By Tom Bridge
‘Lobstah Roll Lunch’
courtesy of ‘kimberlyfaye’
Hey ya’ll, we know we’re late, but if you haven’t quite had lunch yet, click on through to enjoy our new partnership with the str[EATS] who are powering our renewed Food Truck Tracker! Continue reading
By Tricia Barba
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.
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
By Max
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.
By Dave Levy
”
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’
Here I am, spending my lunch break snacking on a sandwich from the food court downstairs, flipping through one of my new favorite sports news sites, and I see a link:
Legitimate thought process after reading that headline: “Why would the Caps be pushing ‘Unleash the Fury’ in the day after the all-star break and during Super Bowl week?” After all, it would be an oddly timed announcement to promote this in-game scoreboard vid that has been around for at least four seasons as a third period crowd inspiration piece. Save the online push for the playoffs.
I was wrong. It wasn’t the Caps video, but the folks at ScreenJunkies with their own offering into this catalog: Continue reading
The Swedish invasion continues when The Radio Dept. hit Rock & Roll Hotel on Tuesday night. These veterans of the scene emerged from the Swedish underground with their murky guitar pop and shoegazer sensibilities almost a decade ago with their critical darling debut “Lesser Matters”. It has been interesting to see this group change, regroup, and evolve over the last ten years; as they have moved away from guitars and more towards synthesizers and keyboards. Not without hitting a few critical speed-bumps along the way, I might add.
The Radio Dept. sort of stunned people then when they emerged last year with their best album yet. “Clinging to a Scheme” put The Radio Dept. back on everyone’s radar with its masterful mix of guitar and synthesizers. On the heels of their new found critical success, The Radio Dept. have released “Passive Aggressive”, a two-disc career retrospective that illustrates the evolution of their sound perfectly. Comparing any two sonic points in the band’s career shows that dedication to atmosphere and texture has been their main modus operandi all along. Whatever instruments they use, The Radio Dept. are going to make layered, beautiful sounds with them.
Joining The Radio Dept. in this celebration of all things fuzzed and feedback drenched is San Francisco shoegazers Young Prisms. This is concert is going to be one robust feast for the ears.
The Radio Dept.
w/ Young Prisms
@ Rock & Roll Hotel
8pm – 2/1/11
advance $12, door $14
By Tricia Barba
“These days at a restaurant you have plates, tables, food and Twitter.”
-Barcode owner Antonis Karagounis
“People regularly ask for restaurant suggestions from other Tweeps on Twitter. When we are able to find those requests and immediately welcome them to our restaurant, they are floored by the quick response and personalized welcome. We’ve been lucky enough to gain many new diners this way.”
–Bourbon Steak Publicist Sangeetha Sarma
A recent Restaurant Week experience reminded me that you can’t always expect restaurants to be on 100% all the time, but if someone or something fails, speak up.
Like many patrons, I had an issue, vented about it on Twitter, and received a very satisfying response. SO I decided that every Friday I will write a small piece about The Week’s Winning Food Tweet. This could be a restaurant itself, a food truck, a chef, a manager, etc. The winner will be someone (something?) who puts a smile on my face for a different or interesting perspective.
The free, 140 character service has revolutionized the restaurant industry. It’s necessary for restaurants to actually engage their followers in order to create loyalty and really make patrons & potential patrons feel like friends.
I wanted to take a look at the Top 5 ways that restaurants use Twitter effectively. That means they aren’t just tweeting the daily specials, but following my rules to inform, satisfy, calm and entertain!
Photo by Rachel Levitin
As the daughter of a heart transplant recipient, I feel it’s my duty as a human being to spread the word regarding the cause. As luck would have it, the Washington Regional Transplant Community has announced that registration is now open for the second annual “Race to Donate Life,” where all proceeds directly benefit the Washington Regional Transplant Community’s awareness programs for organ, eye and tissue donation.
This family-friendly event is a timed 5K run/walk festival with festivities taking place at Rock Creek Park (Picnic Grove 24) on Saturday, May 7, over Mother’s Day weekend.
Runners/Walkers can register online. Registration closes at 6 p.m. on May 6 and there is no option for race day registration. The entry fee is $20 until April 11 and $25 thereafter.
For more information, visit their Facebook event page.
By Will Packard
For the third year in a row, Alex Ovechkin won the Breakaway Challenge in the NHL All-Star Skills Challenge last night in Raleigh, NC. In a competition judged by the fans by text voting, each shooter took four breakaway attempts. Ovechkin faced off against goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury of the Pittsburgh Penguins. On his winning shot, Ovie used the butt end of his stick to control the puck in over the blue line, then dropped to his knees before flipping the stick around and deking past Fleury to score on the backhand. He won with 39% of the fan votes.
The All-Star Game is today at 4PM. The Caps return to action Tuesday night against the Montreal Canadiens at Verizon Center.
By Brittany
photo by author
It’s time for Friday Happy Hour, highlighting a drink we’ve recently enjoyed, every Friday at 4pm! Please share your favorites as well.
