No Settlement in Trump Hotel Case (Plus D.C.-Bashing from Its Partner), and More Intel

Lawsuits

President-elect Donald Trump does not plan to settle his lawsuit with chef José Andrés (despite recently settling over the Trump University case). There was a court-ordered mediation session this week that didn’t go anywhere, according to The Washington Post. Trump is in the courts with Andrés and chef Geoffrey Zakarian after they pulled out of his hotel project following inflammatory remarks about immigrants. [WaPo]

D.C.-bashing

Also in Trump Hotel news, for someone about to open a restaurant in Washington, D.C., Alessandro Borgognone doesn’t have much nice to say about its restaurant scene. The restaurateur behind The Trump Hotel’s upcoming Nakazawa sushi restaurant tells Grub Street that he has no competition in Washington. “We don’t have any,” he says. “I don’t know if I’m using the right words. I don’t sound humble. But I am. It’s just, you know, can you name an amazing sushi restaurant in D.C.?” The reporter also offers some dated insults for the town as well, saying the city loves fusion (?) and The Palm. The restaurateur continues: “It’s a meat-and-potatoes town. It’s a steakhouse town.”

Naturally, several D.C. writers have fired back, including those from Washingtonian and Washington City Paper. Even José Andrés had some choice, if generous, words:

Awards season

Well, here’s someone with some kind praise for D.C., at least — Zagat. The city is number one on its list of hottest food cities for this year. [Zagat]

Adventures in drinking

The Columbia Room has a cocktail made out of old books. Yep, that’s right. They combined old books with grapeseed oil and a fat-wash to create a tincture used in the In Search of Time Past cocktail (despite the name, no Proust pages). [Washingtonian]

The Shutter

Rockville has lost an Indian place. Mem Sahib closed in the Randolph Hills shopping center; the owner is retiring. [BM]