LYNDA BARRY is that rare thing: a woman who's managed to make it in the world of comics. It's hard enough to come up against the comedy glass ceiling, but comic books are even more of a boys club than the Straight Talk Express. (Zing! Score one for Maureen Dowd and all women everywhere.)
Anyway, Lynda Barry has written "What It Is," a book about creativity that seeks to offer the average book reading American citizen a gateway to artistic and literary creativity. The book includes exercises, a "method" to reach your inner creative self and of course cartoons. lf Barry herself weren't so awesome, this kind of thing would be insipid.
Express contributor spoke to Barry; read it here.
» Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW; Fri., Oct. 3, 7 p.m., free; 202-364-1919. (Van Ness)
Photo courtesy Politics and Prose
DON'T SPEND ALL YOUR MONEY on the winter sales in Georgetown — make sure there are funds left over for a warming, intoxicating beverage at Old Europe, just up the hill in Glover Park. Do it like the Germans and snuggle up to a mug of Gluhwein.
With a base of Burgundy wine, seasoned with ginger, cloves, cinnamon, sugar and plenty of citrus — lemon, lime and orange — Gluhwein rivals the warmth of hot chocolate and the tang of, well, Tang, to create a comforting winter drink.
» Old Europe, 2434 Wisconsin Ave. NW; 202-333-7600.
Written by Express contributor Stefanie Gans
THEY AREN'T POPPING celebratory corks just yet, but following a three-year liquor license moratorium, District residents in Glover Park may have a handful of new alcohol-serving restaurants to choose from later this year.
At a meeting earlier this month, members of the neighborhood's Advisory Neighborhood Commission voted unanimously to lobby the Alcohol Beverage Regulation Administration for a five-year extension of the moratorium when it lapses in April. But, the ANC also approved an amendment to the moratorium that will allow for three additional class CR licenses. These permit restaurants to sell beer, wine and spirits.
The last moratorium, approved in 2005, has had "a very strong and stabilizing effect on the neighborhood," according to Alan Blevins, an ANC board member. Crime and public lewdness are down, he said, and the commercial district has been able to attract retail outlets beyond restaurants. "We already have a significant number of restaurants. We're trying to strike a balance between them and other establishments," he added.
Jackie Blumenthal, president of the Glover Park Citizens' Association, said her organization supported the ANC's decision. Blumenthal acknowledged, however, that there were "differing points of view" on the issue. While some residents wanted to extend additional licenses to fill empty storefronts on Wisconsin Avenue, others, she said, "remembered the disruption and violence that was prevalent" before the moratorium was instituted.
Continue Reading "Glover Park Weighs Liquor License Shifts" »
A PLUME OF BLACK SMOKE hovered over the city on Monday afternoon as fire fighters battled against a tough-to-extinguish blaze at a tire store.
The response to the fire, pictured at right, forced the closure of a number of streets around Jimmy's Tire Shop in Trinidad, where Florida Avenue intersects 12th and K streets NE. One firefighter was treated and released from a hospital after a fall, The Post's William Wan reports.
Across town, an overnight fire in Glover Park caused severe damage to J.P.'s strip club on Wisconsin Avenue, The Post's Howard Schneider and Debbi Wilgoren report. Morning traffic is expected to be diverted around the scene of the fire, which also damaged two neighboring businesses.
Continue Reading "Fires Consume Tire Shop, Strip Club in D.C." »
LAST NIGHT, investigators from a U.S. Marshals task force arrested a man who is alleged to have set the manager of the Good Guys strip club in Glover Park on fire over the weekend after a scuffle, WTOP reports. The manager remains in the hospital with second- and third-degree burns.
» "Marshals Arrest Man in Strip Club Burning" [WTOP]
» EARLIER: "Good Guys Employee Set on Fire by Angry Patron" [Free Ride/Express]
IT SHOULD BE EXPECTED that if you're in an adult club that features exotic dancers, you shouldn't take photos of the talent. Management might get angry.
At Good Guys on Wisconsin Avenue in Glover Park on Saturday night, a patron was apparently ejected for doing just that, and then later, as The Post's Ernesto Londono and Martin Weil report, he sprayed a flammable liquid on a 26-year-old employee and set him on fire. The suspect is at large and the employee is in the hospital with serious injuries.
OH, HOW A NEIGHBORHOOD CAN WISH.
