South SS Block Party - this Saturday

Just wanted to spread the word about this Saturday's (Oct. 3) South SS Block Party. It will be held in Bethesda - just kidding. The festivities will be happening on Newell St, right off East-West Hwy and close to the intersection of Kennett St. You can go to the South SS block party web site for a map.

Head on over after you finish buying your grub at the Farmer's market and the Fenton Street Market. You'll need some lunch after all that, right?

In addition to good beer from Hook & Ladder, local restaurants will also be serving up their fare. They include Ghar-E-Kabab, Mamma Lucia, and Taste of Jerusalem. The party will be running from 1:00-6:00 pm. Hope you can make it and support the community.

A Great Meal

Last weekend, for the first time in probably about three years, my wife and I, along with a friend, dined at Jackie's (8081 Georgia Ave, entrance on Sligo). The long drought was partly due to the opening of Nicaro, but we also became a bit soured on Jackie's because we thought the prices did not match the quality, as well as a hit or miss wait staff. In addition, when we last ate at Jackie's neither one of us was eating meat (outside of fish), which left most of the menu untouchable.

However, we are both now experimenting with humanely-raised meats which makes Jackie's really an ideal place to dine. But first, I'll start by saying that as we walked south on the Avenue, we did make an attempt to check out the new Nicaro. But you know what, we could not make our way through the door. There was just something about it that didn't sit right. And then when we reviewed the menu and saw a fish sub as one of the featured dishes, that kinda clinched it for us.

Now that may sound a bit harsh, and don't get me wrong, I have no problems with a good submarine sandwich, but this is not what I think of when I think of Nicaro. But I guess I'm thinking of the old Nicaro. However, after reading their review in the Gazette last week, I'm glad we kept walking to Jackie's. The typically easy to please Gazette found a Nicaro steak, "undercooked, tough and chewy with a significant rim of fat" along with a less than impressive wait staff. In addition, the Gazette stated that Nicaro adds an 18% gratuity to all parties of four or more. Unbelievable. While customers can ask for the gratuity to be removed, it is unacceptable that it even shows up at all.

All right, enough of that. I do want to give Jackie's plenty of props for a terrific meal. First off, even on a busy Friday night with no reservation, we were seated quickly. It was nice the host remembered us after all this time. Second, while perusing the menu we quickly noticed the more than reasonable wine prices. These prices were not just reasonable for DC, but SS too. At least two of our choices - a Malbec and a Tempranillo were $6 and $7 respectively. And not just for short pours either.

So far so good. And given our expanded diet, there was a lot more on the menu from which to choose. I will say for those who don't eat meat or fish, the menu is limited. I believe that night there was only one veggie entree. However, I would not be surprised at all if you asked, or called ahead, that the chef would not be able to put together a veggie plate. We all had plenty of good veggies with our entrees, so you might want to give this a try.

We started with three appetizers - the sauteed peppers to the left, a nice beet salad, and a plate of fried oysters with pickled veggies. All three were winners. The peppers were served with a pesto-like sauce and corn bread. These were more mild than hot peppers, and full of flavor. The beet salad was simple, but very fresh and not drowned in dressing that often can ruin a salad. And how can you go wrong with fried oysters? These plump little devils had a thin layer of breading and were perfectly cooked. I would have been happy to eat an entire plate as my entree.

For our main courses we did two meats and one fish. The two meats were a skirt steak and a pork loin. And to be sure of their origin, I checked with the server and both were local and humanely-raised. My wife went with a Carolina Wreckfish - a member of the bass family and listed as a "best choice" by the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Of the three, I think my pork loin was everyone's least favorite, nonetheless it was still a great piece of pork. It just had trouble competing with the medium-rare and juicy steak along with the flaky and very tasty Wreckfish. Now I do want to be clear, all three of these entrees were still above the $20 mark, but given the quality of the dishes, the wonderful sides that accompanied them, and knowing that they came from local farms (at least the meats), we had no problem paying those prices. It made it easier knowing the wine we ordered was at such good prices.

The meal ended with a couple Tawny ports. Was a fabulous way to round off a great meal. We'll certainly be back soon to see what else Jackie's has to offer. If you have a little money to drop on dinner and don't want to head to the city - and you're OK with meat - I would heartily recommend Jackie's as an option.

