Your aunt has unexpectedly come into town and wants to take you to dinner. Where do you go?

Well, if you have a sense of direction like mine, you go someplace close to her hotel so you don’t get lost on the way back. Fortunately, she was in Woodley Park, so we chose Medaterra on Connecticut Ave. from the host of options available to us.

The place was nearly empty when we arrived, so we received immediate service. We ordered the calamari, since I get it wherever I go, and the baba ghanouj, because I’d never had it before. The calamari wasn’t the best I’d ever had, but the sauces it was served with were excellent- a cold bruschetta-style tomato sauce, and an off-white aioli that I couldn’t quite identify. And if Medaterra’s baba ghanouj is any indication of what baba ghanouj is like overall, I think I have found my new favorite snack…

(It was at this point that my aunt, who spent some time in the Middle East in her 20s, told me a very amusing story about trying to make baba ghanouj in a friend’s kitchen but instead she caused the eggplant to explode all over the room.)

I ordered the sirloin special, which was very tasty and had an especially good gravy poured over it. But the real star was the lamb shank special my aunt ordered. The meat was falling off the bone and practically melted in your mouth as you chewed it.

For dessert, there were a number of interesting-looking options, but as I was mostly full from dinner, I chose the mango sorbet. It was a much larger portion than I had intended. It was 5 small scoops, sprinkled with powdered sugar to offset the tartness of the fruit. Mmm. But of course by the time I finished it, I was stuffed.

So two thumbs up, though I do recommend the ethnic dishes over the American-style ones. Price: ~$20/person.

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Cold Ducks
Originally uploaded by tbridge.

It’s cold in DC this morning, it was about 17°F when I snapped this shot of the ducks in the fountain at Freedom Plaza. I was hoping that yesterday’s thaw would get a chance to last us through the cherry blossoms, but I believe the phrase goes “No Such Luck.”

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The folks in Chicago have come up with a new metric for urban density and business growth. Here at my office at 12th and F above Metro Center, we’re at 61 SBD, and my condo over in Fairlington is at 32 SBD. Converting the metric into Starbucks per Square Mile (S/mi^2), that’s a 0.77 S/mi^2 for downtown and 0.40 S/mi^2 for Fairlington.

I actually expected a lot higher cluster of Starbucks downtown, but apparently they’re all over by Georgetown. What’s your Starbucks Density?

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Yesterday, an assistant superintendent in Prince George’s County was indicted on charges of money laundering for a drug ring. The indictment spans 267 pages and charges 30 people with charges ranging from selling drugs to money laundering. The local news was interviewing parents last night who hardly seemed shocked, but yet appeared quite upset that their administrator was involved in a drug scandal.

It’s not yet clear how deeply she was involved, as the five charges she was indicted on are only related to Money Laundering. There is, of course, more in the Post.

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Metroblogging DC’s own Julia has some suggestions for Metro behavior.

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How do I know they’re here? Well, if you take 14th Street into DC, you literally cannot miss them. They’re lining both sides of the street with 8 foot tall pictures of dead babies with such thrilling titles like “God Bless America?” and other such slogans. Don’t have breakfast before driving in this morning, and expect to be greeted with the same on your trip out.

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The Washington Post has been an incredible source for great photography over the last few days, and the Inauguration events have been very good for the photographers. They’ve done something great, though, in making an Inaugural Photoblog. Lots of great shots in there from the day’s events.

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DCFoodies.com has some recommendations on where to go for Valentine’s Day. Make your reservations now, or do like I do and cook for Valentine’s Day.

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Well, it sure was interesting out there this afternoon. I left my office at 12th and F at roughly quarter after noon. I headed up 14th St. to I, then I over toward Washington Circle, then to K st. to grab either the Whitehurst Expressway or 66 outbound. Oy. It was one pm before I was even close to the Roosevelt Bridge, then a good half hour before I was able to get off in Courthouse to fill up at Our Lady of Chevron.

I ended up stuck just north of the Chevron on Wilson, but I was able to inch my way up the hill when a nice serviceman came to my aid and helped push my car up the hill. I wasn’t the only one having trouble, many cars were ill-prepared for the snow-covered streets in Rosslyn. So, it seems, was Arlington County, unable to treat the roads, despite the threat of snow, the forecast of snow, and the ACTUAL snow that began falling around 10:30. It wasn’t until I hit Glebe Road that I saw any evidence of roads being treated, and even so, that was one pass of the salt trucks.

In Fairlington, I was pleasantly surprised to see most of the roads cleared, and sidewalk sweeps under way by 3pm. At least my condo fees are being well spent!

How bad was your trip around town?

