Yearly Archives: 2011

The Daily Feed
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The Puck Buddys Bring You a Caps Game Watch

We haven’t given due attention to a great new Caps blog that has taken an innovative position on fandom in the District – Puck Buddys. Carving out a new audience in the hockey blogosphere isn’t easy, but in writing “for boys who like boys who like hockey,” the guys over there have added a really awesome, diverse voice to the world of sports blogging in DC.

A few links by Ted’s Take and man have these guys made it. Just in case that wasn’t enough, the men behind Puck Buddys are hosting a game watch for this evening’s game against the Devils. Go meet the fellas, put on your best Caps gear and go cheer loudly at Nellie’s. More details are available over at PB.

The Daily Feed
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Local Chefs Raise Money for Tsunami Relief

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘Jing a Ling’
Get your credit cards out. Starting today, a series of donations will be auctioned off on eBay by more than 20 DC businesses. The money raised will support disaster relief in Japan. 

Earlier this week, KAZ Sushi Bistro Chef Kaz Okochi, who was born and raised in Nagoya, Japan, reached out to the DC Chefs’ Club for help. The result? Chefs are auctioning off brunch, dinners, tastings, classes, and more on eBay. The auctions will last for one to two weeks, and the winning bids will be donated to the American Red Cross.

Starting off the auction is KAZ, offering a tasting menu for two people as well as KAZ private brand sake or beer. The bidding starts at $50. To bid go here.

Restaurants participating include:

The Tabard Inn
Restaurant Nora
Perry’s
Equinox
Bourbon
Four Seasons
Masa14
KAZ Sushi Bistro
BLT
Peacock Cafe
Ris
Food & Wine Co.
Dino
DC Coast/TenPenh/Ceiba/Acadiana/PassionFish
Jaleo/Zaytinya/Oyamel/Cafe Atlantico
Marcels/Brasserie Beck/Mussel Bar
Hilton Garden Inn, Downtown

Capital Chefs, Food and Drink, The Features
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Capital Chefs: Teddy Folkman of Granville Moore’s (Part 1)

Courtesy of Granville Moore's/JDSilk
Chef Teddy Folkman
Courtesy of Granville Moore’s/JDSilk

A friend of Teddy Folkman’s once gave him a piece of advice when he moved to DC more than ten years ago. He told him, “If you’re driving down East Capitol Street and you see the dome of the Capitol, and you feel nothing–then it’s time to go.” Lucky for us and for Folkman, that moment hasn’t happened.

Folkman, the executive chef of Granville Moore’s and famous for winning a mussels throwdown against Bobby Flay, was actually working in marketing and sales before he traded in a suit for a chef’s coat. “It was my passion and my hobby,” he says. “I would bail out of work early to go work as a line cook.” That’s when he decided to go to culinary school, despite his family’s objections and leaving behind a steady salary.

After going through most of culinary school (Folkman didn’t complete culinary school due to a snafu with the Dean and what sounded to me like a clash of egos and a few absences from class), chef Ann Cashion mentored Folkman, telling him he didn’t need culinary school if he wanted to work in her restaurant and learn as much as possible. I’d say things turned out pretty well for Folkman–throwing down with Bobby Flay, being on season 5 of The Next Food Network Star, running a successful restaurant, doing consultant work on a variety of projects and volunteering on the Chef Advisory Board for Brainfood.

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We Love Music
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We Love Music: Crystal Castles @ 9:30 Club, 3/15/11


All images courtesy of Crystal Castles

Crystal Castles is a band I haven’t quite wrapped my head around yet. They’re a duet that plays slightly off-kilter, dark, noisy electronic music. It’s a pretty strange mix of Vegas slot-machine ambience, Gameboy bleeps and bloops, and ghostly vocals. Why do people like this? Maybe because it’s so weird. Or because you can dance to it. But like Apple Jacks, I just like it, and I can’t explain why. Clearly I’m not the only one who feels this way – they sold out the 9:30 Club on Wednesday, just like the last time they came through DC in August.

