Category Archives: Food and Drink

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Two Things: New Pizza Food Truck + Farmer’s Markets In The Winter

Photo courtesy of
‘Farmers’ Market 2′
courtesy of ‘cruffo’

Oooh, a foodie two-fer. Just ’cause I love you.

1) There’s a new pizza truck in town, ya’ll, launching in February. And it’s name is DC Slices. Much like Sauca, Curbside Cupcake and the bajillion food carts, DC Slices is just as it sounds – a truck drivin’ round and giving us pizza. (There is even a pizza oven in the truck, say what?) As with the rest of the food trucks, twitter is the easiest way to keep track of them.

2) Jane Black, one of my favorite food writers in the city (and I say this without ever having met her, which is high praise since it’s personal policy not to declare my undying love for people I haven’t actually met.), wrote a baller piece on farmers markets in the winter that I wish Donna or I had thought to write first. It’s FANTASTIC, and reminded me just how much is still able to be purchased at the markets. I’m now re-motivated to bundle up, get some fresh air, and support our local farmers. Veggilicious has a reasonably comprehensive listing of local markets and their dates.

Food and Drink, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Buy a Keychain, Support Goodwill, Get Free Frosties In 2010

Photo courtesy of
‘Wendy’s’
courtesy of ‘daveynin’

As part of a major regional fundraising campaign to benefit Goodwill, any customer who buys a $1 Frosty-shaped key tag from now until February 28th, at participating DC area Wendy’s, will get a free Frosty with any 2010 Wendy’s purchase.

Could this deal get any sweeter? Goodwill of Greater Washington gets a donation, Wendy’s and DavCo Restaurants give back to the community in which their employees live and work, and customers help fund the charitable agency’s job training programs and get Frosties.

If you want to donate, but could do without the Frosties, Goodwill retail stores will be selling the key tags and benefiting from the proceeds.

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Ping Pong Dim Sum’s Happy Hour Is A Steal

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Welcome newbie-to-Chinatown Ping Pong Dim Sum announced new happy hour specials that will be sure to get me back in the door sooner rather than later. I tried out Ping Pong Dim Sum before they opened and loved the sweet creative cocktails ($5 at happy hour! A steal!) and adored the Char Sui Bun ($3 at happy hour). Ping Pong’s happy hour runs from 4-7 p.m., and then another round of after-dark specials start at 10 p.m. that include dessert.

While I’m not a huge dim sum person, I enjoyed Ping Pong’s Prawn Balls (again, $3 at happy hour!), as well as the Vietnamese Spring Rolls. In fact, almost all of my favorite things from the menu are on the happy hour menu, which means you should probably go, right now. The sleek black interior and shared tables make it the perfect date spot, co-workers happy hour or night out on the town.

Other specials available at happy hour are $4 Bottles of Import Beer (Tiger, Tsingtao and Sapporro Reserve), $3 Baked Puffs, Chicken and Black Pepper Roll, and Veggie Spring Roll. Happy hour ends at 7 p.m. and full price resumes. After 10 p.m. martinis go back down to $7, and desserts get added to the specials. $4 Chocolate Bun, Ice Cream or Sorbets, Pineapple and Mango Puff, Selection of exotic sliced fruits, pineapple and coconut spring roll. (The chocolate bun is to die for.) So, see you there at 4 p.m. I’ll be the one with the lychee martini in one hand and the Char Sui bun in the other.

Food and Drink, Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed
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DC, A Foodie Town? American Way Magazine Says So.

Photo courtesy of
‘Capitol #501’
courtesy of ‘andertho’

DC is more than the political hub of America. I find that outsiders forget this and are often surprised when you prove them otherwise.

I stopped for a drink on my way back to DC from Chicago last night at O’ Hare international airport only to be assaulted by a fellow flier who had been drinking for 4 hours before I even sat down. She proceeded to asked me, “So where ya headed,” I knew I’d have to defend myself.

“DC,” I responded, only to have her ask yet another question.

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Food and Drink, The Daily Feed, The District
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Restaurant Week Begins

Photo courtesy of
‘Bangkok 54’
courtesy of ‘Amberture’

I don’t know if it is because I’m busy right now, or something, but you guys I’m going to have to admit a sin to you. I’m just not feelin’ restaurant week right now. For some unknown reason, it’s just not ringing my bell, or whatever. It’s a little close to the holidays, and it’s cold. I don’t know. Usually I’m stoked, but this time I’ve only got one reservation and I’m just kind of bored by it. BUT, I feel obligated, that if you ARE feeling it (which, good on you! for real.) that I am here for you. I just wanted to drop you a friendly reminder that it’s happening, now. If you haven’t made reservations, I’d recommend: Bibiana, Ceiba, Poste, Adour, Volt, Zentan, Willow, 1789.

