Category Archives: The Features

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

Entertainment, Interviews, People
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She Loves DC: Meg from 2birds1blog

3587028511_6d9512ec2a_o
Meg (Music) Photo Courtesy of Laura Warman

I have a huge, festering blog crush on total internet sensation 2birds1blog. Written by two friends and ex-roommates, Chris and Meg, the blog has me snickering all day long. Snarky, irreverent, honest and totally hilarious, co-author Meg, lives here in DC. Her witty commentary about all things in our city regularly keeps me entertained, I can always relate to posts about the metro, her gym crush (me, thinking: zomg I totes have a gym crush too1!!), and other DC-centric things. Not only is DC mentioned in random posts, Meg has penned a few blog posts solely on the topic of DC, one of my favorites is 6 Reasons You Should Love DC. This post, plus her winning personality? All make her perfect for a She Loves DC nod here on We Love DC. So, as a gift to you, dear reader, I give you Meg, from 2birds1blog.

Katie: Why DC? What made you decide to take up residence in our fair city?
Meg: I’m originally from the area and then went to school at American University. After graduation I decided I needed a little break from DC and moved to New York. I came crawlin’ back a year later. What can I say? DC’s got her hooks in me.

What is your favorite place in DC?
On my roof, poolside, Miller High Life in hand, magazine in my lap. Given that, you wouldn’t think I’d be so offensively pale, and yet, here we are.

What would you change about DC if you could?
Sweet mother of God, the weather. All I have to say is T-minus 34 days until the Fall equinox.

If DC were to go on a date with another city, what city would DC be best with?
Here’s how I see it: DC is a lot like Rachel Leigh Cooke’s character in the movie She’s All That—seemingly shy, nerdy, smug and a little stand-offish. We need someone who’s going to take the time to get to know the real DC. Because on the inside, we’re actually not shy and nerdy at all; we’re interesting and creative and any city would be lucky to date us. We need to find the city equivalent of Freddie Prinz, Junior. So I guess what I’m trying to say is Boston. Continue reading →

Farm Fresh, Food and Drink, Special Events, We Green DC
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Farm Fresh: Charlie Palmer Steak

Charlie Palmer

WeLoveDC authors Donna (greenie) and Katie (foodie) have paired up to bring you a double-hitting feature about local area restaurants that take on the challenge of being green. Donna will explain the logic behind the environmentally friendly trends and Katie will tell you if the food tastes any good. It’s a rough life, but someone has to do it, right?

Katie: Charlie Palmer Steak is situated on the bottom floor of the Carpenter’s Union building, facing the Capitol Reflecting Pool on the Senate side. I’d almost be tempted to call it DC stuffy, if I didn’t love it so much. And love it I do, Charlie Palmer Steak gets top marks in my foodie book. Not only is it gorgeous, the food is fantastic, and the service matches. The entire front of the restaurant is glass, and in the winter I’m sure it has a supurb view of the Capitol Building. An impressive walk-in wine cellar sits above a fountain and water pool full of stones. The servers are inconspicuously attentive. Candles flicker on the table. It is a quiet sort of posh, the perfect place for a business meeting, or a very impressive date. Honestly, it’s the type of place that you wouldn’t quite expect to do locovore meals. It’s a bit too conservative, too buttoned-up. But for all the month of August, through September 12, you can stop by Charlie Palmer to do an incredibly affordable “In the Loop” dinner – all food from within 150 miles of DC for $39 per person, excluding tax and gratuity. Continue reading →

Life in the Capital, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Kastles To Receive Key to the City


2009 WTT Champions by Max Cook

To honor the 2009 World TeamTennis Champion Washington Kastles, Mayor Fenty will be presenting the team with the Key to the City next Thursday, August 27th at 11am.  The ceremony will be held on the steps of the Wilson Building at 1350 Pennsylvania Ave NW.  The first 300 fans will receive a free Kastles WTT Championship t-shirt so be sure to get there early if you’re in the market for free stuff.  The entire Kastles team will be there including Murphy Jensen, Leander Paes, Rennae Stubbs, Scott Oudsema, and Olga Puchkova.  After the ceremony there will be a fan appreciation event across the street at Freedom Plaza with food and drinks, giving you a chance to catch up with the players and to give them high fives and such.  Can I get a “whooooaaaa Kastles”?!

Essential DC, News, Talkin' Transit, The Features, WMATA
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Talkin’ Transit: Mish-Mash Morning

Photo courtesy of
‘IMG_0115’
courtesy of ‘bankbryan’

Mish-mash of transit for your morning perusal.

