Stachowski Brand to Open Georgetown Butcher Shop
• May 3, 2012

After years of success selling meat at local farmers markets, Jamie and Josef Stachowski, the father-son team behind Stachowski Brand Charcuterie is preparing to open a butcher shop in Georgetown on the corner of P and 28th Street.

The deli-style market shop, tentatively titled Valentine Meats, will reside in the former location of Griffin Market, which closed down and moved to South Carolina last February due to a spike in rental rates.

Josef will be the owner of the shop, taking the reins from his father Jamie, an acclaimed sausage maker who was recently featured on Discovery Channel’s “Meat America.”

“We’ve thought about doing this for a long time,” Josef said as he took a break from grilling sausages at the Rose Park farmers market last Wednesday. “The markets are always busy, and people are always asking ‘where is your store?’ For the longest time, I’ve had to say that we don’t actually have one.”

According to Josef, the Georgetown location was not specifically selected in advance, but he does think it will be a good fit.

“Georgetown is a nice place to be,” he said. “It’s got a homey kind of local feel to it, something you definitely wouldn’t get at a place like H Street. It gives it a more authentic feel.”

Tom Papadopoulos, a real estate agent and restaurant broker who helped the Stachowskis obtain a 10-year lease on the property, said he thinks the Georgetown location is ideal, and that “people in Georgetown would really love it.”

Stachowski Brand sausages are made fresh straight from the source. The butchers use pork raised by Amish farmers and season their products with special herbs and spices. They plan on serving an array of their famous sausages including chicken, Wisconsin bratwurst, duck, turkey and sweet Italian pork sausages, as well as a small menu of sandwiches.

Despite some reservations, Josef is looking forward to running his own shop.

“Right now, I’m excited,” he said, “but like everything else, I might get bored with it before too long. “But,” he continued, “it’ll be more personal than what we do now. I’ll get to interact with people more.”

Josef said that running a family business with his dad leads to some unique workplace dynamics.

“I really don’t have a traditional boss,” he said. “I have space and freedom. But, at the same time, it’s a lot harder to hear your dad tell you what to do. It’s a power struggle for sure, but we keep each other in check.”

Josef hopes that Georgetown and the wider D.C. community will flock to
their shop in the same way they flocked to the popular Griffin Market.

“Hopefully, we can serve the community and they will embrace us,” he said.

Although the shop does not have an official opening date, the Stachowskis hope to have the operation up and running “in the next couple of months,” Papadopoulos said.

Until then, curious foodies can try out the unique Stachowski Brand at local farmers markets, including the Rose Park, Palisades and Falls Church markets. For more information on Stachowski Brand Charcuterie, visit http://stachowskibrand.com.

Georgetown Voice Loses Newsroom, Students and Alumni Fight Back
•

Student writers and alumni of the Georgetown Voice at Georgetown University are protesting school administrators’ decision to confiscate their large newsroom, which will take effect today. The administrators are punishing the actions of two editors and a former staff member, who caused approximately $1,500 in property damages when they attempted to evade campus security during hurricane Irene.

“The Georgetown Voice violated the student organization office space use agreement and as a result must give up their current location,” Georgetown University spokesperson Rachel Pugh told the Georgetown Patch. “They continue to have exclusive access to a different office space.”

Many Voice writers and alumni believe that the entire paper is being treated unfairly as a result of the actions of a few members. 57 alumni signed an ad in the Voice asking the university to reconsider its decision.

“Moving The Georgetown Voice to smaller, inadequate office space penalizes the rest of the paper’s staff, who were not involved in the incident, and jeopardizes the future of a critical University institution,” the alumni wrote. “Taking away that space cripples the paper’s ability to do the reporting that makes it an integral part of life on campus.”

A Jan. 25 diversion hearing has been set for Eric Pilch, Sam Buckley and John Flanagan, the three students who were arrested for the damage on Aug. 28. The initial misdemeanor status hearing was held in D.C. Superior Court on Sept. 21.