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Apparently, there was a two century old law in Virginia that considered sex outside of marriage a Class Four Misdemeanor. But, thankfully, that’s been overturned in court, as on Friday it was struck down as unconstitutional. This law, however, is unrelated to the sodomy law that is still on the books making that blowjob you got in the bathroom at Whitlow’s still a misdemeanor. Best not to tell anyone about that.

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It isn’t news to anyone that Infinity is a low down bunch of slimy bastards, but it seems that the demise of WHFS left a lot to be desired, even by their standards.

According to my sources, the station manager only found out about the changeover twelve hours before it happened, and most of the sales staff and talent found out about an hour before the switch was flipped and HFS became El Zol.

If you are a fan of The Junkies in the morning (in my humble opinion, the most godawful radio morning program since the ill-fated morning team at the classic rock station I listened to in Sacramento in the early 90s) it seems they’re working on a deal to take them back from whence they came to WJFK.

More details as I get them.

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WHFS signed off the air today at noon. The station has been sold off by Infinity to a Spanish Broadcasting company and will redebut at El Zol 99.1 in the Tropical format.

This is the end of an Era right here. HFS started back in the late 60s as an alt-rock station and really helped redefine the genre of alternative music in the 1990s. Their HFStival was frequently a big part of my summers here, going to see two of them in 2000 and 2002, the year Eminem headlined and nearly caused a riot.

Worst thing about it is that no one saw it coming. My friends in the music industry are trying to gather up some details, and we hope to post them here soon.

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As part of the security measures on Metro, some Metro Police are using behavioral profiling techniques as they patrol subway stations, including, “The officers are targeting people who avoid eye contact,”

Hi. This is reality, calling for the Metro Police? Most people avoid eye contact on the Metro. Especially when you’re squeezed in so tight that you can definitely tell that the girl in cute boots hasn’t showered, and the dude with the Rolex put too much shoe polish on. Eye contact is such a no-no in Metro etiquette. As for the loitering thing, if you guys actually ran trains on a reasonable schedule, we wouldn’t have to wait thirty minutes for an Orange Line train on Sunday, or for three trains to go by during rush hour at Pentagon…

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The Washington Post is reporting that Virginia is considering removing the exemption. Honestly, I think this is one of the reasons that I’d really buy a hybrid vehicle, to get around the HOV-3 requirement on 395 and the restrictions on 66. The exemption is scheduled to expire in 2006, but had previously thought to be easily renewed by the state.

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No one is really talking yet about just what’s going to be closed for the Inauguration, and this is beginning to bother Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton. She’s gone to meet with Dept. of Homeland Security.

Apparently they’re planning to close parts of downtown to traffic. They just haven’t decided what parts yet.

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This entry’s for all of the young professionals out there who want their hair cut. DC’s a tough town for the art of the barber. When I first moved here 4 years ago, I went in search of a decent barber shop. Not a salon, not a stylist, but a real, honest to God barber. It took me months to find a place that I liked. I settled on a guy named Charlie over on H St. by the World Bank. But one day, I went in for my haircut, and Charlie’s chair was empty, his marine sticker and picture of his family gone. I asked, but they said he’d just up and left one day.

Dejected, I settled on the Clarendon Barber Shop over by Lazy Sundae in Clarendon, but eventually haircuts were taking longer and longer, costing more and more. I’ve been on an eight month search for a real barber and it wasn’t until lunchtime today I found one: Rafael Rodriguez. Tucked into a shop in the middle of the first floor of International Square, across from the bank, there is his chair in Jose’s Barber Shop.

Rafael is an artist. His clippers were barely noticeable as they sheared off my 2 months’ growth, his scissors swift and precise, and his eye impeccable. He ever gave me a nice beveled sideburn, which is a pretty neat trick to get even. Best yet, he sped me through in 20 minutes. All for $20. Not a bad use of a twenty-spot. He sure bought my allegiance.

Sure, he’s no Charlie, but barbers like Charlie are a rare commodity. Nobody uses a straight razor to do your neck and sideburns anymore. Nobody keeps a good scalp massager on hand. These are things that have become antiques and eschewed in favor of a metrosexual who “styles” your hair, uses highlights, and uses copious “product”.

Give me a barber, any day of the week. Thanks Raphael for a great cut, I’m glad you’re here!

See also: Haircut photo

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Three new members of the DC Council were sworn in yesterday at the DC Convention Center. Kwame Brown (D-At Large), Vincent Gray (D-Ward 7) and Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) were sworn in by DC Superior Court Judge Mitchell-Rankin yesterday in a major DC Fete. Barry was said to say: “I’m a fighter. When you look in the dictionary and look up the word ‘courage,’ you see my picture.”

Mr. Mayor, that’s not the only word your picture is by.

Please also see page 531 for crackhead, page 691 for irresonsponsible liar and page 1031 for drug-addled jackass.

Oh, and page 3 of the gossip column for “Bitch set me up.“

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