Monthly Archives: January 2011

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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The Queen Vic on H St. Is Almost Here

Courtesy Ryan Gordon
photo courtesy Ryan Gordon

Cornish pasties will soon make an appearance on the ever-changing H St.

If you’ve been anxiously awaiting the beef and potato pie since you heard first of the British gastropub, The Queen Vic, you only have about one month left to go.

The Queen Vic owner Ryan Gordon tells me that the pub, which is named after a “Public House” in the soap EastEnders, will open its doors sometime between February 15th and 25th.  The British menu will not be static, but change constantly.  So expect a regular menu with the traditional fish & chips and curries, but many extras on an additional blackboard menu.

The name Ryan Gordon might be a familiar one to DC foodies or H Street residents. That’s because he’s also associated with The Pug, the low-key, neighborhood spot. Gordon says he chose H Street for The Queen Vic’s location because as an H Street resident he has witnessed the neighborhood’s transformation first-hand.

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Dupont Circle, Entertainment, Special Events, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Return to Haifa

Raida Adon and Rozina Kambos in The Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv's "Return to Haifa" at Theater J. Photo credit: Stan Barouh.

Two women are arguing about their son. One gave birth to him, the other raised him. The adoptive mother makes a cutting comment about the son being more likely to listen to her than his birth mother. Many in the audience laugh. It’s a grim laugh, low and knowing.

A women next to me says out loud in frustration and disbelief, “Why is that funny?”

It was a strange preview night at Theater J, watching the production of Return to Haifa performed by the Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv in Hebrew and Arabic. Uncomfortable for some, painful for others, odd for me in my role as critic – as the talkback session afterwards becomes a bit of theater unto itself, worth investigating just as much as reviewing the play. I didn’t know what to make of the whole thing when I left. I still don’t.

Two mothers. One Jewish, one Muslim. One Israeli, one Palestinian. And their son, all of the above, or none of any of it. Questions arose at the talkback with Anton Goodman, Jewish Agency Shaliach, and Ari Roth, artistic director of Theater J, that still whirl in my head: Is it a play appropriating a beloved piece of Palestinian literature, as one member of the talkback accused? Is it a play attempting to own a dual narrative, to both celebrate and mourn at the same time, as Goodman believed? A play that makes soldiers unable to be strong for their country, as a mother in the audience feared?

What I can tell you about Return to Haifa… is that you will leave with many questions. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed, Ward 5
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Dispatches from Ward 5: Bulldozers edition

Photo courtesy of
‘Shining on the Shrine’
courtesy of ‘Rolenz’

What Ward 5 residents are talking about this week…

The big news from Brookland this week was that the police arrested a suspect in a string of muggings on Newton Street. Everyone who walks home that way (including me) was most relieved to hear the news.

Several of the mailing lists around the ward were buzzing about the federal HomeSaver program launching this month, designed to help the unemployed stave off foreclosure. The pilot phase of the program launches today in Wards 5, 7, and 8 (not coincidentally, the wards with the highest unemployment), and will go citywide on April 12. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, The Features, We Love Food
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We Love Food: Tackle Box

Photo courtesy of
‘Tackle Box Sign’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

Though I live in the general area, I don’t spend much time on M St. in Georgetown. It’s not that I have anything against it, except that I run the risk of driving myself in to serious debt every time I walk down the street. Intermix, your siren song calls to me. There is one place that I’m willing to risk credit card debt for, and thy name is Tackle Box.

Tackle Box is the cooler little brother to its snooty boarding school sister, Hook, next door. While Sis spends her days rolling her eyes at all those outlanders who come to Newport in droves every Memorial Day weekend, Little Bro spent his summers working at a dockside restaurant and drinking on the beach with his friends at night. In other words, while Hook is a great meal for a special occasion, Tackle Box is at your service for a tasty lunch, brunch, dinner or snack just about any time.

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Dupont Circle, Food and Drink, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Tabard Warms You Up

Photo courtesy of
‘Magnified’
courtesy of ‘Samer Farha’

There are warm winter drinks, and then there are hot drinks. As in flaming hot! Next Tuesday’s tasting at Tabard Inn will feature one I recently tried in New Orleans, Cafe Brulot, a combination of coffee, brandy and spices. Chantal Tseng will demonstrate how to prepare it in the classic style, as the brandy is set on fire while cascading down a long spiraling orange peel (“Wish me luck!” she says). Though the pyrotechnics are a lot of fun, they aren’t just for show – the flaming preparation gives the drink a spicy hot citrus taste. There’s a distinct thick richness that comes from the alchemy as the flaming liquid is poured down the orange peel repeatedly. I loved it in New Orleans and can’t wait to warm up with it again.

