D.C. Restaurant April Fool's Day Pranks: A Running Tally

It's April 1, which is either a hilarious or annoying day to be in the Internet, depending on your mindset. Restaurants have already started getting into the April Fool's Day game with little pranks, mostly broadcast on social media. These pranks tend to be pretty cheesy (in some cases, literally). Seen any others pop up? Send a note to the tipline. Here's what's been out there so far:

1) Chef Geoff does Chuck E. Cheese's: Chef Geoff Tracy Tweeted today: "I'm excited to announce that I will be opening my newest restaurant location, Franc E. Fromage, a french-inspired mecca for the whole fam! It will be 401-seat location in downtown DC with all the classic french dishes!" [Twitter]

2) Guacapolypse at Boloco: "We never thought this day would come, but alas, it is here. Even the big guys (ahem... Chipdoba) are in trouble. We tried our best to source enough avocados at a reasonable price. We even tried to convince our CFO (a.k.a. dreamwrecker) that we had to go to Central America to find them ourselves, but that definitely wasn't in the budget...We are sorry to tell you that we are no longer able to offer guacamole, effective immediately." The restaurant clarifies it's a prank in the press release. [EaterWire]

3) Not-so-free burgers at Z-Burger: Z-Burger is willing to give away a free burger for just about any occasion. Not so today. ""I think it's a great time for our customers to get a chance to give back to Z-Burger with this warm weather coming," owner Peter Tabibian "says" in a press release. "Customers just need to say the secret password 'April 1' and they can buy any single hamburger, cheeseburger, turkey burger or veggie burger for $10."

4) Glen's Garden Market loses the local thing: Locavore mecca Glen's Garden Market is stocking up on imported fruits and charging $6 for Bud Lite on this April Fool's Day. [WCP]

5) Print media isn't dead: Runcible Spoon, D.C.'s food zine, prank Tweets, "Big news: We've decided to stop doing print magazines and go to a blog format. More details here:" [Twitter]

6) BGR skips the meat: "Well, guys, after a lot of thinking, we've decided to hang up our burger hats and switch our traditional menu for vegan and plant-based foods. We want to hear from our fans - what are your thoughts on the new VGN - The Vegan Joint?" [Facebook]

7) Taylor Gourmet is just plain cruel: "FREE BEER @ ALL LOCATIONS (today only)," the company Tweets. It's not going to happen — a rep confirms it's a joke, and they don't even serve beer or have a liquor license. [Twitter]

8) Tim Horton's tease: New Columbia Heights writes a satirical post about a Canadian firm buying DCUSA and installing, among other tenants, a Tim Horton's location. [NCH]

9) No Inner Peas for SW: Ok, not exactly restaurant news, but the Southwest Quadrant blog tricked folks into thinking a Trader Joe's is coming to the Wharf. Given this is at least somewhat plausible as a news story, not sure what the joke was per se, but hey.

10) Don't mess with BOGO: DC Reynolds Tweets, "Can't wait for our new Happy Hour tonight. Dollar off everything!" No worries, everyone. It's a prank: their buy one, get one free happy hour is firmly in place. [Twitter]
· All Coverage of Pranks [-EDC-]
[Photo: Chef Geoff]