Back in town

Well, I missed the inaugural flea market. It sounded good, but not great. I'm certainly glad something got going in that parking lot. I'm sure if it can keep going, it will improve in time.
I was out of town for a week - in Pittsburgh - but I am back and ready to eat some good SS grub.

While I was out, I did have to make a couple pilgrimages. First, to Primanti Brothers. If you're not familiar with them, their sandwiches are served on good Italian bread along with your choice of meats, or fish (even imported sardines), egg or cheese. In addition, they also come with a big handful of french fries shoved on top and cole slaw. Not the healthiest sandwich around, but definitely a Pittsburgh classic. I had the colossal fish and a couple beers. When in Rome, right? I mean who can pass up the classic taste of an Iron City Light. Certainly not me.

My second pilgrimage was for pierogies to a classic spot just outside the city in the working-class town of McKees Rocks. The place is called Pierogies Plus. It is run by a bunch of older Polish ladies and man, do they make some mean pierogies. I brought back 5 dozen with me - some plain, potato/cheese, sauerkraut - a nice mix. I haven't fried any of them up yet - with butter and onions of course - but I have plenty of times in the past and I know these will be spectacular.

But now since I'm back in SoCo, I need to find some worthwhile news to write about. I'll do some digging this weekend and see what I can unearth. Is it time to give the new Nicaro a try? Not sure I'm ready for that.

Mediterranean So-Co Style

So, we got a hankering for some falafel on Sunday afternoon and thought, OMG, where can we find good fried chick peas in our neighborhood? And then we were like, oh yeah, who doesn’t sell this stuff around here anymore.

But alas, when we tried the door at the Big Creek Café, it was locked tight. Damn those God fearing Greeks. Just kidding, I’m sure those guys work hard enough. They need the place shut down one day a week just for recovery -- whether it’s physical or spiritual. But instead of heading north on Georgia to the Greek Place – it’s kinda on our do not patronize list after hearing stories from Nikos and Simos at the BGC – we decided to head south.

In actuality we were planning to get a couple calzones at Vicino (they are quite good), but then we walked past Taste of Jerusalem (8123 Georgia Ave, next to the World Building). We stopped. We pondered. We checked out the menu. And since it was so nice outside, we sat in their sidewalk patio and figured we’d give them another try. We first ate at ToJ right after they opened a few years ago. We liked it OK, but weren’t blown away and we thought the prices were a little steep compared to the food quality. On top of that, the place lacked any ambiance at all. The lights were quite bright throughout the entire dining room.

But we figured it was the afternoon this time, we planned to eat al fresco anyway, and we could see from the menu that the mezza prices were reasonable. We tried four different dishes. Two were really good, and two were just so-so. I’ll start with the latter.

The two so-so dishes were spinach fatayer and the lebneh. We’ve had spinach pies a lot of times before and these just didn’t rate with the others. First I don’t think there was enough spinach filling, and second, the dough was a little too soggy on the inside. I would have liked it to have been more flaky. The other dish, lebneh (home-made cheese topped with olive oil), was a decent starter, but it didn’t pack a whole lot of taste. It might have been a bit too mild for my taste. But either way, it would have been much improved had the pitas we were served to scoop up the cheese had been of better quality.

OK, but I did say we really liked two dishes – those were the hummus and the falafel. We scarfed down both of those pretty quick – even with the lackluster pitas. The hummus was very tasty, not too much tahini, with a nice puddle of olive oil in the middle. While we really liked the hummus, the falafel was fabulous. These were 5 little heavenly balls of fried of chick peas. In my opinion, these rate better than the ones served at both our Georgia Ave Greek places and at Lebanese Taverna. And I’m glad I got them on their own and not in a falafel sandwich, because I think the pitas would most definitely have taken away from those fine little chick pea balls. On top of all that, these two dishes were the cheapest of the four - $4.95 and $5.50 respectively. I will also say the service was friendly and prompt.

I am not quite ready to say I’ll be back there soon. But I certainly will be tempted to go back for lunch at some point and order more hummus and falafel. They have a lot of other good veggie options to try as well – Baba Ghannouge, Tabboule, M’Saka, and lentil soup to name a few.