Qn’A with Chef Mike Isabella
•

The name Mike Isabella has become familiar around the District. With an appearance on Top Chef and the opening of Graffiato, a popular restaurant in Chinatown, now under his belt, he’s collaborating with Jonathan Umbel to bring Bandolero, a Mexican restaurant, to Georgetown. Bandolero will take over the space formerly occupied by Umbel’s restaurant, Hook, on M street, which closed down after sustaining fire damage in June. Isabella hopes to have Bandolero open early next year. He took a few minutes to answer some questions about his new restaurant and his signature style.

Graffiato, your restaurant in Chinatown, opened in June 2011 and is still fairly new. What drove your decision to announce opening a new place so soon?

Well, the opening of Bandolero is still about five months away.

Why did you choose this location for Bandolero? Were you looking for a spot in Georgetown?

Yeah, I was looking for a place in Georgetown. I actually want to spread out all across the city. A lot of the restaurants in Georgetown are more upscale, so I just thought it would be a great location for this type of restaurant, more casual and catered more to the college crowd.

Hook was originally a seafood restaurant. What’s behind the decision to go with Mexican cuisine for Bandolero?

That’s my specialty. I learned a few things working with Jose Garces, the Iron Chef. And, you know, there are no Mexican restaurants really in that area. I just thought it would be a great fit, something different. Obviously I’m not going to do another Graffiato three miles away from my own restaurant. That doesn’t make sense. I just thought it would be a great location for that concept.

Do you have any special dishes planned?

We’re going to do the same kind of thing we’re doing at Graffiato’s, taking some familiar concepts and changing them around. We’ll have lots of different types of tacos; we’ll have a menu with lots of options. We’ll be open late night, serving tacos and guacamole late. That’s the way we’re going, taking classics and reworking them, and just having fun with it.

Despite being a new restaurant, it’s safe to say that Graffiato has been very successful. What would you say has been the key to your success in the restaurant business?

First of all, it starts with a really good team. I’m having a bunch of my guys coming back to work with me at Graffiato. My chef has worked with me before, my management have worked with me before, and we’re going to be doing the same thing at Bandolero. I have some guys coming down from New York who used to work with me, some guys from Graffiato coming to help me out. I’ll be making a lot of phone calls, asking some favors, and hopefully everything will fit together so we can do what we want to do and keep rolling.

When Bandolero opens, you will be running two restaurants at once. How will you juggle those responsibilities?

I actually just bought a Honda Ruckus scooter, and I plan on riding back and forth between both locations. You know, some days I’ll be at one restaurant in the a.m. and lunch, some days I’ll be there in the p.m., but I plan on being at both restaurants. At Bandolero, I’ll probably be there about every day in the beginning; at Graffiato, maybe four to five days a week.

You’ve been a champion of fresh, locally grown produce. What are some of the benefits of using local produce in your restaurants?

You know, it just tastes better, and you have your own supply that you can grow, that can get stronger and better. I mean, it’s the best product you can get. Am I going to get my local tomato which tastes great and works perfectly, or am I going to get it from California? Our meat and produce and everything like that will be as local as possible but, unfortunately, when it’s out of season, things like tomatoes and avocados will stop coming in locally, and we’ll have to go further out. But, I do plan on getting as much as I can done locally.

Street, Metro Closures to Affect D.C. Residents This Weekend
• November 10, 2011

Georgetown will see massive street closures and parking restrictions this weekend through Halloween. According to the Metropolitan Police Department, these restrictions are subject to change. On Sunday, the Marine Corp. Marathon will wind its way through Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C. From 7:30 until about 10:45 a.m., the following roads will be closed:

GWMP from Spout Run to Key Bridge off ramp (one northbound lane will remain open)

Francis Scott Key Bridge

Canal Road NW from M Street NW to Reservoir Road NW

Reservoir Road NW from MacArthur Blvd. NW to Canal Road NW

MacArthur Blvd. NW from Foxhall Road NW to Reservoir Road NW

Foxhall Road NW from Canal Road NW to MacArthur Boulevard N

M Street NW from Canal Road NW to Wisconsin Avenue N

Wisconsin Avenue from M Street NW to K Street NW

K Street NW from Wisconsin Avenue NW to Rock Creek

On Halloween, parking restrictions will be in effect from 4 p.m. until 6 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 1. The following roads will be affected:

