For the past four years, I’ve been ordering the most unappatizing sounding item on the menu when I eat at nice restaurants. This counterintuitive advice from Tyler Cowen’s 2007 book Discover Your Inner Economist has worked surprisingly well. Cowen’s newest book, An Economist Gets Lunch, is a combination of practical eating advice like this, and also a history, economics, and science book about food. If there is one overarching lesson it is that looking at food through the framework of supply and demand can help you both understand our food system better, and also help you be a smarter consumer and get more out of every meal.

But Cowen is not an apologist, and he doesn’t argue that we can just deregulate our way to a better food system. In fact he has many words of support for policies and values often supported by progressives. To help improve both the long-term budget gap and the growing environmental problem, he advocates ending subsidies for big agriculture, and argues for a carbon tax. In addition, he believes that meat should be “taxed” for environmental reasons, and that one easy way to do this is to enforce more strict animal welfare laws.

“Why American Food Used to Be So Bad and Other Lessons From Tyler Cowen,” by Adam Ozimek, The Atlantic, April 12, 2012

Recommended by Hobnob Blog

Semi-related:

In 2008 I got a book advance of $200,000, of which my agent took 15% and the IRS took approximately one-fourth. Still, that’s a lot of money, even paid out in quarters over the course of several years, and for a few months after I got that initial check–for the first time in my adult life–I mistakenly assumed that I didn’t have to keep track of how much money I was spending. Because surely this good fortune was the beginning of more good fortune to come!

There would be foreign rights sales, audio rights sales, fat old-school magazine payments for first serial rights when the book came out, maybe a film or TV option — not to mention all the paid teaching and speaking opportunities that having written the kind of book that a publisher would pay a six-figure advance for would undoubtedly bring my way. And then, too, there would be another payment of the same amount or more money for another book, a book I couldn’t quite imagine and hadn’t even started writing, but would definitely be able to write in a year or less after the first book came out because what was I, lazy? No, I was quick, quick like a blogger!

Without whining or belaboring, I will just say briefly that precisely zero of these rosy fantasies came to fruition.

“It Was Here And Then It Was Gone: More Than $1K Worth of Clothes I’ll Never Wear Again,” by Emily Gould, The Billfold, April 10, 2012

Restaurants have a very long history in China. At a time when fine food in western Europe was confined to a handful of great monasteries, the Song Dynasty capital, Kaifeng, supported hundreds of commercial food businesses and a rich gourmet culture….

photo credit: C John Thompson

Some of the city’s restaurants were so renowned that the emperor himself ordered out for their specialties; they could also cater the most elaborate banquets, in their own halls or at the homes of the wealthy. Kaifeng’s many eateries also included teahouses where men could sip tea, gossip, and order snacks or full meals, as well as wineshops, which were more popular at night….

China’s vibrant restaurant culture continued unabated through the end of the Qing Dynasty. The English clergyman John Henry Gray [in China: A History of the Laws, Manners, and Customs of the People, (London: Macmillan, 1878), Volume II, Chapter 19, page 64], one of the few Europeans with a serious interest in Chinese food, summed up the typical nineteenth-century urban eatery thus:

The restaurants are generally very large establishments, consisting of a public dining-room and several private rooms. Unlike most other buildings, they consist of two or three stories. The kitchen alone occupies the ground floor; the public hall, which is the resort of persons in the humbler walks of life, is on the first floor, and the more select apartments are on the second and third floors. These are, of course, resorted to by the wealthier citizens, but they are open to persons in all classes of society, and it is not unusual to see in them persons of limited means. At the entrance-door there is a table or counter at which the proprietor sits, and where each customer on leaving pays for his repast. The public room is immediately at the head of the first staircase, and is resorted to by all who require a cheap meal. It is furnished, like a cafe, with tables and chairs, a private room having only one table and a few chairs in it.

… All guests, rich and poor, entered the restaurant through the ground-floor kitchen, where they could judge for themselves the skill of the chefs, the quality of the roasted ducks, chickens, and pigs hanging from the ceiling…and the facility’s cleanliness. When the Chinese immigrated to the United States, they carried this style of restaurant intact to their new homeland.

“Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States,” by Andrew Coe (Oxford University Press 2009), pages 94-96, ISBN 0195331079.

