Category Archives: The Daily Feed

Food and Drink, Life in the Capital, News, The Daily Feed
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The Bar @ The Daily Grill

Photo courtesy of Mr. T in DC
Rocket Bar Flickr Meetup
courtesy of Mr. T in DC

This week The Daily Grill, a Dupont/Golden Triangle lunch time locale and one of numerous area chain restaurants, unveiled a new bar and menu. While the layout of the bar, a U-shape, hasn’t changed, there’s been a dramatic change in decor that has erased the bordering on diner-ish feel, and replaced it with a more relaxed, yet upscale setting.

Beverage wise they’ve kept the delicious Wild Berry Mojito and expanded their on-tap offerings with brews from Shipyard and 21st Amendment, all a good decision if you ask me. Their revamped bar food menu mirrors the style and flavoring you’ll get at the restaurant. The only drawback to the menu is that many of the options are messy and not as finger-friendly as one would like bar food to be.

Another facet of the redesign that may be problematic is the limited space between the bar and the surrounding tables, which makes traffic flow extremely difficult when the bar gets crowded. All in all, the new Daily Grill bar and their happy hour is definitely worth a try if you work or live in the area.

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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DCCK’s Hosts 9th Annual Capital Food Fight

Photo courtesy of bonappetitfoodie
Chef Haidar Karoum wins Capital Food Fight
courtesy of bonappetitfoodie

Four chefs, three judges, two hosts, 60 restaurants and three hours of a throw down, showdown all add up to one of the biggest food events of the year: DC Central Kitchen’s Capital Food Fight.

This year’s lineup of competing chefs include Jeffrey Buben of Vidalia, Enzo Fargione of Elisir, Guillermo Pernot of Cuba Libre Restaurant and Rum Bar and Adam Sobel of Bourbon Steak. And they’ll all be judged by a food celebrity panel with Padma Lakshmi, Carla Hall and Andrew Zimmern. For repeat guests, you’ll recognize the hosting duo from years past: Jose Andres and Anthony Bourdain. And of course, it’s all for a great cause–raising money for DCCK’s initiatives such as their Culinary Job Training program, as well as that their meal program that prepares 5,000 meals daily for homeless shelters, transitional homes and other nonprofit organizations.

We Love DC’s food editor, yours truly, will be live-tweeting throughout this year’s Capital Food Fight, so follow along with me @bonappetitfoodi.

Tickets are $200 per person, which gets you drinks and tastings from 60 restaurants participating. The 2012 Capital Food Fight is on Monday, October 8th at 6 PM at the Ronald Reagan Building.

Entertainment, Music, The Daily Feed
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Hot Ticket: Gotye @ Merriweather, 9/30/2012

photo courtesy of Gotye

Australian artist Gotye performs live at Merriweather Post Pavilion this Sunday, September 30th! Tickets are still available via  Ticketfly. Opening the night will be Missy Higgins and Jonti. Gates open at 5:30pm, show at 7pm.

Gotye gained attention in the US with his single “Somebody That I Used To Know“, featuring Kimbra, which rose to the #1 slot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.  He is currently on US tour in support of his newest album, Making Mirrors.

The Daily Feed
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Is DC government services’ technological capability from aprox 1987?

Photo courtesy of Newsum Antiques
abacus
courtesy of Newsum Antiques

If you’ve finished laughing from Ron Linton’s assertion that the Taxicab Commission can’t just put up these documents in online places for folks to view because they can’t find the storage space for them, here’s another one: the DC police won’t release the 911 call from the FRC shooting because they don’t “have the technological capabilities to modify the audio recording” necessary to provide the caller sufficient anonymity.

Let me help you out, aspiring DC government audio engineers. Since you don’t want to google “free audio editing software” I’ll just suggest you use Audacity. It’s free and runs on Windows and Mac computers and has existed for a decade or so. You’ll need a machine running at least Windows XP or 2000 – I’m assuming that you’re a mostly Windows operation – which means you need to sift through your hardware and only use stuff from the last 11 years. I bet there’s one or two around.

Now, if you really mean that you just don’t want to, despite your repeated claims that locking us all out of the radio systems won’t be an issue because you’re going to keep us all informed and stick to your quality past of openness and legal honor, well, that’s a little more believable.

By the way Mr Linton: if you can’t find the amount of storage space for your various proposals on DC servers (you know, the amount that sells for about $5 in blister packs at the checkout aisle of Best Buy) then you could try something like Scribd. They seem willing to host other DC government generated documents but perhaps you don’t like the company they’d keep, like this one about how people rank DC taxi service fair or poor (78%) and worse than other cities (69%).

