11/7/02:
New gourmet dog bakery & boutique next to Lauriol
Plaza: Doggie Style, at 1825 18th St.
Midi Cafe & Bistro reopens today at 1635 Conn Ave
after minor renovation; now has table service.
Georgetown Opticians closed their 1605 Conn Ave shop.
WBJ says Potbelly Sandwiches is coming to 19th & L.
Blade looks at relocation and renovation of two gay
clubs. See "Reaching the Apex: Change is constant and
can mean improvement, at least for fans of Lizard
Lounge and the dance club formerly known as Badlands,"
http://www.washblade.com/point/021101outindc.php3
WP reviews new bed-furnished club "Spank" above
MCCXXIII (1223 Conn Ave). See "Bedtime for D.C.,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45802-2002Oct31.html
CakeLove was given a nice profile. See "Flour Power,"
http://www.shuttlesheet.com/gigs/
See photos from 10/29/02 High Heel Race:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/entertainment/highheel2002/01.htm
http://www.washblade.com/point/021101highheel.php3
http://www.metroweekly.net/snapshots/snaps1107/f1.html
Office of Planning released the Strategic Neighborhood
Action Plan (SNAP) for Dupont Circle. See
http://www.neighborhoodaction.dc.gov/neighborhoodact/lib/neighborhoodact/Cluster6_final.pdf
I'm including my own SNAP for Dupont, [1] below.
See also "City Announces Action Plans For Improving
Neighborhoods: Residents Helped Determine Top
Priorities for Areas,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16131-2002Nov6.html
Pulp Preview is now open, in a temporary spot above El
Paraiso, at 1805-A 14th St (near S), next door to Home
Rule. Pulp has over 18,000 cards in stock, plus other
gift accessories. New home next door, by Garden
District, should be ready in January.
See also profile "Carded on 14th Street,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16671-2002Nov6.html
Cafe Saint-Ex is almost ready to open at 14th & T, and
has already expanded by acquiring the Lavals space
next door to use for their kitchen.
Due to city's failure to support developer's request
for expedition of zoning hearings, plans for the
Central Mission at 14th & R have been withdrawn. The
mission is going to renovate and stay in place.
Hotel Helix opened yesterday; is offering a "get out
of my apartment" rate of $85 to neighbors through '02.
R St now has a bike lane between Florida and NJ Ave
(falling within 1st to 5th NW). Bike lane will be
extended west into Dupont as they repave the street.
WBJ says WMATA is reviewing bids for lots at NE corner
of 14th and V, and by Shaw-Howard Metro. See "U Street
corridor attracts developer interest in Metro effort,"
http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2002/10/28/story6.html
WP interviews developer who says M St SW and 7th St NW
by U St are the next hot spots for development. See
"Gymnast Swings Into District Development,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24680-2002Oct26.html
Mt Pleasant's organic deli The People Garden is
offering "Organic Good Food Box" deliveries to the
Dupont and U Street area on Fridays. See [2] below.
WBJ profiles G-town block by 27th, N, 28th and Olive
with 14 new townhomes and 14 new condos. See "Former
school passes test as residential development,"
http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2002/11/04/focus3.html
Former Riggs Bank on K St in G-town will become Thai
restaurant "Bangkok Joe’s." See "The Latest Dish,"
http://www.lindarothpr.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=latest_dish
See Web site for Sovereign Circle apartment project at
13th & N: http://www.sovereigncircle.com/circle.html
Construction is underway for 144-unit Sovereign Park
at 1210 Mass Ave. See
http://www.skyscrapers.com/english/file/0.9/143747/dim6/index.html
See also http://jbg.com/jbg_w/files/resident.htm#
WBJ says construction will start this month on 97-unit
luxury condo on 11th St between Mass Ave and M St. See
middle of "Jones/Tompkins president snags same job..."
http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2002/11/04/newscolumn5.html
See also http://www.elevencondo.com/home.html
See slowly-progressing 14-unit luxury renovation at
1124 10th St: http://www.diaz-asper.com/Clyde/
WP says 1,500-room hotel coming to 900 block of Mass
Ave. See "Marriott Wins Convention Center Deal:
District Chooses Bethesda Company to Build Half-
Billion-Dollar Hotel Next to New Facility,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32391-2002Oct28.html
See also "Wait for HQ hotel is over — or is it?
