September, that month of beginnings, is here, and in this first week of the month the food pages are sprinkled liberally with news items about new and noteworthy restaurants in New York, D.C. and Los Angeles.

Dorky but Delicious: Washington Coming Into Its Own as a Food Town

Washington is, in the words of Wolfgang Puck protege Scott Dremo, "a blossoming restaurant city with good challenges here now." Dremo hopes so, as he gets set to open Puck's first upscale Washington project: Source, a three-level lounge and dining space located in the Freedom Forum building downtown. Source will join the nearly 100 Wolfgang Puck restaurants in the world when it opens next month, serving up everything from chili crabs and pad thai to steak tartare and oysters -- oh, and that thing hardworking Washingtonians love best: a large bar.

Silver Spring, Washington's urban suburb which is just taking its first baby steps into truly fine dining, is the home of Maruicio Fraga-Rosenfeld's successful restaurant, Ceviche. Now, he has opened Ceviche Glover Park in the spot where the popular chain Austin Grill was located, on Wisconsin Avenue. With its red, sultry interior, it's worth visiting more for the vibe (and the tasty cocktails) than for the food, says Tom Sietsema in this week's First Bite column. More sex, less starch ... Hot Plates thinks this will go over well in coat-and-tie town.

The 80s, Updated

Sweetgreen ... just the name of this "salad takeout" place sounds healthy, if that's your thing -- and it surely is the thing for young, ambitious types living and working in the nation's captial. This newly opened joint on Georgetown's main drag is noteworthy because it was started by three recent college grads (we're talking months, not years; Hot Plates knows we were not this savvy or responsible at age 22, but that's just us.) Besides salads, the other big seller at Sweetgreen is the frozen yogurt. Maybe in this post-TCBY-and-salads-and-aerobics-classes age, that sounds like old news, but the Washington Post's description could even entice true full-fat ice-cream devotees: it has a "delightful tang of real yogurt," and is made from a spare recipe of yogurt, skim milk, lemon juice and a bit of sugar.

Also worth a gander for all food and dining lovers is a cute feature in the Washington Post about, of all things, the master of a Marriott hotel's omelet station -- a 70-year-old who has seen his share of food trends come and go, and whose input might just give you some new ideas the next time you're game to fry up some omelets in your own kitchen.

Up the Northeast Corridor

What's all this fuss over Washington, dear reader? Give me the real big-city scoop, you say? Well, if you know the Big Apple, or just follow the food world there, you'll be mighty pleased at what's in the paper this week. "Your Table's Almost Ready" is "a guide to dozens of restaurants opening in New York, with a key to the most intriguing" -- and it is a meaty list, so clip it out and save it, or bookmark it for when you have time to savor it all.

The first of  the articles is one about the delays restauranteurs encounter when trying to open up; it is truly mind-blowing just in terms of the buckets of cash that are spent, and lost, in this risky business. A quote to get you intrigued: "Murphy's Law rules the insane world of New York City restaurants. Community boards can kill a liquor license. City codes must be met. Chefs and investors fall out and money just disappears."

Also really fun is Florence Fabricant's Food Stuff column about stores spun off from popular restaurants large and small, like the BLT chains's BLT Market all the way down to Little Piggy, a "country market with a Brooklyn Stamp on it" next to the Smoke Joint barbecue shop in super-cool (who knew?) Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

Prickly Treats on Both Coasts

The first of two articles highlighting sea urchin is critic Frank Bruni's review in The New York Times of Soto, which he calls a "unipalooza" because of chef Sotohiro Kosugi's liberal use of urchin, or uni, as it is called in Japanese restaurants. Kosugi is "enterprising" but also "prickly ... maybe he's emulating his beloved urchin," and "earned a reputation as a cold fish" in a previous Atlanta restaurant, Bruni reports. Drinkwise, the sake's the thing, Bruni says, referring to the 30 kinds of sake "supplemented by 18 unremarkable wines."

East Coasters will want to go west on a plane when they read about sea urchin -- and all the other offerings -- in the Los Angeles Times's write-up of Hungry Cat No. 2 in Santa Barbara. David Lentz and Suzanne Goin, chef/owner of D.O.C. and Lucques, are the parents not just of this new restaurant, but of twins (the babies arrived two weeks prior to the restaurant's opening). That's why they're not running the kitchen, but watching from afar as their underlings continue to bring in the crowds with their casual but beautifully presented fare.

"A huge, purple-black sea urchin" arrives at the writer's table, "looking like some improbable fur hat set on its side." The Hungry Cat's waiter tells his table how to spoon out some roe, put it on a cracker and lightly dress it before tasting. What's it like? "The taste is fantastic, briny and complex, with a mineral salt tang, lit up by that squeeze of lemon and the salt." We'll see you at the airport!

Glasses to Raise to the Lazy Days

For the nights when you're home cooking, it's always nice to have something new to pour for yourself and your guests. Since it's still technically summer, we'll do whites: The Dallas Morning News highlights an apparently delicious Chardonnay from, surprisingly, Connecticut, as well as a delightfully affordable ($10) Riesling whose description will have you drooling.