Brad Pitt Has Your Secret Shit: Rolling DC

I just checked the La Colombe site; apparently the place closes at 7pm on weeknights. Maybe we should meet up at the Kennedy Center instead?

Official FAP will be Another time. I’m gonna still try to head over to Kennedy Center for free 6 pm Jupiter & Okwess Congolese gig. Band should be fun.

All welcome. El Tomboto is working late.

I don't remember what any of the DC ILXors look like; if you recognize me there, please say hi.

Me either! Maybe meet after at merch table? I will be one of many older but not ancient white guys there with a hat on. My wife might be there too.

I’m stuck at work way up in the MD ‘burbs :(

The band is rocking. Drummer in a Mexican wrestling mask. The normally uptight red jacketed ushers are letting people dance upfront.

My wife is working late too.

Kids and aging hippies dancing w band onstage

I was wondering about that mask!

https://www.washingtonian.com/2018/01/25/metier-is-the-best-restaurant-in-washington-dc/?utm_source=Editorial+and+Events&utm_campaign=b68416831e-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2016_12_20&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_612a4959fd-b68416831e-402537885

I guess a few of these aren’t super expensive

A lot of those are totally destination special-occasion places. To my mind those should be evaluated in a different category than the really-good-but-accessible-to-ordinary-mortals restaurants.

I will admit that I have eaten both at Rose's Luxury and at Pineapple & Pearls. Both were extremely good meals, but in different ways. Neither is a normal weeknight-dinner-out kind of experience; both had great food but P&P was more about drama and presentation.

If pressed to choose among luxe destination restaurants, I might sentimentally prefer the Restaurant Eve tasting menu. But then I haven't yet done Inn at Little Washington. Maybe I will do so one of these days, but it's not a high priority. There are so many great-but-approachable places still to try.

And I'm still not tired of reliable old boring neighborly weeknight choices like Nam Viet, Lebanese Taverna, Rosa Mexicano, Jaleo, Ray's, Kapnos, etc.

Harder still when any dinner out requires blowing $200 on a babysitter.

I miss Jaleo a lot~

It’s basically an “almost every time I’m home” place to me now, alongside Kabob Palace

Not sure why fast casual Barracks Row Korean place Chiko is on the list ? It’s ok but there are better places in Annandale.

Splurged for Rose’s L twice. Pretty good. Just read that P & Pearl is raising prices even higher. So no thanks.

Lots of “cheap eats” places around the area I haven’t tried.

In the W. Post Sietsema loved the upscale African food st Kith & Kin at the Wharf. Has he ever written about Mom & Pop African places in town? I am sure Tim Carman has written about them, but not Sietsema.

Maybe its upscale Caribbean and Africa at Kith & Kin, but my point holds regarding that too

https://www.youcaring.com/funkparade-1121941

Fundraising for Funk Parade

On March 6, we announced that Funk Parade was well short of meeting its fundraising goals for 2018, and the event was unlikely to take place. We've made this campaign in response to requests from many supporters for a way to give.

All contributions are helpful. If we are able to raise an additional $60,000 through crowdfunding and sponsorship pledges, the event will take place. Otherwise, these funds will be used to pay off debts, and any remaining funds will be donated to a local charity.

Donations will go to All One City, the District-based 501(c)3 nonprofit which produces Funk Parade.

https://local.washingtoncitypaper.com/publication/best-of-dc/2018/food-and-drink/best-southeast-jerk-and-jerk-que-carryout-chicken

An Ask Tom Sietsema (Post food critic) writer wanted to know if there was a Chinese restaurant in the DC area that does for Chinese what he and Tom say Rasika does for Indian. Alas, Tom had no ideas, and just mentioned a long-closed place he liked. We're doomed folks, when you can't find upscale Chinese.

It is sooooo time for Tom Sietsema to move on. I can't stand to read him anymore.

It used to be that City Lights was decently regarded. Peter Chang had good reviews but may have gone downhill (they had a widely-talked-about customer service fail and may not have recovered, socially speaking). But I don't know anything regarded as on a par with Rasika.

I expected Sietsema to at least mention Peter Chang in his response but he didn't. He also never said while Setzuan offerings at restaurants like Panda Gourmet on NY Avenue or at Hong Kong Palace in Falls Church may not provide the combination of innovation and service that Rasika does with Indian food, they still have some merit. Sietsema over the years seems to judge Chinese places solely by the quality of their Peking Duck (or their attempts at fusion). That seems kind of narrow.

Also not that I've read all his writing, but I have noted that he has recently reviewed some of the new DC and Maryland hybrid fine dining Caribbean places (some with touches of West African), but there has seemingly never been a mention from him of Mom & Pop Caribbean takeout places. So how familiar with the underlying cuisine is he?

Sure he can leave most of the coverage of such non-fine dining places to Tim Carman's $20 diner column , but I think Sietsema's coverage of fancier stuff would be enhanced by showing he has familiarity with cheaper and street food type offerings as well as the pricier hybrid (and sometimes more unique) stuff.

Eh, I don't expect him to Be The Authority on everything about everything. It's a lot of ground to cover.

