Image: Like the swallows…
Dearest Gentle Reader, welcome back to our recap of dining news and updates to our site. We have gone to a monthly schedule of postings instead of weekly. We will see if this works. It did provide some extra time to do a few more posts, as noted below on our site updates. So, thank you for joining us. Shall we proceed? Let’s…
Updates to D.C. Recommended Restaurant List
Added:
Chicatana – With a large collection of tequila and mezcal, and better than you would expect food, this dive-y spot can hang with the big dogs on 14th Street.
Saya Salteña – Bolivian street food that is not far from many offices, the Mall, and your thoughts of soupy empanadas.
La Casina – Roman-style flatbread with great ingredients.
Revisited:
Laos in Town – In a time when fun, distinct, neighborhood spots are under pressure, a reminder that this place is great and even better when the weather warms up.
Beau Thai – Reliably good Thai in two spots.
Greek Deli – The lunch spot remains a great value. The next time you think of complaining about fees or inflation, get in line and get three meals worth of food for under $30.
Temporary Closures:
Green Almond Pantry – The wonderful Mediterranean fast casual spot on Grace Street closed to do some renovations and expanding.
Maiz64 got hit by a fire, temporarily closed. What is it with fires these days?
Comings & Goings:
Speaking of fires, Reverie reopened, now doing a tasting menu format.
Morgana, the plucky Italian spot in Adams Morgan has closed. This follows another closing of a spot that tried to do Italian somewhere between simple pasta joint and fancy, Quattro Osteria. At the same time there are several recent or pending openings of restaurants trying to fill a similar place on the spectrum: San Matteo, the Palisades spot …, Bar Del Monte in Mt. Pleasant, Cucina Morini (in the Nicoletta space), and Ama from Hellrigl and Wilder. Not to mention the Red Hen team’s new restaurant in Maryland Aventino… If the last couple years has been the new French wave, prepare for Italian!
Related, the great Sospeso on H Street announced it is closing April 7. Also on H Street, Stable will rollover from its unique (for D.C.) Swiss menu to steak frites. We wish them well.
Sharbat also announced they are closing.
Brasserie Beck closed. You could feel it coming but it still sucks. On the upside Marcel’s celebrated 25 years.
D.C. Dining News
The Emerging (Local) Economy:
The big news, especially for the greater Chinatown area, is the prodigal return (though they never left) of the Wizards and Caps, where the Waldorf bar played a role. “It was the first of several meetings, in the same place, on the same couch, that ultimately helped Bowser lure Leonsis back as his plans in Virginia started to unravel.” One impact of the deal might be the Daikaya team streateries on 6th.
If an ice cream place can’t make it at Navy Yard… Jeni’s closes. Laura Hayes does not forget. (“Three of the four ice cream shops City Paper interviewed share something in common beyond a commitment to sourcing quality local ingredients: Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams opened a shop within one-tenth of a mile of Ice Cream Jubilee’s T Street NW location; one-tenth of a mile of Dolcezza’s Bethesda location; and one-tenth of a mile of Nicecream’s Alexandria location.”)
Taco City asks to order through their website for takeout. An idea that might catch on?
Compensation:
Jessica Sidman does yeoman work reporting on restaurant fees. What is interesting is that the story that frames the piece hinges on rent costs more than labor. When the owner of The Runaway scrapped fees in the face of whining, she was about to give up. “Then a small miracle happened: Lilyea’s landlord told her he would reduce her rent. Lilyea cried happy tears.” Sidman does capture the battle to define the villain. For restaurants it is I-82. For the I-82 advocates, it is the restaurants. One question never really answered in these pieces is how much of the labor increase was I-82 and how much was increased labor costs and inflation in general that hit at the same time? For all the rending of garments and gnashing of teeth, the fundamentals never changed for diners: Tip 20%. Always. More if you are inclined. If the restaurant gets you there with a 20% charge (or 22% to reflect the taxable nature of fees), then you’re good. If not, make up the difference.
Sidman touches on the fact the Council has largely been absent in dealing with the issue. They did look at speeding up implementation (get to service fees faster?) but did not make the most obvious adjustment, to make service fees non-taxable. Barred in DC did some summarizing of the proposals. Ultimately, they balked at anything significant. Washingtonian’s summary after passage.
