Heard around the D.C. Foodies blogosphere this week...New Haven style pizza lovers from all around D.C. have been waiting with bated breath for the opening of Pete's Apizza in Columbia Heights. Located next to the metro escalator on the corner of 14th and Irving, the 50-seat restaurant will serve wine, beer, panninis, soup, pasta and pizza. Pete's opens on Monday. You can get a look at Pete's on Flickr.

Cupcakes-those palmfuls of cake and frosting and tempests in teapots are continuing to permeate the nation's capitol with the opening of another cupcake place. Hello Cupcake will be opening summer 2008, at 1351 Connecticut Ave., NW. With lines that form before opening outside of Georgetown Cupcake, D.C. appears to be a town of cupcake enthusiasts who are willing to shell out between $2-$3 a cupcake.

Or are they? Recently, NBC's Liz Crenshaw did a cupcake taste test at Ballston Commons Mall. Cakelove, Betty Crocker homemade, Georgetown Cupcake, and Safeway cupcakes were compared. Georgetown Cupcake was the clear winner, with the rest being about equal in votes. When asked if they would buy their favorite cupcake for $2.77, or $2.44, most participants said no. Perhaps the difference between the $.20 homemade cupcake, and the upscale versions wasn't that great, after all.

Penny-savers should also read last Wednesday's Wapo Food section. PS 7's chef, Peter Smith, took a Chef's Challenge to make a 3-course dinner for four for as cheap as possible. What he turned out with $11.22 worth of ingredients from his Safeway looked delicious-asparagus salad, pan stew with rosti and roasted apples.

Earth Day was Tuesday, April 22nd, and while I enjoyed tasting the terroir at a Farm to Fork dinner held at Vermilion, Counter Intelligence posted Earth Friendly Eats, with suggestions on how to eat and drink green.

Finally, I wanted to give a shout out to another D.C. food blog which I discovered recently. The Bitten Word, blogged by Clay and Zach, contains recipes from all those food magazines which people like me have subscriptions to, and hardly ever use. They cook from publications such as Food & Wine, Gourmet and Cooks Illustrated. Go for the recipes..and the temping photos.