Monthly Archives: March 2011

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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This Week in Food

Photo courtesy of
‘me + scallops = omg bff!’
courtesy of ‘skampy’
A Big Deal

The week’s biggest food news? Obviously the 2011 RAMMY noms. We Love DC eater Ashley writes that a few restaurants like Bourbon Steak, Citronelle, and Equinox show up a number of times, “but there are a few dark horses out there like Ted’s Bulletin, The Majestic and Liberty Tavern to round out the competition.” The winners will be announced at a ceremony on June 26th, and voters will be able to fill out a ballot that will run in the April 28th issue of The Washington City Paper or online. Check out the full list.

Actually, even bigger: the James Beard Award nominees! Up for Best Chef Awards (in the Mid-Atlantic region) are Cathal Armstrong of Restaurant Eve in Alexandria, Johnny Monis of Komi, and Obelisk’s Peter Pastan. The only national chef or restaurant nomination was for the ubiquitous Jose Andres for “Outstanding Chef.” I back anyone behind Zaytinya, Minibar and Oyamel.

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Adventures, Entertainment, Life in the Capital, We Love Weekends
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We Love Weekends: March 26-27

Photo courtesy of
‘(081/365)’
courtesy of ‘kimberlyfaye’

Marissa: I’m stretching my birthday out for as long as possible and celebrating a new job by kicking off Friday night with a party hosted by my best friend, Jennifer. We’ll probably all end up at either Madam’s Organ or Marvin. Saturday, an old friend from my high school fencing team (you read that right. Fencing.) is in town and I’m hoping we can catch up at Pound The Hill. Then it’s off to check out Nana, a neat clothing boutique, which reopens this week.

Patrick P.: I will be heading down to Miami this weekend to expierience the ever expanding Ultra Music Festival with Michael Darpino and my brother. I got some sun block with the special SPF to protect my body from free radicals caused by the sun. I also will be packing anti-crazy touchy raver repellant to ward off those that feel they can touch whoever they want while using illegal narcotics. My goal is to stay hydrated, excited, and dance myself into size 29 skinny jeans. I also plan on saying “Hello to my little friends” when I bust out some glow sticks and start jumping up and down till the sun goes up and down. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Penn Quarter Farmers Market Opens Today

Photo courtesy of
‘Penn Quarter Farmer’s Market #2’
courtesy of ‘[F]oxymoron’
Today may not seem like a good day to wander around outside, but sometimes the draw of tables full of vegetables and homemade goodies is just too much to pass up. After their winter hiatus, the Penn Quarter Farmers Market opens back up today and will be open until December 22nd. Operating from 3pm until 7pm on Thursdays, the market will be in the same location as in years past — 8th St. NW between D St. and E St.

A favorite of area chefs, the PQ Farmers Market has hosted plenty of chefs over the years, including that time Jose Andres led Anthony Bourdain around and made him eat weird raw things on No Reservations. There probably won’t be a TV crew today, but Rob Weland of Poste will be performing a cooking demonstration from 4pm-5pm for your viewing and tasting pleasure.

So head down and check out what 8th St. has to offer this year, rumor is that ramps are coming…

Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Agalloch @ Sonar (Baltimore), 3/21/11

ag1
All photos courtesy of Agalloch

On Monday, I drove up to Baltimore to check out Agalloch, rising stars in the American black metal scene. You know, I try to defend DC’s metal scene, but what does it mean when a critically acclaimed band passes us by? Are we not metal enough for a band from Portland? Are our local venues discriminating against the longhairs?

Anyway. I usually scoff at black metal as being too Satanic, too repetitive, or too grim – but Agalloch bring something unique to the genre, mixing in elements of folk (including acoustic and orchestral instruments), psych metal, and post-rock. It coalesces into something heavy and complex, something that rewards multiple listens. Despite some weak opening bands and a late set (running past 1am), I left the show sold on their vision for the future of black metal.
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Adventures, Business and Money, Life in the Capital, News, The Daily Feed
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Nordstorm Rack Coming To Friendship Heights

Photo courtesy of

”
courtesy of ‘erin m’

Friendship Heights is finally filling the long vacated Linens ‘N Things shop with a Nordstorm Rack. For those unfamiliar with the shop, it carries merchandise from Nordstrom stores and Nordstrom.com at 50-60% off original Nordstrom prices. Nordstorm Rack also features items purchased specifically for the shop at savings of 30-70% off original prices.

