Brad Pitt Has Your Secret Shit: Rolling DC

I can't not surreptitiously read the to-do list of the woman next to me, which includes 'Whole Foods/Safeway' with 'Safeway' crossed out, 'Personal development', and 'Tweets'.

lololol

Berger cookies from Baltimore are yummy

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/baltimore-storied-berger-cookies-come-to-washington/2012/04/17/gIQAVMpbTT_allComments.html?ctab=all_&#comments

By Andrew Reiner, Published: April 19

My wife, Liz, and I had been living near Silver Spring a few months when we attended one of her good friend’s dinner parties last summer in Dupont Circle. Like many of Liz’s friends who live in or near Washington, this woman slams pretty much anything — music, people, stores — that smacks of mainstream American culture. Especially food.

Back in my native Baltimore, where I’ve lived for much of my life, Berger cookies top the guest list at dinner gatherings, ranging from picnic table crab feasts to white-linen fetes. The groom’s cake at my wedding? Berger cookies. But no one at this dinner party featuring crepes drizzled in truffle oil had ever seen a Berger, with its trademark Himalayan mound of chocolate frosting. In all fairness, until very recently, the Berger had been practically synonymous with Baltimore.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/baltimore-storied-berger-cookies-come-to-washington/2012/04/17/gIQAVMpbTT_story.html

Other link was to the comments

haha I think truffle oil is more of a "mainstream American culture" food item than Berger cookies

To a city where blue-collar culture and ethos mesh with a thriving underground music scene, this “chocolate helmet” means a cookie with little patience for restraint for restraint’s sake.

oh my god, worst Post culture writer since Monica Hesse

hahaha

i hate impatient cookies

He's a guest writer:

Andrew Reiner teaches freshmen writing at Towson University and is presently
teaching creative writing and literature, as well, in the Honors College

Berger cookies are not mainstream because of lack of distribution while truffle oil is still mainly at gourmet shops. [does google search for truffle oil and walmart and comes up with hits]. Oops, maybe you're right

“What they’re doing with their money is not necessarily buying a $40,000 Vuitton bag,” said Aba Bonney Kwawu, president of the Aba Agency, a public relations firm that specializes in high-end retailers. “They’re spending their money on private school tuition and taking the whole family to Greece.’’

That's a relief. That's from the article in the Washington Post the other day on DC area 1 %ers.

spending their money on boring suits and tickets to the Kennedy Center Honors

the private school only approach sadly helps them isolate themselves from others who may never be able to take advantage of the tax breaks and deductions and such that help rich Washingtonians maintain their status

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/lanier-three-violent-attacks-in-northwest-potentially-linked/2012/04/26/gIQAM4w9jT_story.html

Possible link between three random assaults (one fatal) in Petworth this week; police advising residents not to walk around alone. The neighborhood (where I live) is completely crawling with cops tonight.

Friend near petworth asked me to walk her from bus stop first time ever, had wondered what that was abt.

Cynthia Connolly photo opening at Civilian Arts Friday 7 to 9 and this at the Hirshhorn:

ilxor Geeta on a panel at the the Hirshhorn friday: A symposium inside the museum Friday will feature Aitken, David Allin, Aaron Betsky, Geeta Dayal, Sasha Frere-Jones, Dean Kuipers, and Zabet Patterson.

Outside will be: this Friday's "Happening"—for which the museum will turn off the soundtrack to the massive installation and allow a handful of Pitchfork and Wired-approved acts to perform—now has a full lineup. Geologist and the pair of Tim McAfee Lewis and Leo Gallo will perform along with High Places, No Age, Oneohtrix Point Never, and Nico Jaar.

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/visual-arts/2012/05/08/song-1-extended-at-the-hirshhorn-and-geologist-added-to-this-fridays-happening/

― curmudgeon, Tuesday, May 8, 2012 2:59

x-post-sadly does not look like any police updates re those Petworth incidents

huh? they arrested a guy pretty quickly. I haven't heard anything since then, so I presume he hasn't been let go.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/michael-davis-held-without-bond-in-petworth-hammer-attacks-5th-victim-comes-forward/2012/04/28/gIQAhFGFoT_story.html

Oh, missed that. Thanks

Are Taylor's Gourmet's hoagies any good? Obama went there yesterday as part of a small business initiative

Chuck Brown news disccussed on other dc music and gogo and obit threads

yeah, taylor's real great - get there early before they inevitably run out of bread a couple hours before closing

new mural up already

http://www.princeofpetworth.com/2012/05/chuck-brown-remembered-in-petworth/

Sietsema's spring dining guide(he returns to and looks again at 15 fave places of his) is out in the Washington Post magazine
http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/best-bets/dining-guide/dining-guide-spring-2012,102675.html

I heard a radio ad for the Washingtonian June Cheap Eats issue on WTOP radio (do not think it is online yet)

The Cubanos at Fast Gourmet aren't bad, but I do not think I will race back there quickly for another

have you had the chivito?