K St, NW from 30th Street to Wisconsin Avenue, NW

Water Street, NW from 33rd Street to the Mouth of the Capital Crescent Trail

1000 – 1300 Blocks of Wisconsin Ave. NW

M Street NW, from 25th Street to the Key Bridge

1100 block of 26th Street NW

Thomas Jefferson St.– 1000 block (From the canal north to M Street)

Restrictions will be posted at least 72 hours in advance.

Beginning on Halloween at 6:30 p.m. and lasting until 4 a.m., the following streets will be closed to through traffic:

1000 block of Grace Street NW

1000 block of Thomas Jefferson Street NW

1000-1500 blocks of 29th Street NW

1000 -1500 blocks of 30th Street NW

1200-1300 blocks of Potomac Street NW

1200-1500 blocks of 27th Street NW

1200-1500 blocks of 28th Street NW

1200-1600 blocks of 33rd Street NW

1200-1700 blocks of 34th Street NW

1500 32nd Street NW

1600-1700 blocks of 35th Street NW

2600-3100 blocks of Dumbarton Street NW

2600-3100 blocks of P Street NW

2600-3600 blocks of O Street NW

2700-3600 blocks of N Street NW

2700 block of Poplar Lane NW

2700-2900 blocks of Olive Street NW

• 3100 Block of Blues Alley

• 3100 Block of Oak Alley NW

• 3100 Block of South Street NW

• 3200-3400 Q Street NW

• 3200 Block of Cecil Place NW

• 3200-3600 blocks of Prospect Street NW

• 3300-3400 blocks of Dent Place NW

• 3300 blocks of Cady’s Alley NW

• 900 Block30th Street NW

From 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. on Halloween, metal barricades will be erected along the sidewalks of 3100-3200 blocks of M Street, NW and 1000-1200 blocks of Wisconsin Avenue, NW.
The Metro has also scheduled major track work for the rail system this weekend. The Red Line will be reduced to a single track from Union Station to DuPont Circle. On the Green Line, the Metro will shut down the Waterfront, Navy Yard, Anacostia and Congressional Heights stations. The Orange Line will share one track between New Carrollton and Cheverly.

If you wish to brave the chaos, there will be several events to occupy your time. In addition to the Marathon, the Washington International Horse Show will run through Sunday at the Verizon Center. In Georgetown, L2 Lounge will celebrate the holiday with its L2 Air Halloween Party on Saturday at 9 p.m., and Tudor Place will host its Historic Halloween Spooktacular Trick or Treat on Monday. For more information on events and the best ways to avoid the crowds, go to the Georgetown BID website, GeorgetownDC.com.

Georgetown University Showcases Student-Written Plays
• October 31, 2011

Just outside of the main gates of Georgetown University lies Poulton Hall, and nestled inside that is a small, dark theater. The size of the theater does not match the soaring ambitions of the students set to perform on its stage for the Donn B. Murphy One Acts Festival.

The festival is a showcase for original student works, and is put on by the Georgetown University Mask and Bauble Society. The process begins with a script contest, where students submit scripts and the winner is chosen as the first piece for the festival. This year, the chosen piece was “Peaches and Freon: A Musical,” written by Georgetown seniors Ryan Dull and Michael Franch with music by George Washington University junior Andrew Pendergrast. According to Franch, the musical started as a simple joke.

“We were joking about hilarious moments in musical theater that we all know and love,” Franch said. “We came up with a song about stationary trees; it was completely stupid, but people began to ask what musical it was from, that they had looked it up on YouTube but couldn’t find it. After that, we thought we might as well try it.”

“Peaches and Freon” follows the playwriting duo of David (Greg Brew) and Moonglow (Adrian Prado) as an MC (Betsy Helmer) presents a “greatest hits” presentation of their greatest musicals, which include “The Burnham Wood” (which features stationary trees,) “Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster” and “Abortion Contortion: A Pre-Natal Murder Mystery.” According to Franch, it was difficult to come up with a plot and characters based around a joke.