Crystal Castles put on an impressive live show that perfectly complements their music. Not only did they pick a great setlist, but the entire visual aspect of the show perfectly complemented their songs. Bright LED displays surrounded by darkness added a new layer of mystery to their music. And, oh man, their singer Alice Glass knows how to get a crowd going. We danced, jumped, and clawed our way forward throughout the set.
Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Campaign Update: 39 days to Election Day

Photo courtesy of
‘Flip Flops’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

The public petition challenge portion of the At-Large council campaign came to completion this week, with Patrick Mara and Bryan Weaver remaining on the ballot, and Jacque Patterson being denied ballot access due to lack of signatures.  While DCBOEE did forward on the 8 pages of signatures from the Mara campaign that appear to have been forged, even without those counting, Mara still had over 3,000 signatures.

This morning, Patterson endorsed Vincent Orange’s money-laden campaign, citing Orange’s “unique skill set” in working in past councils. The endorsement is another boon for Orange, whose campaign has kicked into high gear after receiving $191,000 in campaign contributions, many from outside of the District. While it’s clear that Patterson harbors a grudge against Biddle for getting him booted from the ballot, it’s an interesting choice that Patterson made to grab money-strong Orange.

It had seemed from the previous evening’s tweets that Patterson might come down in the Weaver camp, given his support for the dark horse in last night’s candidate forum, but it appears that Patterson believes Orange to be the stronger contender, especially with a large war chest.

Biddle still may be the favorite due to his incumbent status, and his connections and council support, but there’s no writing off Orange at this point.

We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: An Ideal Husband

Cameron Folmar as Lord Goring in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of An Ideal Husband, directed by Keith Baxter.
Photo by Scott Suchman.

It’s easy to write a negative review. Nothing provides material like anger and loathing. Excellent stuff is somewhat harder – there’s a lot of ways something can be good. If you want a real challenge, though, the thing to tackle is purely, simply, boringly middle of the road.

Shakespeare Theater Company’s An Ideal Husband is tough to write about.

There’s stuff to like here. STC’s usually impressive sets are more stunning than ever. The costumes make the average royal wedding look like a fashion show put on with Goodwill rejects. The music is enjoyable, if sometimes a little over-present in the first act. You’ll have plenty of time to appreciate and ponder it all during the first half of the show.

An Ideal Husband is Oscar Wilde’s examination of how an outwardly, exceedingly moral man with a shameful secret deals with the threat of exposure and ruin. The first act drops us into the middle of a party at the Chiltern home, where Sir Robert will soon be confronted with someone looking to blackmail him. The politician who wears a rigidly pious face while having an unpleasant history is certainly one that has potential to resonate with a D.C. audience. But aside from some audience chuckles on the easy lines it never seems to go any deeper.

Continue reading →

Entertainment, Special Events, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love (Irish) Arts: Penelope

Niall Buggy, Aaron Monaghan, and Karl Shiels in Druid's Penelope by Enda Walsh. Directed by Mikel Murfi. Photo credit: Robert Day

Madly poetic men in speedos, trapped with a broken grill in an abandoned swimming pool. Above them is an unobtainable beauty in a blue dress. While waiting for her to say yes or no to their proposals of love, they’ve gotten fat and old. Now her husband is coming back to barbecue them all.

Did I mention speedos?

The initial sight gag that opens Penelope had the packed theater giggling. An overly bronzed man in an orange speedo grilling up a tiny sausage instantly telegraphs this is an absurd world ripe with comedy. Or is it? There’s a suspicious blood spatter stage right…

Playwright Enda Walsh is brilliant at pulling you through laughs to a sucker-punch of a tragic conclusion. It’s the gift of the Irish bard, perhaps, that superlative facility at weaving language into tales, leading an audience from laughter to tears. Galway’s Druid has brought his genius to Studio Theatre as part of the New Ireland Festival through April 3, and it’s a deservedly hot ticket this St. Patrick’s Day with Walsh speaking after tonight’s performance.