The 41,000 square-foot store, located next to competitor Loehmann’s, is scheduled to open on May 19 at 5333 Wisconsin Avenue, NW. Nordstorm’s currently owns 76 Nordstrom Rack stores in 21 states, with the Friendship Heights store representing the sixth Nordstrom Rack in the greater Washington D.C. metropolitan area.

Entertainment, Interviews, Music, We Love Music
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Q&A with Benjamin Plant of Miami Horror

Our guest writer Alexia Kauffman of The Torches enjoyed Miami Horror’s show so much the first time they played DC that we asked her if she’d like to interview the band’s creator for us in advance of their return this weekend.

Miami Horror is the electro/disco-pop creation of Australian DJ/producer/artist/musician, Benjamin Plant. Originally a solo endeavor by Plant, Miami Horror has grown into a full band and has done remixes for Gorillaz, The Presets & Bloc Party to name a few. Miami Horror is currently on an extensive world tour promoting their 2010 EMI release “Illumination”.

These charming gents played U Street Music Hall last year and their show was super fun, energetic, and a little goofy. They are returning to U Street Music Hall this weekend. If New Order and Air met at Studio 54 and had a torrid affair, Miami Horror would be their futuristic disco love-child. We Love DC was lucky enough to catch up with Ben for a chat amidst the band’s insane tour schedule; fresh off a week that included shows in Mexico City and Austin’s SXSW music festival.

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capitals hockey
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Caps Dump Flyers, Look Ahead to Playoffs as Ovechkin Rests

Photo courtesy of
Mike Knuble scored his 20th goal of the season against the Flyers.
courtesy of ‘bridgetds’

Boy it’s fun to win in Philadelphia.

In an entertaining battle of the top two teams in the Eastern Conference, the Capitals outlasted the Philadelphia Flyers last night to win 5-4 in a shootout in Philadelphia and clinch a spot in the playoffs. In their first game this season without scoring leader Alex Ovechkin, the Caps took advantage of their early chances to jump out to a 3-0 lead after just 22 minutes.

When Philadelphia changed goalies, the momentum swung the other way as the Flyers out-hustled and out-muscled the Caps to score four unanswered goals. “Our biggest problem in the second period was turning the puck over,” said coach Bruce Boudreau. “The first period, we didn’t have any turnovers. We got it out, we got it deep. In the second and third period they were putting more pressure on us but we were turning the puck over.”

With five minutes left in the game, the Caps looked thoroughly beaten. But Mike Knuble, who had a dominating night with a goal and two assists, set up Marcus Johansson for a one-timer to force overtime. After a scoreless overtime, Alexander Semin scored the game winner in the shootout to seal the deal. Continue reading →

Comedy in DC, The Daily Feed
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Comedy in DC: Fan-Freaking-Tastic

Vijai Nathan

There’s a 99% chance of a good time happening this weekend as Vijai Nathan will be throwing the monthly show Fan-Freaking-Tastic over at Chief Ike’s Mambo room this Saturday. The theme for this party is “Freaks & Geeks” and will  feature performances by top DC stand up comics, storytellers, and slam poets for $15. The show starts at 8 PM, but I would advise getting there an hour early to take advantage of the happy hour deal going on before the show.

Entertainment, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: The 2011 Fighting Improv Smackdown Tournament


Photo courtesy Washington Improv Theatre

In a month where the words “seeds”, “upsets”, and “winners” are tossed around like a Rebecca Black music video, I found myself in room where several players were gearing up for their own big game in another big tournament.

No I’m not talking about the College Basketball Invitational. I’m talking about Washington Improv Theatre’s Fighting Improv Smackdown Tournament, otherwise known as FIST.

Starting back on March 10th WIT kicked off their 5th annual tournament where teams of Improvisers face off against each other for the ultimate title. Over the course of 31 days, 47 teams made up of 141 performers will face-off in head-to-head matches as well as several “grand slam” matches where four teams compete.

Each match consists of a 12-minute performance from each team. The improv will be fast and furious and won’t be like what you may know from the days of “Whose Line Is It Anyways”. The rules forbid short games, making teams opt for longer forms of improv.

After the each team performs the audience votes for the winner, who then moves one step closer to the FIST title. While the votes are tallied the audience enjoys a performance from one WIT’s six house troops. It makes for a night of comedy that’s guaranteed to be something you’ve never seen before.

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Talkin' Transit
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Talkin’ Transit: Mind the Gap

Photo courtesy of
‘Horton #23 (26/365)’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

I was getting ready to head to work on Monday when I noticed that Twitter was all atwitter about the Orange and Blue lines being a mess. I usually head into town from Court House after 9:30, and usually congestion issues have worked themselves out by then.

