IN THE MIDST of Adams Morgan, Mt. Pleasant and Columbia Heights, a new taco shop opened in July. But does an area already packed with nachos, fajitas and pupusas really need Pica Taco? The answer is found in the tender chicken torta and the wallet-pleasing prices.
"Pica" is owner Maria Villalta's slang for the Spanish word "picante," which means hot. Pica Taco is tiny, with just a few tables inside and outside. The menu is equally limited in size, although it's still difficult to chose among the tacos ($2.25), served open-face with sliced radishes; burritos ($4.95-$6.50) stuffed with a choice of braised beef, chicken pastor (pig) and beans; or enchiladas ($7.50), sitting next to a side of rice and beans.
For a non-tortilla experience, try Mexico's equivalent of a sandwich, the torta. Imagine all of your favorite burrito fillings — fried pinto beans, ranchero-sauced chicken, sliced avocado and queso fresco — spread in between a white sub roll.
STOP BY THE Mount Pleasant Farmers' Market Saturdays at Lamont Park (17th & Lamont Streets NW), and you'll see familiar piles of leafy greens and scrumptious fruit. You'll also find Ben West peddling a service of a different sort. The 35-year-old has been offering free bike tune-ups (10 a.m.-1 p.m.) since April. "It works perfectly for the markets," he says. "It's friendly, low-key, green."
What began as a help-your-fellow-neighbor effort grew to a weekly venture for the D.C. resident. It wasn't much of a stretch: West's day job consists of promoting cycling activism and events as the Washington Area Bicyclist Association's bike ambassador.
Got a dusty cruiser in your garage that may need some oil? Or a Schwinn with gummy tires? Cruise on over. The aim is to help folks get air in their wheels and oil on rusty bike chains, and to offer cycling route suggestions. It's a quick fix — not a comprehensive mechanical overhaul. (West recommends those with serious technical issues hit up a local cycling shop.) In the three-hour time span he's at the market, West and fellow volunteers put a positive spin on things for typically 30 cyclists.
THE WASHINGTON POST'S late Sunday Source section once published some reader nominations for the D.C. areas most objectionable eyesores. While I am no particular fan of the Robert C. Weaver Federal Building, I nonetheless believe there are uglier things in Washington than the local architecture.
Even though the Kennedy Center is a bit boxy and boring, and the Washington Monument has little to offer besides an overstated phallic resemblance, you can always do a lot worse than well-lit white marble.
In tribute to Robert C. Weaver, his embattled Federal Building, and the late Sunday Source, here is my own highly subjective list of things in Washington I would prefer not to look at.
Continue Reading "Monumental Eyesores: The D.C. Area's Most Disgusting Sights" »
NOT ALL THE ECONOMIC news is bad news. Radius Pizza just dropped prices on its pizzas, toppings and many other items, with large pizzas jumping down as much as $3.
But don't expect the taste to plummet. General manager Kenneth Bush noticed the quality difference between pizzas served in-house and those delivered. At home, moisture-soaked vegetables made for a soggy pie. To spare patrons' wallets and improve the delivered pizzas, Radius will trim the amount of toppings and also lower prices.
» Radius Pizza, 3155 Mt. Pleasant St. NW; 202-234-0808.
Written by Express contributor Stefanie Gans
YESTERDAY, blogger Prince of Petworth posted a picture of the remains of 3145 Mt. Pleasant St. NW, the apartment building gutted by a five-alarm blaze on March 13, and asked how long it would be before tenants could move back in.
We brought the question to the office of D.C. Council member Jim Graham.
Ted Loza, Graham's chief of staff, said that according to Mike Rupert of the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, the permits necessary to go forward with reconstruction have not been issued due to a hold up between the building owner and insurance companies.
Once those permits are issued it'll likely be a year to 18 months before residents can return.
Rupert said that when rebuilding does finally occur, officials anticipate that the less damaged south side of the building will be habitable sooner than the north side.
According to Loza, the reconstruction timeline, were it to start soon, would line up with Mayor Adrian Fenty's pledge to provide subsidies for the building's 200 displaced residents for up to two years.
"THEY CAN'T GO IN, but we take them around to the back to show them how it was destroyed. The good thing is that they get closure and that they've got their lives."
— Randy Moses, an emergency management coordinator for the D.C. Department of Human Resources, speaking to The Post's Sylvia Moreno about the scene that's greeted many former residents of a Mount Pleasant apartment building that was gutted in a five-alarm fire on March 13. About 200 tenants were displaced because of the blaze.Officials say some residents, like Cristobal Hernandez, pictured at right, were able to retrieve some of their belongings on Monday. Others, however, are in the group Moses describes above: residents of the north side of the building, which was so heavily damaged that contractors were ordered to demolish all but the exterior wall and a few apartments behind it.
Last week, D.C. Council member Jim Graham said that material donations had poured in at an astounding clip, but that money was still needed to help fire victims find new places to live. Serve DC, a city agency that coordinates with volunteer and nonprofit groups, is accepting donations of materials like new clothing, furniture and gift cards from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. today, tomorrow and Thursday at the D.C. General Warehouse, located at 1900 Massachusetts Avenue SE, Building 6. Get more information from Serve DC here.
