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Snowtorialist

Title: Snowtorialist
Photographer: Patten Wood
SIT-uation:  Dupont Circle. Morning after the BIG snow. But no worries. Nothing’s keeping this guy from Sunday’s ritual: looking good in the park.

Best Reason to Develop a Beer Gut

I happened upon something dangerous last night: ChurchKey. Tis true: Finally a casual-chic bar has opened on 14th Street that a) serves 50-plus somewhat-unusual drafts of beer (I only recognized about 10 of the names); b) has so much seating that even when swamped on a Monday night with 100 or so guests, most people still have a place to sit; c) offers some of the best bar service I’ve ever had in DC. Actually, she was one of the best servers I’ve had in this city, period.

What this means???  No more crowding and yelling over expensive wine at Cork or beer at Saint Ex. No more nights on back-breaking stools at Stoney’s. No more excuses for making the long-haul walk to Thai Tanic for dinner, because NOW there’s an amazing bar across the street to visit before and/or after.

Aside from the draft beer list, they have another 500 labels available in the bottle. Each beer is served in a specific glass “to perfectly tease out the nuances of each style on our list,” writes beer director, Greg Engert, on Churchkey’s blog. Sounds pretentious, I know, but somehow they’ve managed to mesh together passion, detail, intellect, and coolness, and create something that still feels down-to-earth.

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I had sips of four beers, absolutely falling in love with one: The Breakfast Stout (American Imperial Stout; $6.50). I wanted to sip it for hours—maybe because it smelled and tasted like chocolate coffee. Or maybe it was just because I just felt so gdmn cool sipping out of that bulbous snifter. Honorable mention goes to the seasonal pumpkin beer (Tsmisje Speciale with a whopping 10.5% alcohol; $8.50) and the German Pilsner (Hopfenkonig; $6.50) that our server promised would finish “round, not crisp.” And yes, it actually felt like our tongues were slipping over spheres as the beer made its way down. I left spellbound, in love with ChurchKey after our first date. Let’s hope things progress as beautifully as they have with Patten.

Weekend To-Do’s

Sheesh! Washington Post’s Going Out Guide has my head spinning. TMTD. These are my boiled-down picks:

* Saturday

10 a.m.-5 p.m.: The National Book Festival continues without Laura B, but promises yet another line up of all-star authors: Junot Diaz, Steven Kellogg, and John Irving, to name a few. (Full author list posted here.) This annual festival that “celebrates the joys of reading and lifelong literacy” draws about 120,000 people, so don’t plan on an intimate tête-à-tête with Mr. Grisham. However, should you be so lucky, please tweet about it for us with the hashtag #nbf.

2 p.m.-8 p.m.: OR, swap books for beer and head to DAS Best Oktoberfest at the National Harbor. Your $30 entry ticket gets you a souvenir tasting mug, 6 beer tokens (or more, if you’re dressed in Leiderhosen), and access to lots of Weiner Schnitzel.

* Sunday

11 a.m.-7 p.m.: If their website is an indicator, Mount Pleasant’s Fiesta DC looks like a blast. A parade, food, dancing, and a little girl doing push-ups with a pot on her head… Um, yeah. I’m there.

Sitting at the Top of the Bay

Just a little something special Patten wanted to share with you all… Taken from Buena Vista Park in San Francisco.

Weekend To-Do’s

I’m guessing that most of your weekends are already jam packed with Restaurant Week reservations (try Siroc—we loved it!), but for those who’ve already done their cheap eating for the week, here are a few other to-do’s:

* Friday

9 a.m.-7 p.m.: For all you very hungry children-book lovers out there, this is the last weekend to catch Eric Carle’s relatively small exhibit at the Stanford in Washington Art Gallery (in Woodley Park). Stop by the zoo while you’re at it.

* Saturday

10 a.m.-7 p.m.: It’s Columbia Heights Day, which means music, face painting, a petting zoo, and all day happy hours at local restaurants and bars. And, according to @PoPville’s photos from last year, some messy pie-eating contests. Looks fun!