I’m a bit surprised to see that ToJ has lasted as long as it has. It never appears terribly busy. With three other restaurants in the hood serving similar fare – typically at lower prices – I’ll be keeping my eye on them to see if they can keep their doors open. I hope they can and I’ll try to throw more of my business their way.

Is it worth a Dama?

Well, has anyone been to Dama yet? This is the new Ethiopian restaurant that opened up on Roeder Rd, just to the west of the parking lot to the County liquor store (on Colesville).

Since I am not a big fan of Ethiopian cuisine, I doubt I'll be dining at Dama any time soon, but wanted to throw it open to others to see what they think. Maybe I can be convinced to give it a try.

A Yelp reviewer says the wait staff doesn't have the best English, but if that doesn't bother you, the reviewer also said they staff is "very pretty, young." One other on-line review says the food was excellent.

I've also seen mention that Dama will/is serving a vegetarian steak. Now I am not sure exactly what this is, but it does give me pause especially with some things I've read recently about fake meat products. What I found was that many fake meat products contain industrial-food byproducts, chemically processed soy and grain powders, artificial flavorings, colorings, and other chemicals. In addition, many vitamins and minerals are leached away during their high-heat production.

Brendan Brazier, the author of a vegan nutrition guide advises people to drastically cut these products out of their diet, and if possible, drop them all together. It seems the better choice is to stick with products made primarily from whole-food ingredients rather than relying on products made from soy protein isolate, hydrolyzed vegetable protein and TVP.

Or if you choose not to eat meat, just go with veggies and legumes. I feel confident that places like Dama and others can supply you on that front. If it wasn't for the injera, maybe I'd be more open. I guess also it's that lack of texture for me. There doesn't seem to be much of a crunch in Ethiopian food, right? Or did I miss it?

Either way, I'd love to hear what folks have to say about Dama. And if someone did try the veggie steak, how was it?

Whole Foods chief: there is no "right" to health care

Sorry for the hiatus. I know I am way behind on local food news with the "Newcaro" story on SS Singular and then Thayer Ave giving us the Fractured Prune update. But I had to make my annual pilgrimage to Vacationland (AKA Maine) to stuff my face full of lobsters for a week - and boy, did I.

Talk about fresh, caught that morning, brokering a deal with a lobster wholesaler right on the dock, and then bringing them back to the rental house to steam and BBQ. And at least for the moment, this is as close as I can get to really know what I am eating (for something that had parents) and where it has come from. I see the lobster in front of me before it is sacrificed for the meal. And trying to be as humane as possible, I sever the nervous system of the lobster by putting a sharp knife through their head. Although writing that sentence does make it seem quite cruel, it appears - though others argue against it - that this is the most humane method. In addition, I cannot argue with the results - mouth watering delight!

But back to the topic at hand, if folks missed it, John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods had an article in the Wall Street Journal last week on "improving" health care in the U.S. Mr. Mackey describes several free-market reforms that the government should take into consideration. Mackey wants "less governmental involvement and more individual empowerment." Yes. If we all act individually and not collectively, I'm sure we can leverage our insurance providers to establish less expensive and more comprehensive coverage for our families.

This is the same ethos Mackey has for unions - more individual empowerment. The last thing he wants is his employees coming together to collectively seek a bigger voice on the job. If you didn't know, this so-called progressive is rabidly anti-union. At the first whiff of employees talking union, the company jumps into action to squash any attempt by employees to exercise their democratic right to form a union.

But I digress, sorry. Of all Mackey's idea's, what bothers me the most is his assertion that the "right" to health care does not exist in the US. OK, true. But that doesn't mean we can't change things so that U.S. is not the only industrialized country without some form of universal health coverage. The suffragists fought to gain the franchise for women, right? Previously that "right" did not exist. And what about the Brown v. Board decision which overturned separate but equal? The court ruled this was a violation of the Equal Protection clause (14th amendment).

So now, forward-thinking people are working hard to ensure this new "right" is available to all Americans. Mackey should be on board with this given his philosophy on health. Earlier this month in London Mackey talked about his store's healthy eating initiative which will rid the WF shelves of unhealthy food and try to better educate customers.

