Pasta Favorite Osteria Morini Reopens in Navy Yard 8 Weeks After Kitchen Fire

Pasta comeback

Navy Yard staple Osteria Morini returned to business as usual last night, reopening eight weeks after a kitchen fire put it out of commission. According to a statement from the restaurant, chef Tommy Levandoski marked the occasion with some new summery dishes such as a tortellini with creamed corn and chanterelles, clam tonarelli, and a handful of wood-grilled seafood dishes. The Michael White restaurant will start serving lunch again tomorrow afternoon.

Reasons to return

After being closed for about a week because of a fire at a neighboring building, artsy Latin American restaurant Seven Reasons reopens tonight with a few new dishes. Per a release, chef Enrique Limardo has added a lamb loin with coconut curry sauce and “black paloapique” (a Venezuelan bean dish); a tuna tartare with shiitake mushrooms, chipotle, and pepita cracker; a crispy sweet potato “madness” with spicy almond dressing and sea beans; and a butternut squash cacao tart with goat cheese and caviar vinaigrette.

Roast Beef down

MGM Roast Beef, the classic sandwich shop in Northeast, looks to be closed for a few weeks after suffering its own fire.

Fast food pimento cheese

North Carolina-based fried chicken and biscuit chain Bojangles’ started a limited run of a new pimento cheese spread yesterday. Southern food aficionados can try it on Cajun filet biscuits, its own pimento cheese biscuit, or as an added topping on any menu item. Bojangles’ says its using three types of cheese in its blend. For N.C. expats who were unaware, there’s a Bojangles’ in Union Station, and the chain has five locations in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

Slight of hand

As Twitter user Josh Kramer noticed, Taylor Gourmet founder Casey Patten has now tweaked the names of sandwiches on the menu at his new place, Grazie Grazie, so they won’t conflict with sandwiches at the Taylor locations that will be revived under new ownership.

‘Cuban to the bone’

David Hagedorn wrote an excellent profile of Raynold Mendizábal, the Cuban refugee-turned-restaurateur, for Bethesda Magazine. Make some time to read it and learn about how the owner of El Sapo and Urban Butcher spent time in Guantanamo Bay, became obsessed with equations, and developed an artsy-macho philosophy. [BM]

Prepared pizzeria

Washington City Paper has an interesting story about how undergoing free “active threat” training from the Metropolitan Police Department helped a Pizzeria Paradiso manager control a tense situation during Pride festivities last month when a man flashing a BB gun created an active shooter scare in Dupont. [WCP]