By all accounts, I could have gone in to the office after the big thundersnowstorm. Living pretty close to work, I do not have a hellish commute and anybody who has seen my closet can tell you I am well-stocked on boots and scarves for all situations. Nonetheless, I took advantage of my company’s liberal leave policy and good telework infrastructure and stayed home instead.
Working from home is great for my productivity and, in my case at least, the environment – but by the end of a day inside I tend to get antsy for human interaction. Besides, there was a beautiful snow-capped Washington to tromp around. I arranged to meet a friend at Tryst. Continue reading
By Tom Bridge
‘Shiny Penny 2001 D Macro April 30, 20101’
courtesy of ‘stevendepolo’
This morning marks the start of the public lottery for parents to request their child be placed at a school other than the one they were assigned by DCPS. The period begins today, but doesn’t finish until February 28th at midnight, and DCPS is only accepting applications online. While you do not have a better chance of being chosen through the lottery by applying today, it’s always good to get a head start on application processes.
If your child has already “won” an out-of-boundary lottery, you don’t need to reapply to keep them there, they get to remain at that school and follow its feeder path.
Good luck, DCPS parents! Hope your lucky penny is handy when you hit submit. More questions? DCPS has a handy FAQ for the lottery.
For those who don’t have access to the Internet at home, parents can apply at any DCPS school or Library, any DCPS Parent and Family Resource Center, or the DCPS Central Office. The Office of Bilingual Education will also be able to help any parents whose primary language isn’t English. DCPS is also hosting two events for parents with questions: February 10th at Deal Middle and February 15th at Patterson Elementary, both at 6pm.
By Dave Levy
A few places around the Internet have been sharing the above image, a map of the lower 48 with redrawn borders to reflect the 32 NFL teams. Go ahead, click it to embiggen it, then come right on back to this post.
Back now? Great. Here’s where we’re going with this examination: what say you about that Redskins/Ravens border that cuts its way through Maryland? You know, this one:
By now maybe you have heard some rumblings about Office of Future Plans. They have slowly but surely been building up buzz over the past year or so with select opening slots and some low-profile headline gigs around town and in Baltimore. After opening for one of The Dismemberment Plan reunion shows last weekend and this week revealing their first recorded music in the form of an excellent 7″/digital single (pictured above), Office of Future Plans are poised to break-out as one of the most exciting new bands of the DC-Baltimore region.
There is a lot to get excited about here. First and foremost is that OoFP is the latest band put together by indie-legend J. Robbins. In these parts Robbins is considered indie-royalty for being in or founding several great area-based bands like…oh let’s see…Government Issue, Burning Airlines, Channels, Report Suspicious Activity, and Jawbox (just about the best 90’s band ever). To form Office of Future Plans, Robbins has enlisted some old DC/Baltimore music pals like Darren Zentek of Kerosene 454, Brooks Harlan of Avec, and rock cellist Gordon Withers. Together the four are creating some terrific angular, post-hardcore sounds that rank right up there with some of Robbins’ best.
Office of Future Plans plays tonight in Baltimore at The Wind-Up space with mysterious, post-punks SPRCSS and Baltimore’s own spazz-rock kings Whoarfrost.
Office of Future Plans
w/ SPRCSS & Whoarfrost
@ The Wind-Up Space
1/28/11 – 9pm
$7
‘Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?’
courtesy of ‘LaTur’
Maybe you started 2011 off by resolving to make your tastebuds be more adventurous. Or maybe you’re just tired of all the seared salmon and roasted chicken you ate last week during restaurant week. Either way, if you’re looking to try some bizarre foods, you can head over to Galileo III for their “unusual tasting menu.”
For $55, you get seven courses and bragging rights to tell all your friends that you ate lamb brains once. Start off with “piedino”–braised veal feet with beets and potatoes, and then move onto “lingua”–sauteed lamb tongue with turnips and pearl onions. By the time you get to the last course, you’ll say: “pork sausage and calf’s liver? That’s nothin’.” Plus, don’t all those unusual courses sound so much better in Italian?
The restaurant has made the unusual tasting menu a part of it’s regular dinner menu, so you have plenty of time to muster up the courage to try it. Chef Roberto Donna of Galileo III said he decided to offer the unusual menu because it’s the type of food he enjoys, so he wants other people to experience and fall in love with it too. So far, they’ve had a “great response. DC customers are ready and excited to try new food,” according to an email statement I received from the chef.
So what are you waiting for? I double dog dare you.
By Patrick Pho
‘Academy Award for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Walt Disney Family Museum’
courtesy of ‘Loren Javier’
I love this time of year.
Awards season.
I rolled out of bed this past Tuesday to watch the nominations for the 83rd Academy Awards and after Monique finished reading off the names, the clocked started.
As of right now I have a little over 31 days and counting to watch 56 films. All 56 films nominated for an Academy Award this year.
It’s something I’ve been doing for a few years now, and it’s a challenge I’ve yet to fully complete. Last year I managed to watch 46 out of the 58 Oscar nominated films.
