Monthly Archives: November 2009

The Daily Feed
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Ovechkin Injured, Possibly To Be Suspended

Alex Ovechkin tonight engaged in some brutal hockey-playing, and found himself knocked out of the game, both by injury, and by the refs, who ejected him for an illegal knee-on-knee collision with the Hurricanes Defenseman Tim Gleason. The hit is absolutely brutal, and the ejection is possibly deserved, but of more concern is his recent violent streak: it’s his second game misconduct penalty in three games (he was ejected this weekend for boarding against Buffalo) and is his third serious violation of league rules this season.

It’s not clear how bad Ovi’s knee injury is, we’ll know more in the morning, probably also with a league ruling over his hit on Gleason. The Post’s Tarik El-Bashir caught up with Ovechkin after the game, who had no comment, but was walking without a brace or crutches, which may indicate it wasn’t that serious. The question becomes, though, is Ovi too brutal?

Dupont Circle, Food and Drink, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Urbana’s Repeal Day Soiree

Photo courtesy of
‘Gin Fizz’
courtesy of ‘Charles Haynes’

This Saturday, December 5th will see several celebratory events to mark the 76th Anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition. If you’re in the mood to gussy up in vintage togs and drink gin out of an actual bathtub bar, then Urbana may have the right party for you.

Located in the super swank Hotel Palomar in Dupont Circle, Urbana will feature a $33 prix fixe three course menu (1933, get it?) deliciously designed by chef Alex Bollinger (bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin with polenta? now that’s the bee’s knees) beginning at 5:30pm and going through the evening. 1920’s music will complete the theme.

Classic cocktails like the Sazerac and the Gin Fizz will be available for $8 – and if you are in vintage attire, your first Gin Fizz is the “1920’s price” of 25 cents. Golly. If only I could get a cocktail dress for the 1920’s price.

The Daily Feed
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“Surge” Caused Metro Crash?

Photo courtesy of
‘Holding Pattern’
courtesy of ‘Samer Farha’

It sounds fishy, but WTOP has it on good authority that it’s possible that a surge in a 5000-series car that lead the striking train could have caused Sunday’s wreck. The “surge” could happen in a 5000-series car going below 3mph, which would then drive it up to over 5mph. I’m not sure how you could total three metro cars in a 5-7mph crash, but it’s still not entirely clear what happened.

Here’s hoping we get a bit more information from Metro in the coming days.

The Daily Feed, WMATA
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Red Line Delays – Another Person Hit by Train

Photo courtesy of
‘Turn Left’
courtesy of ‘nevermindtheend’

Just crossing the alert wires now, so little detail to go on. Another person has been hit by a Metro train, this time at Gallery Place / Chinatown. Expect delays up and down the Red Line for your afternoon commute.

From the WMATA website:

Disruption at Gallery Place-Chinatown. Person struck by a train at Gallery Place-Chinatown. Trains sharing track btwn Farragut North & Judiciary Square. Delays in both directions.

UPDATE, 4:30PM: According to WMATA, it seems to be a minor who was struck by the side of the train as it was pulling in. According to DC Fire/EMS via Twitter, it seems to be a horseplay incident in which the victim was pushed into the side of the train. The injuries are not considered life-threatening and the victim is being treated on the platform, but Red Line trains are single-tracking for the time being.

UPDATE: 4:42PM: Now Metro is calling the pushing an “altercation.”

The Daily Feed
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Arlington Holds Food Drive This Week

Photo courtesy of
‘U.S. Senate bean soup’
courtesy of ‘4braham’

Corral your canned goods. It’s Arlington Takes a Bite Out of Hunger Week, today through Dec. 7. They’ve made it easy to donate. You can put vittles in boxes at county community centers, libraries, nature centers, and other government buildings.

The Arlington Food Assistance Center drive will help feed the more than 1,200 families who need help each week. And that number continues to grow.

On the wish list? Soups, cereals, canned goods, pastas and peanut butter.

The Features, We Love Music
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December Concert Preview

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

Some people may be inclined to warm up by a fire during the cold months, but if you’re like me, you prefer to get the feeling back in your hands and toes by dancing it out. Or at the very least, getting your mind blown by some amazing musicians (local and not) in the month of December. The Roots, Erin McKeown, and even some crazy kids who call themselves The Phenomenal Handclap Band will be gracing our city in the next 30 days, so let’s get to the preview!

