Category Archives: Penn Quarter

Essential DC, Penn Quarter, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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The Best of DC Shorts At The Navy Memorial

Photo courtesy of
‘Roll Film!’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

The best of the DC Shorts Film Festival in 2009 are being presented in a special double feature format this weekend at the U.S. Navy Memorial‘s Burke Theater (located at 701 Pennsylvania Ave, NW above the Archives Metro). There will be 90 minutes of film screened at a time, with a brief intermission, then 90 more minutes of shorts to watch following the intermission.

Tickets sold online are $15 for the night (which comes out to 88 cents per movie shown … not bad). Ticket sales at the door are CASH ONLY.

$3 Stella Artois will we available for purchase, all proceeds go to the DC Shorts Film Festival.

Don’t worry if you can’t make the Friday night showing, both nights will feature the same films. Tickets for Friday and Saturday are still available.

The event goes from 7:00 to 10:30 p.m. each night.

Food and Drink, Night Life, Penn Quarter, The Daily Feed
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Cuba Libre Coming to DC

Photo courtesy of
‘Mojito’
courtesy of ‘Katayun’

Philadelphia, Atlantic City and Orlando – now DC will get its own taste of Old Havana when Cuba Libre Restaurant & Rum Bar opens at 9th & H Streets NW this May. I’m particularly excited by this news as Cuba Libre is known for its large rum selection featuring over 75 Latin American varieties. Will this mean that the naysayers who are calling for the death of the mojito will be proven wrong? We’ll see, as Cuba Libre is also known for this summery cocktail with 15 variations to choose from… at the very least, I’ll be happy to sip a Cafe Cubano after dinner!

The food menu will be overseen by Chef Partner Guillermo Pernot, 2002 winner of the James Beard Award for Best Chef of the Mid-Atlantic Region. Concept chef for the Cuba Libre restaurants since 2006, he’s said to be inspired to create dishes as if Castro had never come to power. Indeed, that pretty much sums up the restaurant’s concept – to celebrate 1950’s Old Havana in every way. Continue reading →

Media, Penn Quarter, Special Events
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A Night at the Newseum: Nick Clooney Uses ‘Reel Journalism’ to Keep Us Up on the News

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Whether you’re Team Conan or Team Jay, one thing’s for certain — NBC didn’t mess up when they chose Brian Williams to be the face for NBC News. DC was treated to a gem of wit in journalistic proportions with the latest installment of “Reel Journalism with Nick Clooney.”

The series, started just over a year ago, was the brainchild of Distinguished-Journalist-in-Residence (for both the American University School of Communication and the Newseum), Nick Clooney.

That’s right — the man who brought us George Clooney is the same man responsible for ushering in a new era of journalistic integrity and understanding — as long as you get a ticket before they sell out.

Continue reading →

Adams Morgan, Alexandria, Arlington, Dupont Circle, Essential DC, Life in the Capital, Penn Quarter, Petworth, The Features, WTF?!
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Surviving the Next Snowpocalypse

Photo courtesy of
‘South Smithsonian Escalators’
courtesy of ‘william couch’

The DC area, this weekend, was something of a post-apocalyptic landscape. Driving down 395 on Saturday, one would have seen abandoned cars spun out at odd angles and their stranded drivers trudging towards some nameless help. Most residents stayed holed up in their homes, living off of the provisions they had dutifully stocked the day before. Basic commodities were impossible to come by and the majority of services simply shut down. As the snow storm abated, DC residents peered from their homes at the changed landscape, and painstakingly began the cleanup, trying to return to normality.

Ok, sure, that is a bit of an over-dramatization, but seriously, 395 did look like something out of 28 Days Later.  This snow, like any snow, threw into sharp relief how woefully unprepared DC area citizens are for wintry weather. So, as a northerner, I take it upon myself to save you all from yourselves before the next snowpocalypse.

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Adams Morgan, Alexandria, Arlington, Downtown, Dupont Circle, Essential DC, Foggy Bottom, Life in the Capital, Penn Quarter, Petworth, The Daily Feed, The Hill, The Mall
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Giving Map

Photo courtesy of
‘Salvation Army Christmas Give Away’
courtesy of ‘docentjoyce’

Continuing with our “Good Samaritan” theme, I now provide you with a means by which you may become said Samaritan.  Behold: the WaPo giving map.  This handy application maps out charities in the DC area and sorts them by type.  The list includes everything from homeless shelters, to non-profits for the arts, to religious charities.  So, in the spirit of the season, take a look at the map and find a place in your area that you’re willing to give time or money to.  Make someone’s holiday better.

