Dimen Designs

East Hall at Eastern Market Opens Today

  outside_EastHall2 
  Originally uploaded by cherbert.

Mayor Fenty was at Eastern Market right after the tragic Eastern Market fire in April, pledging that it would be re-built as quickly as possible, and today it happened.

I woke up early this morning to clean my house and through half-awake grogginess heard the WAMU DJ mention that Eastern Market’s new East Hall was opening today. It was around 8am but people who live in Capital Hill know that Eastern Market gets crowded by around 10am so if you’re going for groceries rather than for the attraction that is Eastern Market, you need to get there early. I rolled out of bed and rushed down.

There was lots of activity on 7th St. this morning with the community coming out to support the grand opening of the new East Hall, which I’ve been watching over the last few months whenever I walk to the metro. By 9:30, with the crowd getting slightly restless, Mayor Fenty gave a short speech thanking everyone for coming out to support the new East Hall at Eastern Market.

  MayorFenty_MariaCalomiris2 
  Originally uploaded by cherbert.

With the vendors behind him, the Mayor gave the podium over to the head of the foundation/organization associated with maintaining Eastern Market a gave a few historical facts:

• Public fresh-food markets had been part of L’Enfant’s original plans for the city of Washington
• President Thomas Jefferson approved the first Eastern Market at Seventh and L streets SE in 1805
• Adolf Cluss's 1873 designed the building currently located at in Capital Hill
• Eastern Market is one of the longest running public markets in D.C.

He also gave a plaque, made out of an original shingle from the building, to Mayor Fenty.

Just like the gool-old days, I could buy my sandwich fixins from Jose at Canales Quality Meats. Jose is an very friendly guy who recognizes his customers no matter how long it's been since they last visited so I was really excited to see him so happy about being back in business in the new building. Then there’s Calomiris Fruits & Vegetables (see Maria Calomiris in the ribbon-cutting photo) and the Fine Sweet Shop with the delicious scones and breads.

  crowd1 
  Originally uploaded by cherbert.

The excitement of everyone seeing the new building and realizing that the public square and community meeting place of Capital Hill is back was powerful and reaffirming that good can stem from disaster.


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Now playing: Leo Laporte and the TWiTs - TWiT 106: Googleverse
via FoxyTunes   

Komi Restuarant: Best Meal Ever

  Komi 
  Originally uploaded by katmere.

It was Ben’s idea as his farewell meal that we go to Komi Restaurant, which we’ve been to once before when our Dad was in town. It was, to say the least, an unbelievable meal. Neither one of ate the entire day and that may have helped a bit, but the outcome was still the same, an unbelievable meal that sticks with you. When was the last time you had a meal where you remember almost all of the courses, the wine, the music, the background music and the other customers, etc.?

I’m no foodie and will gladly admit it but I do enjoy an amazing meal and chef/owner Johnny Monis is one of the best young chefs in this country (Food and Wine named him one of America’s best new chefs in 2007).

[ DC Foodies' glowing review from last month has more exact descriptions of Degustazione meal, which we also chose. You put your meal into the hands of the chef; what he serves is what you get—a liberating feeling actually, you sit back and eat what comes out.

We were seated for a 6pm reservation, one of the two remaining times when he called two and half-weeks out, and the small but cozy restaurant was fairly quiet. The reservations are tough to get because Komi has such a great reputation and because the chef purposefully limits the number of reservations and group sizes (no larger than four) because the kitchen is small and he can’t maintain the high food standards if he were to open it up to more customers.

Here’s my favorite parts of the Degustazione meal:

1. Goat- fell off the bone, so tender, amazing
2. Octopus, quail egg, avocado, and lentils on the bottom
3. Scallop w/ fresh, local roasted corn and slice of summer truffle
4. Gazpacho with a grilled chile pepper
5. Foire grois, breaded balls
6. Ox tail mini-gyro
7. Handmade tortellini w/ grilled shrimp

Our only minor complaint was the time between the small plates and the main courses, it was a tad longer that we expected. The pace of the entire rest of the meal was perfect, you never noticed that food had come to quickly or slowly, it just seemed to appear at a natural pace that felt right.

