Yearly Archives: 2011

Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Love Your Sweetheart the Spy Way

Photo courtesy of
‘Spy in the House of Love’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

This February, take your love undercover at the International Spy Museum, where they’ve developed a month-long set of activities to spice up the romance at your next rendezvous. From Whoopie Pies to Love a Spy, guests will experience how spies turn up the heat.

Starting February 4th, ISM offers the chance to “Love a Spy” every Friday and Saturday at Spy at Night throughout February. Guests who reserve a Love a Spy package for $100 will receive two Double Agent tickets allowing guests to visit the permanent exhibit and Operation Spy or Spy at Night.

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Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Lola’s on 8th Street To Bring Games Your Way

loals

Photo Courtesy Lola's Barracks Bar & Grill

If you’re a regular at Lola’s Barracks Bar & Grill, known for its exposed brick walls, good service, and slightly older crowd, you might not have to be cramped into the narrow first floor much longer.

That’s because pending construction permits, the bar might soon be two floors taller and more fun. The second floor will have a 30-foot-bar and the third floor will be a game room. They’re brainstorming games right now that include at least one pool table, darts, shuffle board, foosball, and ping pong. I vote ping pong.

Shawn Case, one of owner Xavier Cervera’s employees, tells me that part of the left wall could be torn down for the staircase, but that the look will stay the same. He says the “change” will be one welcome by regulars, but he also hopes it will also bring new customers into the bar.

“Xavier really sees the need for something like this on the Hill,” says Case. “We want people to keep coming here after work, relax some, and play pool.”

If you’re on the Hill and looking for a good game room right now, try The Pour House at 319 Pennsylvania Ave. SE.

Lola’s Barracks Bar & Grill is located at 711 8th St. SE. The closest metro is Eastern Market Station (Blue/Orange Lines). For more information, call 202-547-5652.

Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Office Of Future Plans @ The Wind-Up Space, 1/28/11

IMG_7199
“Office of Future Plans” set by author.

I went up to Baltimore on Friday for a night of good old fashioned American indie rock. The kind of early to mid-90’s, DIY-fueled, noisy indie rock that produced local legends like Ian MacKaye and J. Robbins. I guess it’s what music historians are calling post-hardcore these days. Emotional rock music with hardcore’s heart but with a compositional sophistication that punk could never pull off. This music has got guts and up tempos and expresses deep emotion without ever sounding limp or boring. It is music that can keep a room full of people moving or just as easily soundtrack your loneliest moment.

The big draw for me on Friday was finally seeing Office of Future Plans headline a show. This is J. Robbins’ new project that he has been incubating for almost two years now. Anything new from J. Robbins of Jawbox (et al.)* is going to peak my interest, but I had been hearing great things about his latest group and I wanted to check them out in the right setting. A special bonus on the bill was SPRCSS, a mysterious post-punk band with minimal internet presence, who surface like a submarine surprise attack every few years to blow audiences away with their select performances. Kicking things off was Baltimore’s own psychedelic freak-out heroes, Whoarfrost. Watching this spastic, noisy triple bill in The Wind-Up Space really took me back to my first days in DC, back when almost every other night offered great shows full of sonically interesting, passionate, local indie-rock bands who mixed power and emotion perfectly.
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The Daily Feed
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First Look: Bada Bing Cheesesteak Truck


‘Bada Bing Truck’
courtesy of ‘foodtruckapp’

One of the latest entrants into the burgeoning DC food truck scene is the BadaBing Cheesesteak Truck, which patrols the Wilson Boulevard corridor in Arlington, looking for hungry customers.  When I found the truck on North Lynn Street in Rosslyn today, it was surrounded by almost  a dozen patrons, risking their body heat for a chance at a cheesesteak.

Founded in 2010 by Nicholas Terzella, a former executive chef trained at the New England Culinary Institute who has worked in cities like New York City and Miami, the BadaBing Truck offers two main types of sandwiches: cheesesteaks and spiedies (pronounced “spee-dee”). While cheesesteaks are a favorite, staple American sandwich, the spiedie is a little more of a regional favorite, that some people might not be as familiar with.  The spiedie originated with Italian immigrants in upper New York State in the early 1900s, who took cubes of marinated, skewer-cooked chicken or pork (spiedinis) and stuffed them in a hoagie rolls. The resulting sandwich was so popular it even spurred the creation of a regional spiedie festival, the annual Spiedie Fest and Balloon Rally (now in its 27th year!) in Binghamton, New York.

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capitals hockey, The Daily Feed
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Habs Top Caps in Shootout

Photo courtesy of
Mathieu Perreault notched a goal and an assist.
courtesy of ‘bridgetds’
For the second straight game, the Washington Capitals failed to hold a lead and lost in a shootout, this time to the Montreal Canadiens, 3-2, last night at Verizon Center. Canadiens’ captain Brian Gionta scored two second-period goals as well as the lone shootout goal to win it for the Habs. The Caps have lost the last eight times when the game goes to overtime or a shootout.