There’s lots more to the evening, with Adam Bernbach of Proof and Estadio joining Chantal to focus on other hot drinks branching out from the classics. Talented Tabard chef Paul Pelt will provide pairings for the winter warmers with three tasting-size courses, ending with dessert by Huw Griffiths. All for $50 inclusive, from 7pm-9pm on January 25. To RSVP, email wheron@gmail.com.

The Daily Feed
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Food Truck Tracker

Photo courtesy of
‘The Yards – Wonky – 09-11-10’
courtesy of ‘mosley.brian’
Ah, lunch. The great equalizer. Not only will you get the same ol’ satisfaction you usually get out of your food truck lunch today, but you can feel great about yourself for doing a good deed. This week, Deals for Deeds has put together Deals on Wheels Week, which brings you daily discounts on a particular food truck. In addition to saving you a little green, 10% of that truck’s proceeds will be donated to Miriams Kitchen. Today’s deal, for you Metro Center-ers, is a Wonky dog and drink for $3.75 (a $7.50 value) from eatWonky.

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Entertainment, Interviews, Music, We Love Music
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The Magician Shares His Secrets


courtesy of Stephen Fasano.

Last year, Stephen Fasano shocked the world of electronic music with the announcement that he was leaving his Belgian DJ duo Aeroplane to start a solo project. This was particularly surprising because Aeroplane had just completed a successful U.S. tour in support of their latest album “We Can’t Fly”. One of the stops on Aeroplane’s 2010 tour was to serve as the opening night performance at DC’s new underground dance mecca, U Street Music Hall. Now ten months after U Street Music Hall opened and six months after leaving Aeroplane, Stephen Fasano is returning to the club to introduce his solo music persona, The Magician! Stephen took some time to answer some of my questions about his career, his decision to leave Aeroplane, and his taste in music.

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News, The Daily Feed
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Supreme Court rejects gay marriage vote challenge

Photo courtesy of
‘Lex’
courtesy of ‘His Noodly Appendage’

The Supreme Court this morning denied audience to Bishop Harry Jackson’s lawsuit against the DC Board of Elecitons and Ethics, which sought a citywide referendum on the subject of gay marriage.  The lawsuit was initially turned away by the DC Court of Appeals when the DCBOEE argued that to put gay marriage on the ballot would be to potentially authorize discrimination that was in violation of the Human Rights Act.

With the Supreme Court refusing to hear the case, the lower court’s ruling shall stand.  Perhaps Bishop Jackson will once again “move” back to Maryland?  We’ll see.

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Dinner with Wine Pairings at Ripple

Photo courtesy of
‘ready for wine’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

I confess that as a foodie my knowledge of pairing wines with food is…shall we say, a little lacking. I’ve always deferred to the “experts” and wino friends for advice on what wines to buy and what to serve them with. So the Peter Franus dinner and wine pairing at Ripple seems like it would be perfect for someone whose knowledge of wine is limited to “white with chicken and fish, red with beef.”

The dinner on January 25th will consist of five courses served with Napa Valley wines from Peter Franus Wines. Ripple is a gem in the city and when I had dinner there in the early fall, every dish was great from start to finish. For this particular tasting, some of the courses will include slow poached eggs, crispy duck leg confit, a braised veal cheek and a spin on the Fig Newton. Wine selections will include zinfandels, sauvignon blanc and a cabernet.

Tickets are $90 per person. To make a reservation for the dinner, call 202-244-7995 or email danny@rippledc.com or theo@rippledc.com.

Featured Photo
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Featured Photo


Off Duty by DPinDC

If I were to win a warehouse full of money and suddenly lose the pressure of planning for retirement, there are some peculiar jobs in this world that I would love to try my hand at. How about a toll booth operator on the Dulles Toll Road, a gas station attendant, or a high school janitor?  Or maybe one of those guys who rides on the back of a trash truck, listens to his headphones and jumps from curb to curb at five in the morning?  A movie projectionist has always been a dream job of mine, especially at a theater like E Street where I could watch amazing flicks all day long.  Or how about a crane operator, swinging tons of steel around in my own little game of SimCity?

