I headed to Elisir for its first dinner post soft-opening, and was pleasantly surprised there were no signs that the restaurant in Penn Quarter had literally just opened its doors that same week.  The staff was beyond attentive without being intrusive and knew the menu cold. The lighting was bright and refreshing, and the open kitchen area was amazing. Basically, Elisir lived up to Italian fine dining as billed, without being pretentious or stuffy.

Chef Enzo Fargione is on his game. The former chef of Teatro Goldoni on K Street is the model of concentration at Elisir. There’s no yelling in the kitchen; it was almost serene.  Surprisingly, I didn’t feel like going the tasting menu route…I think I’ve been a bit overwhelmed by the whole culinary journey craze as of late.  At Elisir you’ll find for dinner a seven-course $75 tasting menu, and 10-course $95 menu, but I went for the a la carte.

Read the rest of this entry »

2 people like this post.

Unlike

The White House Driveway
courtesy of tbridge

The White House’s Office of Public Engagement and Office of Digital Strategy combined yesterday to host about 150 people for another White House Tweetup at the Old Executive Office Building, and upped the ante by providing with it a tour of the White House made up for Christmas. I was fortunate to be a late addition to the group, and Tiffany and I joined the audience for a program with a number of administration officials, from the pastry chef and the florist, up to the President’s CTO and the head of the Office of Digital Strategy.

Read the rest of this entry »

1 person likes this post.

Unlike

Flamingo
courtesy of pablo.raw

The eyes, the eyes, the eyes. I’ve said it before: to get a good wildlife shot, you have to aim for the eyes. Now, Pablo’s shot may not be a strictly true wildlife shot (wild flamingos not be native to the DC area, especially in the colder months), but it certainly is an excellent animal shot. And once you get beyond staring at the eye, you start seeing the wonderful detail of the bird’s feathers and beak, which is nicely highlighted by the black background. A shot to be proud of, that is for sure!

2 people like this post.

Unlike

‘Columbia Heights Holiday Tree’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

This is a phenomenal part of the year for music, and one of the best cities in the country for choral music. Between the Cathedral Choral Society, the Washington Men’s Camerata, the Choral Arts Society of Washington, the Christmas Revels, the Folger Consort, Choralis, the GMCW, you could pack your December full of great concerts, and we’ve got a good look at what’s coming this Christmas to audiences all throughout the DC area.

Read the rest of this entry »

1 person likes this post.

Unlike

dolphins3
courtesy of Homer McFanboy

This past Sunday’s game against the New York Jets got off to a good start for the Redskins with two young offensive players continuing to show development. Fred Davis caught a long pass to put the Redskins in scoring range and then Roy Helu ran it in. Helu had a good first half and finished with 100 yards on 23 carries. Most of those yards came in the first half as the Jets figured out how to stop Helu and the Redskins were unable to adjust.

Adjusting in the second half has been a problem for the Redskins all season long. They are able to be competitive for a half. Consistently this season anything that was working in the first half of the game has ceased working in the second half of the game. The Redskins coaches either can’t figure out that they need to adjust or they lack the personnel to make those adjustments.

Read the rest of this entry »

Like

Unlike

‘MPD watching the perimeter while the arrests take place’
courtesy of ‘Joe in DC’

One more weekend down. The inevitable march to the Holidays and the New Year goes on. I don’t know about the rest of you but I’m looking forward to the coming of the Holiday Trinity, for no other reason than to get the traditional Kwanzaa gift. If the idea of Robot Santa and Kwanzaa-bot coming around fills you with dread, then take a few minutes and relive the weekend with this flashback. Read the rest of this entry »

3 people like this post.

Unlike

John Hurt in the Gate Theatre’s production of Krapp’s Last Tape. Photo by Tom Lawlor.

There are moments when economy, especially in words, must suffice.

(Shakes head. Backspace, backspace. Types.)

John Hurt. Krapp’s Last Tape by Samuel Beckett. Produced by Dublin’s Gate Theatre, at Shakespeare Theatre Company this weekend only. 55 minutes.

55 minutes of your life spent watching a master actor perform a master playwright’s reflection on the absurdity of life, memory and regret.

(Shakes head. Backspace, backspace, backspace. Types. Rubs chin. Sighs.)

Words leave me. Just the memory of Hurt’s haggard face under hard white light, the deep black of time surrounding him like a Francis Bacon painting.

Words leave me. To be haunted by a performance you cannot describe… feels liberating, to be defeated by time, by memory.

(Shakes head. Backspace. Stops. Stares at the floor. Mutters, “Idiot.” Types.)

Krapp’s Last Tape in limited engagement through December 4 at Shakespeare Theatre Company, located at 450 7th Street NW, Washington, DC 20004. Closest Metro stop: Gallery Place/Chinatown (Red/Yellow/Green lines), Archives/Navy Memorial (Yellow/Green lines). For more information call 202-547-1122.

2 people like this post.

Unlike

‘Ben’s Chili Bowl’
courtesy of ‘Michael T. Ruhl’

When picking a restaurant for your next meal out, why not choose a place where workers haven’t coughed all over your dinner because they’ve been forced to work with the flu?

Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC-United) and their local branch ROC-DC just released their first annual Diners’ Guide: a Zagat-like booklet that scores national and local restaurants based on how they treat their workers. The guide includes the 150 highest revenue restaurants in America as well as some local spots already working toward better standards for their employees.

Some of the results aren’t exactly shocking (no, Hooters doesn’t lead the industry in fair treatment of their workers). Others may be more of a surprise: Capital Grille, for example, makes it onto a special list of shame for restaurants charged with discrimination and wage theft.

Read the rest of this entry »

2 people like this post.

Unlike

‘Mark Sanchez’
courtesy of ‘Jeffrey Beall’

Last Sunday the Redskins won their fourth game of the season. After starting out 3-1 the Redskins then proceeded to lose their next six games to fall to 3-7 before winning last week. While the Redskins were 3-1 there was talk of a playoff run, but for that to happen now the Redskins would need to win out and have a lot of luck on their side. The week four talk of playoffs was fun at the time, but that wasn’t the expectation for the Redskins. The Redskins were expected to finish as possibly one of the worst teams in the NFL by national publications, and at or around last season’s record by local prognosticators.

The Jets on the other hand were expected to contend for the AFC East and some even predicted they would be a better team than the Patriots. At 6-5 the Jets are a disappointing team. The reason for the Jets disappointing record is the play of their quarterback Mark Sanchez. Coming into the season Sanchez was thought of as one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL, but finds himself ranked as the 19th best QB according to QB rating and has thrown the 10th most interception whil completing only 56.3% of his passes.

Read the rest of this entry »

1 person likes this post.

Unlike

photo by Graham Tolbert

Philadelphia’s The War on Drugs is the brainchild of Adam Granduciel- singer, guitarist, writer, Kurt Vile-collaborator. Their first full-length album, Wagonwheel Blues was released on Secretly Canadian in 2008, and they have toured extensively since then. Over the years the band’s members have changed, but Granduciel remains front and center. Their latest LP is Slave Ambient, released on August 16th, 2011. After a short break in their US tour they are continuing for most of December, and will be making a stop at DC’s Rock & Roll Hotel on Sunday, December 4th. During the break in their busy tour schedule Adam Granduciel took a few minutes to chat with WLDC’s Alexia Kauffman. Read the rest of this entry »

2 people like this post.

Unlike