• “The screwed generation: Libertarian, not liberal,” by A.J. Dellinger, Salon, February 6, 2012 – “We are the generation that continues to pay into Social Security with every paycheck but suspects we may never see the benefits of it. We are the recipients of degrees that don’t mean much from educational institutions that teach less and cost more. We are the casualties of wars that have gone on for over half of the lifetime of 2012′s first-time voters. In short, we are the screwed generation.”
• 5 things you didn’t know about divorce – “When things start to go bad, remember the five-to-one rule. There are little things you can do to improve your relationship.”
• The Universal Benefits of Competition – “One of the most important reasons why market outcomes dominate government ones is competition: government often rules out competition by law, or subsidizes production in such a way that alternatives are not truly competing.”
• Banks Paying as Much as $35,000 Cash to Homeowners in Short Sales; Why and How Many? – “Could it be these are the real problem loans with clouded titles, questionable practices by lenders, or huge numbers of written complaints by borrowers? Add to that a dearth of willing new borrowers and I think you have the answer.”
• Rebalance your Couch Potato Portfolio with these free tools

photo credit: Tania Liu

• Jack In The Box Has Bacon Milkshakes
• Never Let Law Profs Near the Oval Office – “Constitutional law professors should be kept as far away from nuclear weapons as possible.”
• Top five regrets of the dying – “4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.”
• Street children: do tourist dollars help or hurt? – “Taking a cue from the ChildSafe organization in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, I learn that our money actually does more harm than good. … Next time you see a child with outstretched arms, no matter how adorable, think about the power of your dollar. Give your money instead to organizations that are trained to help break the cycle of street begging.”
• “Some legislators send millions to groups connected to their relatives,” by Scott Higham, Kimberly Kindy and David S. Fallis, Washington Post, February 7, 2012 – “Members of Congress have more leeway than executive branch officials or individuals in publicly held companies, who operate under stricter conflict-of-interest rules that generally prevent them from taking actions that might benefit businesses or institutions where their relatives work. The legislators set and enforce their own rules, giving themselves broad latitude to take steps that can end up directly benefiting their immediate family.”

• Now is the Time to Quit Facebook – “Real friends do more than punch the ‘like’ key on your status updates. Real friends call you directly on the phone, send cards, help you move furniture, meet you for breakfast, babysit your cats, or otherwise make three-dimensional efforts to be there for you.”
• HELPFUL HINTS. – “Are you concerned about bacterial diseases and other impurities in the grape juice your children consume? Grape juice can be preserved in a pure and wholesome state almost indefinitely by adding a little yeast and allowing fermentation to occur.”
• Panic On Wall Street As Anti-Insider Trading Bill Spreads Wider Net Over Information Peddling – “This bill might curtail the ability of JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs to obtain private information from the Finance Committees.”
• “An L.A. teacher reviews her review,” by Coleen Bondy, LA Times, January 29, 2012 – “It’s hard for those who finished high school 20 or 30 years ago, as I did, to fathom the conditions in a typical L.A. Unified high school classroom these days. Classes are huge. Students face overwhelming family and social issues. Drugs are rampant. Students are incredibly disrespectful, testing authority constantly at the beginning of the year. Teachers must be able to get a strong grip on their classes all by themselves because consequences for bad behavior in class are often nonexistent outside it. My school has two full-time police officers, a full-time probation officer and several full-time security personnel to handle about 3,800 students. Yet we still have a hard time keeping kids from smoking pot on a regular basis in our restrooms.”
• Al rodente: Could squirrel meat come back into vogue? – “There are people around who remember the days when squirrel was a more commonly served meat on the American table than chicken. The Kentucky Long Rifle, with its long barrel and small caliber, was designed for squirrel hunting (the smaller the caliber, the more squirrel left to take home after shooting one.) The ideal shot was aimed not at the squirrel, but at the tree branch directly below it, so that the animal would be killed by the concussion of the bullet instead of the bullet itself. Historians say that this is what won the Revolutionary war; even the most highly trained British soldiers were no match for squirrel killers trained by hunger.“

The 16th biannual Restaurant Week will take place August 16-22, during which patrons can enjoy special three-course, prix-fixe meals at certain locations around the city. Since it’s 2010, prices for three-course lunch meals are $20.10, while dinner is $35.10 — beverages, tax and gratuity are not included, however.