Lisa over at Dining in DC put a ton of energy into creating a post all about the menus and extensions, and bless her for her enthusiasm, cause I just don’t have it. Now I think I’ll go take a nap, or something.

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed, We Love Drinks
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Friday Happy Hour

Photo courtesy of
‘Elmer T Lee Bottles’
courtesy of ‘SauceSupreme’

Hello, and welcome to another edition of Friday Happy Hour, your single drink  primer for the weekend.

Couple being gone for the holidays with a busy week at work and I feel like I haven’t been home in ages.  Add in the cold and I’ve got a great incentive to stay at my house for most of the weekend.  Accompanying me will be my favorite bourbon, Elmer T. Lee.  This little known distillation from from small, Kentucky establishment has won accolades from many connoisseurs who’ve sampled it.  It’s a sweeter, mellower bourbon, with a distinct, candied overtone.  Some call it toffee, some call it caramel, some call it honey.  It bears an understated complexity that reveals a new flavor with every sip.  It’s an extremely pleasant and drinkable bourbon.  Have it neat.  You can buy Elmer T. Lee at Schneider’s of Capitol Hill.

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Washington Area’s Women Chefs Support Fight Against Ovarian Cancer

Photo courtesy of
‘Emmenthaler Cheese Souffle’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

Ris Lacoste of ris, Nora Pouillon of Restaurant Nora, and Jamie Leeds of Hank’s Oyster Bar along with dozens of other renowned women chefs from the DC area are teaming up to benefit The Ovarian Cancer National Alliance at their annual Gala on February 2, 2010 at the Ritz-Carlton, DC.

The special guest of the evening is Gina DePalma, the James Beard Award-winning pastry chef who is also an ovarian cancer survivor, and the night’s emcee is Wendy Reiger from NBC4.

Entrees, appetizers, desserts – the women chefs are leveraging their specific talents to create an amazing multi-course meal in a festive environment while benefiting the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance.

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Street Food 2.0 – Meet Sâuçá

You may not be able to pronounce it, but you will soon be talking about the coolest street food truck this side of the Mississippi – or perhaps even the Nile (not “denial”, we are actually talking about the river in Egypt). Sâuçá is a new “mobile restaurant” that will be hitting the District’s streets by the end of the month. Let’s recap a few key words that describe this new concept: on wheels, food from around the world, flat screen TVs, wifi, international pay phone, super social media usage and FOOD FROM AROUND THE WORLD. Did I mention this is all on wheels? To this, Mr. Farhad Assari (the restaurateur), I have only two words: YES PLEASE.

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Food and Drink, People, The Features, We Love Drinks
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We Love Drinks: Greg Engert

Photo courtesy of
‘Beer Master Greg Engert’
courtesy of ‘snapzdc’

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.

Greg Engert views the world through the bottom of a beer glass. This is not a statement on his sobriety, but rather the lens through which he has chosen to focus his profession and personal interest. Greg is the beer director for the Neighborhood Restaurant Group, owners of Rustico and the new, wildly popular ChurchKey and Birch and Barley restaurants near Thomas Circle. He researches beers, meets with brewers, manages his stock of beverages, and has the final say on anything beer related at Neighborhood restaurants. Sounds like a dream job, right? Well, I’m not going to lie. It is a dream job, but that doesn’t make it easy, and Greg certainly isn’t one to rest on the laurels of his title.

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Arlington, Food and Drink, Fun & Games, Life in the Capital, Special Events, The Features, The Hill
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Where to Watch the Game

Photo courtesy of
‘2010 BCS Championship 2010 BCS Championship Logo’
courtesy of ‘RMTip21’

Unless you live in a cave, or genuinely care about nothing sports related, you’re probably aware that the BCS Championship Game is this evening.  And, if you have even an inkling of football fanaticism, you’re probably planning on watching it. Year to year, the BCS Title is a clash of the titans, and one of the highlights of the football season.  This year pits the Texas Long Horns against the Alabama Crimson Tide.  I’ll leave analysis and predictions to others and focus on the most practical of matters: where to watch the game.  I’m going to assume that you’re already aware of the “my house” and the “my friend’s house” options, so here are a few suggestions in case you want to leave the living room.  If you’re not a real sports bar type, big game nights are excellent for branching out.  In my opinion, you can’t go wrong with the places below:
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Downtown, Food and Drink, People, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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New Vintage Wine Tasting on Monday

Photo courtesy of
‘Sonoma Wine Bar’
courtesy of ‘InspirationDC’

The New Vintage is hosting another charity wine event on Monday evening.  Castello Banfi, an Italian vineyard, will be showcasing a number of their wines at Cork Wine Bar, which is booked solely for this even. Tickets, which must be purchased ahead of time, are $50 ($25 is tax deductible) and benefit the American Heart Association. The event is a great way to meet and network with younger, philanthropically minded people.  Yours truly will be there, and I suggest that you come to.  After all, it’s nice to experience the softer side of charity, every so often.

