Category Archives: Washington D.C.

August 25, 2013 · 9:40 pm

Florida Avenue Grill, Washington Harbor, towpath in Georgetown

I had one of the best breakfasts ever today at a fantastic soul food restaurant called Florida Avenue Grill, a down home place at the corner of Florida Avenue and 11th street. Everything our party of four tried was delicious…hot cakes sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, eggs, home fries, scrapple (I am not sure I want to know what this actually is but it kind of looked like a sausage patty but had a creamier consistency), grits, cooked apples, a smothered pork chop. Absolutely delicious and we loved the setting, a diner since 1944 filled with photos of celebrities who have visited, most note able African Americans, and the service was warm and efficient! I cannot wait to take friends and family there!

Later my friends and I walked for a bit along the towpath in Georgetown on a perfect sunny day and ended up in what felt more like Miami than DC, the “Washington Harbor ” area along the Potomac, within eyeshot of the Kennedy Center. A fancy yacht was parked outside a retail complex filled with women in bikinis. Really? really. Surprise. Beyond the yacht were paddle boarders, canoeists, pleasure craft. The gardens and grass along the river were full of picnickers. My only complaint is that a security guard wouldn’t let us out our feet in a fountain.

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August 25, 2013 · 2:10 pm

union market, h street, Granville Moore’s, Montmarte in d.c.

Fun day in our nation’s capital with old friends from Connecticut. On a perfect weather Saturday, we strolled around the Eastern Market and ended up eating a very good brunch at an oUtdoor table at a French restaurant, Montmarte. Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon, an omelet with lamb sausage and an open faced steak sandwich. Cheerful,service. Life is good.
We stopped later at the gelato place nearby..Pitango or some such.

Then we drove nearby to Union Market, an indoor hipster artesianal food emporium with various shops full of products that looked straight out of Brooklyn (and some are). Good bread, cheese, meats, dairy, flowers, spices, home furnishings…in what appeared to be a former industrial building. Next stop XM Sirius headquarters where my friends son works in sports satellite radio. Cool building full of studios catering to the preferences of a variety of listeners. oops like a fun place to work too, especially for a 23 year old recent college grad. For dinner we went to one of the many bars and restaurants that have popped up on H street in the emerging NOMa (north of Massachusetts) neighborhood, Granville Moore’s, a Belgian bar with very good pub grub, mussels, fries, meatloaf sandwich, an appetizer with charred spicy pork bits and sautéed Brussels sprouts. Very rustic cramped decor with exposed brick and concrete walls and rough hewn wood beams added to the charm. My friends stayed at Hilton Garden Inn Capitol for a very reasonable $108. Seemed a good place!

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August 22, 2013 · 11:42 pm

March on Washington 50th anniversary in DC next week!

I just realized I’ll be in Washington DC next week during lots of interesting events to mark the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington – including a speech by President Obama on Wednesday (alas, I have business meetings during that event.) I’d also give anything to go to the gospel celebration. See details below!!

The 50th anniversary of the March on Washington will bring a host of civil rights-inspired exhibits, itineraries and other experiences, including two commemorative marches, to the nation’s capital this week and next.

A commemorative rally along the same route that marchers took in 1963 will take place at the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday, followed by the opening of a Global Freedom Festival on the National Mall. Civil rights activists, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III and the family of Emmett Till are expected to attend.

On Aug. 28, a March for Jobs and Justice will end with a Let Freedom Ring rally on the National Mall. President Obama is expected to speak from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial as part of the event.

In addition to the marches on Aug. 24 and Aug. 28, six museum exhibits are related to the anniversary.

– Changing America: The Emancipation Proclamation, 1863 and The March on Washington, 1963, is at the National Museum of American History through Sept. 15.

– Make Some Noise: Students and the Civil Rights Movement is a new permanent exhibit at the Newseum. The museum also is showing Civil Rights at 50, a three-year exhibit chronicling the struggle for civil rights from 1963-1965.

– A Day Like No Other: Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington, a photography exhibit at the Library of Congress is on Aug. 28-March 1, 2014.

– American People, Black Light: Faith Ringgold’s Paintings of the 1960s at the National Museum of Women in the Arts explores race inequality in the 1960s and runs through Nov. 10.