Right at the beginning of the month, local musician Andy Zipf (and pfriends) will be celebrating the release of his new album, The Long Tail, at the Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse on Wednesday, December 2 ($10, $50 VIP).

Saturday, December 5 The Big Pink is coming to Black Cat ($13). I have to admit, their name didn’t immediately ring a bell with me, but I recognized their song “Dominoes” as soon as it started playing, and I bet that will happen to some of you, too. If you like Matt & Kim, mixed with a little bit of Kings of Leon, and topped off with a British accent, perhaps you should check these guys out. Continue reading →

Arlington, Food and Drink, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Morton’s Final Smoke Out

Photo courtesy of
‘Smoke, Farragut Park Washington DC’
courtesy of ‘Photos by Chip Py’ 

To mourn or celebrate the Virginia statewide smoking restrictions really isn’t my purview, being a proud (and let’s face it, clueless) DC resident, but if you are in that demographic and also just happen to love steaks and cigars, this is for you.

Three Morton’s locations in Virginia, the fair state that tobacco made, will be hosting “Smoke Out” parties this evening – Monday, November 30. Crystal City, Reston Town Center, and Tysons Corner will all feature 7pm dinners sponsored by Virginia Tobacco, Paul Garmirian and Davidoff Cigars. Their cocktail and dinner cigars will be paired with specially designed dishes and Virginia wines.

Contact the individual restaurants for details. Sounds very “Mad Men” decadent. Celebrate or mourn, Virginia, whichever you prefer.

The Daily Feed
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Jonathan Safran Foer Comes to Sixth & I

Photo courtesy of
‘Jonathan Safran Foer’
courtesy of ‘torre.elena’

I love Jonathan Safran Foer. With equal parts romantic love and wanting-to-be-him love (it’s real, look it up). He’s accomplished more in his short years (just a few more than me) that I ever will, and I accept that fact. And today, I found out that a) he’s originally from DC and b) he’s actual, in real life, coming to DC– tomorrow!

JSF will be at Sixth and I tomorrow at 7 to read and discuss his new book, Eating Animals. It’s his first non-fiction book, after Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, both of which are amazing. This new one tackles our food, and the moral decision not to eat animals, which he came to after his son was born. Excellent stuff.

Business and Money, Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Closings: CPK, Vegetate, Yaku

Photo courtesy of
‘Vegetate Outside’
courtesy of ‘needlessspaces’

While I was reporting a flurry of good restaurant news on H street last week, this week I’ve got a few bad news reports for you:

First, Vegetate in Shaw is closing at the end of the month, they’ve decided not to renew their lease and are looking for a new local.

California Pizza Kitchen on Connecticut Ave is closing, the Going Out Gurus reports that the BLT empire is bringing in an Italian concept in its place.

Yaku in Arlington, which I never particularly loved to begin with, is changing hands to become a Rock and Roll sushi club concept. Tim Carman over at Young and Hungry has the details.

All I’ve got to say here is that I hope Vegetate gets a new lease. I have a crush on their greasy vegetarian fare. The rest – eh. Such is life.

Food and Drink, The DC 100
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DC Omni 100: #24 Rice and Bean

Photo courtesy of
‘161/365 Rice and Beans’
courtesy of ‘eiratansey’

It’s time for another item from the DC Omnivore 100 list of the top one hundred foods every good omnivore should try at least once in their lives.

After all the turkey, potatoes, gravy and stuffing from the past week, let’s take a flavor profile U-turn to explore the popular Latin American and Caribbean dish, rice and beans.

Prepared separately, rice and beans are usually served side by side, not mixed together, and can be both a main and side dish. Traditionally, the rice is usually of the white grain variety, but can be seasoned to take on a more creole or Spanish style flavor. In researching the dish, I was surprised to learn that rice is not a native grain to America, rather it was introduced to the continent by European colonists during the early 16th century. Rice provides an abundance of nutrients, like iron, protein, and vitamin B. As a starch, rice is also an excellent source of energy.

