So in keeping with the travel theme of my previous post, I will talk about a couple of the many, many, almost innumerable wonderful things I got to do during my brief stay in the chocolate city. First off, big shout to my DC Fam, Pep Pep, Tim, Dana, Mario, Z, and little D- I love you all, thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy hectic lives to make feel the love, too! Next time, I promise my stay will be longer.
FOOD!!!
So obviously, I had/have a lot of DC food habits, itches to scratch, so to speak, and it was with great pleasure that I did revisit some of my favorite district eateries (Leopold's, The Diner, Manny and Olga's (yeah I know), and Pete's). However, being the explorer that I am, I had to venture forth into uncharted territories, too. After much deliberation and consideration, I decided on Michael Richard's (relatively) new joint, Central. I know, I know, at this point, the idea of a fancy comfort is a little old, but really, fuck it, in my mind there are too many nuances to the genre to ever let it get played out. It being DC, the atmosphere was a little stuffy, but nothing over the top- the hostess did ask my boy if he wanted to check his backpack, with a little bit of a smirk on her face. But you know what? Hill-Billy money spends just the same as an other.
So the first great thing about Central was their beer, they are supposedly the only place in the US to have Blussner Pilsner on tap, which could mean all of shit if it were not one of the crispest, cleanest, and most refreshing pils that I have ever had. The next great thing about the place was the appetitizers. We ordered the cheese puffs-imagine the soft and moist flavor of a croissant balanced out by the dry heavy taste of gruyere cheese rolled into a little bit sized ball of greatness. As well as the pork belly confit with bbq sauce- to say these guys were succulent would be an understatement and an insult, the rich and savory flavor of the pork was slightly accented with a drizzle of zesty house made bbq sauce, so good!. The final great thing about central was their fried chicken. Now I know, not everyone loves fried chicken, it's extraordinarily fatty and some weirdos I know don't like eating meat off of a bone. But to the day I die, fried chicken, in its many incarnations, will be one of my favorite foods. This fried chicken, had Panko breading and was only lightly fried, which made the skin very light and crisp. The meat was super juicy and of the highest quality. We speculated that they might just lightly fry the skin and then throw the pieces in the oven, or vice versa, but really, who cares how magicians preform their feats, just enjoy the show, right? Summary:great beer + great apps + great fried chicken = great.
ART!!!
So if you happen upon DC you must, must, must visit the National Gallery of Art to check their wonderful Gauguin exhibit. It's in house until June fifth, so East Coast peoples, if you have the time and money for travel, get on the bus! Now, to be honest, I never really felt Gauguin, I always associated him with flat blotches of colors outlined in harsh dark colors, which is not an aesthetic pleasing to my eye and creepy Island women lamping around languidly with sad, sad eyes. Well after watching a very informative documentary pregame, and then reading the curretoreal comments whilst looking at his works, I've changed my mind. Dude really, really did amazing things. Gauguin wove together Christian themes and primitive motifs in an attempt to represent the universal spirit in order to show his viewers that there was no right or wrong religion (did he invent cultural relativism?). The really funny thing was by the time Gauguin made it to Tahiti, the collective effects of missionaries and alcohol, had all but erroded the Maori way of life there. The Garden-of-Eden-esque representations of Tahiti were painted from vision and not subject and all of the Religious Maori imagery was borrowed from other inspirational sources (Hindu temples, museum artifacts, ect...) and not real. I had no idea how cerebral Gauguin was, with consideration to his artistic process and intentions, I was able to overlook some of the irksome technical aspects of his work to really enjoy his opus in whole. The whole scenario made me reconsider why we enjoy what art we do enjoy, which is a topic in itself that could dissected and discussed at great length.
MUSIC!!!
Here is numero cinco on my listo of my top ten albums of 2010. Joanna Newsom, Have One On Me. I have never been able to listen to Newsom at great length, as pretty as her harp playing is, her singing voice on her previous two records grated the hell out of me and it was always one song and done for me. Ironically, I can listen to all two plus hours of her most recent album happily not only in one sitting, but on repeat. Her voice has matured past her previous squeaky and gimmicky state to a broad spectrum of tones and sounds, from soft whispers to high pitched blaring music articulations, that is nothing short of captivating. Joanna's song writing now also relies a lot less on her harp playing, and features more complex and dynamic musical composition, which makes for a very magical listening experience. Move over Mazzy Star, So Tonight That I Might See, when I need to calm down and just unwind, I have a new go-to, and, Have One on Me, is it.
