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Publ.Date : Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:45:04 -0500

Pollin's arena revitalized nation's capital
By investing $200 million in building a sports arena at Gallery Place, Washington Wizards owner Abe Pollin revitalized a once-blighted and crime-infested section of the nation's capital. Today, the area is a vibrant mecca for tourists and residents, who flock to retail stores, restaurants and entertainment venues around the Verizon Center, the centerpiece of Mr. Pollin's legacy. D.C. Council member Marion Barry, who was D.C. mayor when the city broke ground on the arena in 1995, called Mr. Pollin a tough businessman whose commitment to revitalize Chinatown and the Seventh Street corridor in Northwest Washington inspired his trust. Mr. Barry ...

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Publ.Date : Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:45:09 -0500

PHOTOGRAPHY: Man Ray at Phillips
Twenty-five years ago, New York's Museum of Modern Art mounted a controversial exhibit examining the relationship between modern art and "primitive" tribal cultures. The show was criticized for relegating non-Western art to a supporting role in the development of Western abstraction. "Man Ray, African Art and the Modernist Lens" tries hard to avoid this imbalance in presenting mostly straightforward, commercial photographs of African artifacts next to the real thing, but it runs into the same trouble. The touring show, organized by curator Wendy Goodman for D.C.-based International Arts and Artists, reduces the carved figures, masks and hats from West Africa ...

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Publ.Date : Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:45:00 -0500

DINING: Zentan a restaurant to watch
Zentan, the restaurant in the Donovan House hotel at Thomas Circle, is full of surprises, beginning with its name. The hotel, which replaces the Holiday Inn at the corner of 14th Street and Massachusetts Avenue Northwest, is named for William "Wild Bill" Donovan, the father of the Office of Strategic Services, the World War II spy-and-special-operations predecessor of the CIA. "Zentan" is the Mandarin word for "spy." The restaurant is a surprise, too. It was to have been opened by celebrity chef Todd English as an Asian restaurant, but that never happened. Hong Kong-born chef Susur Lee came from New ...

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Publ.Date : Wed, 30 Dec 2009 05:45:00 -0500

ART: Shonibare's headless extravagance
"Off with their heads" could be the slogan of the theatrical art created by British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare. His signature mannequins are decapitated as if they had been sent to the guillotine, an apt image given Mr. Shonibare's fascination with the era of Marie Antoinette. The headless dummies are dressed in 18th- and 19th-century-style costumes made of contemporary fabrics associated with Africa to challenge conventional ideas about racial and cultural identity. It's a clever conceit that appeals conceptually and visually, but eventually wears thin in the exhibition of the 47-year-old artist's work at the National Museum of African Art. This ...

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Publ.Date : Sun, 15 Nov 2009 05:45:04 -0500

Local blogger Ashley Messick, who spent the last year eating and chronicling her way through The Washingtonian’s 100 Very Best Restaurants list, has finally crossed the finish line. She reflects back on her year as an amateur food critic.

Celebrate Carnaval, attend a dessert festival, and learn to make lamb meatballs, hand-rolled pasta, and gelato.

Every Friday, we fill you in on what’s been happening in the local restaurant world.

• The former Garden District space on the corner of 14th and S streets, Northwest, will become a burger place, according to Prince of Petworth. The liquor application shows that there'll be 145 seats—15 inside and a proposal for 130 outside.

• Jane Black of the Washington Post reported yesterday that the cable channel TLC will run a six-episode reality show based on Katherine Kallinis and Sophie LaMontagne, the sisters behind Georgetown Cupcake. The series, called Cupcake Sisters, will follow the women as they work on growing their business, which now has locations in Georgetown and Bethesda. Filming starts today and goes through the spring.  

>> See a slideshow of photos of Screwtop here 

If you don’t already know Wendy Buckley when you step in to Screwtop, her Clarendon wine bar and shop, you soon will. As you enter, an encyclopedia of wine—from Armagnac to Zinfandel—hangs sideways, each entry accompanied by Buckley’s handwritten index-card notes. One reads, “My momma’s favorite wine,” pointing to a Lodali Moscato. Another proclaims, “You’ll want to dance after a couple of glasses of this sparkler!” referring to a Torrentes/Chardonnay blend called the Striptease. Across the sleek, hardwood floor, a selection of imported meats cool in a display case, with messages declaring prosciutto di Parma as “thinly-sliced heaven,” and bresaola as “the best thing to come out of Italy since Sophia Loren.”

Like many chefs, Sebastien Tavel dreamed of owning his own restaurant. Finding the money proved difficult, so the former sous chef at DC’s Poste downsized his aspirations, opening a gourmet-food store with his wife, Mary. “I wanted to work for myself,” he says. “It’s another way to promote good food.”

At La Fromagerie in Old Town Alexandria, the couple emphasizes American farmstead products, many of which Tavel learned about from his work in Poste’s kitchen. The light-filled shop stocks nearly 60 cheeses, including local brands such as Meadow Creek Dairy.

Nearly everything is devoted to cheese—spreaders, books about the stuff, accompaniments such as nuts and chutneys, and more. We love the Harvest Song apricot-and-white-cherry preserves and, to go with the spreadable chèvre, the Fine Cheese Company walnut crackers. There are also about 25 domestic and imported wines.