This year I’m ready to give it another go, and last week I thought I’d visit some film geeks that would share the same excitement. I dropped in on a meeting of the DC Film Society’s Cinema Lounge discussion group. The group meets on a monthly basis to talk about various topics in film. The topic of that night: Oscar Prognostication. I listened and quipped in some thoughts as the small group argued over potential nominees and attempted to predict who would get a nod from the Academy.
By Tricia Barba
Photo Courtesy Tricia Barba
Xavier Cervera’s Pacifico might still be working to get a liquor license, but Senart’s Oyster House, the restaurateur’s fourth Barracks Row location, looks more and more like a restaurant every day.
When I was putting together my list of 2011 Restaurant Openings, I noticed that Senart’s was originally “aiming” for a December 2010 opening. Of course, with the snails-pace that is DC sometimes, a “missed” target date is always expected. Still curious, I spoke with Shawn Case, one of Cervera’s right-hand-men. Continue reading
Richard Sarles, who has been the Interim General Manager of Metro since the departure of John Catoe, was officially named the permanent General Manager today by Metro’s board this afternoon. He was also given the title Chief Executive Officer, signaling the board’s desire for a shift in role for Metro’s chief.
In speaking to the board after his confirmation, Sarles set a number of expectations for his tenure. Samer will have more details tomorrow in his Talkin’ Transit column, but a few highlights:
According to official Metro Twitter account @metroopensdoors*, Sarles said, “I see what is possible in the future, which is why I am here today; I could not pass up this opportunity to stay.”
*Without warning, the @metroopensdoors account shifted from being a bot that broadcast service disruptions to live-tweeting the Metro board proceedings. After months of complaining that Metro’s only Twitter presences weren’t actually staffed by humans, this is almost news in itself. No telling yet whether there’s more to come from @metroopensdoors.
By Addison H
‘IMG_6868.jpg’
courtesy of ‘bridgetds’
According to a team press release, the Washington Capitals have re-signed mercurial, talented, and currently injured winger Alex Semin to a one year deal valued at $6.7 million dollars. Currently in his sixth year with the Caps and the NHL, Semin is struggling through injuries after coming off his first 40-goal season and career high of 84 points. He has not played in the team’s last nine games.
Semin is tied for the league lead with three hat tricks this year, coming in a 35-day spurt between Oct 23 and Nov 26. For the first two months of this season, he ranked second in goals (18) and fifth in points (30). He already ranks 11th in Caps history in goals (166) and 19th in points (335).
The Russian winger’s new contract extends his time with the Capitals through the 2011-12 season and gives him a raise of $700,000 from his last contract, tying him with Nicklas Backstrom for second highest paid player on the team. Even with this extension, according to capgeek.com, the Capitals still have over $13 million dollars of cap space left to sign 9 players who will be free agents after this season. This signing, however, may not have been without some drama. Via Twitter, Washington Post writer Tarik El-Bashir reports that the Capitals offered Semin a multi-year deal, but the winger and his agent declined the offer in favor of the shorter deal they accepted. The team did not mention if the deal contained a no-trade or no-movement clause. It’s very plausible the multi-year deal was rejected due to the fact that the CBA is slated to be re-addressed and possibly re-structured at the end of the 2011-2012 season.
By David Hintz
‘Archivists’ by Betsy Quilligan.
Rock & Roll Hotel has turned over their excellent stage to some of the many outstanding local bands for several Friday night shows. Continuing this week, they present the Archivists who have a great take on the indie rock sound. Their two guitar line-up offers up everything from angular indie Americana-rock to flat out garage rockers. Also on the bill are local indie-rockers Fluorescent Sense and Southern Problems.
We are blessed with many excellent high quality bands in the Washington DC area. To be able to get three of them together on one of the nicest stages in Washington DC on a Friday night for $10? Well, that’s an affordable hot ticket that allows you to bring along a date plus buy a great dinner all for under the price of one ticket from Neil Young’s last tour. While it is unlikely that any of these bands will reach the heights of Neil Young, they will certainly be entertaining. And if one of them does reach those heights? Well, will you ever have a great story for your children!
Archivists
w/ Fluorescent Sense & Southern Problems
@ Rock & Roll Hotel
1/28/11
$10
By Rebecca
I stumbled across this video on YouTube of tickman1’s commute home last night. It took him 8.5 hours to travel 23 miles from DC to the VA suburbs. Fortunately, the pilgrimage has been sped up and condensed for our viewing pleasure.
Warning: For those of you who braved the roads last night, this video may cause panic attacks, claustrophobia or heart attacks.
By Tom Bridge
Last night’s horrific commutes ranged anywhere from 3-5 hours on the short end to 12-14 hours, we’re hearing, with most of those higher numbers west of the city. Take a look at a couple screenies that Greater Greater Washington put up last night that show pretty much every road west of the Potomac River over capacity with no cars moving.
You can see the snowfall trends in the storm thanks to the Capital Weather Gang’s Submit-a-Report map, and it seems to have aligned a few trends that made things massively difficult for everyone to get around. Read on for all the details.
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