Penn Quarter, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind

The Neo-Futurists in "Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind" at Woolly Mammoth. Photo credit: Colin Hovde

The Neo-Futurists in "Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind" at Woolly Mammoth. Photo credit: Colin Hovde

Thirty plays in sixty minutes. That’s the goal, anyway – a race against the onstage clock for five performers to present pieces based on their own life experiences. The catch? They have no idea what order the mini-plays will be performed. A long clothesline of hanging numbers lines the stage, and it’s up to the audience to determine the order by calling out the number on the spot. Frantically running into place, the actors launch into piece after piece as the clock ticks on. Some nights they make it, some they don’t. And at the end of every night, an audience member rolls a die to see how many plays get subbed out for new ones the next night.

A recipe for chaos? That’s the Neo-Futurists. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Penn Quarter, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: As You Like It

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The cast of the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, directed by Maria Aitken. Photo by Scott Suchman.

For the first thirty minutes of Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of “As You Like It,” I was entranced. The characters were on a journey through the history of American cinema, and the first scene’s send-up of a silent film had the audience delighted. Director Maria Aitken’s evocation of that era was perfect, from the stylized acting and Basil Rathbone-ish villians to the exquisite design elements. Then, we jumped ahead in time. She still had me with the move from Puritan England to Valley Forge America, the exiled duke and his men becoming George Washington and his ragtag soldiers.

But when we arrived at Tara and saw Scarlett O’Hara, my eyes began to hurt. By the end of some three hours of constant location and time changes through the Reconstruction, Wild West and up to a Busby Berkeley musical, I had a migraine. There was a faux movie director on stage occasionally calling “cut!” – but what this production really needed was a better editor.

I normally don’t object to Shakespeare productions that take sweeping liberties or use radical conceptualizations. After all, these are plays that have been done repeatedly for centuries, and they need a face-lift sometimes. But I do object when concepts don’t serve the purpose of the story. And this one, as beautiful as it is, does not.

It also must’ve cost a bundle, as one audience member muttered under her breath when a large neon sign shone for just one scene.

I don’t fault Aitken’s ambition, merely the execution. It’s a testament to her skill that the acting is top-notch. Continue reading →

Penn Quarter, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Full Circle

FULL_CIRCLE_-_M_Russotto,_S_Marshall,_D_Escobar,_J_Dukes,_credit_S_Barouh_8363

Michael Russotto, Sarah Marshall, Daniel Escobar, Jessica Frances Dukes in Woolly Mammoth's "Full Circle." Photo credit: Stan Barouh

Twenty years ago this week, the Berlin Wall fell. It seemed proof positive that an overwhelming force of people could make a change for good, a stand against government oppression, by sheer numbers and tenacity, forever dispelling the myth of public apathy. Still true?

Woolly Mammoth’s production of Charles L. Mee’s rather chaotic “Full Circle” pushes and pulls the audience, moving around multiple physical settings in an attempt to put you in that head space of the crowd at the falling of the Berlin Wall. Are we meant to be spectators or participants? Maybe both.

The play is a riff on the original Chinese myth of the chalk circle, which in turn inspired Bertolt Brecht’s “Caucausian Chalk Circle.” There are certainly Brechtian moments in this production. Brecht’s own Berliner Ensemble features in the play, with its later director Heiner Muller even a character. He’s performed by Woolly’s Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz. How’s that for full circle? It’s a classic piece of Brechtian detachment.

Do you need to know any of this deeper theatrical knowledge to enjoy the play? I’m not sure, because as I have that knowledge, it completely informed my experience. I have a feeling just as a participant in a crowd experiences different aspects, so will audience members here. Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Artist  – they’re all here. Every character is an archetype – we’ve even got Warren Buffet making a deus ex machina appearance!