Check out the full list of the nearly 200 participating restaurants at the official Washington, DC Restaurant Week page on OpenTable. You can also set reservations at the site. Cuisines include Italian, French, Contemporary American, Indian, Lebanese, Moroccan, Eurasian, Mexican, Japanese, and more.

Some tips for Restaurant Week, compiled from across the web, include:

• Make your reservations early.
• Not all restaurants participate in the promotions for both lunch and dinner.
• Some places continue Restaurant Week promotions for an extra week, or even an extra month or two.
• Go for the places that offer their full menu.
• Keep in mind that some places already offer other specials throughout the year, such as pre-theater menus, and try other restaurants on the list instead.
• You may find that some locations serve dishes of a lesser quality during Restaurant Week than they do during the other 50 weeks of the year. In other words, you’re getting a discount, but you still may be getting what you’re paying for.
• Some restaurants offer other bonuses in addition to the less expensive meals. Lisa Shapiro, DC Restaurant Examiner, writes, “For example, the new Kora by Morou in Crystal City will extend [its] special restaurant menu for the entire month and will offer a complimentary bottle of wine (for every two guests).” (That was during the last Restaurant Week, in January, so Kora may not necessarily be doing the same thing this time around.)

Restaurant Week is held each year in January and August and is produced by Destination DC and the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington.

Source: “Washington, DC Restaurant Week 2010,” About.com: Washington, DC, date unknown
Source: “Is Full Price Better?,” DCist, 08/09/07
Source: “Washington DC Restaurant Week, Winter 2010,” D.C. Foodies, 12/23/09
Source: “DC Restaurant Week tips on how to choose wisely,” DC Restaurant Examiner, 12/19/09
Restaurant Week logo used under Fair Use: Reporting.
Photo by Jing a Ling, used under its Creative Commons license.

Here’s Mrs. Meisner’s delicious Italian rub, enough for a four-bone roast. If your roast is larger, add more stuff.
Remove the leaves from fresh rosemary (a little more than one cup) and chop them with a sharp knife. Add eight fat cloves of roughly chopped garlic, the zest of four lemons, the juice of one lemon, a half cup of kosher salt and a quarter cup of fresh coarsely ground black pepper. Toss into a food processor. Slowly drizzle in about one half cup of extra virgin olive oil.
Spread the paste all over the roast to form a crust. If you need more paste, don’t freak — just make some. Allow the roast to sit in a steel or glass pan until at room temperature, about an hour or two. Don’t refrigerate overnight. The salt will draw out the juices.

Dr. Fuhrman’s Famous Anti-Cancer Soup, modified

2 cup dried split peas and/or beans
4 Medium onions
6-10 zucchini
3 stalks leek
2 lbs carrots
2 bunches celery
1 cup raw cashews
3 tbsp vegetable base stock (Vege Base by Vogue)
2 pkg mushrooms
6 oz texturized vegetable protein (TVP)

Simmer beans in covered pot in 12 cups of water.
Put onions and zucchini in covered pot, uncut.
Add Vege Base.
Cut bottom and tops off leeks and thoroughly clean, put in covered pot.
Juice the carrots and celery (or blend them into a whole juice in BlendTec) and put juice in pot.
After vegetables are soft, with a bit of stock completely blend them together with the cashews in a BlendTec. Leave beans in pot.
Put blended mixture back in pot.
Add the TVP and the mushrooms.
Simmer additional 20 minutes.
Serves 10.
From Dr. Joel Fuhrman‘s book, Eat to Live. Original recipe here – see “High Cruciferous Soup Recipe” in comments.

• Green Smoothie Challenge

• 70 Green Smoothie Recipes
• Green Smoothie Girl
• Victoria Boutenko – Raw Family
• January Recipe – Green Smoothie with Victoria Boutenko (video)
• Green Smoothies - Yahoo Glue
• Green Smoothies – squidoo
• Vita-Mix Green Smoothie
• How to Peel an Orange in One Peel
• 12 Great Tasting Green Smoothie Recipes!
• Green Smoothie Recipe – Top 5
• Surprisingly Delicious [Gluten-Free] Green Smoothie Recipe
• Banana Strawberry Collard Green Smoothie Recipe
• Green Smoothie Recipe – Dr. Joel Fuhrman
• Emerald Ecstasy (Green Smoothie)
  • 1-2 Cups of Green Grapes