A re-imagining of Homer’s Odyssey from the point -of-view of faithfully waiting wife Penelope’s suitors, it explores what happens to the men when action is thwarted and purpose diverted. Do they gang up together and storm the castle to take Penelope by force? No. They sit around sunning themselves, drinking fruity cocktails. Then they turn on each other like a pack of dogs. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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This Week in Food

Photo courtesy of
‘Hank’s Oyster Bar’
courtesy of ‘jichen2’
Running Indefinitely: Kushi Izakaya & Sushi will donate 100% of the sales of its popular Buta Bara Kushiyaki (Pork Belly Kushiyaki) to the Japanese Red Cross to support earthquake and tsunami disaster relief in Japan. The Pork Belly Kushiyaki, made with North Carolina pigs and cooked sous vide for several hours, is Kushi’s best-selling menu item averaging monthly sales of approximately $7,500.00. 

Getting Bigger…Come May Hank’s Oyster Bar will double in size, adding a bar & lounge as well as a private dining room. So what does this mean? Late night hours! Two am on weeknights and 3 am weekends. Our devoted readers might also remember that restaurant partners Jamie Leeds and Sandy Lewis from Hank’s sold CommonWealth Gastro Pub in Columbia Heights last month.

Opening: Because I live for press releases with a lot of adjectives and love the movie Burlesque…”From the restaurateurs behind distinctive dining concepts OYA and SEI comes SAX, an exclusive lounge and restaurant with provocative live entertainment designed to amuse, please and divert the senses with opulent grandeur.” Look for it in May.

Continue reading →

We Love Weekends
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We Love Weekends, March 19-20

Photo courtesy of
’73/365′
courtesy of ‘ekelly80’

Michael: This weekend I will see two sonic titans in concert. On Friday night, I am going to check out DC/VA locals Dark Sea Dream. I do not know how this incredible sounding local band has slipped under my radar for so long, but Friday night is the night to fix that. I honestly cannot believe how unearthly these guys sound. It’s like the end of a My Bloody Valentine concert is where these guys begin! Sunday night I’ll be at the glorious return of Godspeed You Black Emperor at 9:30 Club. A lot has happened in the post-rock/post-metal universe since this Canadian collective defined the genre a decade ago. I am extremely curious to hear how their epic instrumentals sound after all of these years and how they stack up against all of the interesting bands they inspired.

Tom: Friday night, after a rehearsal at Strathmore, I’ll be toasting my friend Genie at the Passenger and her all too brief return to DC.  Saturday afternoon, we’ll be camped out at Iota working away with our crack design team on the next version of We Love DC, before John takes the stage with Juniper Lane in their Live EP release party.  Me, I’ll be singing with Choralis on Saturday night, as part of their Evening with Brahms concert at Strathmore. Tickets are still available for both.  Sunday? Garden work.  Gotta get the beds ready to plant, I’ve got seedlings in my basement ready to go! Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Borders closing out two stores this weekend

Photo courtesy of

‘books tell stories’
courtesy of ‘erin m’

Borders is closing out a pair of their stores this weekend, leading to a massive selloff in two stores, one up at Friendship Heights and one downtown (18th & L), and the cuts are deep.  So if you’ve not dove head first into the realm of the Kindle and the iPad, this might be a great weekend to stock your shelves with some delicious knowledge, and maybe some cheap chairs and whatnot, as they’re selling the fixtures right down to the bookcases.

Food and Drink, People, The Features, We Love Drinks
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We Love Drinks: Jeff Faile

Jeff Garnishes
All photos by the author

We Love Drinks continues our series where we look behind the bar, profiling the many people – from mixologists to bartenders, sommeliers to publicans – who make your drinks experience happen.

“You could just write a short little paragraph: ‘Jeff hates vodka.’ That would sum it up perfectly.”

On a recent afternoon I sat down with Jeff Faile, until next Thursday the bar manager at Palena, and soon to be the bar manager (part of an excellent team) at Fabio Trabocchi’s return to DC, Fiola.