Continue reading →

Food and Drink, Penn Quarter, The Daily Feed
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Mad Hungry? Hooks Books Event at Zola Fills You Up

Photo courtesy of
‘Artomatic 2009 Kerrin’s Appetizers’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

Zola Wine & Kitchen is hosting a Cookbook Author Series with this Thursday’s author being Lucinda Scala Quinn, formally the food editor of Martha Stewart Living Television.

On November 12 from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., the nationally renowned culinary author will discuss her new book, Mad Hungry: Feeding Men and Boys, and will offer culinary demonstrations.

Tickets are priced at $75 per person and include a copy of her new release, along with appetizers showcasing the published recipes and two glasses of wine per person. Guests for the evening also receive a 10% discount on wine purchases from its wine shop during the event. Continue reading →

Penn Quarter, The District, The Features
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Photowalking: Chinatown/Penn Quarter

Photo courtesy of
‘Scooter’
courtesy of ‘The Digital Story’

An intrepid group of 25 photographers met last night at the Friendship Arch in Chinatown to explore the neighborhood, take photos, and talk with visiting photo guru Derrick Story. It was a cool fall evening, but the light was good, and the company better still. Dig on deeper for the best of the bunch, or browse the whole tag at Flickr.

Continue reading →

Downtown, Food and Drink, Penn Quarter, Special Events, The Features
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Metropolitan Cooking & Entertaining Show: Paula Deen Brings the Butter

Paula Deen and Jon Ashton in LOL Theater

courtesy of The Tiny Kitchen

You thought I was kidding about the butter until you saw this picture…

Things have been a little crazy this fall, and I’ve been missing out on my usual weeknight and weekend HEAVY dosage of the Food Network. Alas, this weekend, I am excited to get some face time with my favorite stars, in addition to some DC super-chefs.

This Saturday and Sunday (November 7-8), the 2009 Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show is coming to the downtown convention center. For a $20 admission ticket, you can visit the showroom floor, a cooking demonstration or a knife skills class.

The show room floor will feature over 200 caterers, personal chefs, appliance manufacturers and party planners, but one of the true benefits of your General Admission ticket is access to the Tasting and Entertaining Workshops. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Night Life, Penn Quarter, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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VelocityDC Dance Festival

Image courtesy of VelocityDC

Image courtesy of VelocityDC

There are dance parties where you dance, and dance parties where you watch in awe. This Friday and Saturday for a paltry $15 you can do the latter at VelocityDC Dance Festival, where six companies will strut their stuff upon the stage of the Harman Center. It’s a wide variety – ballet, modern, flamenco, hip hop – with troupes such as The Washington Ballet, CityDance Ensemble, and Liz Lerman Dance Exchange presenting short pieces designed to introduce you to dance performance. 

Both nights start with a special street performance at 5:30pm called “Bodies in Urban Space,” which will move from the Navy Memorial through Penn Quarter to the Harman.  Stage performances begin at 7:30pm. Meet the dancers afterwards at the bars of the Harman to chat them up about their profession, one of the most grueling and athletic of the performing arts. 

And if that weren’t enough, Saturday will also feature a 10pm cabaret with performers like Furia Flamenca and Capital Movement Project, followed by DJ Ian Knight spinning in the Harman lounges. 

So, $15 for poetry in motion. Not bad.

Essential DC, Food and Drink, Penn Quarter, The Features, We Love Food
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Post-Restaurant Week Deals

Photo courtesy of
‘Indigo Landing Sunset’
courtesy of ‘needlessspaces’

Summer Restaurant Week came and went this year without much fanfare. Some of my friends said they hadn’t even heard about it. I’m usually uber-competitive about it, but this year I barely blinked. I don’t know what it was. Maybe it was the extra five dollars tacked on to the normal price, but mostly, I feel like it was the fact that in the middle of this recession you can get better deals all year round for the same or less than the $35 price tag that comes with Restaurant Week. To prove my point, I checked out a selection of Restaurant Week favorites, and came up with a hefty list of regular all-the-time prixe fixe menus at some of the area’s best eateries. You can eat at some of a DC’s foodies favorites if you’re willing to do a little leg work, or eat a bit on the early side.

Most of my favorite places in Chinatown and Penn Quarter, especially, do pre-theater menus. You usually have to arrive before 7 p.m., but that’s perfect for an after-work dinner date. Or, alternately, head to some of these places for lunch, where you can grab otherwise super pricey food for cheap. The other option is to saunter up to the bar at some of the city’s best, where you snag some of the same dining room meals for less.

