Category Archives: The Features

These are our features. They come back either weekly, bi-weekly or monthly.

We Love Weekends
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We Love Weekends, February 13-14, Shoveling Out Edition

Photo courtesy of
‘Creepy or cute?’
courtesy of ‘klea.scharberg’

What are we doing this weekend? SHOVELING, that’s what.

Max: Assuming the airline gods don’t cancel my flight tomorrow morning, I’ll be flying back to Cluster-Flake 2010,throwing snowballs at myself, building a snowman, making snow angels, and reveling in all of the snow activities that I’ve missed.  If you want me to throw your kid into a snowbank, I’ll do that too.  Once I’ve gotten that out of my system, I’ll be heading down to the Capitol Skyline Hotel Friday night for the Hearts & Skulls Valentine’s Party to watch horror movies, eat pizza, and listen to tunes pumped out by seven Fatback DJs.  On Saturday night I can’t wait to go to the opening of Empty Time, a painting and photography show at The Fridge curated by Trevor Young. All of the snow should be melted by Sunday, right?

Carl: Mostly I am going to sit down and cry because I thought I was through with this kind of weather when I moved away from Massachusetts four years ago. In between sobs, I hope to maybe get a good eggplant Parmesan sub from McLean Pizza and see if some elderly friends out in that area can use a bit of shoveling. Until then, I will be waiting for the plow, which might come or might not. At least I don’t have the burden of knowing whether Arlington County will come out here with a plow. That’s got to be a real hardship. Continue reading →

The Features
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Fitness District: Ready?

Photo courtesy of
’24’
courtesy of ‘sazztastical’

Worn out by the constant snow? Yeah, me too. And I’m a blizzard-baby, February’s child, I’ve got ice running through my veins. So they say, anyway. But winter’s got me beat. During the past several days stuck at home I’ve been browsing spring fashion and fantasizing about the day when summer kisses my cheek.

But then it hit me – all this hibernating comes with a price tag, and it isn’t the one they keep touting the Fed’s closing. Oh no, it’s the extra poundage we pack on during winter to keep us from freezing (or at least, that’s my justification). So guess what? It’s time to start getting motivated and work it off. I mean, we here at WLDC yo-yo for you! You think all those cocktails don’t add up? That’s a lot of sugar, baby!

But, I admit, regular conventional gyms bore the hell out of me. Judging from the masses who influx in the late winter only to disappear after a month, I’m not the only one. People sweating away on an elliptical for hours with no life-changing results… sigh. So I and my fellow WLDC authors are on a mission to find some of the best outside-the-box fitness solutions and preview them for you as we hone in on the perfect spring and summer body. Go ahead and read full article about the best testosterone supplements for your diet.

Yes, it can be done! And we’re willing to completely humiliate ourselves for you in the process! Well, maybe. Read on for a sample of what we’re going to be testing out, and please leave more suggestions in the comments. And oh yes, this experiment will include some swinging around a pole… Continue reading →

The Features
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Are They? How To Figure Out If Your Favorite Restaurant Is Open Tonight

Photo courtesy of
‘We are open’
courtesy of ‘fromcaliw/love’

So we’ve been getting tons of requests from readers to do a post on what is open and what is not. The problem though, is that it keeps changing. Every time I hear a place is open, 20 minutes later they decide to close. This isn’t quite the same snow storm as it was over the weekend, the wind is insane, snow is deeper, and Metro is effed. So restaurants that were hoping to be open tonight have been forced to close, or close early, so the status of places just keeps changing. And I love you, but I’m not sitting here all night updating this post. There is television to be watched, and nails to be painted and naps to be had. So you know the saying, if you teach a man to fish, that one? Well I’m gonna teach you to fish, little reader. Here is how you can figure out if your favorite restaurant is open.

1) Check out Twitter. I don’t care if you think Twitter is nerdy and you don’t want to know what someone’s dog did or what whatshisface ate for lunch, Twitter is where it is at during this snow storm for restaurants to update patrons with their status. Use WeLoveDC’s food list to browse for all your favorites and check out their statuses. If you’re not sure the restaurant has a Twitter account, all you need to do is Google the name and Twitter (ie: “CommonWealth Gastropub Twitter”) and it should pop right up for you.