Marriott wins bid, but interim plans, money issues
linger,"
See also "Rejected HQ bidder unfazed by loss, plots
Seventh Street revitalization,"
http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2002/11/04/story3.html
WBJ says Washington Gas HQ at 11th & H might become a
boutique hotel. See "Peebles turns up heat: Hotel
developer resurfaces in pursuit of gas company HQ,"
http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2002/10/28/story1.html
WP previews museum planned for 6th & Penn Ave. See
"The Newseum That Fits: Glass-Fronted Design Reflects
Well as Metaphor of a Free Press,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32418-2002Oct28.html
See also http://www.newseum.org/newseum/newseum2006
CD says Target, TJ Maxx & Burlington Coat Factory are
bidding for big site in RI Ave Shopping Center at 4th
St NE. See "Retailers bid to get former Ames site,"
http://www.thecommondenominator.com/110402_news2.html
Ground was broken in September for the new Takoma
Recreation Center, which will house the city's only
Olympic-size swimming pool, to open in early 2004. See
http://dpr.dc.gov/mydcparks/Takaq/home.shtm
See also http://www.jairlynch.com/Takoma.html
See "While luxury apartments on the rise, 'affordable'
housing remains in short supply,"
http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2002/11/04/focus1.html
WP reports on 11 proposed stations along a 24-mile
track. See "Metro Extension To Tysons, Dulles Boosted
in Fairfax: Supervisors Endorse $3.2 Billion Project,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32314-2002Oct28.html
Tonight, November 7: Presentation on "Neighborhood
Parking Solutions," 6:30pm at Sumner School. See
http://washingtonregion.net/html/events.html#parkingforum
Saturday, November 9: Lincoln Theatre open house 11-4.
Saturday, November 9: Reception at Go Mama Go for
artists Eddy Varekamp and Roberto Vila, 7 - 9pm.
Saturday, November 16: WABA 30th Anniversary Gala &
Auction. See http://www.waba.org/auction/
Thursday, November 21: HIPS prostitute fundraiser at
Urban Essentials. See http://www.hips.org/
November 22 & 23: Different Drummers Symphonic Band at
St. Margaret's, $15. See http://www.dcdd.org/
Sunday, November 24: Home Rule showcases Doughmakers
Gourmet Bakeware, 1-4. See [3] below.
Sunday, December 8: Logan Circle Annual House Tour.
See release from The Bread Line, [4] below.
Best regards
Michael
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[1] [from mvs202@yahoo.com]
This is my own Neighborhood Action Plan for Dupont:
Establish bike lanes. An east-west route should
connect Dupont to the National Arboretum on the east
and Rock Creek on the west; Q St and R St are good
candidates for this. A north-south route should
connect Dupont to Adams Morgan and downtown; 15th St
and 17th St are good candidates. 15th St's 4 car lanes
are too narrow to safely share with bicycles -
converting one lane for bikes would give everyone more
room. And since 15th has only 1 lane north of Florida,
it does not need 4 north-bound lanes south of Florida.
Add more posts to lock bikes to. The new short parking
meters are too short to lock bikes too - raise them by
four inches.
Add underwater lights to the Dupont fountain. All
other cities make their important fountains attractive
by adding underwater lights. The NPS should not argue
that this violates the sculptor's intent - the basin
is not part of the sculpture. The world's most famous
fountain, the Trevi fountain in Rome, was given
underwater lights hundreds of years after it was
built. Properly lighting the fountain would make the
park attractive at night, even for those simply
approaching the circle from the five streets that go
through it.
Design streets to maximize pedestrian safety, not
automobile speed. Crosswalks should be given textured
surfaces such as bricks or stamped concrete in order
to clearly indicate that cars must yield. Corners
should be given tight radii so that cars can not turn
right without slowing down. Curb bulbs should be added
to reduce the width required to cross streets.
Street furniture should complement our historic
character. Too many streetlamps look like they belong
on a highway. They should blend in with the original
designs. And to avoid light pollution, lamps should
point down.