» "Victims of Fire Pick Up Pieces Of Their Lives" [WaPo]
» EARLIER: "Money Still Needed to Help Mt. Pleasant Fire Victims" [Free Ride/Express]
Photo by Lucian Perkins/The Washington Post
DONATIONS OF clothing and household items for the victims of a five-alarm fire that destroyed a Mount Pleasant apartment building last week poured in at such a rapid clip that they've already exceeded the amount of space available to hold them, D.C. Council member Jim Graham, D-Ward 1, said Tuesday. But he said money is still needed to help displaced residents get back on their feet.
After the blaze, which erupted overnight Thursday at 3145 Mt Pleasant St. NW (pictured at right on Saturday), Graham partnered with the community non-profit group Neighbors Consejo to take in donations for the nearly 200 residents left without homes. Graham said he was blown away by community response.
"It's been overwhelming. I expected a very good response but it has far exceeded all expectations," he said. "Everyone has come forward, and it has eased a lot of this pain. I'm very grateful for that."
Judy Diaz of Neighbors Consejo said the group is still taking small donations of food, toiletries and underwear, but Graham said officials' main task now is helping families find and pay for new places to live.
Continue Reading "Money Still Needed to Help Mt. Pleasant Fire Victims" »
D.C. COUNCIL MEMBER JIM GRAHAM is asking that people consider making donations to the hundreds of people displaced by a five-alarm blaze that devoured an apartment building in Mt. Pleasant overnight.
The Post's Debbi Wilgoren and Howard Schneider reported these details about the blaze earlier today:
Flames shot from the top half of the four-story structure at 3145 Mount Pleasant St. NW, starting shortly before midnight, city officials said. The building -- a rental apartment whose tenants had fought for years to force the owner to address numerous code violations -- was "probably going to be a total loss," fire department spokesman Alan Etter said.According to a message Graham posted on the MountPleasantDC message board, no one was injured in the fire, and "the fire department's response was great and the water pressure was superb." Graham says the fire "affected six buildings, including the Meridian Hill Baptist Church."
According to Graham, Neighbors Consejo, a group that assists low-income immigrants, is taking food and clothing donations at 3118 16th St. NW. Those wishing more information can call Evar Sandoval at (202) 234-6855.
» GET MORE information about the fire, including video from the scene, from washingtonpost.com.
WE'VE HEARD OF garden tours. And we've heard of bike tours. But a post today by local blogger Prince of Petworth is the first time we've seen a garden tour on bikes.
The excursion, part of last week's D.C. School Garden Week event series, was organized by the Women's Garden Cycles Project and featured stops at several school vegetable and herb gardens, including the school at 13th Street NW that snagged the Prince's attention. His response: "Pretty, pretty cool! Who knew cool things like this existed in D.C.?"
We didn't. We also didn't know a thing about the Women's Garden Cycles Bike Tour, which took three local women from Washington to Montreal on a quest to "document food-producing garden projects" along the way, according to their Web site. They're making a documentary about the experience.
The local school garden tour has passed, but the gals have another event in the offing: a haunted scavenger race. On bikes, natch. Notes their Web site in spooky tones:
Ever played 'manhunt'? or fugitive? Its like a big game of tag all over the city — with good guys and bad guys in a game of chase. The Haunted Scavenger race will feature tasks to be accomplished at various scary spots throughout the city — with some worth more points than others. Teams will be given maps and clues and will have two hours to ride around to these points without getting caught by ghouls on bikes — then back to base to tally the winners.The party starts at 7 p.m. on Saturday at 1822 Lamont St. NW in Mount Pleasant. They call it a fundraiser, so they may be asking for a $10 donation for their documentary project, as they did for the school garden tour. Check their site for more info.
» "Sometimes You Stumble Upon The Coolest Things" [Prince of Petworth]
» Women's Garden Cycles Bike Tour
THE LAST TIME this writer applied for a spot in a Mount Pleasant group house, being a Leo was pretty much grounds for a denial. If there is one thing that is the most detestable about D.C., it is that awkward courtship ritual known as applying for a group house, full of competitors who put on their game face and outright lie to potential housemates about how much they love to cook and clean.
The Post's Monica Hesse dives into what it means to share a Mount Pleasant group house. However, for the fivesome in the 1700 block of Park Road that was featured, pictured here, there was no beanbag circle of judgment — a tactic some cunning group house masters and their housemates use to quiz eager finalists for what's often the worst room in the house.
Last year, The Post profiled the specifics of selection rituals and the dos and don'ts on scoring a prime group house slot. And for what? It's all about finding someplace that feels like "home" in our standoffish, soulless capital.
And all is not well up on Park Road. Writes Hesse:
Living in a group house is like living in a TV dinner. You try to keep your life contained to your room, to your compartment of the microwaveable tray. But spillover is unavoidable.Yes indeed. There are conflicts about sharing laundry detergent. There's a chore chart. And roommate Elizabeth has to remind houseguests to pay housemate Susie for the "fancy beer" they drank from the fridge. (What, the houseguests couldn't swing by The Argyle convenience store at the corner of Park Road and 17th Street NW? Last time we checked, they had a decent selection.)
Also, throw some minor partisan tension into the mix. In one evening, roommate Joe is teased five times for being a Republican. In the end, we learn that the house's lone GOP supporter — and perhaps Mount Pleasant's only Republican — ends up moving to Alexandria. Oh, how a homey neighborhood can be so cruel ...
» "In a Mt. Pleasant Group House, Companionship And Chores Are All Part of the Bargain" [WaPo]
EARLIER:
» "In Search of Not-So-Cheap Group Housing" [Free Ride/Express]
» "Pick Me! Pick Me!" [WaPo]
Photo by James M. Thresher/The Washington Post
Addison Road