– And One Life: Martin Luther King Jr., at the National Portrait Gallery through June 1, 2014, traces the civil rights leader’s career.

The 1963 March On Washington
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August 14, 2013 · 11:43 pm

War/photography at the Corcoran Gallery in DC

Corcoran Gallery of Art
Corcoran Gallery of Art is located in Washington, D.C.
Location: 17th St. at New York Ave., NW.

I’m going on a work trip to Washington DC later this month and if I can find some free time, I hope to get to the war photography exhibit that’s showing until Sept. 29 at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Here’s more details Corcoran War Photo Exhibit

WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY brings together images by more than 200 photographers from 28 nations and covers conflicts from the past 165 years—from the Mexican-American War through present-day conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Organized not chronologically but around themes such as “The Fight,” “Refugees,” and “Remembrance,” it shows how photography has informed our understanding of conflict over time, and around the world.

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July 26, 2013 · 3:56 pm

Bolt Bus from NYC to DC?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/artsandliving/travel/busreview/

I am contemplating a trip from NYC to DC in August and found a handy roundup of bus options from the Washington Post. (see above) Bolt Bus looks like a good option from what I can tell. Otherwise, Amtrak although it’s pricier.

image

Prevost X3-45 #0800 departs New York City
Slogan Bolt for a Buck

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June 26, 2012 · 9:05 pm

More DC/Columbia MD – Zenebech Injera/market lunch, Iron bridge Wine Co, Politics and Prose

A visit to George and Martha’s house at Mount Vernon, Va.

Our direct flight from Washington DC’s Reagan National to Des Moines was a breeze – we were home in two hours! A few other treats to mention during our trip:

– We had good Ethiopian food, albeit in spartan environs, at Zenebech Injera Deli  on T street northwest – not far from the U Street corridor which I didn’t explore in full because it was so darned hot (100 degrees) the day I was wandering around. It apparently stretches east of 14th street a bit. (I walked on U Street between 14th and 17th.) At Zenebech, my son and I tried the sampler which was plenty to eat – assorted meat and veg dishes laid out in big clumps atop a large round piece of the spongy bread you use to eat the food with. Not a fancy place – just a half dozen plain tables and chairs, a counter, a cooler with drinks. That’s about it.

– I met a friend from Ellicott City Maryland for lunch near her house at Iron Bridge Wine Company in Columbia.  Nice place in pretty rural setting. I had a good Cesar Salad and my friend the quiche. The bellini cocktail looked great but didn’t want to drink in the middle of the day.

Eating crabcake sandwiches at D.C.’s Eastern Market

– Politics and Prose, one of my favorite bookstores, appears to be going strong under new ownership, which was very good to see. As always, I enjoyed browsing through both the upstairs fiction and nonfiction shelves and downstairs, in the children’s section where I found many classics that I wanted to buy for my new niece including one all time favorite “Ferdinand the Bull.”

– The gelato place we went to on Saturday near the Eastern market in the Capitol Hill neighborhood is Pitango. Fun fact – actor Owen Wilson was spotted at the Pitango in Chinatown on Saturday, according to the Washington Post. I wonder if he had the Crema Gelato and the Dark Chocolate Sorbet (as I did…)

– We squeezed in a trip to Mount Vernon at our kids’ request on Sunday – followed by quick stop in Alexandria for ice cream. Mount Vernon was spruced up since our last visit there maybe 12 years ago. There’s now a snazzy visitor’s center with an introductory film. The U.S. Capitol also has a new visitor’s center with a film. One more visitor’s center in DC and we’ve got ourselves “a trend!”

Wandering around the Capitol Hill neighborhood in D.C.

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June 25, 2012 · 9:31 pm

Leaving dc – intown uptown inn, redwood, sweet greens

We found a fantastic bed and breakfast on dc that was almost too good to be true. And sadly it will bson non because it is closing to the public later this week. It’s the uptown intown uptown inn in the upper northwest neighborhood north of columbia  heights. Gorgeous old mansion, red brick, with wood floors, elegant fireplaces and chandeliers, antique furniture and oil paintings. Beautiful Roos, for sleeping, sitting and eating. Delicious breakfast of double-stuffed potato  topped with scrambled eggs, homemade blue berry Danish. The inn owner sandy is gracious and welcoming, the type of person you want to have your photo taken with as you leave, even though you have known her for only an hour.mshemis renting out the entire three story inn to harvard which will make it available to its alums. Bummer for the rest of us.