An army brat born in Rhode Island, he has a history degree from Clemson. Previously a manager at Tower Records in Philadelphia who moonlighted as a bartender, he moved to DC about five years ago and began bartending full-time. In November he got married, became bar manager at Palena, and was invited to join the DC Craft Bartenders Guild. And he owes at least part of his success to Twitter, of all things.

Continue reading →

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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New Chef at Central: Jason Maddens

Photo courtesy of
‘cheeseburger @ Central, Michel Richard’
courtesy of ‘PlantainsandKimchi.com’

A little while ago, Ashley brought you the news that Michel Richard is now offering buckets of fried chicken. And now the latest news from Central is the appointment of a new executive chef, Jason Maddens.

Not entirely new to the Michel Richard empire, Maddens was previously the sous chef at Michel in Tyson’s Corner. Prior to that he worked as the executive sous chef at 2941 in Falls Church, VA.

“Jason is a wonderful young chef, with good experience in high volume restaurants.  We have been working together for several months and I am glad to have him join us at Central,” says Richard. 

My guess is that the menu will remain mostly the same (don’t worry, that fried chicken isn’t going anywhere). According to Mel Davis, the executive assistant to Richard, Maddens will work with Richard on seasonal changes to the menu.

Sports Fix
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DC United 2011 Season Preview


’10/23/2010 DC United vs Toronto FC’
courtesy of ‘Paul Frederiksen’

While for most people the arrival of March means looking ahead to whether the Nationals and Orioles will lose 95 or 97 games, for others, it beckons the start of the season for D.C. United, the most successful franchise in Major League Soccer.

Entering their 16th season of play, one of the charter members of the league and four-time MLS champion United have much to look forward to as the 2011 campaign begins on March 19 at RFK Stadium against Columbus. After winning the MLS Supporters’ Shield (given to the team with the best regular season record) in 2006 and 2007, the Black and Red have fallen off the last three seasons, with 10th place finishes in 2008 and 2009, before ultimately bottoming out last year with a 6-20-4 record, settling them firmly in last place.

The excitement for 2011 comes with the first full season under head coach Ben Olsen. After the release of Curt Onalfo as head coach following a 3-12-3 start, Olsen took the reins of United and turned the team around considerably, finishing the season with a still-disappointing 3-8-1 record, but enough of a turnaround was shown that team management felt it appropriate to retain Olsen.  Not included in the record was a Cinderella run to the semifinals of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, a tournament open to nearly all American professional, semi-professional, and amateur clubs. Olsen, 33, nicknamed “The General”, had an illustrious playing career for D.C., scoring 29 goals in 221 games for the Black and Red, as well as suiting up for the United States national team 37 times, including seeing action in the 2006 World Cup. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Stinky Cheese Classes at Cheesetique

Photo courtesy of
‘Halloumi Cheese from Cyprus’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

I love cheese; I especially love stinky, stinky cheese. In fact, I love stinky cheese so much, on my last trip to Paris I specifically learned the phrase “Je veux votre fromage qui pue” (I want your stinky cheese) so that I could ask Parisan cheese mongers for their more odorous varieties.

Going to Paris to pick up some cheese, however, is not always the most cost-effective or convenient method. For those constrained to more local merchants, Cheesetique in Alexandria has you covered. Join Jill Erber on March 27th and 28th and April 3rd and 4th at 7:00pm to learn why stinky cheeses are so darn pungent and how to best select, serve and pair these “special” creations.

Lasting about an hour, and costing only $35, the class will give participants the opportunity to smell and taste ten cheeses and pair them with two perfect wines. Register here.

Cheesetique is located at 2411 Mt. Vernon Ave, Alexandria, VA. They can be reached via phone at 703-706-5300.

Sports Fix, The Features
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Capitals revamped defense: Stanley Cup worthy?

Photo courtesy of
‘IMG_6246.jpg’
courtesy of ‘bridgetds’

Nine straight games.

