There's no shortage of locally angled websites that tell you where to eat.

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On any given day, Eater DC, Prince of Petworth, City Paper's Young & Hungry blog, Washingtonian's Best Bites blog, Metrocurean, and the Post might report the same story. Then there's a slew of less-recognized local food bloggers who later summarize what the big guns wrote about.

There's a huge market for exclusives among D.C.-themed blogs, especially the food blogs. And if you're the source who breaks the story, the other publications should link back to you.

UrbanDaddy recommends what to do on any given day in the city. Often, the advice is about what to eat. The D.C. version launched in October 2009, and ever since, one hot tip per day has arrived in subscribers' inboxes. The contents of the email are then put atop UrbanDaddy's homepage.

Once you subscribe, it takes a few days to get things moving, which seemingly adds to the site's desire to appear "exclusive."

A quick look around the site reveals UrbanDaddy's strategy for standing out in the crowded marketplace of D.C. dining recommendations and reviews. It's not just an emphasis on exclusivity; the site's a pretty big fan of a specific word: secret (emphasis is mine in the following screenshots).

What's the big reveal in this case? No, Pound the Hill is not hosting Eyes Wide Shut–type parties after hours. The popular Capitol Hill coffee shop recently began serving alcohol in the evenings. NBC Washington covered this, and advertisements around the café alerted customers to the change before it happened.

A waitress at Little Serow, a no-reservations restaurant serving Northern Thai cuisine near Dupont Circle, told me that on any given Friday or Saturday, people are willing to wait three hours for their evening meal. The restaurant has also been written about in Washingtonian, Marginal Revolution, Refinery 29, Borderstan, The Washington Post, Food and Wine, BYT, The Hill, and Washington City Paper.

 

Prince of Petworth had this scoop, too. And the only thing secret about you sitting at home eating homemade, gourmet ice cream you acquired from some dude with an email address is that you probably won't be telling anyone about it.

While this pop-up restaurant was sadly canceled after the death of the chef this week, the "secret" row house to which UrbanDaddy refers is actually Montserrat House, an art gallery and performance space owned by Eric Hilton, local restaurateur, Thievery Corporation member, and film director. But shhh.

More classified information:

After the jump: Shaw's Tavern finally opens! And I link to stories written by the sources I listed above, just like everyone else does.