HOT Lanes Delayed: While the Beltway HOT Lane construction continues forward, Virigina has decided to delay building additional HOT lanes on I-395 and I-95. The economy is the answer that’s been trotted out; state leaders fear that they won’t be able to get money from the bond market and the state has no more money to spend. The Beltway project is expected to be completed by 2012, with the outer lanes opening as early as next year.

Officials were pretty specific in stating the project has been delayed, not abandoned, though there is still a lot of concern with local officials, who feel the proposed project will adversely affect their communities and neighborhood traffic patterns.

Construction was supposed to begin next summer.

ICC & I-95: This week began a traffic pattern shift along I-95 as construction continues on the Intercounty Connector in Prince George’s County. Several lanes are being closed or shifted in both northbound and southbound directions from Route 198 to Route 212. Closures begin as early as 8 p.m. and re-open before morning rush. The closures will be in effect until Sept. 29.

VRE Gets Stimulated: The federal government has awarded $9.8 million to the Virginia Railway Express, money needed to purchase 12 more locomotives. The funds fall under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and will be administered by the Federal Transit Administration.

The current locomotive fleet consists of 20 engines that can pull an average of six cars; the new engines the VRE is purchasing are more powerful and efficient, capable of pulling 10 cars each (at 144 passengers a car) and will help the service expand its current capacity.

Continue reading →

History, Mythbusting DC, The Features
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DC Mythbusting: Boundary Stones

Photo courtesy of
‘Takoma 1791 Boundary Stone’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

Welcome to another week’s DC Mythbusting.  This week we’ll talk about a myth I heard when I first moved to DC– that the city’s boundaries are marked off, every mile or so, with stones.  I heard that these stones had been placed long ago when Andrew Ellicott and Benjamin Banneker were surveying the city, and that they’re mostly still there.  I’d never seen them or heard of them outside of that once, so I assumed it was a myth. But I was wrong– this myth is confirmed!

Back in 1791 and 1792, Andrew Ellicott and friends went around the 10-mile square of the planned City of Washington and placed a boundary stone every mile.  The stones had four sides– facing inward towards DC (which read “Jurisdiction of the United States” and a mile number, facing outward (which showed the name of the bordering state, either Maryland or Virginia), and the other sides showed the year the stone was placed and the compass variance at that point.
Continue reading →

We Love Food
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We Love Food: Marvin

Photo courtesy of
‘Marvin’
courtesy of ‘Erica Wissolik’

Marvin is #100 on Washingtonian’s Best Of list. I thought I should put it out there in front, just because in my mind, it sums up Marvin. It’s not #10 and it’s not even in the top 50, but it’s still a choice pick. Plus, people’s opinions of it, even on our We Love DC authors list serve, vary considerably. Some people believe it to be a hidden gem (not so much on the hidden part any more) and some people consider it totally crap. Me? Well, I’m here to tell you that it’s #100. A neighborhood joint with above-average food, a rooftop deck, and some excellent fried chicken.

Marvin, named after DC native Marvin Gaye, is at the intersection of 14th and U. Thanks to the savvy folks behind Eighteenth Street Lounge, The Gibson and Local 16, Marvin is both a bar hot spot and a tasty evening dining destination. The menu pairs southern with Belgian, and has a little something for everyone. On a recent pilgrimage to The Gibson for an after-work drink, a friend and I stopped by Marvin for dinner and had a mostly pleasant experience. Continue reading →

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Nationals Sign Strasburg for $15.067M

Photo courtesy of
‘Stephen Strasburg’
courtesy of ‘jpangan3’

Congratulations to Stephen Strasburg, who just became the highest paid amateur draftee in the history of Major League Baseball. The #1 draft pick has been paid $15.067M for his services, as broken by Nationals Farm Authority this evening. We’re still waiting for how the deal breaks out, but it will be a 4-year deal, for a total of $15.067M in salary, approximately 50% more than the landmark contract Mark Prior received in 2001 for his signing with the Cubs.

Is it worth it? We’ll see. I’m pleased to see the Nats sign Strasburg for less than $20M, which was the magic number in my head for his first four years. No idea where he’ll end up first, or how quickly he’ll be there, but a good bet would be the Potomac Nationals in the next week or two. Here’s hoping this is money well spent.

