Meet the People Who Piss in My Alley on the Way to ShamrockFest

Ah, ShamrockFest, where legions of young people celebrate the full sweep and majesty of Irish culture by getting drunk in a parking lot. Every year, they come in droves to RFK Stadium, presumably leaving large swaths of Northern Virginia unoccupied. And a significant portion must spend the morning pregaming, for when they exit the Stadium-Armory Metro stop, several cross 19th Street SE and duck into the first available alley to empty their bladders.

My alley. Right behind my house.

I suppose I could dust off my old rant and tell these kids to get off my lawn, but no one cares. I’ve said my piece, I’ve made my phone calls, I’ve worked with the Washington Convention and Sports Authority, police, and various elected officials—and still they come. And I know when I’m beat. So rather than impotently raging against the tides, let’s have a little fun.

Join me on a tour down memory lane of the alley pissers I have known. Let’s start with 2009. The annual St. Patrick's Day festival predates this date, but alas, my pictures do not. We open, at the top of this post, on a rainy day, but no amount of drizzle can dampen our partygoers' spirits. Faces have been blurred to protect the uninhibited. (Fair warning: It gets NSFW.)

For some reason, my alley seems to be somewhat more popular with women, while gentlemen prefer to piss slightly further afield. Here, in a 2012 shot, is a young man no doubt making his mother very proud.

More HERE Via Washington City Paper

Its that time of year, Best of DC

This year please dont forget to vote - Best Roof Top Bar, The Lodge at Red Rocks (heated and covered w/Capitol views!), Best DJ - SHARKEY, Best Dance Floor, The Lodge at Red Rocks

Why Can’t People Stop Stealing From D.C.’s Restaurants?

Peter Ogburn’s life of crime began with a copper mug stuffed down his pants. The radio producer was drinking a Moscow mule at the bar at Senart’s Oyster and Chop House not long after its 2011 opening when the impulse struck him: He’d always wanted one of the shiny cups but had no idea where to find them. So he unbuttoned his pants. And he took one.

“If you are a restaurateur and you see somebody walking out of the restaurant with a giant bulge in the front of their pants,” Ogburn says, “they’re either having a really good date, or they’re robbing you.”

Since then, Ogburn has accumulated three more mismatched mugs, taken from D.C.’s Boxcar Tavern and other bars in Las Vegas and Charleston, S.C. He regularly busts them out to make Moscow mules for friends. He admits he has a tinge of guilt about it, but he still ranks the thefts low on the scale of bad etiquette and crime. “People that are bad tippers and people that walk out on a bill are the most deplorable people,” Ogburn says. His justification is simple: “I always overtip bartenders, so karmatically, I think it’s all kind of worked out.”

Copper mugs, which are traditionally used for Moscow mules and help keep the vodka, ginger beer, and lime cocktails icy cold, have become a particularly hot target for covetous bar-goers. But they’re not cheap: The mugs can cost anywhere from $15 to $25 each. Pearl Dive Oyster Palace stopped using them because so many were stolen; Bar Pilar lost its entire collection of 50 mugs and doesn’t plan to replace them. Lincoln Restaurant tried requiring drinkers to turn in IDs to use its mugs, but that created a new problem—too many people just forgot their IDs—so the anti-theft measure was quickly dropped. Instead, Lincoln, which has lost about 30 dozen mugs to thieves, stopped engraving the mugs with the restaurant’s name to at least make replacements cheaper.

Copper mugs, forks, paintings, candle holders—it doesn’t matter. Patrons will take just about anything from bars and restaurants. The problem is so rampant that Eater has a recurring feature called “Shit People Steal,” highlighting pinched items ranging from a bulldog sculpture at Bearnaise to bar stools at Poste Moderne Brasserie. But restaurant thieves aren’t just your run-of-the-mill kleptos (though there are surely plenty of those, too). Fueled by some combination of thrill, sentimentalism, and alcohol, people who wouldn’t dream of taking a pack of gum from a 7-Eleven have no qualms about sticking beer glasses in their coat pockets. For some reason, many otherwise-law-abiding citizens don’t consider stealing from bars and restaurants to be stealing at all. And unlike in retail stores, where there are price tags, diners don’t always think about how the costs of their impulse grabs add up for restaurants.