But this was much bigger. A power cable outside Federal Triangle needed replacing, and this caused Metro to single track trains for roughly the duration of the morning rush hour. Even after rush hour ended, there were still residual issues with trains clumping and having to slow down.

I was trying to assess if I should work from home that day and looked at the next train arrival times for Court House. To my utter amazement, I saw that the next three trains were 8-car trains. When I decided to go in, I also saw that the two of the next three trains were also 8-cars. I was shocked, and dropped a note to Metro to find out what was going on.

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Dupont Circle, Entertainment, Food and Drink, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Liquid Lessons: Hotel Cocktails

Photo courtesy of
‘Glasses Half Full’
courtesy of ‘Jenn Larsen’

There’s something about the combination of historic grand hotels and cocktail culture that absolutely enchants me. Judging from the crowd waiting to get into the seminar on great hotel cocktails last night at Tabard Inn, I’m not alone. Hosted by Philip Greene of the Museum of the American Cocktail, Better Drinking‘s Derek Brown, and Tabard’s own Chantal Tseng, it was a fascinating evening both informative and funny on the phenomenon of the American hotel cocktail.

The three witty hosts mixed up drinks and dispensed history, from the Prohibition days of revolving bars and secret staircases, to the fabled round table of the Algonquin, to Hawaii’s pink palaces on the sea. We even got to shake up our own Ramos Gin Fizzes (the two minutes of vigorous shaking resulting in the beautiful meringue top of this delicate drink? well worth the effort) while hearing about shady Huey Long bringing that glorious New Orleans cocktail to New York City as a PR stunt. It worked. Continue reading →

Food and Drink
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One Year Later: Ris

photo1
There’s a certain understated elegance to Ris. You could almost miss it if you’re driving by, and believe me I’ve done that many times in the past. Walk inside and you’ll find dark lighting, which somehow works to both set the tone for a romantic date or a loud coversation at the bar. It’s classy, minimalist, and not-stuffy.

As the name suggests, Ris is the dream of owner Ris Lacoste. Chef Lacoste left the famed 1789 in Georgetown back in 2005 and more than four years later started Ris in West End.

The thing about contemporary American cuisine is that it can go so wrong if not done correctly because that “modern” description means that you can pretty much put anything on your menu. Ris shines with its different items and special touches to each dish.
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The Daily Feed
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The 2011 RAMMY Noms Are Out

Photo courtesy of
‘Restaurant’
courtesy of ‘kingkool68’

Last night, in front of a ballroom full of nervous (and slightly tipsy) chefs and restaurateurs, the 2011 RAMMY nominations were announced. As Washington’s answer to the James Beard Awards, the RAMMYs carry some serious clout around these parts. There are a few restaurants that show up a number of times (Bourbon Steak, Citronelle, Equinox), but there are a few dark horses out there like Ted’s Bulletin, The Majestic and Liberty Tavern to round out the competition.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony on June 26th after careful consideration by a panel of judges and as well as you, Joe T. Public. Us laymen will be able to vote in four categories this year: Voter’s Favorite Restaurant, Neighborhood Gathering Place, Hottest Restaurant Bar Scene and Power Spot of the Year. Voters will be able to fill out a ballot that will run in the April 28th issue of The Washington City Paper or online. So vote early and often, I guess.

A full list of the RAMMY noms after the jump. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Fun & Games, Music
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The Winning Ticket: M3 Rock Festival

As a way to say thanks to our loyal readers, We Love DC will be giving away a pair of tickets to a concert to one lucky reader each week. Check back here every Wednesday morning at 9am to find out what tickets we’re giving away and leave a comment for your chance to be the lucky winner!

This week we are giving away double trouble with a sweet two-part M3 Rock Festival Prize Pack. That’s right, one lucky winner gets a pair of tickets to the M3 Rock Festival Kix-Off Party on Friday, May 13th AND a pair of tickets to the day long 80’s rock extravaganza M3 Rock Fest on Saturday May 14th!

Between these two epic parties you’ll catch the likes of Kix, Whitesnake, Lita Ford, Tesla, Slaughter, Warrant, L.A. Guns, the one and only Sebastian Bach, and many more! That’s more hair metal than you can shake a can of Aquanet at! So enter to win tickets to this insane event that celebrates the days when Metal meant crushing a beer can on your forehead, driving donuts in a Firebird in the High School parking lot, and playing air guitar to music made by men who had spent more time on their hair than the ladies! This one’s going to be be balls to the wall, wicked awesome, and seriously bitchin’!