We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Edgewood Mural Jam


Photos by Max Cook

As luck would have it I didn’t end up going to the beach this weekend after all, so I decided to scooter over to Edgewood with my camera to check out Saturday’s Mural Jam and I’m sure glad I did.  What is easily the summer’s biggest public art event in DC, the collaborative mural stretches hundreds of feet and showcases some amazingly talented artists.  Sponsored by the public art non-profit Albus Cavus, the DC Commission on Arts and Humanities, and the Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program, the mural has brought people of the community together while giving the participating kids a great exercise in team building and a fun way to spend the summer.  From the DCCAH August newsletter:

This summer, through the Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program, a team of energized youth have been working once a week to create a 300-foot long mural in DC’s Edgewood neighborhood. Under the direction of Albus Cavus, a DC nonprofit organization, these youth have learned how to finance a public art project, talk to the media, and create art that both reflects the neighborhood and develops strong, healthy communities.

Continue reading →

Sports Fix
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Sports Fix: Tough Losses Edition

Photo courtesy of
‘DSC_2527’
courtesy of ‘Brad’s Pix’

Redskins
Records: 0-1 (Pre-season)
Place: N/A
Last Two Weeks: 0-1

23-0 is no way to start the pre-season, but these are games that don’t mean much, so keep that in mind as you see all of the rancor over the pre-season opener. But, really, let’s not talk about that just yet, because there are a few things we should really deal with first. For example, the Redskins Twitter policy: “Reporters no longer are permitted to tweet or blog from the field during practice. We were allowed to blog on the first 10 minutes of practice from the field last season, but now we’ll have to leave the field and risk missing something”

You have got to be kidding me, right? This gets crazier, though, because now you can add Chris Cooley to your iPhone. This is crazy-talk. Chris Cooley doesn’t need to be building iPhone apps in the off-season, he needs to be working on catching the football and increasing his speed. But, hey, if you’ve got an iPhone app, I suppose that makes dropping the ball okay.

Continue reading →

Music, The Features
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We Love Music: Quest for Glory Tour

Photo courtesy of
‘The ladies of the Quest for Glory Tour knight someone’
courtesy of ‘dcjasmine’

Let’s be honest with each other, DC. I love concerts, and sometimes there’s nothing better than being smashed up against other screaming people that love a band as much as you do. But sometimes I find myself thinking, I wish I could feel the A/C in this joint. And sit. And be able to set my beer on a table. And have the concert be free. There aren’t many music venues like this in the DC area, but Wednesday night Fireflies in Del Ray hosted three ladies on the Quest For Glory Tour: Bess Rogers, Lelia Broussard, and Allison Weiss. Continue reading →

Adventures, Food and Drink, The Features
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Pedestrian Eats: Food Carts in DC

Photo courtesy of
‘taco and popcorn cart’
courtesy of ‘staceyviera’
Running out for lunch is a perfect excuse to leave your desk for a while, and forget the ringing phone and incoming email. There are plenty of lunch options around the city, but after a while, the Quiznos gets boring and there are only so many Chop’t salads one can eat. Enter: the food carts. Some of our city’s food carts are dependable – always on the same corner, same time, every day. Other carts are slightly less predictable, and use the marvels of modern technology to alert fans where they are headed for the day. But no matter the style, the food remains the focus, and the best part of all. So, I’ve got a totally subjective, not-at-all comprehensive guide to some of the most popular and well-loved food carts in DC.

Continue reading →

Downtown, Penn Quarter, The Features, Where We Live
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Where We Live: Penn Quarter

Photo courtesy of
‘Penn Quarter’
courtesy of ‘M.V. Jantzen’

Another two weeks, another neighborhood!  This week we’ll be looking at the neighborhood at the center of it all: Penn Quarter. This neighborhood encompasses much of the downtown/Chinatown area north of Pennsylvania between 5th Street NW and 9th Street NW.  It’s a neighborhood that changed a lot in the past decade, seeing as it didn’t really exist before the 1990s.

History: This neighborhood is once again the heart of downtown DC, but up until recently it went through a pretty rough patch.  Because of its central location, the area was the hub of activity in the city up through the mid-twentieth century. Theaters, department stores, streetcar lines, restaurants, offices– this was the heart of the city (check out Washington Kaleidoscope’s Lost Washington series for historic photographs of the area).  But the streetcar lines were torn out, theaters were shuttered, and department stores closed their doors when the population base of the city escaped to the suburbs in the 1950s and 1960s.  Apparently President Kennedy commented on the sad state of this part of Pennsylvania Avenue during his inauguration, and in 1962 the President’s Council on Pennsylvania Avenue was established.