2) Pick up the phone. I realize this is OH GOD SO OLD SCHOOL and wouldn’t it be nice if someone just wrote it out for you without you having to speak to a human, but have you looked outside? It is Grade A cray cray and conditions keep changing, so for information from their mouth to your ears, you just need a cell phone. Call ’em up.

3) Follow the hashtag #opendc on Twitter. Lots of people are using this to update each other with open restaurants, museums and more.

4) Check the comments of THIS post. Lots of restaurants have been diligent about posting on our last post, and so let’s try TAKE TWO and have them update for tonight in the comments of this one. Restaurants? People in-the-know? Take it away in the comments.

Hope that helps, my snow bunnies. Stay safe out there! And drink one for me.

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

Photo courtesy of
’15/365: The Line’
courtesy of ‘Amberture’

Each month for Eat Like Me I tend to write about a theme I’ve been pondering for the month. I spend a lot of time in restaurants, and tend to focus on specific aspects of the business over time. Sometimes I just wonder in awe of the whole concept of a restaurant, sometimes I spend time thinking about the concept of resting at a restaurant and what you get when you pay for a meal. Other times I worry about myself, in specific, my snob factor. This month, I’ve been pondering dish composition.

It may sound trite, but I’ve been paying special attention to plates I love, and plates I find to be too complex. First and foremost for me, a restaurant can only be as good as it’s ingredients. They are a baseline to start from, we hear this straight from the Chefs time and time again in our Capital Chefs series. But once you’ve got quality ingredients to work with, the whole plight of a chef is putting them together in a way that brings out the best in each of them. This month I’ve been subjected to a few over-kill dishes. Dishes that have too much on a plate, where a subtraction of one thing could have made a balanced composition. It’s a delicate balance for a chef to walk, you don’t want the diner to be bored, but overfussing a plate can kill an order for me as much as a bland dish with too little going on. So this month’s Eat Like Me is all about dishes that pair the elements on the plate in harmony, balancing perfectly, simply, and letting well-chosen ingredients speak for themselves.

Oh, before I launch into this – I couldn’t fit Masa 14’s brunch into the list but it is fantastic. My new favorite brunch in the city. Consider yourself informed. Continue reading →

DC Victory Gardens, Farm Fresh
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Winter is for Gardening

The garden, fully planted
‘The garden, fully planted’
courtesy of ‘Boboroshi’

Outside is a view of the grip of winter, fitting more for Boston, Montreal, or Calgary than a typical Washington winter. The snow flies sideways and the cold is enough to make anyone think twice about joining a snowball fight. In light of this, you might think me crazy to state, emphatically, that winter is for gardening.

The trickle began a few weeks ago with a catalog from gardeners.com, followed by Lee Valley and Baker Creek. Suddenly it’s an explosion of the promise of summer: “ORDER YOUR SEEDS NOW!” “GET YOUR GARDEN READY!” they shout. The snow is up to my waist in parts of the yard. The garlic planted in the fall hibernating under straw and three feet of snow and ice. The roof was also full of stuff that shouldn’t be there I have to remove them before this the conditions worsen. Luckily, the telescopic ladder I got online from a review on Best of Tools came last week. Just in time for the next few days where I do not have much to do. Winter is a difficult time to do a lot of chores.

But this is exactly the time for gardening. If you want to start your own seeds and get your beds ready, this is the optimum time to be working your garden. Some of the things that I am going to talk about may be a bit late, but for future planning purposes, I will include them in this brain dump.
 Continue reading →

Food and Drink, Interviews, People, The Features
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She Loves DC: Ashley Messick of From Komi to Marvin

Ashley Messick

There are only a handful of people that understand what it is like to eat at 84 places in 6 months. Ashley Messick is one of them. Funny, adorable, and one of my favorite food writers in the city, Ashley embarked upon a year-long project of eating at every single one of the 2009 Washingtonian 100 Best Restaurants list. She’s been called crazy, but I fully understand her plight. She recently completed her 100, and so we had a chance to chat about the project, what she loved, what she hated, and a weird waiter at Circle Bistro.

Katie: How long have you lived in the DC area?
Ashley: My whole life! I grew up in suburban Maryland and moved in to the District after college.