The Times did a story on the current state of play with regards to I-82 and related issues, but it is a frustrating read that is full of anecdotes and little data. It does more highlighting than enlightening.
Food & Community:
The passing of a Capitol Hill restaurant owner, brought into relief the community he had built. Henry Mendoza of La Plaza started as a dishwasher “at Las Placitas, on Barracks Row. Eventually, he saved up enough money—and expertise—to launch La Plaza.”
Drink
The abstinence history of some of the groups tied to the WHO’s strong stance against alcohol consumption is traced by Felicity Carter, who focuses on these groups but notes along the way that part of the problem was the EU’s policymaking had been captured by industry to the point it lost support of public health professionals, opening the door for more absolutist voices. Interestingly, she also notes an EU advocate for the wine industry’s approach to dealing with the scrutiny. “Sanchez Recarte believes the way forward is to talk about wine as an integral part of the Mediterranean diet, acknowledged as the world’s healthiest. He also thinks it’s important to talk about wine as an artisanal product from a particular time and place, made by specific people. “This brings the idea of culture,” he said. “If you look at the strategies of the NGOs, they are talking about the ‘alcohol industry,’ which is something tedious.” Finally, he says, wine people must not join forces with other alcohol sectors, to avoid the accusation that wine is part of Big Alcohol.” Wine is trying to be the cigars of the alcohol industry, distinct from spirits and beer as cigars are from cigarettes and dip. But Sanchez Recarte also tips his hand as to the real problem in framing. The health risks are no longer just liver and heart problems (associated with heavy drinking), it is the cancer and other risks associated with even moderate levels.
The S.F. Chronicle notes the problem (with requisite social media hook) younger people see alcohol as poison (paywall). Is the weed industry seeding this? Just asking. They also run a story about how Covid might reduce tolerance.
Perhaps related, there is a glut of grapes and overcapacity in the wine sector.
How to improve vineyard health with technology? “While the recent “more land than hand” movement has served as a much-needed correction to several decades of over-industrialized wine farming and making, the pressures of climate change are making winemakers reconsider the merits of certain forms of intervention in the vineyard and cellar.”
The industry is still dealing with the inherent sexism and its consequences.
And fraud. “In September 2019, Penavić and 12 other members of the New York wine elite sued Khan in state court, alleging that he had taken them for nearly $8.3 million. The charge was as extraordinary as it was embarrassing: For people immersed in a hobby predicated on discernment, they’d proven to be pretty easy marks. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York began investigating Khan, and in February 2020, prosecutors filed an indictment. But the authorities were unable to make an arrest. By then, Khan had fled the country.”
Against the tide of these stories, a couple about how wine may be good for you. First, there is a correlation between drinking good wine and happiness. “In fact, all things being equal, while drinking wine even untrained consumers can perfectly recognise good wines compared to products of lower quality. High-quality wines are able to induce a spectrum of positive emotions, as observed by the analysis of ECG signals, especially when they are coupled with background music.” And being a sommelier makes you smarter! And job opportunities.
Sideways is 20, director Alexander Payne reflects. He has this sage advice, “The only other perk I sometimes get is that when I’m dining out with fancy people, they hand me the wine list and tell me I’m free to pick. Usually, I call over the sommelier and ask for recommendations. After all, I know what I would pick, but I want to learn and try something new.”
Giancarlo Esposito has another role where he is wine connoisseur.
A cool story about an American planting roots in Tuscany. “Initially, I wanted to create a négoce, such as are common in Burgundy, buying high quality, organic grapes from different vineyards around Tuscany and making wines from them. But most estates are not willing to sell their best grapes, so I invested in buying vineyards so that I could conduct the kind of viticulture I believe is necessary for the quality of grapes I want. My business model is sound—we are on track to break even this year (our fifth—so pretty good for a wine business) but it’s also very romantic to me. I love wine and I love almost every aspect of the business, from working in the vineyards, to working in the cellar, to marketing the wines.”
A story of resilience, “As Ukrainians brace for an uncertain future, an unlikely and somewhat miraculous bright spot in dark times has been the country’s flourishing craft wine movement, which seems to have taken on greater cultural significance in the midst of the war. Since the Russian invasion, 35 new wineries have popped up (some having relocated out of conflict zones), making for a total of 160 producers throughout the country. Powered by defiance and resolve, Ukrainian producers have become increasingly reliant on international markets to stay afloat. Stakhovsky Wines, along with two other notable estates, Beykush Winery and Château Chizay, are now available in the U.S. with the launch of a new importer, Vyno Ukrainy.”
