Heard around the DC Foodies blogosphere this week...Despite the recent abrupt departure of Frank Morales from Rustico, the chef, known now for beer cuisine remarked about the Neighborhood Restaurant Group, "they are truly, truly a wonderful group" to Gut Check this week.  Morales will now go on to be part-owner and executive chef at Birch & Barely as planned. "Whatever I do next is going to define, for me, what my legacy is in D.C.,” Morales said to Young and Hungry.

DC is largely a region filled with transplants. Those transplants who are foodies, be they permanent or interlopers, are bound to bitch, moan and complain that they can't find a good (insert your hometown food here) anywhere. Well, Chicago natives, we may have a winner for you. Best Bites Blog reported on an unlikey authentic Chicago hot dog stand in Ashburn. The place is called Windy City Red Hots, and it's located in the parking lot of a nursery. The owner, Miranda, who moved to Northern Virginia in 1998, says the idea was born of homesickness." She also serves up roast beef sandwiches and Polish kielbasa.

Please do not return tray tables to their upright and locked positions for the anticipated opening of The Passenger, one of a duo of bars set to open north of Chinatown this winter, according to Metrocurean. Brothers Tom and Derek Brown are behind this new project. Expect to help concoct your libation and enjoy unusual varietals.

As Lee Trevino said, you can't own a good golf game, you can only borrow it for awhile. Seemingly, so goes Burgundy wine. According to The Humble Gourmand, with the Chevalier Pere et Fils Lacoix, "The first thing you notice is the breathtaking bouquet: Asian spices, leather, sweet young tobacco leaves and lush dark cherries. It broadcasts Burgundy." At $30 a bottle (and recommended to be bought in high-order quantities), that sounds like an ace to me.

Finally, when Pete Bakes, people listen-especially if he's baking Bacon Wrapped Strawberries. Got bourbon? Try making The Garden Apartment's Blackberry and Peach Bourbon Pie. It's the perfect time of year.