More HERE Via Washington City Paper

Tropicalia Drops Booker Jim Thomson, Citing Financial Reasons

After a year and a half booking U Street venue Tropicalia, Jim Thomson is out of a steady job. The self-styled "global dancehall" tucked beneath the Subway sandwich shop at 14th and U streets NW can no longer sustain a full-time booker, says club owner Aman Ayoubi. "Unfortunately at this point, we cannot afford to have an in-house booking person," Ayoubi says. Thomson, whose last day was Jan. 2, will pursue freelance booking, and the venue's owner says he'll continue to book DJs and some live acts with the help of third-party groups.

Thomson is a big part of the reason Tropicalia became one of the most unique venues in the District. (Thomson, a former member of Gwar among other bands, was profiled in Washington City Paper in early 2013.) Since he began working at the club in August 2012, Thomson brought in a lively mix of DJs and international bands—many of which might not play D.C. otherwise. Ayoubi, who also owns Local 16, says he has tentative plans to work with Thomson on some live shows at the club in March, "but this opens up an opportunity to work with other booking agents."

When Tropicalia opened in August 2012, it aspired to book the kinds of music that are hard to find in D.C., at least outside the halls of embassies and cultural centers. Thomson brought in performers from Mali, Iran, Angola, and beyond, and cultivated a low-key basement-party vibe in the subterranean venue. Despite the unique and eclectic format, the club failed to rake in the bucks—but to anyone watching closely, that probably wasn't very surprising.

Unlike some other clubs on and around U Street NW, the venue doesn't offer the trappings of upscale nightclubbing—there's no bottle service, no table reservations, no velvet rope. It also doesn't appeal to any one demographic. Thomson aimed to reach multiple groups, including NGO employees, drum-circle hippies, old school hip-hop heads, record nerds, and working-class and well-to-do immigrants alike. But Tropicalia's promotion budget is small, Thomson says, and even well-financed organizations might have a tough time reaching all of those demographics. Thomson says the 225-person capacity club drew bigger crowds when it worked with outside promoters who could target particular groups, like Latin, Jamaican, and Turkish music fans. (Thomson says that DJ Underdog's Afrocentric dance nights, where he plays styles like Ghanaian azonto and South African kwaito, draw a particularly diverse crowd. "The brand has really resonated," Thomson says of Underdog's parties. "He filled a need.")

More here Via City Paper

Tommy Wells, Minimum Wage Shopper

Living on the District's minimum wage of $8.25 an hour, Shemethia Butler says she can fit a $13.96 bag of chicken wings into her budget. Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells won't be joining her.

"I'm not sure if you can afford this chicken right now," Butler told Wells as they shopped together this afternoon at a Safeway in Southwest. Wells admitted that he couldn't.

The mayoral hopeful is trying to live on the District's $8.25 minimum wage as part of the challenge popularized by New York mayor-elect Bill de Blasio. That gives Wells only $98.28 to cover his food and transportation bills for the week, so Wells brought along Butler, a McDonald's cashier, for shopping advice.

Wells, a frequent visitor to the supermarket's gourmet cheese bin, said he was struck when Butler told him that she can't afford to even consider stopping by the gouda and gruyère. His eventual grocery bill—including eggs, dried peas, and jars of spaghetti sauce—came to $36.26, a little less than two dollars under his $38 goal.

Wells' minimum wage challenge is his latest involvement in the District's minimum wage debate, which has seen him voting against the Large Retailer Accountability Act, then proposing his own bill to raise the minimum wage to $10.25, then backing a D.C. Council bill mandating an $11.50 minimum wage, and now endorsing a ballot initiative effort for a $12.50 minimum wage.

Wells concedes that his week of living modestly is a stunt timed to coincide with his mayoral campaign—albeit a stunt that he says is aimed at shining some of the mayoral campaign's spotlight on the plight of low-wage workers.

"I will do another thing after this," Wells says. "And you can again call it a publicity stunt."

Via Washington City Paper

New Restaurant in S.E, Agua 301

The team behind Barracks Row's Zest American Bistro is going a completely different direction with its next venture: a Mexican restaurant called Agua 301. The new spot, set to open Dec. 20, gets its name from its address: 301 Water St. SE on the Capitol Riverfront, right next to recently opened Osteria Morini.

Owners Amanda and Stephen Briggs have also announced a chef: Antonio Burrell, who helped open El Centro D.F. and Masa 14 and most recently worked at Redwood in Bethesda. One of his first cooking jobs happened to be at a Mexican restaurant in Fargo, N.D.

So, why Mexican? "While we were sitting and looking out at the water, we said, 'What do we like to do when we go to the water?' We like to sit back and, me in particular, have a margarita," Stephen says. "One of the top foods that we love is Mexican food."