If you look carefully at the jobs that I mentioned, you’ll notice a common theme: to be by myself with just a small dash of human interaction.  There are those who thrive on being around others and shrivel when they are alone, and those who are built for a life of solitude.  While you’re enjoying your power lunches and chattering nonstop into your bluetooth earpiece, I’ll be eating at my desk and making sure your corporate machine keeps humming like a German car.  We can chalk our differences up to genetic evolution, or perhaps correlate them directly to how many hours we spent playing video games as kids.  Regardless, it’s no wonder that I love photography, another lonely profession.

It took me a while to realize what I love about today’s photo.  While I was first drawn to its cinematic quality and the capture of an every day city scene, it soon dawned on me that this is the work of a lonely photographer, shooting a lonely cab driver who is reading a newspaper full of photographs taken by other lonely photographers.  I see that I’m not alone in this world of loneliness.

Sports Fix
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Wizards, Blatche and Wall Live A Dream in MLK Matinee

Photo courtesy of
‘Wizards Home O King, Jr. pener’
courtesy of ‘MudflapDC’

On this Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, it’s really quite appropriate that we’re talking about dreams.

Who would have thought that it would be one from Wizards forward Andray Blatche?

“I had a dream last night. That we won today, then we won the road. I woke up, then had a dream that we made the playoffs.”

What Blatche failed to tell the media is if his dream happened to have any hints on the type of game him and the Wizards would have in the 108-101 win over one of the best from the Western Conference, the Utah Jazz.

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Entertainment, The Daily Feed
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2010 WATCH Award Nominations Announced

Here’s an awards story that isn’t about mean ol’ Ricky Gervais.

While people were busy wondering if The Social Network will win the Oscars, people gathered at the The Birchmere in Alexandria last night to hear the nominations for this year’s WATCH Awards. For over 11 years the Washington Area Theatre Community Honors has recognized the best in local community theatre. We here at We Love DC typically cover the professional shows within the Helen Hayes realm but as I said earlier this fall, you can find quality entertainment from many different venues here in the DC area and the WATCH Awards highlight some of the best productions and local theatre companies out there- some of which I suspect you may not know about.

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People, The Features
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Why I Love DC: Patrick Palafox

Me and Charles
My first D.C. roommate.

I drove from El Paso to D.C., 1,962 miles, in the Spring of 2009, because my former editor, Charlie Ericksen from Hispanic Link News Service, invited me to crash at his house and use his free parking spot to find a job here. I was one of his reporter interns during the summer of 2008 and one day he called me out of the blue while I was a recent college graduate to see what I was doing. He assumed I was up to no good when actually I was registering for an online dating site and watching T.V. at my parents’ house. He was right. Things were not looking good.

I was reluctant to return to Washington, but when I thought about my experience that summer, I recalled that I met tons of great people, always had something to do, and felt good about myself. I had a lot of reasons to return and now have even more reasons to stay.
D.C is an important city where major decisions are made all the time. Politicians can make us a little jaded about the political system, but when you stop and stare at the Capitol you realize that this is a place where winners are. That may sound lame, but all of the presidents of school clubs, top notch students, and worldly people are here doing what they can to make a difference in the world. Sure the news may make us believe otherwise, but hey, there is a demand for negativity so I don’t blame them for supplying the fix to those bad news junkies. Anyway, you can pry my viewpoint from my warm fuzzy hands. I stole that from a poster at the Rally for Sanity. I thought that was so cute. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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He/She Loves DC: Where to Go for Restaurant Week

Photo courtesy of
‘Restaurant’
courtesy of ‘kingkool68’

It’s the most wonderful time of the year.  Okay, maybe not, but it is DC Restaurant Week, so we asked some of DC’s well known residents to tell us what restaurants they are hitting up this month.

The ubiquitous DJ Tommy McFly , who recently “flipped to Fresh,” tells us he always goes out for Restaurant Week because he “loves a good deal,” and who doesn’t? The new 94.7 Fresh FM DJ will make his first stop at Birch and Barley (1337 14th St NW) because of its beer pairings.  Birch and Barley prides itself on offering a unique food and beer experience, and if you want to know what Tommy thinks after checking it out, follow him at @TommyMcFly.