“The songs don’t push the plot because they’re joke songs,” Franch said. “In order to fit the characters around this problem, we made them obvious and sympathetic. But, given that it is the first play he’s written, Franch said the experience was smooth.

“As we were writing it, it gelled a lot faster than we thought it would,” he said.

The second play, “#Courage,” written and directed by Georgetown junior Swedian Lie, is a much more dramatic and serious affair. According to festival producer Liz Robbins, this juxtaposition was deliberate.

“We wanted to give the full theater experience from one spectrum to the other,” Robbins said.

“#Courage” is a more existential reflection on the Arab Spring, specifically the Egyptian Revolution, and the role that social media continues to play in revolutions around the world. The play begins with a conversation between Facebook (Victoria Glock-Molloy) and Twitter (Katie Mitchell) and weaves through a dramatization of the real-life murder of Kaled Said (Jack Schmitt) and the social revolution it spurred with the help of social media. According to Lie, the play’s complex social themes were rooted in the strength of the individual.

“Facebook and Twitter are tools,” Lie said, “but people have to use them. The real focus is on the human spirit.”

When the lights went up after the first-ever showing of these student works, Dull and Franch, who had never seen their worked performed or even rehearsed, sat in their seats, taking it all in.

“This is absolutely surreal,” Dull said. “This is our first time seeing our material performed. The only emotion we felt is ‘wow, this doesn’t suck.’ I’m absurdly happy with it all.”

Although Lie was more directly involved with his play, he was also pleased to see his creation go off without a hitch in front of an audience.

“It was a lot of fun,” Lie said. “I have some experience with adaptations, but this is my first original work.”

Now in its 160th season, the society is touted as the oldest continually-running student theater troupe in the U.S. Philip Tam, the publicity director for the festival, attributes this longevity to the actors.

“I really think we owe it all to the dedication of the actors,” Tam said. “They really love what they do.”

The Donn B. Murphy One Act Festival runs through Saturday Oct. 15 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 16 at 2 p.m. General tickets are $7 or $5 for students.

DC Public Schools Serving Up New Tastes
• October 27, 2011

As part of a broader effort to educate students about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, Washington, D.C. public schools will get a chance to serve some unfamiliar foods as they participate in Nordic Food Day.

“Food is universal,” said Paul Reichel, program coordinator for the Office of Food and Nutrition Services for D.C. Public Schools. “It’s a great way to get the students and the community interested in different kinds of food, food that they might not try otherwise.”

The day, the first of its kind in the District, is co-sponsored by the Embassies of Nordic Countries, which include Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Finland and Denmark. On Oct. 26, cafeterias in all 122 full-service public schools will serve up famous dishes from these countries, including Icelandic yogurt, Swedish meatballs, Norwegian salmon and lingonberry juice boxes.

Nordic Food Day is the first of a series of International Food Program food days, which will continue with Indonesian Food Day in January and Panamanian Food Day in March. The food days are part of a broader Embassy Adoption Program, in which an embassy adopts a school and then spends the school year creating programs that give students the opportunity to learn more about international communities and their adopted culture.

“We think D.C is a wealth of resources, especially international resources with all of the embassies being close by” Reichel said. “We need to use these resources to educate students about other cultures.”

The embassies adopt different schools every year. This year, the Swedish Embassy in Georgetown has adopted Miner Elementary School in ward 6. According to Gabriella Augustsson, head of diplomacy and press at the Swedish Embassy, putting the kids first is the key to collaboration with the schools.

“It’s very important to be in tune with what [the schools] want and need,” Augustsson said, “to not come in saying ‘Hey, this is what we want,’ but ask ‘How do we do this together?’ It’s very much about the kids.”

In addition to serving food, seven “Nordic food experts” from different countries will come through the schools in the days leading up to the event to educate students about Nordic food and culture, Reichel said. Chefs have also come to instruct cafeteria workers on how to properly prepare Nordic dishes.