  • 1/4 of a large Pineapple or 1/3 of a small Pineapple
  • One large, ripe Banana (one and a half if small)
  • Half of an Apple (o.k. to include stem, seeds, skin, and core)
  • 1/4 of a slice of Lemon (o.k. to leave lemon rind on)
  • A BIG double hand-full of spinach (probably 4 cups)
  • 2-3 cups of ice (should reach the top of the container)
• Tropical Green Smoothie
• The Green Smoothie Blog
• Green Grow the Rushes O
• Edible and Medicinal Uses of Native Plants Found at Mound City – NPS
• Leaf vegetable – wikipedia
• How to Find Wild Edible Plants
• Edible Wild Plants – Science Tracer from Library of Congress
• Greens, Edible – from Librarians Internet Index
• North Bay Trading Company
• Barry Farm Foods

Take 1 whole chicken, place it in a large pot of water until the entire chicken is covered. If desired put in Italian seasoning until it seems right – probably 2 tablespoons.
Put on low boil for 2 to 3 hours. (Go watch a game on TV, read a book, blog, go out, whatever, the time is approximate here. Some people who “cook” say that the longer the chicken cooks the tougher it gets. Good!)
Remove chicken from broth – those of you who don’t “cook”: careful, it’s hot. Remove the organs, neck, all skin and bones and put chicken meat in a bowl – cover and refrigerate. Discard the neck and all skin, fat and bones – don’t give to your dog or your cat. You can give the organs to your cat if you want it to get high cholesterol.
Place large pot with broth in refrigerator for 24 hours. Then remove all fat and grease floating on top of the water. You can use a large spoon and paper towels at the end – get as much fat out as you can. Discard or turn into bio diesel.
Put large pot of broth on stove and simmer. When the broth is simmering, put into the pot
1 white onion, chopped up
1/2 head of cabbage, chopped up
1 10 oz (standard size) package of frozen cut green beans
1 10 oz (standard size) package of frozen chopped spinach
2 small cans of mushrooms – drain then dice if desired
1 16 oz can of diced tomatoes – get the ones in chili if you want a little kick
8 ounces of dry chickpeas or 1 16 oz can of garbonzo beans (rinsed)
Couple of stalks of celery, chopped up
Couple of carrots, chopped up
Some baby lima beans, 4 ounces or so, whatever seems good
Some wild (or brown) rice – probably 1/2, whatever seems good
Some garlic if desired
More Italian seasoning if desired
For those of you who don’t “cook”, don’t be intimidated, all of this chopping goes very quickly and is so easy even you can do it. With no help from your mother.
And try other vegetables if you’re so inclined. Experiment! Live it up!
Last, after 30 minutes or so of simmering, take the bowl of chicken meat out of the fridge. Pull apart, slice or chop the chicken meat as desired, then put the meat into the simmering pot if you want the meat for texture and protein, otherwise give the chicken to your dog. Or your cat.
Simmer for an hour or so. Or two. Whatever.
Season as desired. Enjoy. And amaze everyone who thought you couldn’t “cook” including yourself and your dog. If you have a cat, your cat will not be impressed or amazed. Your cat knew you could “cook” all along.
Makes a large pot, enough for 15 large bowls of very hearty stew. Stays good in the refrigerator for 5 or 6 days. Can also be frozen, but warning: Penny, who does cook, says freezing changes the texture of the vegetables.
The result is a very hearty, very fast, microwavable lunch or dinner with lots of vegetables. Your mother would be proud of you. And if your mother is still alive, call her! And thank her for raising such an adventurous spirit.
2 whole chickens at Costco run about $8 (as of February 2009).
The rest of the ingredients cost $4 to $8, which works out to lots-o-meals of very economical hearty stew.
Thanks Penny and other Alexandria, VA, Toppers!
Also see “Make Chicken Stock Like a Pro,” with video.
“Cooking is a human universal.” Except for many singles for whom microwaving, not “cooking”, is the norm.
“What’s cooking? The evolutionary role of cookery,” The Economist, February 19, 2009

How did a sandwich once reviled as something unsanitary and purchased outside factories and at carnivals come so far? The answer can be found in this little book, The Hamburger: A History. “What do Americans think of when they think of the hamburger?” asks the author, Josh Ozersky. “Is it a sizzling disc of goodness, served in a roadside restaurant dense with local lore, or the grim end product of a secret, sinister empire of tormented animals and unspeakable slaughtering practices? Is it cooking or commodity? An icon of freedom or the quintessence of conformity?”

