic Went Nuts for the Pistachio Latte at MQR Cafe

Jan 14, 2025 | arlingtonmagazine.com | David Hagedorn

Coffee and pistachios are two of my favorite flavors, so I found heaven at MQR Café, which opened in Falls Church’s Barcroft Plaza in July. The pistachio latte ($6.50) is made with a special syrup consisting of raw pistachios, brown and white sugar, and vanilla beans. Combined with espresso and steamed whole milk, the heady elixir fires all my cylinders.