Sidewalks should also match our historic character.
That means either the pebble-aggregate concrete or
bricks. Stamped concrete, where smooth conrete is
simply stamped with a brick-like pattern, looks fake
and should be used only in intersections.
Make good use of the Dupont Down Under space. The
Court of Appeals has sat on this case without even
scheduling a hearing. Until the court resolves
ownership of the space, the city can not proceed. Any
entrances which are not needed should be turned into
kiosks which can sell newspapers, flowers, ice cream,
pretzels, etc.
Resolve conflicts of residential and business overlays
by re-examining liquor licence issues. Last call
should be varied according to proximity to residential
zones.
Study potential to extend the Yellow Line to Adams
Morgan. The Yellow Line currently stops service at Mt
Vernon Sq. Metro typically has lines double up in the
city's core, then branch out to outer areas - the
Yellow Line should follow that model by sharing the
Green Line to U St, then continuing west under U St,
with a station under the 1700 block of U St. One exit
could be under the parking garage at the NE corner of
17th & U, and another could go under the Tik Tok shop
at 18th & California. The line could be extended
further to meet the Red line at Kalorama, which
deserves its own stop, and then go out further into
Georgetown.
Restore Dupont's canopy of trees over our streets.
The underground portion of the 1500 block of
Connecticut Ave (just north of the circle) should be
covered. This can be turned into a small park, or even
house a new structure for the farmers market.
Ensure that Dupont gets a public clock. The proposal
for the P St renovation (west of the circle) includes
a request for a clock.
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[2] [from PeopleGarden@aol.com]
Community Supported Agriculture Program
While ensuring that your food source is always
organic, The People Garden also believes that a strong
local community contributes greatly to your overall
health. Land and the food grown on it are a central
part to any community’s culture. Every year, close to
two million acres of our precious family-owned farm
and ranch lands are lost to sprawling development, and
the environment is further polluted due to the
increased need to ship produce from large
agribusinesses elsewhere. The People Garden Community
Health Market receives the majority of our organic
produce from a cooperative of 29 organic family farms
in Hustontown, Pennsylvania. We believe the Tuscorara
model is one of the most effective family farmland
conservation efforts in the country. We operate a
year-round Good Food - Community Supported Agriculture
enrollment program to do our part to considerably
increase the amount of produce the Tuscarora
Cooperative is bringing to the Washington, DC area
each week. In fact, the CSA program nearly doubles the
amount of produce we order from the Cooperative.
Our customers receive an email list each week with
a list of the twelve produce items for that week’s
box. Unlike most CSA programs, The People Garden
requires no long-term commitment or large deposit up
front. Customers reply by email if they want a box for
that week. Recipes are always included and sometimes a
special surprise as well. Boxes are available every
Friday for pick-up after 2:30 for $25.00,
approximately a 25% savings off the retail cost.
Additionally, CSA participants receive a 10% discount
off their entire shopping trip at our health food
store on the day of pick-up. We also donate $1.00 per
box to Community Harvest. To enroll or for more
information, please contact us at PeopleGarden@aol.com
------------------------------------------------------
[3] [from Rod@homerule.com]
Leslie Glover Pendleton talks about DOUGHMAKERS
Gourmet Cookware at Home Rule
November, 24, 2002- Home Rule is pleased to have
Leslie Glover Pendleton, former GOURMET magazine food
editor and author in the store from 1- 4 PM to talk
about DOUGHMAKERS Gourmet Bakeware, demonstrate
cookie making techniques and sign copies of her
cookbook ONE DOUGH FIFTY COOKIES.
DOUGHMAKERS Gourmet Bakeware's the best because it
uses premium heavy gauge aluminum for maximum heat
circulation and has rolled edges to prevent warping.
Cake pans have extra depth and straight sidewalls for
professional results. The Original Pebble Pattern is
a unique embossed textured surface, allowing greater
airflow for better, more even browning and gives
non-stick characteristics without problematic
coatings.