Although certainly the youngest ones there but confident in Ben’s epicurean knowledge, I knew we’d have a great meal because I could ask him for the details on exactly what we were eating. I’m not sure the other customers knew exactly what they were getting into with a meal at Komi. Ben made the smart move of discreetly indicating that we had been to the restaurant before and weren’t food jamoches (or at least Ben isn’t). We had a great time talking with the sommelier and he was nice enough to introduce to the chef after the meal, which made an otherwise truly amazing meal even better.

Komi’s not inexpensive but if you want a truly amazing, culinary adventure, definitely go there with an open mind. Put yourself at the mercy of the chef, because he knows more about good food than you’ll ever know; trust him; you will eat things that you’ve heard of before and experience tastes and flavors that you palette has never enjoyed and may never enjoy again.

iTunes Error

  itunes_error 
  Originally uploaded by cherbert.

Opened up the visualizer in iTunes to make sure my latest listens were being uploaded via Scrobbler to my Last.fm account and accidentally switched on the iTunes visualizer. The temporary result was this weird error screen.

It disappeared as soon as I turned it off and back on but I saved it via this screenshot.

It's a beautiful Sunday afternoon in DC and Ben, Peter, and I are heading to Taqueria Distrito Federal for the most authentic Mexican-style tacos I've ever tasted here in the States since I spent a summer in Guadalajara.

Wherever you are this weekend, I hope you're  enjoying yourself.

Snarky Post of the Week

This week's installments comes from the Anthony Bourdain email my brother forwarded me. For a little background, my brother is a foodie and loves to cook so we watch a lot of the FoodTV Network. I'm not a foodie so I basically just watch and try to pick up things.

Anthony Bourdain, of Kitchen Confidential fame (go read it you haven't heard of the book) goes off on his favorite and least favorite FoodTV chefs and like his book, his scathing remarks are as biting and vociferous as Rachel Ray is bumbling and annoying:

EMERIL: I’m actually grateful when I channel surf across his show. He’s STILL there--the original Behemoth. And I STILL find him unwatchable. As much mileage as I’ve gotten over the years, making fun of Emeril; he deserves a lot more respect than I’ve given him.

BOBBY FLAY:...Now…does ANYONE actually believe that Bobby Flay can’t make a better chili than a supermarket ground beef bearing amateur? I don’t. It’s a cruel exercise in humiliation. A variation on “Dunk Bozo” or “Shoot The Geek,” at the carnival. And whatever I might have thought of Flay’s previous TV efforts, I find the network’s misuse of one of their founding chefs to be nauseatingly cynical.

And my favorites (emphasis added):

RACHAEL RAY: Complain all you want. It’s like railing against the pounding surf. She only grows stronger and more powerful. Her ear-shattering tones louder and louder. We KNOW she can’t cook. She shrewdly tells us so. So...what is she selling us? Really? She’s selling us satisfaction, the smug reassurance that mediocrity is quite enough.

SANDRA LEE: Pure evil. This frightening Hell Spawn of Kathie Lee and Betty Crocker seems on a mission to kill her fans, one meal at a time. She Must Be Stopped..I would likely be arrested if I suggested on television that any children watching should promptly go to a wooded area with a gun and harm themselves. What’s the difference between that and Sandra suggesting we fill our mouths with Ritz Crackers, jam a can of Cheez Wiz in after and press hard? ...This is simply irresponsible programming. Its only possible use might be as a psychological warfare strategy against the resurgent Taliban--or dangerous insurgent groups. A large-racked blonde repeatedly urging Afghans and angry Iraqis to stuff themseles with fatty, processed American foods might be just the weapon we need to win the war on terror.

Comedy and Beer, a match-mate in Heaven

Comedy-
last Thurs. night at the Rochester Auditorium for the Comedy Central Live show with Dave Atell and Lewis Black. There's nothing like hearing dirty jokes when you're sitting next to my mom and step-father. Dave Atell is even funnier in person.

Beer-
last Sat. from 1-5pm for the Custom Brewcrafter's (my hometown microbrewer) Fall Festival of Ales.
It was a beer tasting festival and it was good. I would post some photos but the computer driver for interfacing with my Nikon Coolpix 995 vanished off my computer. Any suggestions? cphsherb "at" yahoo.com.

Latest reads/listens:
1) Create Your Own Future, reading for class about setting goals in life and actively pursuing your success;
2) The Tax Cut Con, by Paul Krugman;
3) This American Life- A Love Story, Sarah Vowell tells "The Greatest Love Story of the 20th Century," Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash.