Post Food Critic Stiffs Arlington, Disses Ray's Hell Burger

Washington Post Food Critic Tom Sietsema just released his Fall Dining Guide. Alexandria led Virginia's dining scene with 3 picks & Falls Church made a strong showing with 2 picks. But completely absent from the list was Arlington. And adding insult to injury, Sietsema's recommendation of the Dupont location of BGR takes a shot at Arlington's best known burger joint:

Ray's Hell-Burger in Arlington has its charms, but if President Obama ever decides to alter his burger run, he ought to consider another home-grown mini-chain, [BGR] from entrepreneur Mark Bucher. ... The Dupont Circle branch, with blond-wood booths, purple walls and Christmas-light chandeliers, is closest to the White House. Got that, Mr. President?

Arlington has made a lot more headlines this year for harassing up & coming restaurants than supporting them -- first Screwtop & Bakeshop and now Westover Market Beer Garden. But things are looking up. Restaurant 3's Bacon Week will be featured on this week's nationally televised Redskins game. (Bacon? Hogs? Get it?) And the owners of 3-starred Birch & Barley are opening a new Rustico in Ballston. Will it be Arlington's best restaurant the moment it opens its doors?

Beer Summit Needed for Metro & Google

I ran the Arlington 9/11 5K a couple of weekends ago. Posted my worst time ever, but given the late summer heat, satisfied to have managed to run the whole thing.

Given Metro's track work, I was looking for an alternative way to get to the Pentagon. I went to Google and looked at the driving route, then changed the method of travel to "public transit." Google told me my search "appears to be outside our current coverage area."

When I looked at their map of participating public transit agencies, I noticed that the DC area looks like it has a spotlight on it. But the light is actually a blackout -- an area that isn't covered by Google's public transit search (and it does include the District).

Over at GreaterGreaterWashington.org, Michael Perkins has been tracking a prolonged back-and-forth between Google and Metro on this issue. At last check, Metro claimed to be studying the issue while claiming wmata.com is just as good as Google Maps, which is like claiming Hardee's is just as good as Ray's Hell Burger.

Yes, I know Metro is trying to get revenue anywhere it can. And yes, I know profit margins for online businesses like Google can be razor-thin.

But from what I've seen so far, this seems like a classic case of the public interest coming in last. Can't someone lock Metro and Google in a room and not let them out until they solve this?