The President’s Council proposed a number of redevelopment projects in the area (including plans for a Freedom Plaza that would have rivaled the size of Moscow’s Red Square), and in 1972 the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation (PADC) was founded to guide the redevelopment.  The PADC got a lot of things done: the Federal Triangle area was redeveloped and the Ronald Reagan Building was completed, the Canadian embassy was built, and a bunch of new mixed-use projects were undertaken in the Penn Quarter area.  The MCI Center (now Verizon Center) was a crowning achievement for the area when it opened in 1997.  With its sports events and concerts, it attracted restaurants and stores to locate in the area.  After the first stage of retail development, new downtown housing was built throughout the area, thus creating the neighborhood of Penn Quarter.  Today, the area is the most vibrant and active of the District’s neighborhoods– it’s hard to believe that fifteen years ago, it was considered to be an abandoned and dangerous part of town.

Continue reading →

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Redskins Pre-Season Game Tonight!


Redskins Band courtesy of Littlerottenrobin

The Redskins start off their pre-season run tonight against the Baltimore Ravens up at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. While the game doesn’t start until after 7pm, pre-game coverage is alive and well on Comcast Sportsnet. It’ll be fun to see how the Skins recover from their off-season experiences, and more so to see how the critical offensive line behaves under fire for the first time this season.

My bet? Ravens by a TD. We’ll see.

Dupont Circle, Food and Drink, Night Life, The Features, We Love Drinks
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We Love Drinks: Fox & Hounds

"17th Street Patios" by M.V. Jantzen, on Flickr

"17th Street Patios" by M.V. Jantzen, on Flickr

Seriously. Who hasn’t had a drink at Fox & Hounds? The quintessential DC dive bar. Completely schizophrenic depending on season and time of day. Always unglamorous and unapologetic. The grande dame of 17th Street since when, the 60’s? What’s summer in Washington without a visit here, sinking into a plastic patio chair at a perpetually wobbling table and watching the world go by, with some of the best people-watching in the city?

Its official name is “Trio’s Fox & Hounds,” and you can easily order food from the adjacent Trio’s diner to enjoy while you drink (my god, this means you can even get your teetotaller a milkshake). But eating is not the primary activity. If you’re a mixed drink inbiber, be warned – this is the sort of establishment that gives you a glass of vodka with a side of bottled tonic. That is all part of the tattered charm of a true dive. The beer is cheap (no pints or bottles over $6, with $17 pitchers) and the Guinness perfectly poured.

Don’t feel like hanging out on the patio (or find yourself still there after noise ordinances close it down)? It’s a whole different experience inside.

Continue reading →

The Features
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We Love Weekends, 8/15-8/16

Photo courtesy of
‘Flip Flop Weather’
courtesy of ‘e.phelps’

Mmm, weekend. I am so ready for one. With Congress out of town, my commute is easy and I’m thinking it’s time to laze around with some sunscreen and a good book. Here’s what we’ve got going on this weekend:

Max: I’ll be headed to Rehoboth for the first time ever. My plan is to have no plan while I’m there, but it will probably involve basking in the sun, catching up on my reading, playing with my camera, and avoiding the arrival of Monday morning as best I can. If I were staying in town I’d most likely catch a flick at the E Street Cinema, try to find a tennis partner, and make up for the fact that I haven’t had a drink in almost two weeks.

Ben R: This weekend will be a lazy one, a pool of quiet for us to recharge. Had we the time and energy, we would’ve knocked the rust of our ballroom dancing skills so we could hit the Jane Austen Ball at Gadsby’s Tavern on Saturday. Sunday will probably see us hit a local theater for a showing of District 9. Knowing us we’ll want to go somewhere near some good eats, most likely trying our luck with Gallery Place so we can have some tapas at Jaleo. Afterward we’ll probably swing by Proof for some quality downtime.

Tom: Weekends in August mean fresh corn and peaches.  Unfortunately, it also means a mail server migration.  So while I hope to make it out to get a batch of corn to make corn & bean soup, it’s more likely I’ll be slaving away over a hot server.  In the evenings, though, I intend to hit the movies pretty hard, as both District 9 and The Goods come out this weekend.  Perhaps dinner at Columbia Firehouse for another of their excellently delicious Robert E. Lee Roys might come to pass, or perhaps it will be a long session with Bells’ Oberon at RFD before it goes out of style in late September.

Continue reading →

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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New Goaltending Coach for Caps

Photo courtesy of
‘arturs irbe playing for dynamo riga’
courtesy of ‘Uncleweed’

The Washington Capitals have announced they’ve hired Arturs Irbe as the team’s new goaltending coach. Dave Prior, the former coach, resigned recently after 12 years in that position in order to spend more time with his family.

