Capital Bites: Element Fresh Temporarily Closed, Get Your Roast Chicken and BBQ

Element Fresh is closing its doors for a spell, new rotisserie chicken and BBQ joints are opening at Xingfucun, and put your creativity to good use to win some food and drink for you and some friends. And of course, wine continues to run through Beijing's streets.

The reigning king of salads and sandwiches in Sanlitun Village started renovations on their space yesterday, July 16, so will be closed temporarily until the end of September. New next-door neighbor Wagas must have lit a fire under them. We'll keep you updated.

Beijing Boyce has the scoop on Uncle Otis and The Big Smoke opening up this week. Run by Kris Ryan (formerly of Rickshaw), Uncle Otis opens on Wednesday and will focus on rotisserie chicken (one of my great loves), while The Big Smoke soft opens this Friday and brings yet more Southern BBQ to Beijing. We can't wait to give them a try and will have some thoughts for you soon. For now, read more at Beijingboyce.com.

Boyce also tips us off that Jeff Powell, who's been grilling up a mighty fine bratwurst and burger over at Frost (the nail salon and bar he runs with his wife, Sheri), is also planning to open a restaurant in an adjacent space. It'll be called Back Alley Bistro, and will create a nice little pocket of American comfort food in the Xingfucun area.

At the risk of talking just a bit too much about our friend Boyce, he's also running a competition on his blog: Help name that courtyard in Sanlitun (you know, behind The Bookworm, where Salsa Caribe and d lounge are ...) and win eats and drinks at Brussels, Ole and Q Mex. This will benefit all of us who grow tired of explaining where all these new restaurants are opening up.

Speaking of new restaurants, you all know there are way more restaurants opening up in this town than we can fit in the magazine, so we're making a push to cover more of them on our blog. Check out our reviews for hot dog and fries kiosk Nova's on NLGX, fast-food Indian stall iFood in Wangjing, the new Just Salad bar in Gulou, Xiao Shuai's new El Nido Bistro on Fangjia hutong and lomography-slash-dessert-shop So Photo in Wudaokou.

Now for some fine dining: Jaan at the Raffles Hotel is having a wine dinner this Friday night, showcasing the best of China's wine and cheese. This is a great opportunity to see just how far China has come in both these regards, with Jia Bei Lan's Red Bordeaux (which earned a trophy at the Decanter World Wine Awards 2011 in London) and the delectable cheeses from Le Fromager de Pekin. Plenty of great cuisine from Jaan's kitchen, too. RMB 588+15% for cocktail bites, wine and five courses. Call 6526 3388 ext 5331 to reserve.

Speaking of wine, this Saturday WildChina Travel and Capital M are presenting a talk by Steven Han, founder of new wine-based social network TasteV. He worked at Google for six years and now his startup is dedicated to connecting those who love wine with great new wines and the folks who drink 'em. The talk starts at 5.30pm at the beautiful Capital M at Qianmen. For RMB 65, you get the talk and a wine tasting. Reserve at 6702 2727 or email reservations@capital-m-beijing.com.

Oh yeah, what's that photo up top you ask? It's the ice cream sandwich at Nola. Well, more like an ice-cream stuffed brownie. With chocolatey bits. Fellow editor Lauren McCarthy tipped us off to it, and she'll be telling you more about it in our upcoming August issue. Or you could, you know, go get one yourself.

Happy eating.

Photo: Marilyn Mai