What would you change about DC if you could?
I’d make the Metro a little more accessible. If you want to go up and down Connecticut Avenue it’s pretty great, but other than that you’re destined for a long ride or a long walk or a long wait. I never like to compare D.C. to New York because I think they’re completely different, but New York blows us out of the water when it comes to convenient mass transportation.

Why did you start the From Komi to Marvin challenge?
Looking back, I can’t believe how flippantly I made the decision to start this project. It was like, “I think I’ll drop off my drycleaning, have a grilled cheese for lunch and eat at all the 100 best restaurants in a year.” I’ve always considered myself an expert when it came to recommending restaurants, so when I realized I had only tried about a third of the best restaurants after living here 25 years, I figured I should probably try and eat at the rest. For research purposes only, of course. Continue reading →

The Features, The Hill, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Evolve Urban Arts Project

Evolve at the Pierce School. Photo courtesy Eric Hope.

Evolve at the Pierce School. Photo courtesy Eric Hope.

Arts organizations tend to get hit the hardest in times of economic distress or, let’s face it, the current weather crisis. When galleries and theaters have to shutter their doors for even one night, it can be devastating. So consider this your PSA for Arts today: once we’re out of this mess, hit a play, see an exhibit, get out there and help the arts as much as you can. They’re really going to need it.

And there are so many worthy arts centers here in DC that go beyond the typical; we are truly lucky! One such unassuming place is Evolve Urban Arts Project in the H Street Arts District, with a special mission to promote local artists. Basically, says curator Eric Hope, “I’m trying to take some chances and give exposure to up-and-coming artists.” The recent exhibit by Dana Ellyn in December was one of the best I’ve seen in a long time, and upcoming shows look to match that intensity. Let’s take a closer look at one of DC’s pioneering galleries.

Evolve Urban Arts Project came about when Chris Swanson and Jeff Printz bought the Pierce School in 2000 and renovated it to include a home for themselves and several loft units. A few years later, they started arts exhibits in the main foyer and throughout the public spaces of the building. Curator Eric Hope came on board in April 2009 and saw the potential to expand their profile in the DC arts community. The only steadfast rule, strongly encouraged by Swanson, is the promotion of local talent, and the exhibition space is free to the artists.

“Lowkey really describes us,” Eric explains, “I’m happy to have the freedom to work with artists who push boundaries and take chances.”

Continue reading →

Featured Photo
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Featured Photo


fling by mennyj

As I write this, the mild winter sun illuminates the pale blue Phoenix sky and warms the earth to a perfect 74 degrees.  Retired people wearing athletic gear and sun visors pass by my window in their electric golf carts, either on their way to the 1st hole or on their way home from the 19th hole.  With nary a breeze in the air, the statuesque palm trees stand tall and perfectly still.  Yet what you may be most envious of are the copious amounts of bread, eggs, and milk within a five minute drive.  Despite the circumstances that brought me here to the desert, life is good.

As you read this, your electricity may be out, your car may be stuck in a snow drift, and you may be out of milk and bread.  As you “work from home”, city workers are doing their best to clear the roads, restore your power, and keep things in order.  The city’s budget goes further into the red as more of the white stuff comes down, but what I’m most jealous of is all of the fun that I’m missing out on.  As a native Coloradan, I grew up in a blizzard and wish I could be there with you building igloos, throwing snowballs, and launching your kid into a snow bank.

The snow is always whiter on the other side of the fence, isn’t it?

The Features
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SNOW FORECAST: 10″-20″ More, History Making Winter

Photo courtesy of
‘Nate, Ernie and Unknown Nigh Steer’
courtesy of ‘InAweofGod’sCreation’

This is a picture of the latest suggested transportation method for DC

Logan Johnson, Senior Meteorologist with the National Weather Service, comes through yet again for the readers of We Love DC. The only thing I have to add to this thorough forecast and commentary is this: I am declaring the official #hashtag for this storm (and the whole winter) to be #snowdiculous. You are welcome.

The latest round in the boxing match with Old Man Winter will take the form of yet another powerful snowstorm taking aim on the DC area. In what has quickly gone from a snow lover’s dream winter…to something that now resembles more of a sick cosmic joke…the next storm looks poised to drop snow amounts better measured with yard sticks than rulers.

