For every reason you can come up with not to make fried chicken, there's one that can't be denied: It tastes great, especially when served alfresco in the summer.

Set among the rolling green hills of Loudoun County, Jim Dunlap's farm hasn't changed much since the 1780s. The original fieldstone farmhouse, designed by William Penn, is still there, albeit larger after two additions. So is the stone smokehouse and a spring house. There are peach trees, raspberry...

Editor's Note: Gut Check is a new biweekly column on the politics of food.

Here's something for those who shop with coupons, and those who don't because they think it's a hassle. Web-based services that just launched in the Washington area let shoppers use coupons without having to clip them, file them and remember to schlep them to the store. I tried it, and it works.

-- BOOK SIGNING: Monica Bhide demonstrates recipes from her new book, "Modern Spice." 4-5 p.m. Penn Quarter FreshFarm Market, Eighth St. NW between D and E streets. 202-362-8889 or http://www.freshfarmmarkets.org .

Like a lot of her peers, restaurateur Zed Wondemu went casual when she decided to open a spinoff of the eponymous Zed's Ethiopian Cuisine in Georgetown. So the granite tabletops at the sunny new Zed's Bistro & Wine Bar (6850 Piedmont Center Plaza; 571-261-5933; http://www.zeds.net ) in Gainesville...

For those who don't live nearby, this is a pilgrimage kind of place: worth the drive from Washington, and well worth the wait while orders are meticulously filled and packaged.

An excerpt from the Going Out Gurus blog ( http://www.voices.washingtonpost. com/goingoutgurus ):

The newest thing in wine retail is restaurants. For the past few years, the action in the Washington area wine scene has been primarily in restaurants. Wine bars have become the place where oeno-savvy consumers look for interesting labels from small artisanal producers. Sustainable, organic and...

When I'm working (i.e., traveling and drinking), there are times when I feel a little like that woman in Ernest Hemingway's classic short story "Hills Like White Elephants." Sitting at a bar in a Spanish railway station on a hot afternoon, trying to avoid another quarrel with her boyfriend, she...

This is Dave McIntyre's monthly recommendation of wines that cost $10 or less, with the occasional splurge: this month, he goes as high as $11. All of these are worthy of a Great Value tag.

Inspired by the freedoms celebrated every Fourth of July, I hereby endorse the liberation of the sandwich and the wrap.

Good food done fast is the common thread among four of June's five most-viewed recipes in Recipe Finder ( http://www.washingtonpost.com/recipes ) as of Monday.