Every week, Washingtonian food editor Jessica Sidman rehashes the latest news from Washington’s food and drink scene in a newsletter, which you can subscribe to here.
Hi there,
Food Editor Jessica Sidman here.
Well, the cherry blossoms might be a bit of a bust this year, but the Cherry Blossom Bar is going strong. Crowds have waited up to two hours for the latest pop-up at Shaw’s Mockingbird Hill and Southern Efficiency, which features a canopy of faux-flowers, Japanese-themed drinks, and (why not?) an entire room devoted to Super Mario Bros. So on a cold, rainy evening last week, I tagged along with owner Derek Brown to see what it’s like to be the bouncer handling one of DC’s most epic lines. Only one person tried to bribe him! But you should hear some of the shenanigans that went on at Brown’s Christmas pop-up.
In other news, DC distiller Republic Restoratives has a new whiskey homage to Hillary Clinton called Rodham Rye. Initially, it was supposed to celebrate the country’s first female president, but… we all know how that went. A portion of the proceeds from the limited-release will go to an organization that helps pro-choice Democratic women running for office.
While we’re on the topic of booze, have you started to notice a lot of Chartreuse on cocktail menus lately? The 400-year-old spirit is all of a sudden quite trendy. Here’s everything you need to know about it.
As for what you should be eating, the hot restaurant opening of the week is Mirabelle. The French-American fine dining kitchen stars chef Frank Ruta and pastry chef Aggie Chin, who previously worked together at the Grill Room and Palena. We’re particularly excited about the burger that riffs of French onion soup Madeira-caramelized onions and cave-aged gruyere cheese. Oh, and there’s a dessert cart and an armagnac cart. The restaurant is only open for lunch for now, but it will expand to breakfast and dinner in the coming weeks.
If a $28 burger is not in your budget, that’s cool too. We’ve built a handy interactive tool that lets you find the cheapest and lowest calorie sandwiches or salads among a number of popular downtown chains.
Also, free food alert! Dolcezza is celebrating the 88th birthday of Yayoi Kusama (the Japanese artist behind the Instagrammable “Infinity Mirrors” exhibit at the Hirshhorn) by offering free scoops of gelato today to people wearing polka dogs.
That’s all for now. Questions? Comments? Email me at jsidman@washingtonian.com.
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Jessica Sidman covers the people and trends behind D.C.’s food and drink scene. Before joining Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Food Editor and Young & Hungry columnist at Washington City Paper. She is a Colorado native and University of Pennsylvania grad.