This latest installment will feature low pressure developing Tuesday near the Gulf of Mexico, and turning northwards. As it does, a new, stronger low pressure will form off the Carolina coast, spreading moisture north into the Mid-Atlantic region, as it interacts with cold air in place to fall in the form of snow.

The National Weather Service has posted Winter Storm Warnings for the DC metro area, and forecasted amounts range from 10 to 20 inches. For a city still digging out from last week’s storm, this will cause further travel difficulties, and as the snow falls heavily again, travel will become difficult or nearly impossible. By now, we know the drill, but staying off the roads and heeding all warnings from local authorities are the way to make it through another large storm.

Continue reading →

Sports Fix, The Features
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Capitals vs Penguins: Rivalry of the Ages

Photo courtesy of
‘Ovechkin and Crosby – New Best Friends Forever’
courtesy of ‘clydeorama’

So did you see the big game on NBC yesterday?

You heard me right.

Yesterday’s big game wasn’t played in Miami, aired on CBS, filled with cheesy, stupid commercials. It was right here in DC, in the heart of snowmageddon. It was the Pittsburgh Penguins against the Washington Capitals. And yesterday, that game lived up to every fan’s dream, regardless which side of center ice they were on.

Seriously. Four times a year these two rivals meet – and I wouldn’t be presumptuous at all to claim that both the Pens and the Caps see it as an archrivalry. It’s probably one of the most intense regular-season contest series in all of hockey, and yesterday was no exception. (To drive home the point – I climbed up on my roof to clear it of snow just so my DirecTV dish could receive the game. No AM radio for me!) Continue reading →

Food and Drink, The DC 100, The Features
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DC Omnivore 100: #39, Gumbo

Photo courtesy of
‘mmm…gumbo’
courtesy of ‘jeffreyw’

It’s time for another item on the DC Omnivore 100 list of the top one hundred foods every good omnivore should try at least once in their lives.

Let’s see, everyone’s a bit chilly and in need of some rib-sticking stew to belly up before digging yourself out of all this snow, and hey didn’t someone tell me a certain football team from New Orleans won some big deal game last night? So yes, I think it’s time for some gumbo!

Gumbo’s one of those culinary dishes that gives literal meaning to the phrase “America’s melting pot.” A wide variety of influences – Cajun, Creole, Indian, African, French – all come together in a substantial and delicious stew. There are as many different versions of gumbo as there are cooks; even the name’s origins are varied. Is “gumbo” from the Angolan word for okra, or the Choctaw word for sassafras? Should the predominant color be red or green?

There are a few key ingredients that everyone seems to agree have to be present – beyond that, it’s a dish you can have fun experimenting with! And if you aren’t culinarily inclined, there are several restaurants in DC that you can snuggle up in with a pot of gumbo and pretend you’re in New Orleans… so let’s dive in. Continue reading →

The Features, Weekend Flashback
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Weekend Flashback: 2/5 – 2/7/2010

Photo courtesy of
‘The Day After Tomorrow………….’
courtesy of ‘LaTur’

SNOW! Snowmageddon, snowpocalypse, snOMG, snogasm, snobama, Tai Shan’s last dump – whatever you want to call it, the frozen white stuff dominated our weekend. (And like unwanted houseguests, will linger for many more days to come.) Even with the nearly three feet of snow dropped in the DC area, many of our area photographers ventured out into the blizzard and its aftermath.

So while you enjoy your snow day, here’s some photos from the “Blizzard of 2010” for you to enjoy. Probably best if you had some warm tea/coffee/hot chocolate, a roaring fire, and a blanket while you check them out…

Continue reading →

The Features
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Federal Government Closed Monday

Photo courtesy of
‘Fireworks’
courtesy of ‘kimberlyfaye’

THIS JUST IN: OPM has made the call you’ve all been waiting on. The federal government in the DC area will be closed tomorrow! REJOICE!

The Washington Post reports on the decision here. Approximate cost to taxpayers is around $100m per day closed. But go ahead and enjoy that snow day anyway. In other news, it looks like the OPM.gov is actually down from too much traffic. OPM is also a trending topic on Twitter in DC.

