Image: A reminder from Ruta.
Dearest Gentle Reader, thanks for clicking through. We’ve been off for a few weeks, so an assortment of stories that you may have already seen and one new addition to our D.C. dining guide this week. So, shall we begin with our recap of dining news from near and abroad, starting with our own site….
Updates to the D.C. Recommended Restaurant List
Added:
Amparo Fondita – The small but mighty new Mexican spot in Dupont.
Comings & Goings:
Destino and Las Gemelas closed up shop. Amanda Michelle Gomez wrote about it for DCist, but now you can’t access that because WAMU killed off the site and you can’t access old stories.
More quietly, Quattro Osteria closed. Related, a lawyer who works with the industry in reaction to the Gomez story said he had two people come in facing eviction this week. One will fight, the other will walk away and let the landlord try to collect. He summarizes, “It’s bad out there guys.”
Fresh Baguette opens in Cleveland Park.
Keren got hit by fire, temporarily closed.
Baby Wale space is now getting used by The Alumni, an homage to Go-Go.
L’Avante Garde gets a new chef.
D.C. Dining News
Industry:
Carman has his first big story in his new role, and starts with a legend. “The short answer for how Ben’s made it through those troubled years, Ali says, is goodwill. She and her husband had built up a lot of it in their first decade.”
As You Are did a fundraiser. It is a rare business that can lean on its community to raise funds, but maybe if we want more unique places that is an option available. Gomez did a story on it that you can’t access anymore. It is hard to imagine they could have done it without operating first, but maybe there is an opening for other businesses, like kickstarter?
Barred in DC does some real journalism after going through the ABRA decisions. Moi Moi responded to a shooting by its security by scrubbing the blood off the sidewalk and hoping no one noticed. Someone did.
Axios noted the next generation of food halls popping up. It includes this tidbit as to what is driving the trend, “Food halls are on the rise nationally, as developers and big-name chefs look to cash in on remote workers and diners who crave diversity.” It would be cool if there was a news source that could take the time to unpack that, to dig deeper than the Axios format allows.
Media:
The big media news of the week is WAMU shutting down DCist after it brought it back to life. From a food point of view it is one less outlet (and one of the few left) that covered food beyond press releases and recipes. Interestingly, the story was spoon-fed to the local Axios platform before staff were told. Why is that Axios, a market-driven company, saw an opening to launch local news when others with established names are throwing in the towel? It would be cool if there was a news source that had the ability to dig into that story.
One shift that we’ve floated is the idea of restaurant reviews trying the capture the story of place, don’t just describe the setting and the food. Essentially, drop the arms-length reporting. Carman has done this in the Post, and Gabe Hiatt did it at Eater on 2fifty. We would flag that Evan Caplan did something like it in Eater DC on Kookoo in Columbia Heights. “Set on a busy thoroughfare next to DCUSA, Kookoo maintains a quiet intimacy (the name is intentionally “catchy and easy to remember,” he says). When Sardari sits down at a table to talk about the flavors, and how important they are to his family, he can wax poetic for as many hours as it takes his lamb to braise.”
Drink:
Why you can’t just take the alcohol out of wine (or beer for that matter): “Removing even the smallest amount of alcohol affects the flavour; removing a chunk of it fundamentally alters the wine, demonstrating just how much impact alcohol has on wine flavour.”
The Times has two stories that wrap up themes we’ve flagged for the last year or two. First, how red wine lost its aura of healthiness. “But no studies, including decades of research on one polyphenol called resveratrol, have definitively linked the amounts that you get from red wine to good health, Dr. Cho said. And there’s no good evidence that wine is less harmful than other types of alcohol, she added.”
And Asimov looks at the fading role of the sommelier. What was cool fifteen years ago, is now a luxury for restaurants and a more complicated job for the somms. “But underneath dining’s stratospheric level, many serious, wine-oriented restaurants are doing without. Instead, those positions once dedicated to wine are now often hybrids with servers, bartenders or managers handling wine in addition to their other duties.” We have even come across this at very serious restaurants.
Some thoughts on what makes a good wine writer, including conceding biases in a subjective industry.
Other News
The Emerging Economy:
One measure of inflation comes in a little high for January. “While that overall downward trend is encouraging, there were a few “disappointments” under the surface, as inflation rose from December to January in categories such as shelter, food, electricity and airline fares, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.” Fundamentals seem still pointing in a good direction, but need to see if the blip becomes a worrisome trend.
Industry:
California ban on undisclosed fees is due to start in July. The articles can be summed up as consumers hate nickel and dime fees and consumers hate higher base prices. As we said pre-Covid, we are not paying the full price of the cost of our food (primarily through suppressed or obscured labor costs). Now we are seeing the true price and it will require a long time to adjust.
Food Sources:
Civil Eats looks at the USDA farm census and finds one clear trend. “For decades, American farms have been disappearing while those that remain have been growing in size. And between 2017 and 2022, that trend picked up steam. The overall number of farms decreased by about 142,000. That 7 percent decline ‘is a larger percentage decrease than what has been seen in the last 20 years,’ said NASS’s Bryan Combs. Farm numbers decreased in every size category except one: Those operating 5,000 acres or more. Large farms now control 42 percent of the farmland in the country. From an economic perspective, 75 percent of the country’s total value of agricultural production now comes from farms with $1 million or more in sales.”
Health & Nutrition:
Ozempic is putting a crimp on some fast food, but Cava and Sweetgreen are thriving in the moment. We would note they are both D.C. born.
Labor:
A day in the life of a dishwasher in NYC.
Food & Culture:
On the making of the Taste of Things movie.
Many notable passings in the last few weeks. Bob Moore of Bob’s Red Mill; William Post who created the Pop Tart; Great New York chef David Bouley; and locally, Kim Lai, who helped turn Four Sisters into a landmark passed away.
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That’s it! Thanks for dropping in. We should be back next week, though pondering making this once a month going forward. If any of the several regular readers have thoughts, let us know. In the meantime, be sure to checkout the rest of our D.C. dining guide.