Staying on the DC Media track – WUSA9’s Angie Goff is known for hitting the town even if she is working the morning shift the next day, and the new proud- mom needs no reason to eat out. She will be trying out BlackSalt (4883 MacArthur Blvd NW) for the first time, as well as old favorites like Chef Geoff’s, Georgia Browns, and Bistro Bis.  BlackSalt looks like a great choice with the mussels and seafood stew on the menu. Continue reading →

Sports Fix
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Sports Fix: Two Sport Edition

Photo courtesy of
‘Close-in Ice’
courtesy of ‘tbridge’

Editor’s Note: This is the next to last Sports Fix roundup. Starting in February, we’ll be doing sport-specific features on a bi-weekly basis.

Capitals
Record: 25-14-7, 57 points
Last Two Weeks: 2-2-2

Place: 2nd in the Southeast, 5th in the East

Welcome to Thunderdome, er, I mean, January, where many hockey seasons are made or broken. The Capitals have marked January with offensive struggles and some serious road game failures, and it’s taken its toll on their position in the standings. While the Caps are still in the middle of the playoff picture, they’re closer in points to 8th place than they are to 1st place. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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When Restaurant Week Isn’t Cheap Enough

Photo courtesy of
‘Wowsers!’
courtesy of ‘jillmotts’
One of the complaints I have about Restaurant Week is that while three courses for approximately $35 is a deal in a lot of places, I’m still not going to get out of the restaurant without plopping $50 down once we’re counting tax and tip and God forbid a glass of wine. Though I think a Restaurant Week reservation at places like Adour, J&G Steakhouse and Westend Bistro is a total coup, for the most part I’m spending just as much money on Restaurant Week as I would on a normal night out at the same place. And usually, I’m not able to order exactly what I want.

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Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Das Racist @ Rock and Roll Hotel, 1/14/11

dr - shanghai4
Photo courtesy of Das Racist

Das Racist went viral last year with their track “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell“. It would be easy to write them off as a novelty act, but anyone who dug a little deeper would find a rap group spitting intelligent, unique, stream-of-consciousness verses that demand your full attention. Last year, they put out two mixtapes for free online, completely bypassing any sort of physical distribution. They’ve garnered praise from critics at Pitchfork and NYTimes. So, do they give away their music for free, just to promote their live show? I had this in mind when I went to Rock and Roll Hotel last Friday to check out their sold-out show. Unfortunately, their show didn’t impress me as much as their mixtapes have.

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Arlington, Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Iota Club & Cafe Offers More than Music

Photo courtesy of
‘Coffee and Kerouac’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

Finding a place to lounge and sip coffee in this city is easier said than done. But for those of you in Clarendon, that quest just got a little easier. Iota Club & Cafe has now launched iotaday, a sandwich and coffee lounge with a new walk-up counter.

The music venue has expanded their food selection to include light breakfast, lunch and dinner options. You can grab brunch there up until 3:00 PM on weekends. Locavores, you’ll be happy to see that Iota’s coffee options come from the Annapolis-based roasting company, Caffe Pronto and the pastries are from Chef Jessica Knudson of Hawthorne’s Fine Breakfast Pastry. While I can’t speak from experience (yet), the descriptions of their “smasher” panini sandwiches are enough to make me want to metro out to Arlington for some mid-day noshing.

The newly renovated bars and seating areas will have free Wi-Fi, so you can sip and lounge and maybe even get a little work done. Iota is open from 6:30 AM on weekdays and from 8:00 AM on weekends and holidays.

The Features
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Hey Capitals: Where are your superstars?

Photo courtesy of
‘Ovechkin Tosses First Star Puck to Crowd’
courtesy of ‘clydeorama’

The Capitals have to figure that eventually, something has got to give.

In seven games in the month of January, the Capitals have scored 14 goals. That is two goals per game and even those have been a struggle. Yes, coach Bruce Boudreau changed his game philosophy in mid-December to be more defense-oriented, but he was probably counting on at the time of the switch that Washington would also be enjoying the fruits of the labor of its superstar point scorers. After all, Alex Ovechkin, Mike Green, Alexander Semin and Nicklas Backstrom all scored over or near 80 points in 2009-10 (with Backstrom and Ovechkin both over 100) and there was a reasonable expectation for them to perform to similar levels this year. The team is not greatly changed, the same coach is in place, Verizon Center is still continuously sold out and there is motivation after two-straight years of disappointing playoff defeats.

So, D.C., where are your superstars?

Ovechkin is due for 29 less points this year than last (109 to 80), Backstrom 28 (101 to 73), Semin 22 (84 to 62) and Green 39 (76 to 37). That factors out for a whole season to be 116 points less between the Capitals’ top four players. That is the equivalent of a great season for any NHL superstar or about three Brooks Laichs.

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