“Burger Triumphant. Or, requiem for the hot dog.” By Victorino Matus, The Weekly Standard, September 29, 2008

More

• The best grilled burger in NYC? – A Guy In New York

• A Hamburger Today – on Serious Eats
• Bosnia burger in Alexandria, VA – Hobnob Blog
• Hamburgers – Tyler Cowen’s Ethnic Dining Guide
• “The 20 Hamburgers You Must Eat Before You Die,” by Alan Richman, GQ, July 2005 (with some links from AHT)
• “Best hamburgers in America?” – A Guy In New York
• Hamburger – from Wikipedia

In a story rich with irony the Senate, led by Democrat Diane Feinstein, has voted to privatize its restaurants and food services. The House privatized twenty years ago. The result? Sort of like East and West Berlin.

“Food Fight,” by Alex Tabarrok, Marginal Revolution, June 10, 2008

In a masterful bit of understatement, Feinstein blamed “noticeably subpar” food and service. Foot traffic bears that out. Come lunchtime, many Senate staffers trudge across the Capitol and down into the basement cafeteria on the House side. On Wednesdays, the lines can be 30 or 40 people long.

House staffers almost never cross the Capitol to eat in the Senate cafeterias.

“Senate Votes To Privatize Its Failing Restaurants,” by Paul Kane, The Washington Post, June 9, 2008

More

• “Financial Audit: Senate Restaurants Revolving Fund for Fiscal Years 2007 and 2006,” GAO Report GAO-08-463, March 7, 2008 (23-page pdf )

• “Financial Audit: Senate Restaurants Revolving Fund for Fiscal Years 2006 and 2005,” GAO Report GAO-07-462, March 13, 2007 (20-page pdf )
• “Financial Audit: Senate Restaurants Revolving Fund for Fiscal Years 2004 and 2003,” GAO Report GAO-05-297, March 10, 2005 (also available as a 19-page pdf )
• “Senate Dining Room: Where the elite meet,” by The Hill Staff, July 16, 2003
• Senate Bean Soup
• The Members’ Dining Room
• Capitol Dining Areas Open to the Public: House | Senate
• Restaurant Associates
• Capitol Hill: Map, Buildings, Hotels, Restaurants – from TheCapitol.Net
• Tyler Cowen’s Ethnic Dining Guide
• Some of the places our faculty and authors like in “Faculty Favorites” on Hobnob Blog
• Washington Post restaurant reviews
• Washington City Paper restaurant finder
• Washingtonian magazine restaurant reviews

We asked our faculty and authors to share with us some of their favorite things about living in our nation’s capital. Their responses are posted in “Faculty Favorites”

Al Swift (bio), a former Member of Congress, shares his favorites.

Five most interesting places to visit

• Washington’s Tomb or what was supposed to be that. It is now the place they store the Lincoln catafalque which has been used for every person who has laid in state in the rotunda since it was used for Abraham Lincoln. It is kind of hard to find but it is directly beneath the center of the Capitol Dome. Just keep going down. web site, 101 Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC.

• The Brumidi Corridor in the U.S. Capitol, Senate side. web site, 101 Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC.
• The Capitol Rotunda. web site, 101 Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC.
• The Lincoln Memorial. web site, Independence Avenue SW & 23rd Street SW, Washington, DC.
• The Smithsonian. Some of these are pretty standard, but they are not ordinary. web site, map of museums on or near the National Mall, 202-633-1000.

Five most favorite “fun” things to do

• Have a martini, a cigar, and a conversation at Shelly’s Back Room, a tavern in DC. One of only two places in DC where you can enjoy a good cigar while wetting one’s whistle. web site, 1331 F Street NW, Washington, DC, 202-737-3003.

• Go to the National Zoo. web site, 3001 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 202-633-4800.
• Go to the Arboretum. web site, 3501 New York Avenue NE, Washington, DC, 202-245-2726.
• Ride the paddle boats in the Tidal Basin. This is one that I have not done, but it always seemed like fun. web site, 1501 Maine Avenue SW, Washington, DC, 202-479-2426.