Leslie Glover Pendleton, CCP, and DOUGHMAKERS
spokesperson, has authored the book ONE DOUGH FIFTY
COOKIES (William Morrow 1998) among others. She was a
food editor for GOURMET magazine for 8 years. Leslie
writes for Cooking Light magazine and The Washington
Post, teaches cooking at Sur La Table and other
schools, and is a frequent guest on Arthur Schwartz'
FOOD TALK in New York. Leslie lives in Silver Spring,
Maryland.
There will be plenty of cookies on hand for
sampling, and a raffle drawing for a free DOUGHMAKERS
cookie sheet will be held. Home Rule will also offer
a 10% discount on all DOUGHMAKERS Gourmet Bakeware
purchsed during this event.
------------------------------------------------------
[4] [from TheBreadLine@aol.com]
Sixth issue - October 2002 - Restaurant Hospitality
Our restaurant critic, Tom Sietsema, has been
especially critical recently about the hospitality in
some of our city's best restaurants. They are haughty
with customers they don't know, he says. The hosts are
rude. They are unreasonable about wine service. The
waiters seem bored, he says.
It does not seem to me that ours is an age of
courtesy. Indeed, our relations in public are
exceptionally rude. Women file their nails on trains,
and men clip theirs on airplanes. In restaurants, we
take and make cell phone calls. At CVS it's difficult
even to get acknowledged by salespeople. It's
impossible to find a real someone on a software
"support" telephone line. Automobile drivers run red
lights and rush up the shoulders of highways to get
ahead. Doctors make patients wait 40 minutes so that
they can maximize their income while they minimize us.
And yet for some reason, we expect restaurants to
be a bastion of civility giving each customer polite
and interested attention.
Why do we have such expectations about warmth and
etiquette in restaurants? It certainly has something
to do with paying a lot for the experience. But there
is more to it than just money. It has to do with an
historic link between food and welcome.
I was raised to believe that when someone arrives
at your house, your first words after "hello" ought to
be, "May I get you something to drink...eat?" In
certain cultures which shall go nameless, food is
forced on you.
"Will you have a little something? Some babka,
perhaps."
"Oh, I'm sorry, I've just eaten."
"Oh, you could have just a taste, couldn't you?
It's still warm. A little milk to go with it? Oh, but
first you have to taste the stuffed cabbage. It's so
delicious."
You show the best you have to your guests. If you
have a little, you give them some. If you have a lot,
you give them a lot. And then a little more - please.
The guest always gets the best.
It isn't always so now, I realize. These days you
can visit people's homes and not be offered even a
glass of water. Even so - however we may entertain (or
not) in our own homes, when we go to restaurants, we
have in our unconscious a domestic concept of
hospitality. We expect to be welcomed as warmly as if
we were coming to someone's home.
It is fair, I think, to expect more from restaurant
staff than we expect from everyone else in our
society. The customers are paying not only for food
but for treatment worthy of the food. I told Ann
Cashion recently about eating at the new restaurant,
15 Ria. She didn't ask me whether the food is good;
she asked, "Did you have a good experience." That is a
common question among food professionals who know that
it is the entire experience customers are looking for.
I ate dinner a couple of weeks ago at The French
Laundry in Napa Valley. Most people think it is the
best restaurant in the country. And as I thought about
the evening there during the flight back here, I was
thinking mostly about hospitality. That is what the
French Laundry delivers as abundantly as its food.
This is a restaurant which accepts reservations 60
days in advance. Each morning, it opens its telephone
lines at 10 am, and takes reservations from the first
people able to get their calls through. By 10:40, no
more reservations are available. No other restaurant
in the country is this hard to get into.
So this restaurant, therefore, could be arrogant.
But it isn't.
When you enter the French Laundry, you are required
to walk through a tiny perfect garden which would put
anyone in a good mood. The restaurant's desk is just
inside the entrance where there is also a little bar.
And the welcome is simple and warm.
Just after presentation of menus, drink service,
and explanations, a wait person arrives with a palate
in which tiny cornets are carried, an "ice cream cone"
filled with creme fraiche and chives, covered with
finely diced Atlantic salmon.