The menu has a modern Mexican bent with a few less traditional touches (like a carne asada taco with kimchi). Burrell says you likely won't see chile rellenos, fajitas, burritos, or enchiladas. But tacos? Of course: One of the dishes Burrell is most excited about is the taco al pastor, made with crispy fried pork belly rather than pork shoulder and a pineapple-habanero chutney instead of roasted pineapple. The other half-dozen tacos include beef cheek barbacoa and a squash and shiitake mushroom option with chilies, goat cheese, and pickled corn relish.

more here via Washington City Paper

Peruvian Brothers Food Truck Now Accepting Bitcoin

It's no longer a question of whether food trucks take cash or credit. Peruvian Brothers is now the first D.C.-area food truck to take the digital currency Bitcoin.

What and huh? Well, remember the Winklevoss twins, the Harvard rowers best known for suing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for stealing their idea for a social networking site? The twins, Tyler and Cameron, are Bitcoin investors and also happen to be good friends with Peruvian Brothers co-founders Giuseppe and Mario Lanzone. Giuseppe competed with the Winklevii on the U.S. rowing team in the 2008 Beijing Olympics as well as other world rowing championships. They raced against each other back in college, too, and have gone on cycling trips in California together. 

"They were like, 'Why don't you try Bitcoin on your food truck?' We've been friends for a very long time, and I trust what they do," Giuseppe says. He figured food trucks already embrace plenty of mobile technology. Why not Bitcoin?

Here's how it works: You have to have a smartphone app called BitPay, which creates a QR code specific to your BitPay account. When you're ready to pay, just say you're paying with Bitcoin and scan the QR code.

The Peruvian Brothers truck isn't out today because of the weather, but you can start using your cryptocurrency on pan con chicharron tomorrow. The price of one bitcoin has been trading at around $800 to $900, meaning the most expensive thing on Peruvian Brothers' menu ($10) would cost around 1/100th of a Bitcoin.

More here via Washington City Paper

Final Days of DC Cocktail Week

Washington City Paper & The Restaurant Association are sponsoring Cocktail Week, nearly 50 participating bars and restaurants to indulge in amazing libations. Complete the game-board (here) for more then just bragging rights; prizes and details can be found here.

Register here, Game ends 11/17/13. Do let us know how far you made it!

Prizes include: 2014 Rammy's VIP Package, Concert Tickets, $50 Restaurant Gift Cards, Ten 2 lbs. Lobsters w/Free Delivery and Landmark Theater Tickets

Whole Foods Signs deal and Announces: Coming to H St, NE

The Washington City Paper reports big news for H Street NE today: Whole Foods is coming. The grocery chain plans to build a 39,000 square-foot store below a new apartment complex on H between 6th and 7th streets NE, where Murry's grocery store now sits. It's expected to open in the fall of 2016. 

Y&H happened to ask self-described tavern magnate Joe Englert, an owner of several H Street establishments including Rock & Roll Hotel, Granville Moore's, The Pug, and H Street Country Club, about the prospect of the yuppie grocer coming to H Street NE a few weeks ago. Here's a portion of the transcript from our conversation, beginning with Englert's feelings about the corridor:

JE: What I sort of like about H Street is I think it’s not baked yet, you know what I mean? We don’t know what it’s going to be yet. You know what 14th Street is going to be. You know what Dupont is. You don’t know what H Street is going to be yet. Hopefully, it just remains strange and sort of uncompleted all the time, I think that would be really good. I usually like people on H Street a lot. I think there’s a real openness and small town sort of atmosphere about it. And I hate the word diverse, but there’s a mixed bag of people...It’s just not done yet. It’s not smooth, slick. It’s just not perfect and brand name yet. It’s not Georgetown… It’s not really corporate.

Y&H: So let me ask you this: If and when Whole Foods comes to H Street, is that progress or a sign of the yuppie apocalypse? 

JE: Well, it’s sad in some ways.

Y&H: It would be sad?

JE: It’s good if you’re looking at it from a holistic point of view. Maybe ultimately it’s good because the schools would improve for the smaller kids. More money into the neighborhood perhaps means more empowered people would advocate for better schools and better education. That’s a good thing. But the sameness and the cookie-cutter branding I think would be depressing…Right now, you know you’re on H Street because it’s unbaked, it’s unfinished, it’s not slick, it’s still sort of rough. It would be a shame if it’s just like Columbia Heights.

Y&H: So you wouldn’t go buy your organic quinoa there?

JE: God, I don’t think the food’s good there. Besides nut and cheese, I don’t know why anybody would go to Whole Foods.