The Swedish Embassy has some special events planned for their adopted students at Miner Elementary, including a tasting booth, a booth featuring “fun facts” about Nordic countries, and a photo booth where students can don Pippi Longstocking wigs and Viking hats to take home as souvenirs.

Augustsson hopes that students will come to gain an appreciation for Nordic food comparable to the food of other European nations.

“In the last 15 years,” she said, “there’s been an upsurge in famous Nordic chefs, which has brought this awareness of ‘wow, Nordic food,’ not just French and Italian.” Augustsson cited the Danish restaurant Noma, which has been awarded the title of “best restaurant in the world” by Restaurant magazine the last two years, as an example of the expanding global recognition of Nordic food.

The International Food Program is part of a broader campaign to improve health awareness among students in D.C. Public Schools.

The Healthy Schools Act, which went into effect in the District on August 1, 2010, is an attempt to promote physical activity and healthy eating habits along with other provisions such as increased health education and stronger social wellness policies.

According to the Act, “schools must meet enhanced nutrition standards to improve the quality of meals,” and “schools are encouraged to serve fresh, locally grown produce.” The school district may penalize schools that do not comply by “withholding funds or levying fines.”

According to Augustsson, Nordic food provides an avenue for broader education about student health and well-being.

“We want to talk about healthier eating habits,” she said, “and Nordic food is a good way to do that, with its emphasis on fresh, local ingredients. It’s really a continued discussion about health that has already been going on in the public schools.”

American Farmland Trust Kicks off Dine out for Farms Week
• October 3, 2011

In the midst of a society that is dominated by mass consumption and synthetic food substances, one D.C. organization is speaking up for organic food and the protection of the American farmlands that produce it.

Founded in 1980, the American Farmland Trust is a D.C.-based organization dedicated to protecting farmlands across America from destruction caused by urban development. On Wednesday, the AFT kicked off their second annual Dine Out for Farms week, which will take place Oct. 16 through 22. Various restaurants in the D.C. area and throughout the U.S. will participate in the event by informing customers about the importance of farms in providing them with the food they eat, and by donating to the AFT.

On hand at the kick off event, which took place at the Founding Farmers restaurant, was Mike Isabella, celebrity chef and owner of Graffiato, a participating restaurant in this year’s event.

“Working with local farmers supports their business and the economy, hopefully making it more affordable for more Americans to eat locally sourced, fresh and healthy food,” Isabella said in a press release.

AFT President Jon Scholl encourages restaurants to support local farms and cook their food with local ingredients.

“The restaurant community’s support of local farms is crucial, given that the Mid-Atlantic States have been losing more than 200 acres of farmland a day to sprawling development,” Scholl said in a press release. “Between 1982 and 2007, that totaled about 2 million acres, or an area bigger than the entire state of Delaware.”

Also on hand at the kick off was Bev Eggleston, owner of EcoFriendly Foods, a Virginia-based network of buyers and growers that supports family farms and small businesses. According to Eggleston, a lack of farmland leads to a lack of farmers, which makes it more difficult to buy locally.

“Ninety percent of the farmers I knew when I moved back to Virginia in 1990 are no longer farming,” Eggleston said. I’m working with ten percent of the original farmers.”

According to Chef Isabella, buying local is not just an issue of being green, it’s an issue of quality as well.

“The more we help the farmers out, the better product we get at the table,” Isabella said. If the product is local and seasonal, the flavor is there.”

During Dine out for Farms week, participating restaurant owners will promote local farmers by serving special dishes, donating a percentage of sales or making straight donations to AFT. Isabella believes the best way to show customers the benefit of fresh food is not through rhetoric, but through the food itself.

“My way of teaching them is by evolving my menu,” Isabella said, “and not just being at the table explaining to them why, but them tasting it and understanding. I think that’s the best way for me to do it.”

In addition to Graffiato and Founding Farmers, other D.C. restaurants participating during the week include America Eats Tavern, Café Milano and Pinkberry. For a complete list of participating restaurants, go to FarmLand.org/Dineout.