Pretty good for a team that folk said was in complete disarray and out of the Stanley Cup picture three months ago. The Caps current streak now exceeds its lowest point of the season, the eight-game losing streak in December that led up to the Winter Classic. The highest high is now greater than the lowest low.

And Washington is looking to get higher.

The questions have been about the offense. Why haven’t they been scoring? What is wrong with Ovie? Traditionally though, with this group and this coach, scoring has not been a problem and the Caps are showing signs of getting out of the doldrums that plagued them throughout the middle of the season in the scoring department. The defense this year has been surprisingly competent in front of young, solid goaltending. Through the nine-game win streak, Washington has given up 13 goals for an impressive 1.44 goals against per game.

The question becomes – can these new defensive dynamics lead the Caps to the Promised Land?

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Low Points for the Wizards and the 3/16 Sports Ticker

Photo courtesy of
‘Wizards’
courtesy of ‘erin m’

Lead Item: At 16-50, the Wizards sit in 14th place in the Eastern conference, two full games off the pace of the 13th slotted Toronto Raptors. They’ve lost nine of ten, five in a row and were shellacked in the last week by the Clippers, the Western Conference cellar dwellers and perennial losers. The Clippers have been a punchline of not just basketball franchises, but pretty much universally across all the major sports. I’m pretty sure MLS teams used to mock them. Yet, as Bryan Harvey at The Faster Times noted, the intersection in the last week between the Clippers and Wizards is notable for the direction the teams are headed:

“The difference being that the Clippers at least have a direction in which they are heading–Blake Griffin gives them that–while the Wizards, with the exception of John Wall, appear fully content being adrift in the NBA cosmos; atoms and molecules that don’t amount to anything–they are what they are. And they seem fine with that.”

The Wizards need to win 10 of their remaining 16 to match last year’s horrendous record, and if it wasn’t for the implosion that is the Cleveland Cavaliers, they would be looking up at absolutely everybody in the Association.

Nowhere to go but up, Mr. Leonsis.

The rest of the Ticker…after the jump.

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Comedy in DC
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Comedy in DC: Nikki Glaser

Nikki Glaser

I got a chance to speak with Nikki Glaser on the phone while she was cruising over to Sara Schaefer’s apartment to record their hit podcast, You Had to Be There. If you haven’t heard about them then you should go to the Velvet Lounge this Friday and see them perform live for the Cool Dudes Hanging Out Comedy Showcase to get a taste of what you are missing. This weekend’s entertainment got started at a party in New York not too long ago, because how else do you find a creative partner but with food and alcohol? The two comics got to talking while a little buzzed (as one does), had a good conversation, and said to each other “We should do a podcast.” In the scheme of ideas-you-get-while-drinking, it was a pretty good one. Nikki had tried doing podcasts in the past, but they didn’t work out. She’s not good with technical stuff, but Sarah has the skills and handles that aspect of the show. As an avid conusmer of comedy podcasts I highly recommend checking it out. It’s like being in Sarah’s apartment with the snacks, beer, and good times flowing. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Irish Book Day

Photo courtesy of
‘a book for the commute’
courtesy of ‘maria jpeg’

Tomorrow is the 6th Annual Irish Book Day! Chances are you’ll run into one of the hundred volunteers Irish arts organization Solas Nua will place at metro stops around the city, giving away free books from the wee hours of the morning commute into the evening rush.

Current Irish literature ranging from The Master by Colm Toibin to children’s author Eoin Coifer will be yours for the asking as DC’s only organization dedicated exclusively to promoting contemporary Irish arts celebrates St. Patrick’s Day. Last year they distributed 10,000 books. This year, they’ve got 20,000 on hand! I’ll be on the lookout for a copy of Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue – which sounds like a completely bawdy, brutal tale of an 18th-century red-light district (slammerkin is slang for “loose woman”).

Volunteers will pass out free books from 6am-7pm or until they run out. To find out what metro stops they’ll be at Thursday morning, follow @solasnuacht.