No. I'm so dumb. The owners are from Uraguay, so that is probably the sandwich to have.

yeah - i thought the cubano was ok, but the chivito was really something else

Still haven't read Sietsema's spring guide. City Paper has a new restaurant critic who is focussing on uh, restaurant openings and news, rather than reviews

yeah, i dunno how that's going to work out - there are plenty of blogs covering that ground already. she seems to be posting with pretty good frequency already though - it can't be a bad thing for eater dc to have some competition

to continue SANDWICH CHAT i finally swung by the pepe truck today - i don't know if the pollo frito was totally worth $10 but it was fucking delicious

I liked the chivito OK, but it was not my favorite sandwich ever. I'm a fan of Taylor Gourmet over Fast Gourmet so far, but I have more I need to eat at Fast.

FAST GOURMET is overrated because it's in a gas station. The sandwiches are very good but nobody would be going apeshit over them if it was just a storefront selling $14 chivitos.

Taylor used to be very good but now it isn't. Still a great meatball sub though.

Can't really think of a local chain I love - plenty of alright ones but nothing amazing (Taylor, Matchbox, Sweetgreen, Busboys, etc)

Hmm have not had Taylor recently; I am sad if it has gone downhill.

Actually, I've had great sandwiches at the Jetties Express on Macomb St. in CP. Also good salads and an excellent brownie. Ice cream is totally midling, as are the cupcakes. But the tart frozen yogurt is very good (I'm very picky about my tart frozen yogurt).

I go to Sundevich like once a week nowadays. Great sandwiches.

^ right on

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/visual-arts/2012/06/04/corcoran-gallery-considers-selling-building-moving-elsewhere/

Huh?

Hmmmmm

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/42814/dcs-most-valuable-restaurants/

City Paper likes Sundevich and still sorta kinda likes Taylor

Sally Quinn always makes me laugh. She's still (albeit, indirectly) moaning that the Obamas aren't hanging with her social circle

Washington has become a community of small groups of people, mostly staying within their circles, occasionally making a foray out into the bigger world to large events, only to be turned off by the endless corporate “fundraiserness” of it all. How special can you feel when you know you have to pay to go to an event and then get a bad seat on top of that?

Could it be that the Obamas, not knowing Washington, think that’s all there is to the social life here? Who wouldn’t want to stay away? On the other hand, he is the president of the United States and, whether he likes it or not, the leader of social as well as political Washington.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/sally-quinn-announces-the-end-of-power-in-washington/2012/06/07/gJQA6iTcMV_story_1.html

hope mitt will party suitably

Sure, picking on Sally Quinn is easy, but I really like this jibe below from Jonathan Chait at New York magazine:

When assessing Quinn’s sense of the Lost Eden of Washington, we should also have a firmer sense of what the culture was actually like. Here is one scene from Quinn’s inculcation into the Washington elite:

Washington writer Sally Quinn told of a 1950s reception where: “My mother and I headed for the buffet table. As we were reaching for the shrimp, both of us jumped and let out a shriek. Senator Strom Thurmond, grinning from ear to ear, had one hand on my behind and the other on my mother’s. As I recall, we were both quite flattered, and thought it terribly funny and wicked of Ol’ Strom.”

Once Washington was a happy place where a girl and her mother could be groped simultaneously in good fun by a white supremacist. Sadly, it has all been ruined by Kim Kardashian and Ezra Klein.

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/06/sally-quinn-forced-to-dine-with-non-fake-friends.html

According to one slide, "Question #12: Tell us more about the consultants," the Corcoran has paid $2.1 million to consultants to analyze the mechanics and identity of the museum and college.

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/visual-arts/2012/06/15/the-corcorans-2-1-million-question/#more-74230

That's a lot of money for a place with financial problems, and that money still has not given them good data or options.

Oh my god Sally Quinn

more like SILLY Quinn

Washingtonian's Cheap Eats 2012 is available (June issue, a fair amount of clicking required online right now to get it, I think). They define "cheap" as $25 a person!

people be mad about this rush+ shit

my mother was complaining. "the blue line now takes 6 minutes instead of 3...and it was really packed!"

oh hey, btw my wife and I will be in town 27th - 1st

FAP!!

we are busy on the 27th and have several other ppl to visit but yeah, I was totally thinking FAP

awesome! the 29th and 30th will be tricky for me but otherwise i'm free