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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ACKC Chocolate Pairs Nicely with Wine

Photo courtesy of
‘Chocolates at Veritas’
courtesy of ‘InspirationDC’

Peas and carrots. Bubble and squeak. Fish and chips. (Mary Kate and Ashley. What?)

The incredibly enterprising people over at ACKC D.C. on 14th street NW are rightfully tackling the historic food pairing, wine and chocolate. Now, not only can we reach euphoric heights with their cocoa indulgences, but we can balance off that chocolate high with a fine glass of wine.

ACKC DC just received its liquor license, so what are you waiting for? Chocolate. Wine. Head on over there to get your chocolate truffle fix paired with wines by First Vine.

Update from ACKC Directly: “We have indeed opened the wine bar, serving six wines that we’ve paired with different chocolates we make here in the store.  The wines are all from First Vine, a Washington, DC importer and internet retailer; our selections are imported from France and go especially well with chocolate — or by themselves if you’d like a glass without accompaniment.  We plan to offer savory snacks, too.  As far as I know, we’re the only place in DC that explicitly pairs wines and chocolates.  We’ll be doing an official opening party later this month, and of course there will be special tasting events, too.”

Snacks, TOO?!?!?

Capital Chefs, Food and Drink, The Features
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Capital Chefs: Dennis Marron and Brian Turowski (Part II)

Red Cabbage - Marron
Chef Marron and Chef Turowski’s Pickled-Pink Red Cabbage

With pickled red cabbage added to my jar collection (which includes a living breathing, yeasty bread starter), my fridge is starting to look more like a science project for Halloween than what you would expect to be pieces to a delightfully edible puzzle.

As you read this morning, Katie and I went to The Grille at Morrison House this past weekend to pickle some onions and learn the tricks of the technique with local chefs Dennis Marron, executive chef of The Grille, and Brian Turowski, chef-de-cuisine of Jackson 20. The guys showed us their recipe for pickling the red onions that they pair with Jackson 20’s “Wedge” salad: a crunchy iceberg wedge, smothered with a creamy bleu cheese dressing, accompanied by plump bacon lardons – plated quite creatively, as Katie alluded to!

To start off our pickling adventure, Katie and I tasted two kinds of pickled red onions, comparing how more salt and more pickling time can affect the end result. The chefs also shared a taste of their pickled red cabbage, which I resolved to test at home for you.

Chef Marron recommends this same basic pickling recipe for cabbage, onions, cucumbers, and even SHRIMP- which he noted would also go well with a blue cheese salad. Continue reading →

Dupont Circle, Food and Drink, Fun & Games, Media, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Real World DC Drinking Game!

Photo courtesy of
‘Drink Responsibly’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

And now, to make our Real World viewing experience more enjoyable, I present the RWDC drinking game that I promised last week.  I envision this game developing as the season goes on and we get to know the characters a bit better.  For now, though, I think that this should get us through the next episode.  And, since it’s Wednesday, it’s perfectly legitimate to interpret “drink” as “sip.” The rules are after the break. Enjoy!

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Food and Drink, The Features
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Dude, Where’s My Taco Bell?

Photo courtesy of
’11/365 – Taco Bell is a fickle mistress.’
courtesy of ‘BLW Photography’

What DC needs is a good Taco Bell. Fellow We Love DC Author Max addressed this pressing issue in May of 2008 and somehow I find that our beloved District is still plagued by a lack of cheap taco-y goodness.

Monday night, I figured this out for myself. It was the cosmic forces that really brought this one together. I kid you not. You see — my friend’s car needed a good jumping and I chose (out of the kindness of my heart) to stand outside in the bitter cold of night for an hour. The hour passed. The man with the jumper cables showed up. He told us, “Now you gotta drive around for AT LEAST 25 minutes to make sure that battery doesn’t fail ya,” so we did.

Instead of driving aimlessly, we plugged in the good old GPS to find somewhere less random to go. But of course fate chose to get involved. We passed Cactus Cantina (on Massachusetts NW and Wisconsin NW) when thoughts of gluttony suddenly possessed me, “I want tacos,” I said.

And — ALAS — the dream to find a Taco Bell was born.

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Food and Drink, The Features, We Love Drinks
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Where Is Your Favorite Beer?