When compiling this post, I wanted to stick with full meals here (for happy hours, refer to my fried happy hour food and healthy happy hour food posts) and so I only feature full meals offered at the bar for less than $35. So, foodie, there are ways to eat your way through the city for less all year long, you just have to be smart about it! Continue reading →

Downtown, Dupont Circle, Penn Quarter, The Features
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The City’s Best Places to Hang Out

Photo courtesy of
‘Hanging Out’
courtesy of ‘Karon’

There’s something about the steps to the National Portrait Gallery that attracts people to take a seat. Is it a great meeting spot between the metro and a Chinatown/Gallery Place attraction? Or is it a shaded place in the afternoons and evenings for you to relax and people-watch?

As the weather cools (and the DC humidity simmers down), what other places in DC might you congregate where there’s really nothing to see? Here are a few of the best random places in the city to hang out. Continue reading →

Downtown, History, Monumental, Penn Quarter, The Mall
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Monumental: Freedom Plaza

Photo courtesy of
‘Freedom Plaza’s Mini Scale’
courtesy of ‘CathyLovesDC’

“Put yourself in the map”. That’s what I always tell my friends when they’re feeling turned around and lost. But not everyone has the appreciation for maps that I do, which is why I was so excited that I could literally put myself in the map at Freedom Plaza, and maybe take a friend or two with me to show them how it’s done.

Located just east of the White House at 14th and Penn between the Ronald Reagan building and the National Theatre, Freedom Plaza is one of those places in DC that you’ve probably already been to and never really noticed. The first time I was there was for the “Light the Night” walk for blood cancers which used the plaza as the basecamp for the start of the walk. It was dark out, and I had that feeling of: “This is probably somehow important – I mean it IS in the heart of Washington – but I can’t really tell in the dark.”

Different colored stones and brass inlays create a smooth, flat, and rectangular depiction of L’Enfant’s plan. The layout, the inscriptions, and the history are subtle and easily missed – unless you know why you’re there. Similarly, ironically shaped patches of grass stand out as awkward additions to the plaza until you realize they symbolize the National Mall.

Continue reading →

Downtown, Penn Quarter, The Features, Where We Live
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Where We Live: Penn Quarter

Photo courtesy of
‘Penn Quarter’
courtesy of ‘M.V. Jantzen’

Another two weeks, another neighborhood!  This week we’ll be looking at the neighborhood at the center of it all: Penn Quarter. This neighborhood encompasses much of the downtown/Chinatown area north of Pennsylvania between 5th Street NW and 9th Street NW.  It’s a neighborhood that changed a lot in the past decade, seeing as it didn’t really exist before the 1990s.

History: This neighborhood is once again the heart of downtown DC, but up until recently it went through a pretty rough patch.  Because of its central location, the area was the hub of activity in the city up through the mid-twentieth century. Theaters, department stores, streetcar lines, restaurants, offices– this was the heart of the city (check out Washington Kaleidoscope’s Lost Washington series for historic photographs of the area).  But the streetcar lines were torn out, theaters were shuttered, and department stores closed their doors when the population base of the city escaped to the suburbs in the 1950s and 1960s.  Apparently President Kennedy commented on the sad state of this part of Pennsylvania Avenue during his inauguration, and in 1962 the President’s Council on Pennsylvania Avenue was established.

The President’s Council proposed a number of redevelopment projects in the area (including plans for a Freedom Plaza that would have rivaled the size of Moscow’s Red Square), and in 1972 the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation (PADC) was founded to guide the redevelopment.  The PADC got a lot of things done: the Federal Triangle area was redeveloped and the Ronald Reagan Building was completed, the Canadian embassy was built, and a bunch of new mixed-use projects were undertaken in the Penn Quarter area.  The MCI Center (now Verizon Center) was a crowning achievement for the area when it opened in 1997.  With its sports events and concerts, it attracted restaurants and stores to locate in the area.  After the first stage of retail development, new downtown housing was built throughout the area, thus creating the neighborhood of Penn Quarter.  Today, the area is the most vibrant and active of the District’s neighborhoods– it’s hard to believe that fifteen years ago, it was considered to be an abandoned and dangerous part of town.