And then extraordinary food - a tart tomato sorbet
with a tiny sweet tomato, "oysters and pearls," Thomas
Keller's buttery tapioca mixed with tiny oysters
topped with a generous spoonful of Osetra caviar or a
cauliflower panna cotta laden with caviar. Lobster
fricassee with cherry tomatoes. Fois gras with
radishes. And so on. Every dish made from impeccable
ingredients. And every dish accompanied by a small
glass extraordinary wine ("I thought you might
appreciate this. We were able to get just one case of
it," said the sommelier who lovingly described each
wine he poured.)
The servers are always there, always informing, but
never intruding. (No irritating interruptions here
with an insecure, "Is everything alright?")
It is true that The French Laundry can select staff
carefully. People want to work there. People want to
live in Napa Valley.
It is also true that the French Laundry is small;
there are only 19 tables, and the restaurant doesn't
expect them to turn three times. Indeed, at lunch
there is one seating, and at dinner, no more than half
the tables are turned one time.
But more important, everyone who comes to eat at
the French Laundry comes expecting to have an
extraordinary experience. So they turn off their cell
phones; they sit in low lighting, and talk in quiet
voices. They notice the food. They are practically
reverential. And their expectations become part of the
experience.
The French Laundry is not the only restaurant that
attracts a wonderful staff, and it is not the only
restaurant to which customers come with heightened
expectations. It is, however, one of the very few
high-end restaurants that seems always to satisfy
those high expectations. Somehow it links more
successfully the food and the hospitality.
Thomas Keller, I suspect, feels he is inviting
people to his home, and wants to feed people as if
they are in his home. It is in fact his home. His
house adjoins the restaurant; his meeting are
conducted at a little picnic table off to the side.
His life is at the restaurant.
Thomas wants to feed his guests. He never roams the
dining room; instead, he is always in the kitchen.
Yet, he says through the waitstaff and by what he
sends to the tables, "Thomas wants you to try this.
Thomas has just one more appetizer you must try.
Thomas has just put this dish on the menu; he wants
you taste it."
He is passionate about pleasing customers, and
miserable when he thinks he might not have pleased
them. I recall one evening in which a customer came,
announcing that he had already eaten, and wanted
nothing more than a green salad. Mr. Keller cannot do
a dish without applying his imagination to it, and he
sent a beautiful salad with a little cheese plate
around the edge of the plate. He learned later that
the customer didn't appreciate it. He talked about
that for days. He was so disappointed.
Keller is happiest when tables are occupied by
appreciative customers to whom he sometimes sends 18
courses, meaning18 courses for four guests, 72
different dishes. (And then cheese - and then eight
desserts - and then petits fours - and then chocolate
truffles.)
Thomas Keller extends himself to a breaking point.
And that, it seems to me is understood by the staff,
and communicated through the staff to the customers.
Why can't we all be like this? Why do some
restaurants have to give special classes to their
telephone answerers who don't have good manners. Why
is it so hard for restaurants to find servers who have
the grace and humor.
For one reason, we don't have a real service
tradition in this country. We don't have the servility
that exists elsewhere, and it is hard for Americans to
think about making a career of serving others.
Second, we don't really value good service. At a
time when nearly everyone who flies is complaining
about their treatment at airports and on airliners -
at a time when air travel is in such trouble - the
airline companies are innovating not with new services
that might please customers, but with new fees to
squeeze a little more money out of them.
Third, some restaurants seem to think that serving
great food and wine earns them the right to be snooty
to their customers. And that was permissible years
ago. I remember my one dinner at Le Pavillion, the
groundbreaking New York classic French restaurant to
which I went in 1964. The menu was written only in
French; the waiter pretended to speak only French; and
we were made throughout the dinner that we didn't
belong there.
Thank goodness, that era ended. Today, we know that
great food and wine ought to be accompanied by great
service.
Unfortunately today, many restaurant customers seem
to think that they can be rude and demanding and the
restaurant should reciprocate with friendliness and
warmth. (Please don't fail to see "Mostly Martha," the
wonderful German film about restaurant life.)
We may not all be able to achieve The French
Laundry ideal. But doesn't everyone think that the
quality of our lives would be improved if more
resturants - indeed more institutions of all kinds -
tried to do so?
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