The beans is where you’ll find a lot of variety. Beans can black, red or brown, and can be cooked from in either dried and fresh forms. Like its rice counterpart, beans contain a wealth of iron, protein and other necessary vitamins. Continue reading →

Arlington, The Daily Feed
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Smoking Ban in VA Starts Tomorrow, Top 10 Reasons to Love It

Photo courtesy of
‘Santa the Magnificent’
courtesy of ‘M.V. Jantzen’

Merry Christmas Virginia.
For the majority of its residents, Virginia becomes a better, healthier and down right less stinky place to live tomorrow. Starting Tuesday, December 1st (i.e. TOMORROW), smoking will no longer be allowed in Virginia bars and restaurants. There are some exceptions that do make sense and I’m sure there will be a handful of bars that put in the work to provide for a completely separate smoking area that is ventilated, etc., but for the most part, all bars and restaurants in Arlington, Alexandria and beyond will be smoke-free starting tomorrow. Virginia joins DC and 23 other states in banning smoking in bars and restaurants. After the jump, you can even see my top ten list!

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Puppies and Kittens have wish lists too

Photo courtesy of
‘Meisje met jonge leeuwen in Artis’
courtesy of ‘Nationaal Archief’

Obviously wish #1 is a good home. If you’ve already got as many little furry children as you can handle or can’t adopt for some other reason, well, you can still help the four-legged needy.

Fairfax animal shelter put out a cutely-worded announcement that they have a holiday gift wishlist of their own, but the fact is that all our local societies have needs – yuletime or not – and many will take in-kind donations. The Washington Human Society also will take in-kind donations if you’d like to give rawhide chews rather than money – though they’ll take cash too. The Arlington Animal Welfare League will also take your donations of money or stuff[pdf].

The Montgomery Country shelter only explicitly mentions monetary donations; same for the Prince George’s County shelter. But if you really want to give stuff rather than cash, give them a call – it’s possible they’d be happy to have it.

Downtown, Dupont Circle, Food and Drink, Life in the Capital, People, The Daily Feed
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Dining with Elites

Photo courtesy of
‘Grant Bar, Old Ebbitt Grill’
courtesy of ‘marialgilbert’

In a city known for it’s power grubbing politicians, it stands to reason that there are certain dining oasis that all of them congregate to.  Most are well known to DC locals, places like Old Ebbitt and the Palm, but CNN helpfully categorizes DC’s power restaurants by who your most likely to see dining in them.  For example, did you know that Sonia Sotomayor is a fan of Lebanese Taverna or than Rahm Emmanuel enjoys Tosca? If you want to rub elbows with our nation’s leaders and don’t quite know where to go, read the article to find out.

The Daily Feed
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How Green is this Green Community?

Photo courtesy of
‘2009 Solar Decathlon’
courtesy of ‘Dept of Energy Solar Decathlon’

Today the Washington Post tells the story of the revitalization of St. Charles in southern Maryland as a “green community”, with housing that features low-flow toilets, better insulation, and Energy Star certified appliances, among other things.  Developers call this a test for the commercial viability of green homes in a generally conservative area.

While I’m all for more green features in new homes, this doesn’t sound like the most green way to revitalize a community.  St. Charles is 22 miles from DC with no direct transit access to the city, so any new residents would be driving to jobs, schools, and shopping centers.  A more green alternative would be to focus this new development where the infrastructure already exists, so that residents can live without cars.

Also, this is a revitalization effort that aims to start fresh with new housing in the area– 11,000 new homes on 4,000 undeveloped acres.  Personally, I’d think that retrofitting existing homes with energy-efficient features, building more housing where housing already exists, and preserving that 4,000 acres of open space would be the way to go.  But good for St. Charles in taking this first step towards greening the community.

Dupont Circle, Special Events, The Daily Feed, The District
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Free Carriage Rides, Movies, Food in Golden Triangle

Photo courtesy of
‘Horse at Night’
courtesy of ‘M.V. Jantzen’

To get everyone in the holiday spirit, The Golden Triangle BID is projecting classic holiday movies like “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “A Christmas Story” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” high above Connecticut Avenue on the wall of the Tiny Jewel Box. A different movie will play each day during the week of December 14th from 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Did someone say free food??? The BID is also giving 10 lucky winners (plus three friends each) a free horse-drawn carriage ride and a $100 restaurant gift card, good at Kellari, M Street Bar & Grill, Elephant & Castle Pub and Restaurant, Famous Luigi’s, The Melting Pot, Sam & Harry’s, BLT Steak, or The Lafayette at The Hay-Adams hotel.

Register on the BID’s website to win the Golden Triangle’s cheer-filled evening by December 10 (next Thursday).

Full movie schedule: Continue reading →

The Features, Weekend Flashback
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Holiday Weekend Flashback: 11/25 – 11/29/2009

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

We here at WeLoveDC hope that you had a fantastic holiday weekend, whether you spent it out on some Pacific island chain or right here in the nation’s capital. Before you get sucked back into the daily grind, why not take a few minutes to relive and reminisce over the extended break?