His method includes multiple visits to each place, and his beat appears to include going to other cities - indeed, other countries - and have some familiarity with those scenes as well. Like everybody, he has a viewpoint and a set of interests. Does a primarily classical music critic need to be up-to-date on every subgenre of house music, etc.? I think it's unrealistic to expect that he should be familiar with every "underlying cuisine" in a region that has places labeling themselves as Burmese, Uzbek, Lao, Bolivian, Balkan....

That said, I would applaud greater diversity of voices (Carman and whoever is at Washingtonian and Young & Hungry); it's not like There Can Be Only One restaurant critic.

Anyway do you have an opinion on the Caribbean place at Lee Hwy./George Mason? I ate there when I lived in that hood but I don't really have much basis for comparison.

Good points. I guess, food critics like music critics who choose to suddenly listen to some genre from wherever, end up doing whatever last minute prep they can, even if they don't keep up with that genre on the regular.

Ha, so I keep meaning to make it to that Caribbean place at Lee Highway (Caribbean Corner?) but haven't yet. I heard good things about it.

https://wamu.org/story/18/05/14/d-c-isnt-cool-d-c-has-always-been-cool-and-other-%f0%9f%94%a5-opinions/#.Wvw2EdIUmrQ

Discussed on the hipness 2009, this got on Kojo on WAMU yesterday. Clueless GW Law Prof who moved here 12 years ago or something , wrongfully thinks glass condos and their denizens plus government workers and such are automatically "cool" and that they are to blame for heartland people hating city "elites", gentrification, wage inequality, housing costs.

Policies need to change, but Prof is not cool

same ol' same ol'

Can we yell about Initiative 77

Sure, but only what the DC Council thinks, matters

Un-elect Brandon Todd, Phil Mendicant and Jack Evans ASAP. Probably some other fucking crooks too but those three have to go.

Spotted Eric Cantor at dinner downtown this evening. Because he is not currently in office, we let him go.

Music stuff I posted on Capital Swamp on ILM:

Thankfully that noise ordinance got tabled (though it might be up for discussion in the fall. I don't get people moving downtown to Gallery Plce area and then griping about street musicians).

Malik Dope Drummer, one of my fave streetcorner percussionists is over in Paris and then going to South Africa as part of a special music program I think.

Still no Fort Dupont Park concert season announcement, and no news on Carter Barron fundraising.

FOrt Reno Night of 100 Cakes was fun. Unbilled act--Ian Mackaye and Amy Farina from Evens did a Lungfish cover and another song. John Davis with Chris Richards was good too. Got there late and missed Betsy Wright, Jerry Busher and others I think

Went to that kinda new Asian food court, The Block, in Annandale and not too far from Alexandria but not easily Metro accessible. Had a Banh Mi, tasted wife's Dan Dan noodles and had below snocream. Liked the dessert best (though meal was good too)--

https://www.snocreamcompany.com/

A Taiwanese-inspired twist on traditional ice cream. Think of it as a hybrid between shaved ice and ice cream that makes this dessert light and fluffy

Had green tea snocream with green apple jellies, lychee bobas (like those round tapioca balls in bubble tea), and a drizzle of chocolate syrup

Did not go to counter-rallies yesterday

Capital Swamp: The DC Resource Thread

I’m here for a bit (lots of family time, can’t FAP to my sincere dismay) and of course the Metro has an ad up for the fucking F-35. I have truly missed this.

Have fun with family and enjoy those defense industry ads

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/shootings-in-district-claim-four-lives-as-the-homicide-count-surpasses-2017s-total/2018/09/25/fd9969fc-c0b6-11e8-be77-516336a26305_story.html?utm_term=.1a5ea6ea3d4d

Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said Tuesday that programs are in place to combat crime. She said there is not only law enforcement, but also outreach to at-risk youth and others struggling to get off the streets. Violent crime is down 7 percent across the city; homicide is the only violent crime category that is up.

Bowser said the weekend violence was “dramatic, outrageous, and it happened in different places across the city.” She added that most shootings involved people who had contact with the criminal justice system.

DC Council overruled DC voters on prop 77 restaurant employees minimum wage bill. Now they have moved on to a hearing on the Amplified Noise Bill today. They don't want new DCers who chose to move downtown to have to hear loud street musicians.

I fucking hate the DC Council almost as much as I hate the GOP

I read about the 77 vote last night and all but threw a tantrum at dinner. stop making me curse in front of my kid, DC government

Muriel Bowser getting grief from old time DCers for dissing mumbo sauce on Facebook

https://www.hailnorfk.com

No RFK and also no new site in Maryland park that Md governor Hogan wants that is nowhere near Metro

Capital Swamp: The DC Resource Thread

#dontMuteDC protests re go-go from speakers at Metro PCS phone and go-go cd store shut down due to a lawsuit threat from a resident of 2015 built luxury building the Shay.

Go-go’s been cranking there since 95.

Been a Baltimore Orioles fan since I was a kid, but rooting for Nationals now in World Series

Nats ...World Series Champs

Went down to stadium after for celebration. Joyful but not out of hand

Gonna rush from work to the parade this Saturday.

I just realized we’re supposed to have brunch in Chinatown Saturday. Have I doomed my family and friends?

Maybe not, if you're taking the Red Line or at least keeping north of Pennsylvania Avenue? My sister wants to go to Jaleo Saturday, and the parade was my first thought.

so that's why Orange Shithead will be in NYC

Sadly Nats are scheduled to go to White House Monday. Ugh