5:30 p.m.: It’s a private ceremony, but keep an eye out for Ted Kennedy’s motorcade, as the Lion heads to his burial service at Arlington National Cemetery. (P.S. I love that man, and if you haven’t read it yet, here’s a great New York Times article about his last 15 months of life. Very moving).

* Sunday

8 p.m.: For those of you that didn’t get tickets to the Virgin Mobile FreeFest, pack your picnic basket and head to Wolf Trap for a night of Blues with B.B. King.

Sitting Pretty

It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time to swap the “f” for a “t” and post a photo of someone sitting in the city. Today, we take a quick field trip to Mount Vernon. Got a City Sitting shot? Please send to emily@citysifting.com.

Title: Sitting Pretty
Photographer: Lauren Jones
SIT-uation:  Alexandria, VA:  Wandering through the Gardens of Mt. Vernon, I stumbled upon Martha sitting on a bench and taking questions from tourists. As she rendered anecdotes of her “days of yore” in a delightfully sweet voice (with a slight British accent), her detailed accounts kept me so captivated that I literally had to be pried away from the scene by my boyfriend. With a touch of humor and poised precision, her stories about “the real George Washington” and tales of what really kept their romantic flame burning offered a much-welcomed personal touch to the Mt. Vernon experience.

As you suffer through my posting inadequacies, here’s a photo of the tortellini appetizer at Trummer’s On Main in all of its frothy goodness. Yumm…. Fresh posts to come soon!

Yeah, I suppose this is a good way to pick up your dry cleaning….
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Photo by Patten Wood

Random Thoughts:

* LOVED the Tracy Chapman concert. She’s fantastic live, and she’s on tour the rest of the month. All you non-DCers can check out the schedule here.

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* After reading this, I want to see the Merce Cunningham portrait in the National Portrait Gallery.

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* Cold cucumber and potato soup at Circa is forgettable. Sounded so promising!

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* Sat through 30 minutes of trailers at Julie & Julia, which made the movie seem all the longer. Meryl Streep was amazing, as was Stanley Tucci. Was it just me, or could we have survived with 1/2 of the Julie Powell/Amy Adams coverage? She’s hardly as interesting….

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* Julia Child fest continued with French onion soup and moules mariniere (and two Hoegaarden’s) at Bistrot du Coin. Quite delicious as always!

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* Local social media-ites should sign up for Tech Adventure. I’ll likely be out of town.

Weekend To-Do’s

I know, I know. It’s opening weekend for Julie and Julia, and Adam, but supposing you have some time for local events too, here’s a round-up:

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* Friday

Dusk: What better way to pay tribute to John Hughes than attending tonight’s outdoor movie in Rossyln’s Gateway Park. Pretty in Pink is tonight’s pick. And really… who can ever have enough Andrew McCarthy?

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* Saturday

10 a.m.: Head out to the Virginia shopping meccas (Pentagon City, Tyson’s Corner, Clarendon) for a tax-free weekend. All clothing/footwear items under $100 are tax exempt, regardless of how many items you purchase. (Ten pair of $98 Lululemon yoga pants, anyone???)  Same goes for school supplies, on items under $20.

8 p.m.: I don’t know about you, but I’m in the mood for some deep crooning. Can we say Tracy Chapman? Yep, we’ve had tickets to the show (at the 9:30 Club, $40) for the past month, but there are still plenty available.

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* Sunday

noon: Watch Andy Roddick (maybe) play Tommy Haas (maybe) at the Legg Mason final match. Who knows who will actually play each other, but that’s my best guess re: lineup. I watched Roddick play last year and was totally mortified by his baby-ish behaviour, but he redeemed himself at Wimbledon. It’s a toss-up: you’ll either love or hate him after you see him play live. (Buy tickets here or at the door, $50-70)