Other News
The Emerging Economy:
A roundup of inflation numbers points to a stubborn reluctance to go the last mile to 2.0%. At the same time GDP came in strong in a revision report for the fourth quarter of 2023. What if it is not a soft or hard landing but a fast one?
Industry:
The Times on cancellation fees. Focusing on the stopgap solution instead of the problem.
McDonald’s to sell Krispy Kreme from its locations. Per the discussion of wine above, maybe its better to lean into the idea of selling death instead of running away from it.
Nutrition & Health:
Professors argue for better nutritional labeling on food. “By using symbols, colors and simple language, front-of-package labels adopted by other countries have educated people about what’s in their food, helped them make healthier choices and even encouraged companies to reduce salt and sugar in their products. The numeric labels supported by the food industry, by contrast, have consistently been shown to be more difficult to understand.”
The Italian chef serving bad clams. “Nicknamed ‘the freshwater chef’, Marco Sacco, 59, cooked up a clam risotto at his famous Piccolo Lago di Verbania restaurant in 2021. But soon after the celebrations were over, several guests were left complaining of nausea, vomitting, and stomach pain – with some even checking themselves into hospital as a result.”
How did lead get into children’s applesauce?
Food & Culture:
A special supper club honoring enslaved cooks. “With every course, we share stories about the lives of James Hemings and Hercules Posey or about some of our other earliest culinary influencers like Malinda Russell and Abby Fisher,”
Food Sources:
Finding uses for cacao byproducts. “While the seeds, or beans, are used in the chocolate making process, the rest of the plant is generally considered waste, a leftover, a byproduct. When cacao is processed, there are primarily three types of byproducts: the cacao pod husk, cacao bean shells, or nibs, and cacao mucilage, or pulp. However, each of these byproducts have various uses in the culinary industry.”
At the same time, the price of chocolate has spiked due primarily to weather conditions in West Africa.
Did industrialization of cheesemaking in France put cheese in a vulnerable state? Why one strain of mold was chosen to make Brie and Camembert to create uniform mass-produced rounds leaving it at risk. “Penicillium camemberti can’t reproduce on its own, so it has to be cloned over and over again — which means that every cheese is made with a genetically identical strain. That lack of genetic diversity makes it vulnerable to pathogens or other environmental changes, Ropars said. With each mold being a cookie-cutter version of each other, one nasty disease could wipe out the population of Penicillium camemberti, Ropars said. It’s the same issue other foods — such as bananas — are facing.”
Did French frog leg consumption put the species in a vulnerable state? “The global harvest and trade in frog legs is poorly tracked and could be leading to species decline in countries such as Indonesia and Turkey, signatories said in an open letter to French President Emmanuel Macron.”
Can you make something good out of what might grow rotten? In Denmark: “The lab has two development streams: repurposing existing waste foods and fermentation. Foods in development include rapeseed (a.k.a. canola) cakes, the solid byproduct formed when oil is extracted from the crop, of which 36.8 million tons are produced each year. I eat it as a taco filling (earlier in the week, they tried it as a meat replacement in spaghetti Bolognese); it tastes earthy, tempeh-like in texture. Their protein bar version, which blends rapeseed cakes with dried fruits and nuts, could be sold tomorrow.”
Can python meat be a great source of protein? Maybe it will solve the Everglades problem.
Food & Conflict:
Gaza: Famine threat. Relief efforts and local angle.
Food & Policy:
Vittles new issue focuses on the intersection of both. New installments include, the lives of delivery workers; Neo-feudalism in Scotland.
Media:
Politico is hiring an Ag reporter. Do they see something coming?
Odds & Ends:
A perfumer in Italy with a focus on food scents. A fragrance of butter and oysters?
The Post spent real estate on a 12-year old Ina Garten clip because social media. It is about cutting bagels.
Speaking of both social media and digestion, Eater on the DMV’s most IG-worthy restaurant bathrooms.
A notorious British gangster is on the lamb, but taking time to review restaurants on Google. (Warning, Daily Mail link so it will slow down everything and pop up a lot)
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That’s It! Thanks for coming back and reading this far. Enjoy the spring weather.
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