Continue reading →

Downtown, Penn Quarter, The Daily Feed
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Hopes for Shaw and Penn Quarter Revitalization with New Convention Center Marriott


‘look up’
courtesy of ‘NCinDC’

If you’ve wandered around downtown at all recently, you can’t help but notice the dichotomy of the Shaw-bordering-Penn Quarter neighborhood: the new Sexy Safeway and the upcoming Buddha Bar sandwiching a dismal and run-down street where police find their fair share of activity. You can’t help but wonder when all the vacant NEW buildings will be filled, let alone who is going to take care of the aforementioned pockets of gloom.

Well, there seems to be some good news. After a decade of discussions dating from 1998, DC’s City Council finally voted to approve $206 million in public money to help fund one of only three Marriott Marquis hotels in the world across the street from the Convention Center at 9th and Massachusetts. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, Interviews, Life in the Capital, Penn Quarter, People, The Features
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She Loves DC: Jill Zimorski

jill and wine

Jill rushes up to greet me wearing a bright green cardigan and a cute black Ann Taylor dress. (I know, because I have it in pink!) She’s not what you expect in someone whose credentials boast “Certified Sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers” and “has completed the Advanced Certificate Course offered through the Wine Spirits and Education Trust.” Jill just looks like she could be any of my girlfriends, but with a totally rockin’ day job – beverage director for Café Atlantico, the popular Penn Quarter eat place that hides Minibar. She’s been with Jose Andres since 2006, and seen Cafe Atlantico through quite a bit. We sat down to talk about my favorite subject – DC, paired with my other favorite subject – food and wine. (Heavy on the wine, given Jill’s passion!)

Me: Name the best part of DC in your opinion?
Jill: I think it would have to be the endless variety of people who you can meet, and what you can do here. My list of things I want to do is long, and some of it you can do on your own and other things with friends. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Essential DC, Food and Drink, Life in the Capital, Night Life, Penn Quarter, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Washingtonian Best Of Party In Review

Washingtonian Best Of Party 2009

Young Washington was out in full force last night at the 2009 Washingtonian Best Of party. Packed to the gills with preppy twentysomethings, DC’s best restaurants put on a show in the National Building Museum. Open bar, small samples from nearly 100 restaurants, we were certainly busy making the rounds. Who shone? Who flopped? Who ran out of food? Who hugged me? Click on through to find out. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, Life in the Capital, Night Life, Penn Quarter, Special Events, The Features
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Second Look: W Hotel Washington (Now, With Pictures!)

Photo courtesy of
‘P7130052’
courtesy of ‘needlessspaces’

Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s green eyes flash with amusement as I launch into a tirade of questions about the DC food scene. Jean-Georges is holding a plate of appetizers during a tray-pass reception at the downstairs Wine Bar at the W Hotel Washington. I’ve captured his attention for a few minutes, battling other reporters and bloggers with notepads and cameras out, much like myself.

“So with all the celebrity chef steakhouses in DC, what sets yours apart?” I ask coyly. “Only half our menu is steak,” he responds quickly, “and our appetizer list is like a best-of from all my restaurants.” “So why DC, what made you choose DC?” I ask. “My relationship with the W, they approached me, it seemed like a fit,” Hmm, I thought, I wonder how he views DC, if this wasn’t a concept he came up with on his own. “So the DC food scene, has it arrived or is it on it’s way?” I ask. “Oh, Komi rivals any restaurant in New York!” Vongerichten responds, making a plug for his old friend from France. And suddenly Jean-Georges has a second reporter touching his arm and he is pulled in another direction. He shoots me a grin, and with that he’s off. (He returns later to pointedly offer me a mini-mini burger, only to dash off again.)

And so there I am, in the crowded basement of the W, sipping cocktails, ruminating on the hotel and making conversation. I’m here to try all of Vongerichten’s food, but also to check out the scene on the deck at POV, attempting to answer all the questions Jenn asked in We Love DC’s first post about the W, written when Jenn visited before it opened. What is the scene going to be? Jenn pondered, saying it will only be answered when the bar is filled with people. And last night, it certainly was full to the brim with all kinds of people, food and fanfare. Continue reading →