We had an excellent dinner last night at redwood in Bethesda. $35 price fix for 3 courses. I had grilled shrimp served with cucumbers, red onions  and a jalapeño avocado yoghurt drizzled around the plate. Then crab cakes with grilled peaches, bok Choy and a light orange-colored peach sauce. Ice cream sundae for dessert.

Today we had a tour of the u.s. Capitol led by a fine young man who is an intern for senator Harkin. He’s also my son. That was fun. The new visitors center is a nice entryway. We loved all the wall paintings in the corridors. For lunch we had very good salads at sweet greens on a strip of restaurants behind the Capitol. It’s been a good trip.

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June 25, 2012 · 3:35 am

Eastern market, a dc treasure

What a great place to spend a sunny, no longer sweltering Saturday in june. We had a great time wandering around the market, sampling and then buying blueberries, peaches and plums at the outdoor stands and then eating crab cake sandwiches at a very popular counter inside the elegant old red brick market building. We also wandered around a flea market with some good stuff, past some interesting shops including one with great Turkish kilims And another with excellent gelato and sorbet (pitanyo?) the market is in a lovely old neighborhood just behind the Capitol with old brick row houses, some with turrets, wrought iron fences, lovely gardens, red brick walkways. I will be back!

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June 22, 2012 · 8:39 pm

Hot in dc but very cool at newseum

I usually last about two to  three hours at a museum but I had To force myself to leave after five hours at the newseum. My first visit and it’s nirvana for a news junkie and history buff. The building is gorgeous, with a spectacular view of the mall from the sixth floor balcony. Too many highlights to list but here are a few:

The 911 exhibit which includes a very powerful film with interviews with journalist who covered the bombing as the towers fell.

The Pulitzer prize photographs including interviews with some of the award winners about how thy got their winning shot, including a former dmregister colleague of mine.(it was fun to see several reporters I know pop up in one exhibit or another)

The selection of historic papers

Variousfilms on topics from women in journalism to anonymous sources.

I will definitely be back.

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June 19, 2012 · 6:36 pm

Where to eat in D.C.’s U Street Corridor

515 Florida Ave. NW, Washington DC 20001 | Tues – Sun 5:30pm-10pm, Closed Mondays

The recommendations are many:

My 20-something stepdaughter who lived in DC says her favorite is Cafe Saint Ex.
This from a friend’s 20-something son who lives in DC:
  • I would highly recommend this one Thai X-ing; http://www.thaix-ing.com/though $30 per person is a little pricey but it’s a ton of foodprix. it’s a small rowhouse with a mish mash of tables (though its gotten more professional as its gotten more popular)and the guy cooks you this amazing Thai mealwhich for $30 and BYOB is actually a pretty good deal.multicourse – the pumpkin curry is incredible”
  • Ethiopian is generally affordable and that area is known for that Dukem is good or Zenebech Injera, which is a little further away.
  • Busboys and Poets is also popular and interesting for the atmosphere but food is meh
The  NYTimes recommends: Local 16 (allegedly a Democratic hangout) and cork wine bar. (see below.)
… Head to the always hopping U Street Corridor, and plop yourself on a stool at Local 16 (1602 U Street NW; 202-265-2828; www.localsixteen.com), a popular Democratic hangout. There are multiple lounges and, best of all, a roof deck, where you can see the city lights while you sip your predinner watermelon martini. A lot of Democratic fundraisers habituate the place, so don’t be surprised if there’s a private party in one of the rooms.Have dinner a few blocks away at Cork Wine Bar (1720 14th Street NW; 202-265-2675; www.corkdc.com), which might have the best fries in town. The owners, Khalid Pitts and Diane Gross, are friends of Barack (well, Mr. Pitts is director of political accountability with the Service Employees International Union, which endorsed Mr. Obama, and Ms. Gross has worked with the Democratic political establishment for years). The menu includes both small and big bites, from marinated olives and cheeses to duck confit and sautéed kale. And for goodness’ sake, don’t forget those fries! They are tossed with garlic and lemon. In fact, order two helpings. Dinner for two with wine, around $60.

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