Irbe is a 13-year veteran of the NHL, serving time with San Jose, Dallas, Vancouver and Carolina, as well as the goalie for the Latvian national team in the 2002 and 2006 Olympics. His last season in the NHL was 2003-04; he finished his career with a 2.83 GAA and a .899 save percentage.

Is this the piece the team needs to stabilize their goalie situation? Possibly. Though I’m fairly certain the team needs more stability IN the net, not necessarily in supervising it.

Getaways
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Getaways: Richmond

Richmond The National
The National by Corinne Whiting

When you’re a traveler who’s inclined to ration funds and vacation leave for passport-dependent voyages, it’s easy to forget there are adventures to be found closer to home. So a couple Fridays back, a few friends and I bid farewell to our D.C. offices a wee bit early and joined the masses traveling south down I-95. (Fortunately we’d come prepared for gridlock, chock full of patience and playlists.) Our mini-vacation destination? Richmond, incidentally the state capital located at the fall line of the James River in Virginia’s Piedmont region. But of interest to us that evening? A show by those lovable North Carolinian folk rockers, The Avett Brothers.

We whizzed into town excited to begin our less than-24-hour southern tour. Best not to dwell on details of actual travel times (roughly double our estimate) and revamped dinner plans (we’d dreamed of buttery Southern goodness at Comfort, yet made do with hurried turkey clubs in an ambiance-less Marriott dining room). But no matter, the slow-as-molasses waiter was friendly, and the Turning Leaf he poured sufficiently chilled. We instantly settled into the refreshing change of scene–so few suits, so many beards!–and headed two blocks down Broad Street to The National.

The historic National theater, reminiscent of Falls Church’s State Theatre, opened with much fanfare in 1923 as the newest addition to the then-thriving Richmond theater scene. Inside this Italian Renaissance Revival space, described by one reviewer as “handsome, stately, adorned but not ornate…,” acts ranged from vaudeville performers and artists like Orson Welles to silent movies, which were accompanied by musicians in the orchestra pit below (the state’s largest). The theater sat up to 1,114 spectators, including those in four second-level boxes that remain intact today. The adored venue was saved from a wrecking ball in 1989 by the Historic Richmond Foundation. These days the ground floor, which gradually slopes for easy stage viewing over neighbors’ heads, is reserved for standing space, and concert goers with balcony tickets sit above. Seven full bars serve thirsty patrons, while tattooed bouncers stand guard around the perimeter.

Continue reading →

Life in the Capital, The District, The Features
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Why I Love DC: Karl Johnson

Photo courtesy of
‘August Blue Hour over Potomac and DC’
courtesy of ‘ianseanlivingston’

Now that I’ve joined the ranks as an author here at WeLoveDC, it’s time for me to prove that I do, in fact, love DC. No more just talking the talk, it’s time for me to walk the walk (er, write the write?).

It’s a bit of a rarity in this area, but I actually grew up in the DC metro region; though not what you may think of as DC. I hail originally from the quaint little towns of Shepherdstown and Harpers Ferry. That’s West Virginia. And while 70 miles out of the District, it’s still technically part of the DC metro. Full of natural beauty and more American history than you can shake a stick at, I grew up loving the outdoors and the history that surrounded me.

DC is so full of history it hurts – in a good way! History that didn’t even take place here is still on display 24/7 and around every corner. When I go up on my building’s roof in Ballston and overlook the District and the national mall at night, I fall back in love with this city every time. The Monument, the Capitol building, the Lincoln, the Jefferson – this is why I love DC. And we’re just getting started. Continue reading →

Comedy in DC
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Comedy in DC: In Your Feed Reader

Jake Young, Courtesy Aaron Webb

So what do I do, when searching anxiously for the next comedy thing to entertain myself with? Comedian blogs. The problem is, standup is not something the translates well to the written word, so there aren’t that many local comics that do it (though Twitter is helping- something about the 140 character restriction mimics the setup/punch structure of live comedy, I think).

But there are a few I follow with some regularity. I’ve mentioned Mike Eltringham’s blog before, when he brought us the joyous news of Dustin Diamond’s standup appearance in Arlington. His blog is pretty consistently funny, full of stuff that wouldn’t boil out to a standup bit very well, but which actually does make the leap to long form blog post pretty well.  Don’t miss his letter to Jesus after David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez tested positive for steroids. Continue reading →