Dates announced for Arts on Foot

The date has been set for the 2011 Arts on Foot, Penn Quarter's fall festival that debuts the upcoming performing and visual arts season.

The festival is free and includes a fine arts market, crafts, theatre, dance, film, food, and wine.  It takes place at 7th and F Streets N.W. in front of the Portrait Gallery.

The festival will be September 10th and 11th.  It starts at 11:00 a.m. each day and ends at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday and 6:00 p.m. on Sunday.

Mini-bar imposter coming to 9th and N

Chef RJ Cooper, formerly of Vidalia, is opening a new restaurant at 922 N Street N.W. called Rogue24.  The restaurant is based on the mini-bar concept.

You have to call one month to the day in advance to get a reservation, though the restaurant is 52 seats (not 6 like Minibar).  You must put down a credit card and can only cancel up to 72 hours in advance.  The directions state that you must disclose any food allergies at the time you make the reservation.

Then you get a 16-course "progression menu" or a 24-course "journey menu," for $100 or $120 respectively ($145 or $175 with beverage pairing, respectively).

The kitchen is on display as a stage.

The mixologist, Derek Brown, came from the Columbia Room, and the reservationist, Bonji Beard was previously the lead reservationist for Minibar.

The restaurant opens on July 27th.  Reservations for opening day will be accepted on July 14th.

Cuba Libre celebrates Ernest Hemingway with daiquiri specials

Ernest Hemingway was born and died in the Month of July, leaving Cuba Libre to name this month Ernest Hemingway Month.

According to Washington City Paper, the restaurant is commemorating Hemingway with his favorite drink--the daiquiri. 

Cuba Libre will introduce a new daiquiri each day in July, and tonight's is Kiwi.  Tomorrow is blackberry-cranberry.  Here are the flavors the rest of the month:

On July 21st (Hemingway's birthday) during Cuba Libre's early happy hour (4:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m.), you can get Papa Doble daiquiris, Hemingway's signature drink, for just $5.

District of Pi Pizzeria opening next month

While the website and the windows still say "coming soon," as they have for awhile now, Pi Pizzeria is apparently planning to open in August.  At least that's what they told the Washington Post.

Their food truck has apparently been a success while the $2.1 million construction project is underway on F Street (the truck, meanwhile, only cost $30,000.  And brings in about $1,000 per day).

America Eats menu

We have the menu for America Eats for you - its' two pages and a dessert menu (click to enlarge).  Each selection comes with a history lesson:

Caucus Room rebrands bar and expands menu

For those who have lived in the neighborhood awhile, you have come to know the secret of the Caucus Room bar well.  Great food, great service in a casual atmosphere for a fraction of the price of eating in the dining room.

Now, you may have noticed the window of the bar says "Social Reform Kitchen and Bar."  That's the new, rebranded bar at the Caucus Room and it comes with a much larger menu, too.

You can see the menu here.  It includes burgers, small plates, salads, a selection of sandwiches and entrees, as well as a variety of steak options--with their signature sauces.

Burgers run $12 to $16, sandwiches $15 to $20 and steak frites from $18 for skirt steak to $28 for New York strip.

There is also a large wine and beer list, with speciality hand crafted cocktails and martinis.

Hill Country's July Music Schedule

Here is the July music schedule at Hill Country Barbecue (click to enlarge).  We'll see you there.



Riot Act to open August 3rd

After a bit of delay, Riot Act, Penn Quarter's comedy club is set to open on August 3rd, according to the Washington Business Journal and Riot Act's twitter feed.

The club has apparently spent $1.5 million on construction and its Penn Quarter location at 8th and E Streets.  The club is 13,000 square feet on two stories.

Farmers Market Specials today

A short week means it's already farmer's market day.  A list of today's specials from the Washington Post:

• Sand Hill Farm will have sweet white corn, carrots, and peaches.

• Mountain View Farm will have hot Hungarian wax peppers.

Bastille Day celebrations at Paul

Well, July 4th is over and you may be considering moving to another country just to get the extra holiday.  No need, you can celebrate Bastille Day right here in Penn Quarter.

Paul is hosting a Bastille Day Baguette Relay Race.   Back when Las Halles was open they had a race down Pennsylvania Ave where bartenders would race holding a tray with an open bottle of champagne.  Las Halles is of course closed, but Paul is picking up the tradition--sort of.

Paul's race is a relay race, where teams of six people pass off the baton baguette as they race around the Navy Memorial.  Each team will be led by a Paul employee, and the winning team will get a $25 gift card to Paul.

Bastille Day is Thursday July 14 and the race begins at 11:30 a.m.  You can sign up on facebook here.

Metro customers like short station names

We reported a couple months ago about Metro's efforts to sharpen up their station names.  WMATA has now conducted a series of focus groups, and, not surprisingly, customers widely agreed that they want short station names, but still want names that are based on clear geographical destinations and landmarks.

Examples of stations they liked were Bethesda, Pentagon, and Union Station.  As one customer put it, those names "let you know exactly where you're going."  Names like Metro Center are short, but don't tell you where you're going at all.

Riders did not favor the stations with longer names such as Archives/Navy Memorial/Penn Quarter.

They also complained about stations named for things that aren't anywhere close, such as Woodley Park Zoo/Adams Morgan.

Changes to the Metro system map are expected in 2012 with the realignment of the Blue and Yellow lines.  More revisions will of course be made at the end of 2013 to accommodate the first phase of the new line to Dulles.

Eataly coming to D.C.

If you have been to Manhattan lately, you have probably been to Eataly, the 40,000 square foot Italian food and drink emporium that consists--in one large space--of a bakery, a grocery store, and six restaurants. The establishment also has live entertainment on weekend nights. It is always packed with people shoulder-to-shoulder.

Well, get ready: Eataly is coming to D.C. The emporium has two new locations planned, one here and one in Los Angeles. The new locations are expected to be at least as big as the first, according to the Huffington Post.

The main barrier to opening, not surprisingly, has been finding a proper space. We imagine this type of store needs some density, so Penn Quarter seems like the prime space for it. Maybe Georgetown, but there just isn't the space for an establishment like Eataly there. Friendship Heights is a possibility, but doesn't have the density of people. So the question is, where is there 40,000 square feet of space in Penn Quarter?

As a sidenote to those who are really craving Eataly, Bryan Voltaggio is already opening a restaurant based on Eataly in Frederick.

UPDATE: See our September 15th story, reporting that Eataly may have lost interest in DC.

Pepco ramps up its presence

8th Street is open now, though a portion of the northbound lane is closed as Pepco works in two manholes. There are now three Pepco trucks at 8th and E and another just left.

The estimated time for the return of power has been pushed back until 6:00 a.m., however.