Five favorite restaurants

Well, I’m a truck driver’s son and while I’ve learned to like the finer things in life, I haven’t forgotten the joys of a good peanut butter and jam sandwich…

• The Prime Rib for steak and lobster bisque. web site, 2020 K Street NW, Washington, DC, 202-466-8811. [WaPo | Washingtonian | Yelp]

• The Monocle for history and politics with your meal. web site, 107 D Street NE, Washington, DC, 202-546-4488 [WaPo | Yelp]
• Hard Times Cafe, any of them for chili. I like Texas, halfway wet with onions on the side. web site, many locations throughout the area. [WaPo | Washingtonian | Yelp]
• Five Guys any of them for hamburgers, what else? web site, many locations throughout the area. [WaPo | Washingtonian | Yelp]
• BJs Sandwich Shop in the National Press Building. For good sandwiches when you are on the run. (But I’ve never tried their PB&Js.) web site,

For more, also see our Visiting Washington DC pages

First published by Restaurant magazine in 2002 and now in its seventh year, The S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants is recognised around the world as the most credible indicator of the best places to eat on Earth.

The S. Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants. In the US:

• 5. The French Laundry, Yountville, CA [Yelp]

• 6. Per Se, New York [Yelp]
• 17. Jean Georges, New York [Yelp]
• 20. Le Bernardin, New York [Yelp]
• 21. Alinea, Chicago [Yelp]
• 37. Chez Panisse, Berkeley [Yelp]
• 38. Charlie Trotter’s, Chicago [Yelp]
• 41. Daniel, New York [Yelp]

Rounding out the top 100:
52. Nobu, New York [Yelp]
54. Masa, New York [Yelp]
63. WD-50, New York [Yelp]
85. L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, New York [Yelp]
87. L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, Las Vegas [Yelp]

Chef’s Ma Paul Tofu (Wu Liang Ye Restaurant, NYC)

What most Americans know as Chinese food would be more properly termed American Chinese food, a category that includes chop suey and lemon chicken, dishes born in the U.S. Given, as Lee points out, that there are about 40,000 Chinese restaurants in the U.S., “more than the number of McDonald’s, Burger Kings, and KFCs combined,” Chinese food might be our national cuisine. “Our benchmark for Americanness is apple pie,” she writes. “But ask yourself. How often do you eat apple pie? How often do you eat Chinese food?”

Chinese restaurants are ubiquitous, usually taking the form of urban carryout shops and suburban buffets. But how did these restaurants flourish across the American landscape? For the most part they are independently run, so how is it they seem to share similar characteristics, such as gigantic menus filled with egg rolls, garish red sweet and sour sauce, and General Tso’s chicken?

Each chapter answers these questions and more, examining soy sauce, the distinctive shape of takeout boxes favored by Chinese restaurants, and fortune cookies, which Lee discovers are Japanese in origin.

“West eats East: A fact-filled look at Chinese food, which just might be America’s national cuisine,” by Bich Minh Nguyen, ChicagoTribune.com, March 1, 2008

More

• Author’s blog: The Fortune Cookie Chronicles

• Chinese Restaurants on Tyler Cowen’s Ethnic Dining Guide
• Chinese Restaurants on A Guy in New York
• “Review: ‘The Fortune Cookie Chronicles’,” by Heller McAlpin, Special to Newsday, March 2, 2008
• “Solving a Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside a Cookie,” by Jennifer 8. Lee, The New York Times, January 16, 2008

What’s wrong with this picture?

Caution: this is a professional actor. Do NOT attempt this at a business meal!

There are at least eight things in this picture that demonstrate bad business etiquette.

For a link to the answers, see our custom training course, “Communication Skills for the Professional: Presentations, Business Etiquette, and Networking Skills for Washington“.

Also see our Capitol Learning Audio Course, “Business Etiquette: Keys to Professional Success,” with Jill Kamp Melton.

Fish and chips – and chicken nuggets – at Eamonn’s in Old Town.

Eamonn’s–A Dublin Chipper, web site, 728 King Street, Alexandria, VA, 703-299-8384 [Tyler Cowen's Ethnic Dining Guide | Washingtonian | WaPo | MenuPages | City Paper]