Gradually, but decisively, Adams Morgan changed from being an eclectic neighborhood packed with good, ethnic restaurants to one jammed (mostly) with places for drunk people to buy a slice at 3 a.m. My discouragement peaked when one constantly-changing space took the name McNasty's. (To be fair, it might be a lovely place. I have never been inside. It is called McNasty's.) So I was delighted at the arrival in January of Mintwood Place, where chef Cedric Maupillier, formerly of Central Michel Richard, serves a mix of French bistro food (steak frites, frogs legs, and the cast-iron chicken pictured above), upscale down-home food (deviled pickled eggs, maple pork cracklin', bacon cheeseburgers), and possibly the best tagliatelle Bolognese I ever had. Mintwood Place is located below (and co-owned with) Perry's, an Adams Morgan mainstay and location of one of the best rooftop bars (and maybe the only drag queen brunch) in town, on Columbia Road near the corner of Biltmore (a block away from the street named Mintwood Place). It's a big, comfy, noisy space with friendly, professional service, and delicious food. What more could you want? Oh yeah, it has a sidewalk cafe! And now brunch on Saturday and Sunday. As an example of how good the service is, on one visit our server was Johnny- on-the-spot with an offer for a glass of wine with my main course just as I was silently lamenting the end of my first glass, and another server who brought us the baked Alaska we ordered offered to wait until my friend returned from the rest room to light it on fire (which was a beautiful sight).
I'd hoped to write about this place before the WPost reviewed it and it became even more crowded than it's been, but I dawdled. Tom's three-star review runs this Sunday. If you want to get a reservation in while you can, Mintwood Place has gone against the OpenTable trend and signed on with CityEats, a competing site owned by the Food Network.
The best restaurant in Adams Morgan before Mintwood Place opened, by far and for many years, was Cashion's Eat Place, a few doors down Columbia Road. I love Cashion's, and hope that it will only benefit from the additional grown-up traffic Mintwood Place draws to the neighborhood.
When a friend asked if I wanted to see a 1926 animated German film accompanied by a live original score, my first thought was "um, I'm busy that month." But I'm a come-with kind of girl. And I'm glad I did. The event, presented by the Constellation Theatre Company at the Source theater on 14th Street in Washington, opened tonight and runs for two more nights. Tickets are $20, or $13.50 (with service charge) via Goldstar. The visuals are remarkably inventive, and it's simply astounding that the musical accompaniment is being played by one man -- Tom Teasley -- who didn't seem to take a breath for more than an hour while playing his improvisational eastern-influenced jazz score. Here's how Constellation describes it:
German visionary artist Lotte Reiniger, using a silhouette technique inspired by shadow puppetry, created The Adventures of Prince Achmed, the oldest surviving animation feature film. The narrative is based on stories from The Arabian Nights. A wicked sorcerer tricks Prince Achmed into riding a magical flying horse, which he uses to embark on many adventures. While travelling, he falls in love with the beautiful Princess Peri Banu, and must defeat an army of demons to win her heart.
Helen Hayes Award Winner Tom Teasley’s innovative world music score is based upon his collaborations with indigenous musicians in Bahrain, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the West Bank and Jerusalem during his work as a Cultural Envoy for the U.S. State Department. Teasley has been an artist-in-residence at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and has collaborated with the National Symphony as both a soloist and composer. He will play live in Constellation’s upcoming production of Metamorphoses in May.
Image from goldstar.com.
Maybe three new CDs by Irish artists don't count as new music galore, but galore comes from the Irish “go leor,” and is fun to say. Here are my extremely quick, non-thoughtful takes from a quick listen to each.
Sinead O'Connor, "How About I Be Me (and You Be You)?" Good album, with a lot of interesting lyrics, though intense at times (surprise!). But the opening track, "4th and Vine" is pure fun. The very end is so religious I felt I could either skip Mass this week, or I need an exorcism. I'm not sure. I like the title.
The Cranberries, "Roses": Very mellow. "Zombie" this isn't. The lyrics range from banal love songs to was she on drugs when she wrote this or what? But the sound is lovely.
The Chieftains, "Voice of Ages": This album is heavy on deedly-dee and country music, two of my least favorite genres, but "School Days Over," with The Low Anthem (whoever they might be) is terrific. They performed it on Letterman last week. I can't think of another TV venue where I more enjoy watching a good musical performance, because Dave seems genuinely honored to be in the audience. Check out the clip below -- Dave congratulates The Chieftains (presumably on their 50th anniversary as a band) and says "What a wonderful organization!" As usual, the Chieftains collaborate with a number of musicians on this album, including Bon Iver, The Civil Wars, The Decemberists, and the Carolina Chocolate Drops (mmmmm).