The Features
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How To Get Around in The Storm

Public Transportation in the Snow

Public Transportation in the Snow

Even though we’re all being told to stay home, we’ve got restaurants to visit, snowball fights to participate in, and hills to sled down.  So what’s the best way to get around in the city?

Skiing seems to be very popular, as seen in this picture taken this morning in Adams Morgan.  Most pedestrians are walking in the streets, since they tend to be plowed better than sidewalks (many of which are covered in 2 feet of snow).  There’s no Metrobus or Circulator service today, and the Metro system is operating only underground with trains every half-hour.

Check out some other creative transportation options after the jump. Continue reading →

The District, The Features
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Not Over Yet: The Snow In Pictures

Photo courtesy of
‘Beginning to Snow’
courtesy of ‘tzk333’

We’re a good few hours away from the end of the storm, which should taper off around 8 p.m. tonight, but here’s a look at our flickr contributor’s snow pictures from the great storm of 2010 thus far. Snapped some snow photographs of your own and want to see them here? Add them to the We Love DC pool on flickr! We’re always looking for great pictures of DC from our local photographers. Continue reading →

News, Talkin' Transit, The Daily Feed
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Metro Moves 14 Bus Routes to Snow Emergency Routes

Photo courtesy of
‘Snow’
courtesy of ‘Amberture’

14 Metrobus routes in the DMV are now operating only on Snow Emergency routes:

In the District of Columbia, the U5, U8, D2, G2, and H8 are operating on snow emergency routes. In Northern Virginia, the 1 (A,B, E, F, Z), 3A, 3T, 4(A, B), 16 (A,D), 16G, 17H, 28 (A,X), 29 (H,G) are operating on snow emergency routes.

WMATA suggests that you use NextBus to find your nearest bus during the storm.

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

Photo courtesy of
‘The Kraken’
courtesy of ‘wrgenec’

Welcome to the Friday Happy Hour, your single drink primer for the weekend.

I admit freely that when it comes to liquor, I can easily be seduced by bottle imagery. Shallow, I know, but when beautiful imagery is actually matched by flavor, well, that’s it. Done.

The first night Tom Brown showed me a bottle of The Kraken black spiced rum, it was Christmas Eve at The Passenger, and I was in a magical mood. The vintage image of the beast from the deep hit all my old Mystic Seaport memories from being a kid peeping at exotic (and often erotic) scrimshaw. The color, dark as the night sea, was also pretty evocative. But let’s be honest, it could’ve tasted like bilgewater.

Only it didn’t. Continue reading →

Adams Morgan, Food and Drink, The Features, We Love Drinks
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Drinks Preview: Tryst

4329313964_1c0e20b5c2

David Fritzler burns up a Blue Blazer. Photo credit: Samer Farha.

For many people I know, Tryst is “The Office.” Well, now they can drink on the job in style!

Last week the Adams Morgan coffeehouse pioneer rolled out a new cocktail menu, and fellow WLDC author Samer and I were treated to some fine libation as they branch away from the bean. And as we all await the impending snowflakes of doom, it’s nice to note that Tryst will be open throughout the storm!

In operation since 1998, Tryst has always aimed to be a neighborhood gathering place true to its fun motto, “No Corporate Coffee, No Matching Silverware.” Of course they opened the year after I’d already left Adams Morgan for Logan Circle, so I’ve never been one to hang out there – but several friends really do treat it as their office, setting up with laptops and getting social over the screens, fueled by lots and lots of coffee. Just as the java isn’t corporate, when it came time to debut a new cocktail menu, Tryst wanted to do the same for drinks. With David Fritzler at the helm, Tryst’s beverage director for the past ten years, and two new bartenders – J.P. Cacares and Lana Labermeier – the new menu is billed as “quality cafe cocktails” ranging in price from $6-10.

As David told us, “I want to bring pre-Prohibition cocktail knowledge, quality liquors and fresh ingredients out of the speakeasy and expensive hotel bars and to the general public.” As a member of the DC Craft Bartenders Guild, he’s already dedicated to a high standard of cocktail culture. We parked ourselves at the bar and knocked back a few to see whether the drinks would succeed.

Continue reading →