For your chance to win these tickets simply leave a comment on this post using a valid email address between 9am and 4pm today. One entry per email address, please. If today doesn’t turn out to be your lucky day, check back here each Wednesday for a chance to win tickets to other great concerts. Tickets for this concert are available on Ticketfly.

For the rules of this giveaway…
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The Daily Feed
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Adams Morgan woman missing — Found!

Emily Hershenson, Missing since March 21st

Emily Hershenson of Adams Morgan went to work yesterday, but didn’t come home to her husband and young daughter yesterday, and there is a massive search being undertaken to find the 33-year old woman. According to this email sent to the Ward 1 listserve:

The last confirmed sighting of Emily was yesterday morning at ~6:30 AM when she left for work from her home in Adams Morgan. Last contact was via her cell phone at about 9:30 AM yesterday. Her family has filed a missing persons report with Metropolitan Police Dept. plus contacted Uniformed Division of U.S. Secret Service (UD USSS) and US Capitol Police (USCP). There was an as-yet unconfirmed sighting of Emily on the 42 bus northbound last night around 8:30 PM. They are still trying to ascertain if that was indeed her.

Her family is also monitoring her CC and ATM accounts, but last use of either appears to have been a Starbucks at 18th & Columbia NW yesterday about 8 AM.

We’re asking everyone around town to please keep your eye out for her (see link below for photo). If you have any information, please call her husband Tom at 202 680 4181 or call the police directly. (The CCN number for this case is 11-038-202.)

See here for her photo and here for updates.
Please keep Emily and her family in your thoughts.

Update: Mrs. Hershenson was found alive & well early Wednesday on the National Mall.

Adams Morgan, The Daily Feed, Ward 1, Ward 5
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Mt. Pleasant Temporium is a Hit, Adams Morgan Gets Their Own

Photo courtesy of
‘Temporium crowd’
courtesy of ‘neuefrau’

Pop-up stores, pop-up art exhibits, pop-up restaurants–I need to resist making the cliche that DC is literally “poppin’.” Moreover, all of these places seem to be having pretty successful runs.

Mt. Pleasant Temporium, which Rebecca Gross reported on earlier, took in $31,000 in sales in less than a month. The temporium was open from February 18th to March 13th and saw more than 6,800 visitors and hosted 23 events with storytelling, crafting and live music. Not too shabby, huh? Garment District in Shaw also closed their doors this past weekend. Though word on the tweets is they still have some pieces for sale that you can snag at Shaw Main Streets’ Annual meeting tomorrow at 7 pm.

Fear not if you didn’t get the memo on these last pop-ups. The AdMo Pop-Up Shop is opening this Sunday, March 27th at 2421 18th St. NW. The store’s run coincides with the National Cherry Blossom Festival (as it’s an approved Cherry Blossom partner) and will close on April 10th. Hours are Sunday through Thursday, 12 PM – 9 PM and Friday and Saturday, 11 AM – 10 PM. Similar to the Mt. Pleasant Temporium, the AdMo Pop-up Shop will offer arts, crafts, entertainment and workshops. No events other than the opening ribbon-cutting ceremony and the closing wine tasting have been posted on their site yet, but you can keep tabs on them here.

Capital Chefs, Food and Drink, The Features
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Capital Chefs Reveal their Favorite Kitchen Gadgets

Photo courtesy of
‘Evening Star #15’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

For weeks now, I’ve been bringing you Capital Chefs interviews. But there’s been something I’ve been holding back and hiding. There’s one question I ask in every interview that I started asking just out of personal curiosity. The question: “What’s the one tool or gadget in your kitchen you can’t live without?”

Some answers are unusual, some may inspire you and maybe a few will make you want to read more of our favorite design blog. If you’re a food nerd like me, you’ll be itching to run to Sur la Table when you’re done reading.

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The Daily Feed
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Punk Rock Flea Market Seeks Vendors and Teachers

On May 7th at St Stephens Church in Columbia Heights, Positive Force will be hosting their second Punk Rock Flea Market.

Right now, they are looking for vendors who might want to sell their wares, so if you are of a crafty persuasion, have a great eye for thrifting vintage treasures, or find yourself burdened by a teetering tower of vinyl records, you can sign up for a table. A table is $15 for the day and can be arranged by emailing dcpositiveforce@gmail.com.

In addition to the market and live music performances by Deleted Scenes, America Hearts, and Foul Swoops, there will be a “skill share” area at the event. Positive Force is currently looking for people with skills to teach at this as well. If you have something you would like to share with eager learners, send a proposal to the same email above and they will make the arrangements.