Residents of Columbia Heights have pined for a Whole Foods, but those dreams have been dashed. In Penn Quarter, condo owners who have complained about the lack of a grocery store are pushing for a Whole Foods, too — they've even drawn up a petition. In Tenleytown, residents have been bubbling over with excitement about efforts to lure a gelato store into its commercial core.
And in Glover Park, vacant store fronts on Wisconsin Avenue have neighborhood residents dreaming of the possibilities. Recently on the neighborhood's message board, there's been talk of trying to attract Busboys and Poets, pictured at left, to the neighborhood. The restaurant/bar/coffee shop/poetry slam performance space/bookstore free-for-all has its flagship on 14th Street NW and a new location in Shirlington.
Notes one neighbor on a local message board, however:
Busboys and Poets is quite left-leaning and may leave some of the area's neighbors out of the loop, you know? I'm not knocking folks for having political beliefs, etc... I mean, IT IS DC... but IAnother resident is all excited about a potential breakfast spot:
would prefer a more politically-neutral place down the street from where I
live... my two cents...
My votes for businesses are City Sports, Busboys & Poets and Cereality ... Cereality is on U of Penn's campus [and] is a new twist on your typical bowl of cereal[.] Choose from a variety of cereals, toppings, milk, etc.[,] and you can even come in your pajamas!Of course, that's just a wish list.
EARLIER:
» "Tenleytowners Want Gelato or Something Else" [Free Ride/Express]
» "Hungry for Whole Foods" [WaPo]
Photo of Busboys and Poets by Susan Biddle/The Washington Post; Cereality photo courtesy Cereality
SEASONAL BREWS and hearty fare accompany Oktoberfest celebrations across the region.
The German party that began in 1810 in honor of the marriage of Prince — later King, later "Mad" King — Ludwig of Bavaria to Princess Therese traditionally featured a ceremonial keg-tapping of robust lager that was available only during the last week of September and the first two weeks of October.
"In the past, Oktoberfest beers brewed in March were stored over the summer and tapped for harvest," said Greg Engert, beer director for Alexandria's Rustico. "These ambers were more full-bodied, had higher alcohol content and kept longer." Since then, he said, German brews have lightened up. "The Hofbrau Fest Bier, for example, isn't as rich as it once was. It's a lighter lager."
Old Europe in Glover Park serves up a celebration every Thursday through Sunday in October. Guests can drink Oktoberfest Bockbier in steins ($4.50), half-liters ($5.95) or liters ($11.50). A menu of pretzels with mustard, wursts, dumplings and heartier entrees are also featured on the Oktoberfest menu.
SLIVERS OF FLOUNDER CARPACCIO were arranged like spokes on the dish, dressed with micro-greens and fried carrots, drizzled with truffle oil vinaigrette. It was course No. 2 of five at Sushi Ko's bar, where a pair of diners who had ordered the omakase was wedged between regulars and first-timers.
At the Glover Park restaurant, the omakase ($60), or chef's tasting menu, is five or six courses set by chef Koji Terano that feature the evening's freshest fish. But Terano is no tyrant in a toque — courses can vary according to diners' preference. Have a hankering for ikura? The chef preparing the meal will ensure those jewel-like salmon eggs will be a highlight. Anti-uni? The sea urchin delicacy, a bit of an acquired taste, won't make an appearance.
Chefs have some wiggle room in presentation. Perhaps he'll display each course as a traditionalist from Tokyo might, or, as chef Byron Navarro does in a nod to his Hispanic heritage, he may introduce some spicy heat into the mix.
THE RUSSIANS' ICONIC WHITE MARBLE embassy complex in Glover Park has acquired some color: yellow.
The new hue is featured on the massive wall protecting the giant campus' backside along Tunlaw Road. The change is worth noting, since the embassy complex — whose main building is similar to the Russian parliament house in Moscow — has long been known for its drab, almost prison-like look, at least from the Tunlaw side. (We'll see if China's new compound under construction on Van Ness Street NW will snatch the prize for looking most like a lockup when it's done.)
A neighborhood source tells us that the wall was painted by hand — no power painting tools were used. Try doing that in last week's heat.
Who knows, the change could have unintended effects. Neighbors have complained about speeding along that stretch of Tunlaw Road. Maybe the yellow wall will draw the attention of drivers and get them to slow down, if just for a moment.
» EARLIER: "Walking Around Town: Spying in Upper NW" [Free Ride/Express]
Addison Road