Photo courtesy of
‘Down the Bar’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

I know a lot of people who angst about beer-lovin’ favorite Fat Tire, myself included. So when I went home over break, I was thrilled to find Fat Tire in all my favorite North Carolina bars. Which begged the question, if Fat Tire has bridged the Mississippi River and come East, why hasn’t it arrived in the DMV area yet?

So I set out to ask Greg Engert, beer God over at the Neighborhood Restaurant Group all about the process of acquiring certain beers. He’s worked with both Rustico and Churchkey to procure all kinds of crazy beers, including my favorite beer of all time, Chimay Red, and my runner-up favorite Raspberry Lambic.

Greg explained: “In order to get your favorite brand into DC/ VA, there are many hoops one has to jump through. First is actually establishing if the brewer of said beer has the production capacity to ship to a new territory. Presuming production is capable, a distributor in the area has to be procured. Once a distributor has agreed, then the beer will start shipping. With imports, the brewery needs to have ample product, and then both an importer and a separate distributor need to be established as well.”

Which makes perfect sense – your favorite beer from little town in Nebraska nowhere isn’t going to have any easy time distributing to all of the District. But that’s not the only hurdle. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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DC Foodie Happy Hour Turns BYOC (Bring Your Own Casserole)

Blogger Potluck

Now, here’s a potluck you might not want to miss. Hosted by DC’s most food friendly bloggers at a U & 14th street condo, this potluck promises “dips, nibbles, sandwiches, desserts and teatime tidbits,” but really, it’s what you make of it.

I’ll be there Wednesday sporting some mini ham and cheese stuffed brioches – inspired by the highly addictive bacon or breakfast brioche found at Buzz Bakery in Alexandria. What are you bringing? RSVP to attend here.

Special thanks to Union Row and co-hosts Gradually Greener, ModernDomestic, The Arugula Files, Capital Spice, Capital Cooking, DininginDC, WeLoveDC, Beerspotter.

Mark you calendar, and let your dish/bottle forge out a name for yourself in the DC foodie scene.

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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2009’s Drool-Worthy Flickr Food Porn

Photo courtesy of
‘Southern Belle (160/365) (005/365)’
courtesy of ‘kimberlyfaye’

Our flickr contributors are excellent food photographers. And being the author on staff who writes about food the most, I’ve trolled through our mouth-watering photos often enough to have personal favorites. So here are the tastiest food photos of 2009. (Ah, um, I’d STRONGLY advise you to have a snack in hand before you click through…) Continue reading →

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Friday Happy Hour

"My Old New England Home" cocktail

" 'My Old New England Home' cocktail" by Jenn Larsen on Flickr

Did you think we wouldn’t have a Friday Happy Hour on Christmas Day? Surely you jest. At this moment I’m sure there are many MANY people in DC starting to feel the need (and if you’re reading this, you definitely need happy hour, stat!). So I’ll take advantage of the spirit to get a little nostalgic.

I can’t go “home” for Christmas. My parents sold the family home in Connecticut ages ago, and my urban family is in Washington. So when I saw a drink called “My Old New England Home” on Poste’s menu, I got a little teary. Yes, jaded Jenn got teary and ordered a cocktail based on nostalgia for her long-lost childhood. Or at least, the one I stole from watching The Ice Storm (joke, Mom and Dad, joke!!).

Apple cider mulled with cinnamon and star anise and kissed with rum, this is a pretty delectable warm drink. It’s usually served with a cranberry foam – as I had it the day after the Snowpocalypse they were short, but that hardly mattered. There’s something so comforting about a warm cocktail, your hands cupping the glass, the scent of spice tickling your nose. The best part about winter is mulled cider, anyway! So cosy up in one of the striped banquettes, stare out into the snowy patio, and indulge in luscious nostalgia.

(Ah… just not tonight. Poste’s closed Christmas Day. Just like my old New England home. Sniff, sniff. So quit feeling sorry for yourself and mull your own damn cider!)

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Bistrot Lepic’s Tuesday Happy Hour

Mural, Bistrot Lepic

"Mural, Bistrot Lepic" by Jenn Larsen on Flickr

Snowpocalypse hangover gotcha down? Feeling a bit battered by slush and shoveling? Bistrot Lepic has launched its new Tuesday Happy Hour program in the upstairs wine bar, and from 6pm to 8pm tonight you can try complimentary pours from its extensive wine list. Co-Owner and Managing Partner Cyrille Brenac will choose some of the more unique wines off the 160 bottle collection for you to try, and will switch it up weekly. Tonight features a 2008 Sauvignon Blanc Quincy, Domaine de Chevilly.

I love this wine bar’s quiet and intimate setting (but especially the mural of the helpful pigs) and its cosy, terribly sexy ambience is just the thing to stave off any holiday blues.