Enjoy these shots from area and visiting photographers. And try not to think about the Redskins. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed, WMATA
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Another Metro Collision Today, 3 Cars Destroyed

Photo courtesy of
‘Untitled/The Commuter’
courtesy of ‘Bogotron’

UPDATE 9:15PM

Metro is doing one thing right – they are giving a lot of details around the recent collision from this morning via press release updates. We now learn that every single car involved, all 12, were damaged. At least three of the cars are unrepairable, according to early reports. WMATA says each new car costs about $3 million a piece, but they haven’t provided official damage estimates yet when it is still not clear how much should they destinate to legally compensate those injured which according to Motor vehicle accident lawyers Brisbane should be over 1 thousand American dollars per injured.

I think it’s safe to assume the damages resulting from this will be well over $10 million for the replacement and repairing of cars.

The three employees that were injured in the crash have already been released from the hospital. Still no word whatsoever on suspected reasoning for the crash but an investigation is underway. These boston motor vehicle accident lawyers are already handling the case.

Full details from WMATA are here.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Some Friday listening

daddyslion

It’s a slow day around here and most everywhere, what with so many offices closed. If you’re sitting in the office, bored out of your mind because we’re all out goofing off with our families…. sorry. Have a nice dinner? Did you see that movie, goat?

How about a little music to salve the bordedom? Jeremy of Daddy’s Lion dropped us a note to let us know their new album is out and available for a free download. They’re a local band, which is enough reason to flog them as far as I’m concerned. Add in the fact that they list influences as varied as Husker Du, Joy Division, and Leonard Cohen… well, my little 80s heart is lost.

Go listen while you try to digest that pumpkin pie. If you’re another local band, let us know in the comments where we can get a feel for your stuff.

Downtown, Essential DC, Life in the Capital, The Features
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We Thank Thee, O DC…

DSC_2512
‘DSC_2512’
courtesy of ‘Ghost_Bear’

Last year, we started a tradition of sorts by telling all of our readers what we’re thankful for in the DC area. We invite our readers to share their own thoughts in comments.

BenR: It’s hard to narrow down what it is about the DC area that I’m thankful for, but I’ll give it a shot…

  • The Washington Capitals, for finding success on the ice – and enthralling an entire city with them.
  • Metro, for being not only a source of transportation but also a weekly source of head-scratching entertainment.
  • The simplistic beauty of our national monuments.
  • Area DC photographers and their openness and willingness to educate, critique, and share.
  • Thought-provoking exhibits such as NMAI’s Brian Jungen and NatGeo’s Terra Cotta Warriors.
  • The Tidal Basin during the blooming of the cherry blossoms.
  • For everyone who works, lives, and plays in one of the greatest cities in the US.
  • Finally, my fellow authors and all our readers – I’m so thankful for all of you; you make this site live up to its name, and then some.

Rachel: There are a few things that I will never cease to love about this city and am thankful for everyday. They include: The view from the Lincoln memorial steps facing the reflecting pool/Washington monument on a Sunday morning, my commute to and from work that consists of a daily tour of embassy row between Ward and Dupont Circle, and President Obama for picking Rahm Emanuel as Chief-of-Staff so that there’s finally a Cubs fan in the White House. Other than that, my friends and family hold the number one spot as far as what I’m actually thankful for this year — but that goes without saying.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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DC in the Mist

Photo courtesy of
‘This is a color photo’
courtesy of ‘erin m’

I just drove home through the city, and it’s such a beautiful night out there that I wanted to share. After all this rain, a half moon is now shining brightly against a dark sky and a diagonal swath of white cloud. The air itself is clear, but a ground fog is welling up in front of the White House, on the Mall, and near the Washington Monument.

Near lights, the air looks diffused with haze. In the shadows, it seems more defined. A white mist rises up a foot or two off the earth, topping off in an even white line. In a way, it looks magical, like DC is set for the movies with manmade special effects. In another way, it looks primeval, like the “swamp” DC was built on (or not) is coming back to life, nature taking over.

In the midst of it all, I saw two children running alongside the base of the Washington Monument, their arms and legs flailing and the spotlights throwing their shadows up high against the stone. I imagined they were here to see family and on their first trip to our nation’s capital. How exciting must that be?

Happy Thanksgiving, DC!