Brad Pitt Has Your Secret Shit: Rolling DC

had a couple beers at Jaleo in Crystal City the other day. Quite possibly the classiest place I've been to down thataway

Solid Filipino next to Enjera. Good Ethiopian at Skyline. Also Cafe Aurora is good, but I have trouble with what makes Eritrean different from Ethiopian (every Ethiopian I know says 'nothing' but you know). They opened a new Dama in Annandale and I've heard good things.

thanks. Just tried a different Ethiopian one at Skyline on George Mason-- in the back, and I've just spaced on the name. They had a sax player and keyboardist playing live during dinner hours. Good enough but not amazing food.

Was it Bati? That place has always been alright without blowing me away.

Enat on Beauregard was incredible once, then a little underwhelming the next time. They've recently only had Ethiopian injera, which is a little too salty and sour for my taste.

I have been to Bati which I used to love and is just alright and does have late night music on weekends I think (but sadly not anymore this great guitarist who is on an Ethiopiques compilation), but a place with its entrance in the back ---Balagger Restaurant & Market

I tried Enat once (admittedly after reading about the Washingtonian food critic taking the Post's Sietsema there) and it was solid but not incredible.

The Baby Wale is kind of totally overpriced but they're playing 100% go-go, huge space, and very decent beverage selection. Definitely going to be my new HH spot after I have shit to do at the convention center in the afternoon.

toxic leak from freight train

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/CSX-Train-Derails-Hazardous-Material-Leaking-377725691.html

tho not as toxic as the WH correspondents' dinner, amirite

Morbs, thought you would like the Larry Wilmore joke at the WH C Dinner that Obama was busy hanging out and having fun with Golden State Warrior Steph Curry because they both like raining down bombs from long distances

not bad

i saw/heard Larry Wilmore emcee a screening of The Parallax View a few months ago, and there are limits to his expertise.

http://www.washingtonian.com/2016/05/05/best-cheap-restaurants-in-washington-dc/

$25 or under places to take metro buses or uber to

They still like Ethiopian joints Enat and Ethiopic, plus a number of other places have been on their list for years. All still good? Or is Washingtonian getting lazy?

Finally made it to The Sovereign, for brunch. It was fantastic. Get the loaded fries.

https://www.washingtonian.com/2016/05/12/fort-reno-not-happening-2016-national-park-service-amanda-mackaye/

It looks like Fort Reno is NOT happening this year. I for one am bummed.

I know they've had logistical troubles before, but that is legitimately sad.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/washington-d-c-s-metro-catches-fire-more-than-four-times-a-week/

Hilarious

Sad.

Ft. Reno may happen per Bandwidth article that came out after Washingtonian one. Organizer Amanda just likes to take her time. Link is on the Capital Swamp thread on ilm

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CjPisDMWEAAvScp.jpg

noooooooo

nooooooooo

I'm still annoyed at how badly Shallal has fucked up Eatonville. There was a time when that place was our go-to brunch spot and we'd drag the in-laws there for dinner every time they came to town. The service and food quality had declined so much that we had high hopes for Mulebone but it's practically a self-parody, all the bad dumb ideas in one place. "Hey, what if we did chicken and waffles with a PANCAKE instead of the waffles?!?"

Maybe the chef that Shallal hired is to blame. I'm not a fan of W. Post reviewer Tom Sietsema, but back in March here's what he says in part, in his praise for the the new place--
he has hired Joseph Paire to take over the kitchen? An alumnus of Todd Gray’s Watershed in NoMa and Farmers Fishers Bakers in Georgetown, the chef, 33 and a District native, is cooking notches better than his résumé suggests.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/mulebone-review-with-a-new-chefs-help-andy-shallal-steps-up-his-game/2016/03/22/3797a6cc-e9f6-11e5-bc08-3e03a5b41910_story.html

It's not just that. The clothes for sale = weird. The dinner menu = buttered to death. The service: as bad as it ever was during the twilight of Eatonville. And this is a pet peeve, but Shallal needs to fire whomever is in charge of the beer sections of his menus. Busboys and Mulebone have taken to just listing the name of the brewery as if that tells you what you're getting, letting stuff get 86'd with no replacement, and suggesting the existence of a "seasonal" when there is actually no seasonal, just something that they don't have anymore. Seasonal empty tap. GTFOWTS,A

At least the Neal brothers can be bothered with the logistics, even if the tap menu kind of sucks (compared to the glory days of 2014) and keeps getting worse.

Sietsema slams Founding Farmers Restaurant and gives it zero stars, a rare thing for him.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/founding-farmers-review-where-the-biggest-temptation-is-to-leave/2016/06/01/76b2c844-204e-11e6-9e7f-57890b612299_story.html?platform=hootsuite&tid=a_inl

That was pretty savage. I assume their food is in fact edible, but Sietsema generally grades on performance relative to expectations - whether those expectations come from hype, reputation, popularity, or chef resume.

Architecture / DC code question: The building height restriction is the width of the facing street plus 20 feet, correct? So why is nobody building anything higher than 4 stories along Rhode Island Avenue NW? Went for a stroll this morning to check out what might be our future neighborhood and noticed that new construction seems to not be taking advantage.

street +20' is the maximum citywide but neighborhood zoning often further restricts this through FAR caps, additional height restrictions, etc.

Was going to post that Sietsema review - have always slightly amazed by the clueless raves that place gets

the Rinzler concert is pretty tempting this year. need to clone self.