If you're looking for a literary way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day this weekend, Scena Theatre is staging readings of three plays by William Butler Yates on Sunday. Purgatory, At the Hawk's Well, and The Death of Cuchulain will be read at the H Street Playhouse at 7 pm. Tickets are $20. I've always liked Yeats, even if this photo, on a poster of Irish writers at Moran's, always reminded me of Dan Akroyd.
Now that I've low-browed Yeats, let me offer one of his best known poems:
The Second Coming
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
A few last-minute thoughts about the best picture nominees. As you can tell, I wasn't wild about this crop. And expanding the list beyond five movies is terrible. Why didn't they ask me?
Given my lack of enthusiasm for most of the best picture nominees, a few thoughts about other movies that received nominations (or not):
Off the top of my head I count more than 20 restaurants within two blocks of my Woodley Park home, but I could count on one hand the number where I want to eat. Conventional wisdom has it that because the two large hotels in the neighborhood send a steady supply of one-time-only diners to restaurants here, the restaurants needn't be good to survive. So I'm happy Drew Trautmann and Jawaad Saadaoui decided to open their newest restaurant, District Kitchen, here. The team counts Sonoma on Capitol Hill and the former Mendocino Grille in Georgetown among their credits, so I'm sure I wasn't the only neighbor pressing my nose against the window waiting for them to open. The menu is largely upscale down-home food, including such items as house-made jerky, deviled country ham (it tastes like a borgasmord!), and a riff on Cincinnati-style chili with fusilli and lamb ragu. The menu changes frequently. I had a fluke dish right after the restaurant opened that included several thin pieces of seared fish stacked on top of each other and served with greens dressed with an Asian-style vinaigrette and gingered squash puree. When I returned a couple of weeks ago the fluke was gone, but scallops were served with the same sides. I opted instead for the Amish chicken "a la king" -- white and dark meat chicken cooked in a cream sauce with carrots and beech mushrooms served over grilled bread that got soggy with the sauce. This was hearty and comforting, not least because it reminded me both of my mother's chicken a la king, and of when she would serve leftover pot roast on toast with gravy, and I'd skip the pot roast entirely.
After my first meal we had the chocolate pot du creme with salted caramel whipped cream, which was delicious, though even better was the chocolate shortbread alongside it. Last time I was dying to try the German chocolate cake with coconut and pecan frosting and espresso Irish cream, but that chicken a la king didn't leave me room. Next time I'll have to go easy on the main course to try the chocolate cream cheese parfait with pecan crust and chocolate sprinkles. Chocolate sprinkles! It's as if they've been reading my diary.
Tom Sietsema is giving District Kitchen 2 stars in a review this Sunday. Here's my favorite line (in case you thought I was exaggerating above): "The light mood is surely also the result of grateful neighbors, relieved to get an alternative to all the middling menus between Dupont Circle and Cleveland Park."
District Kitchen
2606 Connecticut Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
(202) 238-9408
Reservations at opentable.com.
photo from http://www.districtkitchen.com
The Australian Open starts in Sydney Monday (tonight our time). On the tournament's eve, everyone's abuzz over Rafa Nadal's complaints that Roger Federer isn't pushing to change the men's tour schedule. I hate to even mention it because these guys are such gentlemen, but I did have to laugh at this remark (as translated from the Spanish and reported by the AP/Washington Post): “Maybe (Federer) has got a super body and he’ll finish his career like a rose. Neither myself, nor Murray, nor Djokovic are going to finish our careers like a rose." Roger (seeded third) and Rafa (seeded second) are both in the bottom half of the draw, meaning if they meet it will be in the semis. Novak Djokovic, not surprisingly, has the top seed, and Andy Murray rounds out the top four.
On the women's side, Caroline Wozniacki is seeded first, Petra Kvitova second, Victoria Azarenka third, and Maria Sharapova fourth. As usual (lately) on the women's side, it seems like anything could happen. Li Na, the Chinese player who made it to the finals last year but lost to Kim Clijsters, comes in at the fifth seed this year (though Kim's down at 11). Ana Ivanovic is only seeded 21st, but I couldn't resist the photo above (from the australianopen website).
You can find draws and updates on the tournament website and on TENNIS.com. TV coverage in the US will be on ESPN2 and Tennis channel; times and channels are listed on TENNIS.com at this link, which I always use when I'm recording and avoiding spoilers. (Speaking of which, I better go delete those 10 episodes of The Mentalist clogging up my DVR.)
The schedule is demanding for those of us half a world a way. I wish I could do a swing shift for this fortnight. If you need any help figuring out what time it is in Sydney, timeanddate.com is my favorite clock and calendar website. Right now in Sydney it's Monday at 2:41 pm. That freaks me out.
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