Or maybe Mary Cheh could change her baffled acceptance of that nonsense excuse to a suggestion of using Scribd, given that it’s her office that uploaded the above document…

The Daily Feed
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Win a Pair of Tix to the All Roads Film Festival

Recontre (Encounters) (Photo courtesy Mélanie Carrier and Olivier Higgins via National Geographic)

In case you missed it over the weekend, National Geographic is giving our readers a few pairs of tickets to any film showing during this year’s All Roads Film Festival. Peruse the list and make a note in the comments section which film appeals to you. We’ll be randomly drawing a few winners tomorrow afternoon!

The Daily Feed
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Nats Defense Blinded By The Sun, Brewers Win 6-2

Photo courtesy of randomduck
Curlicew “W” in the outfield
courtesy of randomduck

Defensive miscues in the outfield due to a standard case of sun-in-the-eyes came back to to haunt the Nats. That coupled with relieve pitcher Ryan Mattheus’ performance in the seventh inning Sunday afternoon’ is what lost Washington the game 6-2 versus Milwaukee. While it wasn’t a particularly poor outing for Mattheus, the Brewers mounted a three-run rally in the seventh that the Nats couldn’t come back from.

The game’s starter, Chien-Ming Wang, had a better day on the mound than his line (and the game’s results) indicate. Wang pitched four innings, giving up eight hits and two earned runs while striking out two over 69 pitches (47 strikes). Manager Davey Johnson was happy with the starter’s performance going on to say that could even see Wang getting at least one more start this season. Though, that is still to be determined.

During the hours of 2 and 3 p.m. a blinding light called the sun peers over the stadium façade directly into the eyes of center and right field. This is something that rookie outfielder Bryce Harper is still getting used to – he had a couple gaffs in the field due to losing fly balls mid-air. He’s still learning out there, Johnson said, but Harper wasn’t alone in his struggles. Continue reading →

Music, The Daily Feed
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Hot Ticket: Kizzlepaloosa: A Tribute to KT Robeson @ Rock and Roll Hotel, 9/23/12

Photo courtesy of dcjasmine
Setting up at Rock and Roll Hotel
courtesy of dcjasmine

A bunch of local bands and DJs come together Sunday night to celebrate the life of KT Robeson, a wonderful lady who sadly passed away far too early in July, at the Rock and Roll Hotel. KT held several jobs in the nightlife industry and she made a lot of friends there, some of whom play in some very good bands in the DC indie rock scene. You can check out a lot of them at one time for a good price at Kizzlepaloosa, a terrifically goofy name for a showcase that captures the spirit and sarcasm espoused by the famously kindhearted Ms. Robeson.

I personally want to highlight the participation of hardcore punk band Supreme Commander, fronted by Crushing Boo, who worked closely with KT for many years around DC. Supreme Commander’s pounding guitars and booming vocals carry on the best traditions of DC hardcore in the fashion of Bad Brains and Government Issue. Meanwhile, Educated Consumers, featuring my lyrical pal Seez Mics and mixmaster Jay Bombbeat, perform surprisingly warm and wry rap songs in a style similar to classic hip hop bands like the Beastie Boys or De La Soul.

Other bands and DJs performing include Darkest Hour, Nihilitia, Flex Matthews, Ardamus, DJ Seth B, DJ Big Nick, DJ Todd Mack and DJ Keenan.

Tickets for this all-ages show at the Rock and Roll Hotel are $12. They are available online or at the door Sunday night. Doors open at 7pm; performances start at 7:30pm. Money from the door and part of the bar sales go to the ASPCA.

The Daily Feed
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Nationals split twin bill with Dodgers, near post-season clinch

Photo courtesy of MudflapDC
Nats vs. Astros-0557
courtesy of MudflapDC

If you’d told me in March that the Nats would win their 90th game on September 19th, I might’ve laughed at you. Instead, the Nationals showed tonight why they remain atop the NL East, and why they have the best record in baseball. They’re a club that battles and can beat you with each and every one of the players on their roster.

Tonight, the Nationals won their 90th game in the first half of the doubleheader at Nationals Park tonight, sewing up a 3-1 victory to give Jordan Zimmermann his 11th win of the season. Harang made it just four and a third, surrendering 7 hits and 2 walks, and the Nats managed to manufacture a pair of runs before sending him to the showers.  Jordan Zimmermann was impressive through 6 full innings and 106 pitches.  Danny Espinosa, back in the lineup after a cortisone shot, went 2 for 4 on the night.

Continue reading →