Another Post food reviewer Tim Carman has the carryout and international ethnic beat. I loved the roti I had recently at Caribbean Palace (New Hampshire Ave on the Langly Park & Takoma Park , MD border) and have had in the past a few times; I see that Tim Carman liked it last year (although he seems to like Teddy's Roti Shop in DC more).

Sietsema only goes to places like this when Todd Kliman brings him there in an uber (read this awhile back in either Post or Washingtonian). Kliman is leaving Washingtonian but hasn't announced where he is going to.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/restaurants/at-caribbean-palace-a-no-frills-tour-of-west-indian-cuisine/2015/02/19/1c801fec-b390-11e4-886b-c22184f27c35_story.html

http://bandwidth.wamu.org/empty-seats-quiet-hearing-fight-over-union-arts-dissipates-as-artists-negotiate-exit/

hey DC people, this is super last minute but my brother's band Thaylobleu is having a CD release party at The Velvet Lounge tonight:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1091981960875283/

Also playing will be:

The Cornel West Theory
Laughing Man
Leftist

El Tomboto, Mulebone just fired the chef and the mixologist.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/going-out-guide/wp/2016/06/14/a-few-months-after-opening-mulebone-lays-off-its-chef/

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/arts/museums-galleries/blog/20782982/culturaldc-sells-flashpoint-gallery

Last remaining art gallery in Gallery Place hood is leaving

So yeah, this blew up on popville. what people think? http://www.popville.com/2016/06/well-this-is-depressing/

Honestly this kind of reminded me of that Blowfly song, you know the one.

(except Blowfly was being funny)

lots of clichés in that article. Poverty and crime and policing and good government issues and DC history are more complicated than that guy will acknowledge.

yeah and apparently the greatest political participation the author could muster is an anonymous open letter and moving his small business tax revenue to some undisclosed location that's definitely not DC. He also never actually tried to find out why things were/are bad and terrible, just allocates blame that suits his own bigotry.

The part re: Columbia Heights being evidently worse than it was when I lived there 11 years ago feels about right, sadly.

https://www.borderstan.com/2016/07/06/opinion-popville-op-eds-indictment-of-columbia-heights-difficult-to-agree-with/

ANC 1A chair Kent Boese, whose commission represents Columbia Heights:

My concerns with the District’s police force falls into two main areas 1) the decision a year ago by Chief Lanier to eliminate police district based plainclothes units with little forewarning or community input, and 2) our ability to train and maintain new recruits at a time when we have a significant number of police officers leaving or retiring.
The elimination of plainclothes officers stationed in our communities was a misstep that likely has more to do with MPD’s attrition rate than it does with the changing nature of crime. It was equally disheartening that our Councilmember’s response to concerned residents seeking a return of dedicated plainclothes officers was that of equating plainclothes policing with jump out squads. In conversations with beat officers, DC Police Union members, and the Office of the Attorney General, have all said that addressing the most problematic criminal behavior in our community has become more difficult since the elimination of the vice squads. This is particularly true with nuisance properties – places that can and do harbor drug dealers, illegal firearms, and prostitution.
MPD’s decreasing number of experienced officers is also concerning.

I saw Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon and other original Freedom Singers perform, 50 some years later, some of their civil rights anthems last night and talk about them, and it was very impressive and inspiring and occasionally sad and depressing(not the quality of the singing, but the subject matter talked about and sung about). The event at the Metropolitan AME Church in W. DC (where Frederick Douglas long ago once spoke) was part of the March on Washington Film and more Festival going on this week and next. Ysaye Barnswell, who was once in Sweet Honey in the Rock with Johnson Reagon, later did a version of "Wade in the Water" with "Black Lives Matter" in the lyrics. She can still emote powerfully too.

hot enough for ya all

u know it

Ugh, hate

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/city-desk/blog/20828698/congress-heights-tenants-plan-protest-against-developer

sad story that could have a happy ending but likely won't

Report: Dispute over Metrorail operator’s break almost resulted in a head-on collision

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/digger/wp/2016/07/28/before-construction-can-begin-cost-of-wizards-practice-facility-rises-10-million/

The 118,000-square-foot venue, designed by D.C.-based architects Rossetti and Marshall Moya, would have a minimum of 4,200 seats, down from 5,000 originally planned.

In an interview, O’Dell said the changes reflected a more realistic estimate of what it would take to build an entertainment venue capable of attracting concerts and other performances

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/housing-complex/blog/20829382/cost-of-taxpayerfunded-wizards-practice-facility-balloons-to-65-million

DAR Constitution Hall in DC and the Patriot Center(now Eaglebank Arena) are both about that size I think, and neither have that many concerts per year. Who are these folks kidding. Even if they get the circus, its still not many days. Wizards practices, Mystics games and a handful of other events for a lot of DC taxpayer money, that won't generate too many jobs or development.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/next-challenge-for-dc-police-chief--how-to-continue-community-engagement/2016/08/17/e4d2d7f0-646a-11e6-be4e-23fc4d4d12b4_story.html

Awww, I'm going to Nats v Os game Wed., which means I will miss DC architecture discussion that night at 7 at The Third Floor (above Slim’s Diner) in Petworth

I'll be part of that discussion!

I knew that, but wasn't sure if you wanted the millions who read this thread to have me signaling you out

So will a an oversized 7 story hotel really be better than a privately created ugly little plaza in Adams Morgan?