This is good. If we're healthier we're less likely to fall ill. This should be the logic he uses for health care -- prevention. But Mackey's ideology trumps this. It appears he only wants the free-market to set the guidelines. We see how well that has worked for us with approximately 46 million (18%) Americans under 65 without health coverage. Why can't there be an affordable option (like a public option) for people to choose for their coverage? If people have this option, it is likely that more people will be pro-active about their health care and not simply reactive, so they don't have to visit the emergency room when an illness strikes.

This happens much too often today which is why the US is expected to spend $2.5 trillion (17.6% of GDP) on health care in 2009. Staggering. Worse, if nothing is done by 2018 this may reach $4.4 trillion.

This all leads me back to being very disappointed with Mackey and his proposed reforms. As business leaders go, he seems to be better than most - even with his stance on unions. I would have guessed given his holistic approach to food and health, he would have been supportive of a plan - whether run by the public or private sector - that allowed the largest number of Americans to receive health coverage. I know there are people calling for a WF boycott. While I am not one of them, it does make me second guess the amount of money I drop at WF on a weekly basis.

But should I shop at a store that pays its employees poorly and provides them no health insurance, and also stocks its shelves with mostly junk and overly processed foods rather than at WF? Safeway is at least a partial option since it's a union shop, but frankly I want more than that. I want sustainable meats and fish. I want fresh and local veggies and cheese. I want a good bulk section. Maybe I want too much.

Eating locally or altering what we buy?

If you missed it, there was an interesting article in the food section of the Washington Post last week called, Meat of the Problem. Now I have been back on the meat bandwagon a couple years now. I am not a complete carnivore, there are still many days during the week when I don't consume any meat. But I have to say, I have enjoyed allowing myself spare ribs, burgers, sausage, steak, etc. Not really doing chicken yet, but maybe soon given the information I just found.

I felt OK about the meat consumption since I try to be a very conscientious eater of animals - where did it come from, how was it raised, is the farm a sustainable operation? At least asking these questions make me (and perhaps unfortunately everyone who eats with me) really think about my food choices. I mean there is no way I will eat factory farmed broccoli, please!

But the Post article and the academic piece on which the article is based (Food Miles and the Relative Climate Impacts of Food Choices in the United States) bring to light important information that should be taken into account if you have an interest in lowering your carbon footprint at the dinner table.

The authors of the Food Miles, Christopher Weber and Scott Matthews, argue that changing our diet will go much further to lowering our carbon footprint when it comes to food as will just eating a local diet. This is unfortunate news for yours truly. I was feeling really good about buying my local pork, bison and beef, but now, I need to rethink these choices. I know I'm still OK when it comes to my 3 questions, but I guess I should be thinking about things a little more broadly.

Weber and Matthews argue that continuing to eat read meat - even if it was locally and humanely-raised - still contribute a lot of green house gas (GHG) emissions. Their analysis shows that for the average American household, “buying local” could achieve, at maximum, around a 4-5% reduction in GHG emissions. But if that household shifted less than 1 day per week’s consumption of red meat to other protein sources or a vegetable-based diet could have the same climate impact as buying all household food from local providers (which we know is not realistic).

This is a very similar argument that Mark Bittman makes in Food Matters - available from our Montgomery County Public Library system (and they'll happily transfer it to the SS branch for you). Bittman talks about being a sane eater. By this he mean not going on some kind of fad diet, but by increasing the amount of plants we eat and decreasing our consumption of meat. Easy for him to say, he didn't go almost 20 years without eating beef, chicken or pork. I have to a lot of making up to do.

But now I need to think twice about it. I do want to do my part, and I know following this advice will make me healthier in the long run, help improve the planet, and save me money at the market too. It's unfortunate that one of the choices we're given to help lower our GHG emissions is fish. But because of the problems with sustainability with so many different varieties of fish (FYI, a couple good choices are Arctic Char and Mackerel), this option seems pretty limited. So I guess it's less meat, more veggies and maybe now some chicken.

KFC, here I come. Oops, can someone direct me to a local and humanly-raised chicken-frying outfit?