On a night when Washington saluted former Capitals’ feisty scoring star Dino Ciccarelli, the Caps looked like they wanted to start where Dino left off 19 years ago. Washington came out with blazing hot sticks, shooting the puck and crashing the net. The defense was jumping into the action, and the Caps looked like the explosive offensive team of last season. Unfortunately, the Montreal Canadiens looked like the team that eliminated the Caps from the playoffs last year, too. The combination of suffocating defense and opportunistic offense paid off again for the Canadiens. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Fun & Games, Music, We Love Music
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The Winning Ticket: Chromeo

As a way to say thanks to our loyal readers, We Love DC will be giving away a pair of tickets to a 9:30 Club 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 is our first repeat offender on The Winning Ticket! Last summer when we gave away Chromeo tickets our readers lost their collective mind in the mad scramble to win the coveted prize. Shall we try for a repeat?

This week we are giving away a pair of tickets to see…the Canadian reincarnation of Hall & Oates…yes…Chromeo at 9:30 Club on Sunday, February 6th. Frankly, I considered these guys a musical joke that I didn’t quite get until I saw them perform in the Dance Forest at last year’s Virgin Mobile FreeFest. Their brilliant, sunset, synthesizer party caught me completely off guard and made me an instant convert to their cheesy/sexy/silly 80’s throwback electronic monster jams. There is something magical in Chromeo’s music that gets the party going from that first massive, warbling synth tone and keeps the energy up until their final Tenderoni ballad.

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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The Vindictive side of Danny Snyder

Photo courtesy of
‘DC Court of Appeals and Lincoln’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

The news is out this morning that Dan Snyder, owner of the Redskins, is looking to sue the Washington City Paper over their November story about the owner’s difficult relationship with fans over the years, entitled the Cranky Redskins Fan’s Guide to Dan Snyder.  Snyder alleges that the author of the story, Dave McKenna, has defamed him personally, and is seeking to have him fired from the alt weekly.  Snyder has now allegedly threatened to sue McKenna and his employer, and has requested that the Washington Post retain all emails between McKenna and sports blogger extraordinaire Daniel Steinberg, over a “cross promotion deal,” which only serves to point out how Snyder views the Internet.

It’s sad to see a sports owner not taking his lumps like a man, and worse still to see him going after local journalists who write negatively about him. Some advice for Danny S from me? Thicken that skin and reserve your legal ire for people like Albert Haynesworth, who did more to harm the franchise with its fans than the City Paper piece.  Why not sue him, too?

Entertainment, Music, The Features, We Love Arts
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The Washington Performing Arts Society Presents: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis


Photo by Rachel Levitin

Jazz – and Country/Bluegrass – are the dominant proprietors of modern “Made in America” music and that’s something worth holding on to. In its inception, Jazz defined an era of youth during tumultuous times. That was its claim to fame. That’s what got it notice. That’s what shot it to the forefront of popular culture during World War II.

Jazz defined an era of uncertainty. It ushered in a voice for the speechless. It provided a musical and mental solace for people who wanted to feel something beyond a war being fought or a job lost or anything besides the monotony of their daily routine. Jazz was the sanctuary and swing was the medium. Throw in a little Blues for a cherry-on-top flourish and by golly you’ve got yourself a true American portrait – an American testimonial.

If Jazz was personified, its equivalent would be akin to the likes of the always effervescent, charismatic, and talented Louis Armstrong. The New Orleans trumpet player, born in 1901, wasn’t the first Jazz trumpet player in the history books but he is an icon of the genre. Wynton Marsalis is a Louis Armstrong for the new millennium. Continue reading →

Dupont Circle, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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DC Lady Warning: Dupont Circle is a hazard zone this weekend

Photo courtesy of
‘Thomas Jefferson, Pimp Daddy’
courtesy of ‘tbridge’

Heads up ladies and gentlemen, there’s a shark hazard going out this weekend.  According to the City Paper, there’s a pickup artist (nay, the world’s finest pickup artist) on the loose this weekend, and he’ll be giving lessons to schmucks desperate enough to pay $1,300 to get a bit of game.

They’ll be working out of a Dupont Circle hotel, with “field trips” to area bars and coffeeshops, so if this is your normal bailiwick, consider yourself warned. Though, as WCP points out, the gents desperate enough to pay $1,300 to a scam artist are probably pretty loaded catches, so gold diggers, this is your definition of a “target rich environment”.

Or, if you like, you could have a blast just fucking with these guys.  That’s personally what I’d do.  But I’m not a lady.

Special Events, The Daily Feed, We Love Arts
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February Events at SAAM

Photo courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum

Tired of being cooped up in the house as winter rolls along? Now’s the best time to visit several of the area museums we’re fortunate to have here in DC. The Smithsonian American Art Museum has some great events lined up for winter visitors. All events are at the SAAM, located in Penn Quarter adjacent to the National Portrait Gallery.

Rockman Film Series: Silent Running
Feb. 3, 6 p.m.
The second of three classic but rarely screened sci-fi films shown in conjunction with “Alexis Rockman: A Fable for Tomorrow,” Silent Running tells the story of a scientist trapped on Saturn with two robots as his only companions after a mission to protect the last Earthly botanical specimens goes awry. Starring Bruce Dern, directed by Douglas Trumbull.

Body and Soul with the Thad Wilson Orchestra
Feb. 5, 3 p.m.
Oscar Micheaux’s 1925 silent film, accompanied live by the Thad Wilson Orchestra. Body and Soul features the legendary Paul Robeson in his screen debut, playing an escaped prisoner pretending to be a minister in a small Georgia Town. Limited seating available; free tickets are required and available in the museum’s G Street Lobby beginning at 2:30 p.m. Presented in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery.

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News, The Daily Feed, WMATA, WTF?!
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Metro to close Federal Triangle, Smithsonian metro stations for President’s Day weekend

Photo courtesy of
’29 Jan 2011 – No 064: Me This Week’
courtesy of ‘B Jones Jr’

Another Federal Holiday weekend, another set of closed stations on a day that not everyone gets off.  Metro announced this afternoon that they will be closing Federal Triangle and Smithsonian for the weekend to comply with NTSB recommendations and make safety and reliability repairs.

As much as this sucks, and this sucks an awful lot, it’s better than single-tracking for weeks on end while they do work in fits and starts.  The orange and blue lines will run in two pieces, with no service at all between L’Enfant Plaza and Metro Center at all.  Metro will run shuttle buses between the two stations.

For those who just went scrambling to a calendar, the closure is from 10pm Friday, February 18th, through closing on Monday, February 21st.  Metro has said you should plan on adding 40 minutes to your commute if you have to traverse that area, and to please dress warmly so you can wait for the infernal shuttle buses without dying of frostbite or exposure.

In addition, the Red line will be single tracking during that time between Shady Grove and Twinbrook, so if you come in from the outer reaches, expect some quality standing on the platform time to add to your suffering.

News, The Daily Feed, WMATA
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Metro to hold community meetings around new Potomac Yard station

Photo courtesy of
‘Abner Cloud House 4’
courtesy of ‘ktylerconk’

Metro announced meetings this afternoon surrounding the placement and construction of a new Blue/Yellow line station at Potomac Yards. The meetings are scheduled for February 10th from 4:30pm to 6:00pm and 6:30pm to 8:00pm at the Cora Kelly Rec Center in Alexandria. Those wishing to learn more about the environmental impact study that is being performed, or about the stations and the options surrounding the station should plan on attending the meeting.  Cora Kelly Rec Center is on the 10A, 10B and 10E Metrobus lines, and the AT10 Dash bus.

It should be a fairly interesting process, as there are a couple different sites for the station near the Potomac Yards shopping center, and the final placement of the station is as of yet up for grabs.  Look for this one to be an adventure. Take popcorn and a lawn chair.

Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: The Comedy of Errors

(L-R) Dromio of Syracuse (Nathan Keepers) and his master, Antipholus of Syracuse (Darragh Kennan), in The Comedy of Errors, on stage at Folger Theatre through March 6, 2011. Photo: Carol Pratt.

Life can get far too serious sometimes. So can theater. Whatever happened to pratfalls? How about seeing a guy get a wet willy? Who doesn’t love a clown?

If you’re at all down lately, The Comedy of Errors at the Folger Theatre will perk you right up. It’s full of the childish pleasures of old-fashioned clowning and mercifully uncomplicated (apart from Shakespeare’s pesky plot concerning two sets of identical twins, of course!). I actually debated writing a review that would consist of just three words: “Sweet. Simple. Good.”

The first thing you notice upon entering the theater is Tony Cisek’s gorgeous set, like the waiting hall of a Victorian train station seen through the eyes of a passenger on the Yellow Submarine. Its antic colors instantly telegraph that you’re in the circus world of comedy, and thankfully, that’s just what we need. Next up is director Aaron Posner’s framing device – the presentation by British director Timothy Tushingham (Bruce Nelson) of a rough-cut documentary on his dysfunctional players, the Worcestershire Mask & Wig Society, earnestly touring the States. This preamble doesn’t really do much other than put you in the proper frame of mind to laugh, and to accept the British accents and anachronisms the actors use throughout the rest of the production.

But it’s sweet, and funny, and again – isn’t that what you need right now? I’m tired of being jaded. I enjoyed my time in Ephesus, where everyone knows your name but has no idea exactly who you really are…  Continue reading →

Adams Morgan
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We Love Food: Cashion’s Eat Place

Photo courtesy of
‘Cashion’s’
courtesy of ‘M.V. Jantzen’
If there is one thing I have to thank Cashion’s Eat Place for, it’s that it single-handedly convinced my parents that Adams Morgan is not the hotbed of crime and dereliction it once was. It’s a completely different kind of hotbed than it was in the 70’s and 80’s, but that’s a discussion for another time. Though my parents weren’t previously in to the world east of Connecticut Avenue, they came in the name of my birthday a few years ago and after a great meal were quick to tell me that it was in fact their idea to come to Adams Morgan. Parents, so predictable.

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The Features
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Why I Love DC: Marissa Bialecki

Photo courtesy of
‘National Sunrise’
courtesy of ‘dyoshida’

It doesn’t take people very long to figure out that I am a proud New Jerseyan, hailing from the great Garden State. And no, it does not smell. Being from New Jersey, which is often regarded as the red-headed stepchild to New York City, I went through life with that smug attitude that New York was “the city.” It was the place I was supposed to return to immediately after college and become a hip little New Yorker, emulating Carrie Bradshaw, but minus the sex with strangers. And then I came to DC. I was 18 and studying at The George Washington University, and before long I was frolicking through the monuments at night, breathing in warm October air and marveling at all this new city had to offer me. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Who We Missed: More Restaurants Opening in 2011

poubd

Photo Courtesy Pound Coffee

Since I first put together Part 1 and Part 2 of restaurants opening in 2011, I’ve been bombarded by emails reminding me of yet even more restaurants coming up. We’re working on a tool that will enable us (and therefore you!) to keep a better running list of the now 50-plus restaurants opening…but for now, here are some more hot-spots for you to look forward to this year in DC.

Station 4

Another reason that as a Navy Yard resident I’m getting more and more jealous of the Southwest Waterfront everyday – not only do they have a Safeway, but now a new restaurant called Station 4. Bullfeathers on Capitol Hill just reopened earlier this month under the same management behind Tunnicliff’s Tavern, Stoney’s, and Ulah Bistro. That same team is now bringing us this 4,000 square foot American bistro-style restaurant. Again, I love patio dining, and I love brunch on the weekends, so I will definitely be at Station 4.

1101 4th St. SW

Expected Arrival: ASAP

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Featured Photo
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Featured Photo


IMG_4119 by Steve Goldenberg

A few weeks ago I encouraged those of you who are interested in photography to hone your skills by shooting a series on a subject that strikes your fancy, thereby building a solid body of work.  It’s OK if you like to wander around town on the weekends to photograph things that catch your eye, but by focusing your efforts on one idea you will find that it can take your game to the next level. Think of your favorite photographers. Did Robert Frank take pictures of cupcakes, fire hydrants, and kitty cats?  Perhaps, but they would have never made it past the darkroom.

One local photographer who has caught my eye with a particular series is Steve Goldenberg. While he wasn’t able to reply to my e-mails to explain the work in his own words, he did mention in his Flickr comment that he has “shot them (cheerleaders) three times so far” and is “trying to decide what direction to take the project in.”  If you click through his set you will see some incredible shots that would make for a great slideshow or even a book.  While it may not turn out to be on the same level as The Americans, his series does an excellent job of capturing the passion and emotion of these girls for everyone to see.

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The Daily Feed
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Protesters Demand Removal of Wayne Clough from Smithsonian


All photos by Max Cook

In response to the removal of the David Wojnarowicz video from the National Portrait Gallery’s “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture” exhibit, protesters gathered today in front of the Smithsonian Castle demanding the removal (or resignation) of Secretary Wayne Clough.  While the media to protester ratio was nearly one to one, the group’s collective voice was no doubt heard by the ears of the Smithsonian.  Organized by the New York based art action group “Art Positive“, the protesters marched and chanted in hopes that Clough be removed from his position and the video, “A Fire in My Belly”, be returned to the exhibit.  While it’s unlikely that Clough will step down from his position, it’s clear that this controversy is far from over.

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Eat Like Me, Food and Drink, The Features
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Eat Like Me: January’s Best Dishes

Photo courtesy of
‘264/365 – estadio’
courtesy of ‘dracisk 365/365’
It was a big month for me food-wise this January. I ate at a lot of new to me restaurants that treated me well (Estadio, Masa 14, Againn, Room 11) some new to me restaurants that didn’t treat me so well ([redacted]), and some old favorites that stayed my favorites (Tackle Box, Ted’s Bulletin, Market Lunch, Sticky Rice). And it was a big month for favorite dishes, so much so that some of my standards aren’t making this month’s best dishes list. Fear not, Brick sandwich from Market Lunch and tater tots from Sticky Rice, you’re still numero uno in my heart. Especially you, duck confit from Cork, Mommy loves you most of all.

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