Featured Photo

Featured Photo

Photo courtesy of Glyn Lowe Photos
Whole Foods Market.. – (Explored)
courtesy of Glyn Lowe Photos

Yeah, it’s a picture of a supermarket. But take a moment and look at the shot. It’s hard to realize but a lot of time, thought, and money went into designing this facade (and similar corporate architecture). We’re just bombarded by so much of it, that it’s hard to notice when the simple beauty of the view. Glyn Lowe gives us a view where we see all of the lines, from the window panes to the sign to the U-shaped cart barriers, moving in the same direction. And then there is the mix of colors. Reds, yellows, oranges, and then the green of the Whole Foods sign. A simple, yet satisfying, urban shot; gotta love it!

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed

This Week in Food

Photo courtesy of
‘Pork Loin with Kumquat Marmalade @ Ardeo’
courtesy of ‘jimcollins’

Talk about an empire. DCMud.com reports that restaurateur Ashok Bajaj, the man behind Bombay Club, 701, Rasika, and Ardeo + Bardeo could soon sign a lease for the retail space at 22 West in West End. Bajaj somewhat hinted at a new project in a chat last month with my fave food critic, Tom Sietsema.

My favorite news of the week comes via The Washington Post: Whole Foods Market and a D.C. real estate firm want to build a new store in Navy Yard, “but the developer says that luring the grocer would require $8 million in tax breaks.”  WaPo reports that William C. Smith and Co. is proposing a 39,000-square-foot Whole Foods in the 800 block of New Jersey Ave. SE as part of a building that would also include 375 apartments.

In other Navy Yard news, JDLand writes that a beer garden might soon be on its way to Southeast. The ANC6D (Advisory Neighborhood Commission) voted 6-0 “to support the Bullpen’s plans to open an additional 632-seat beer garden at Half and M, across from the Navy Yard Metro station’s west entrance just north of Nationals Park.”

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Adventures, Business and Money, Essential DC, Food and Drink, Life in the Capital, Special Events, The Daily Feed, The District

Wonji Juice Comes To DC

Photo courtesy of
‘Juicing Apples’
courtesy of ‘tiffanywashko’

After Saturday night’s bender, my body and mind were begging me to consume something, anything really, that was nutrient-rich and healthy. With a frozen pizza and some left over chips my only pantry option, I dragged myself off to the nearby Whole Foods to fill my cart with leafy greens and organic goods.

When I arrived at the Georgetown temple of all things gluten and pesticide-free, I espied a new, and at that moment, perfect cure for my lingering hangover, a juice bar. Wonji Juice, the Annapolis started and based juice bar company, offers delicious and super-nutritious fruit, vegetable and superfood concoctions that address any therapeutic need (hangover, stress relief, skin health, etc.) that may be ailing you.

My cure was the Green River, which according to Wonji is a  “Vitamin and mineral dense greens for a nutritious blast! High in chlorophyll to improve blood quality and folate to help produce and maintain new cells.” I definitely picked the right juice for the occasion, and while I can’t say it immediately made my hangover go away, I could definitely tell that my body was thankful for the vitamin rich sustenance.

Business and Money, Essential DC, Food and Drink, Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed

I Declare the Grocery Store Games Officially Open!

SupermarketGladiators

At 8:05am this morning, literally minutes after the new Social Safeway opened its doors to public, and the competition between the super giant and the Whole Foods up the street had already begun.

As I walked down Wisconsin Avenue, the former Pizza Hut, located directly across the street from Whole Foods entrance and parking garage was being decorated with a big bright banner/decal that read “Hungry Georgetown? Safeway: We are just down the block.” How neighborly and friendly of the Safeway to let Whole Foods know they’re there for them. I mean WF might indeed be hungry and in need of a good sandwich.

In all seriousness, I’m all about some good competition.  WF has had it made  since the Social Safeway closed last year for renovations leaving Glover Park, Burleith and Georgetown residents sans a non-organic, “non-gourmet,” whole paycheck devouring grocery store. Advertising the new Safeway directly across the street from WF is a genius marketing maneuver by Safeway. Well done sirs. Well done.

Shop Around The Corner

The Daily Feed, We Green DC

Shop for Food, Save Our River

Photo courtesy of
‘Great Falls in Flood- March 17 2010’
courtesy of ‘Roger Photos’

Hold on to your grocery list! Just in time for Earth Day, next Wednesday you can shop for groceries and restore our water, all at once!

Shop at any of the three DC Whole Foods locations — P Street, Georgetown, and Tenleytown — from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on April 21st, and 5% of the day’s profits will go to Potomac Riverkeeper.

Potomac Riverkeeper staff will be handing out hats, bumper stickers, and brochures to shoppers as well, so you can learn more about this great organization and how it keeps our river (and our drinking water) healthy and clean.

The Daily Feed

Free Coffee at Whole Foods


Whole Foods Market on P Street by Maryland Route 5

In case you’ve forgotten, April 15th is the only deadline you have as an adult, the day to send in your tax return.  Some of you may have done your taxes on January 1st in order to buy an iPad with your refund, but many others will be burning the midnight oil tonight to get them done.

If you fall into the latter group, I suggest you head over to Whole Foods to buy some organic toothpicks for keeping your eyelids open, as well as a free coffee.  That’s right, according to Free in DC, Whole Paycheck is giving away free coffee all day long on April 14th.  A free cup of joe.  You know you want it.

The Daily Feed

Expecting Mayhem at Whole Foods?

Photo courtesy of
‘Stuck’
courtesy of ‘Samer Farha’

I just came from the Whole Foods in Clarendon, where they had two police cars and two cops in the parking lot, in addition their usual fleet of staff, to direct traffic.

While a steady stream of cars was passing through, all is calm (and very bright), and one of the cops seemed more interested in watching people walk in and out of the store than in watching the traffic.

All this makes me wonder.

Does it say something about the demand for all-natural, organic food? Or about the kind of behavior we might reasonably expect on Christmas Eve from the people who like to buy it?

Happy holidays, everyone!

Thrifty District

Thrifty District: Salad Bar Shopping

Photo courtesy of Me

IMG_0374
courtesy of Me

When the Murky Coffee Kerfuffle erupted last year one of the funniest comments I saw was over on Metafilter and wasn’t so much about the conflict as it was terminology. The writer took issue with the term “ghetto latte,” where a customer buys a cheaper espresso-only drink and dumps in the no-charge milk at the condiment bar.  “‘Latte arbitrage’ is a much better description, since if their pricing was consistent this type of operation would not be profitable.” You’ve got to be a little bit of a finance geek to be amused by this use of the word arbitrage, but I’ve spent enough time listening to Marketplace to be tickled by the statement.

The salad bar at your local grocery is another place where you can practice some consumer arbitrage, though there’s also advantage to be had in not buying things that spoil before you use them all. There’s also some things there that are pure and simple sucker items which you shouldn’t be buying in any quantity if you own a can opener. Continue reading