Food

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November 1, 2010 | 4:46 PM | By

On My Radar: Love Bites

DC Love Bites

The cupcake which made me a fan of sweet potato-based desserts!

On Saturday evening, I took my costume-clad puppy for her usual nightly walk around the neighborhood. We weren’t Trick-or-Treating, but I ended up going home with something delightful and sweet anyway– a free cupcake! Anyone who reads DCentric knows that I love food trucks, and I thought I knew all of the rolling players, from the purveyors of sought-after, coveted Lobster Rolls to the trucks that cruelly aren’t allowed in the city yet.

But as we strolled down U street, I did a double-take at the big red van parked across from Ben’s. I had neither seen nor heard of Love Bites and as we walked up, the owner jumped out and asked if she could take a picture of my dressed-up pup. Flattered, I said, “Of course!” I was shocked when she handed me a free, “signature” cupcake, as a treat.

“It’s sweet potato with cream-cheese frosting”.

…and then I was surprised for the second time in five minutes. Long before I ran around and tried to sample every DC food truck’s fare, I was a cupcake-fiend whose Yelp take on Baked and Wired was once “Review of the Day”. I have a ridiculous sweet tooth, and I thought I had heard of every cupcake variation or flavor possible.

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FILED UNDER: Delightful City, Food, Food Trucks, Small Business
October 29, 2010 | 10:50 AM | By

Taking Liberties with Expiration Dates

Lab2112

This is NOT the corner store in question. This one is in Brooklyn.

I was reading Prince of Petworth, a blog which encourages readers to write in if they have a question. Today’s reader submission worried me; a corner market in D.C. is replacing the Manufacturer’s expiration date with their own (including meat products!):

“I caught this once…some Purdue chicken…I peeled back their sticker and found a manufacturers date that indicated expiration was 5 days sooner.

Anyways, I’ve gone back twice since to try and catch them, and both times found that they had scrubbed off the manufacturers expiration date before applying their own sticker.

I’m concerned for a lot of reasons…Is what they are doing illegal? Most disturbing is the fact that I reported this yesterday to the Department of Consumer and regulatory affairs food safety office…and no one has returned my message yet (It’s been over 24 hours).”

PoP blogger Dan Silverman offered to put them in touch with someone immediately, but what several commenters are disturbed by is the lack of identifying information for the market. Understandably, there is none because the letter-writer is worried about a defamation suit; he has offered to provide more details via email.

FILED UNDER: Around the City, Access, DCRA, Food, Small Business
October 14, 2010 | 9:48 PM | By

Target’s New Produce Section

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…in Columbia Heights. They had everything from individually-wrapped baking potatoes to Target-brand Naan-bread. I wasn’t sure what to expect (I shop at this Target weekly, if not more frequently) but I was surprised by the items they now carried. Other shoppers were discussing how the prices measured up to Giant and Trader Joe’s. I saw juices and two-bite brownies like the ones sold at Whole Foods. It feels like an ambitious effort.

FILED UNDER: Around the City, Columbia Heights, DCUSA, Food
October 12, 2010 | 2:34 PM | By

Bare Shelves at SERVE

Bread for the World

I know that this blog focuses on Race and Class in the District, but as my boss once pointed out, a lot of the people who work in the city live outside of it. With that in mind, I wanted to pass along this plea for assistance, from SERVE, the largest food bank in Prince William county:

SERVE is in immediate need of canned vegetables, pasta, canned tomatoes, and pasta sauce or any other non-perishable food item. Our shelves are currently bare! We are providing food assistance over 500 families per month and will need enough to get us through the next two months. Donated items can be brought to the SERVE Food Distribution Center (10056 Dean Drive, Manassas, VA, 20110) Monday thru Friday from 9am to 5pm. On Wednesdays, we have extended hours until 7:30pm.

That’s from an email I was sent, earlier today. I spoke to someone at SERVE who said their extended hours on Wednesday end at 8pm. Even if you don’t live or work near this facility, you might know someone who does, who’d be willing to help. As soon as I read this, I thought of the boxes of oatmeal and pasta cluttering my kitchen (huzzah for Costco); it’s a good reminder that pantries in the District are probably in need, as well.

FILED UNDER: Food, Non-profits, Poverty
October 12, 2010 | 1:30 PM | By

How to Track Food Trucks without Twitter

One of you asked me how to find food trucks in D.C. without using Twitter, the micro-blogging service which serves up news, views and naval-gazing over-sharing in 140 characters or less; that’s a fair question. Not everyone wants to deal with Twitter, even if it’s the primary way these trucks communicate their locations.

One option is available via the Best Bites blog from Washingtonian magazine, which says “Every morning, we’ll let you know where the area’s food trucks are rolling.”

Handy! The feature even tells you which trucks are taking the day off from slinging treats– today, those would include EatWonky (sure to be beloved at American U), Fry Captain and TaKorean.

Me? I’ll just be happy when the trucks show up near Columbia Heights or Tenleytown, since I tend to miss them because they go everywhere else. Sigh. If only Curbside Cookoff happened monthly. A hungry blogger can dream, can’t she?

FILED UNDER: Culture, Delightful City, Food, Food Trucks
October 8, 2010 | 1:35 PM | By

Food Truck-palooza ends today, at 8pm.

Gautham Nagesh

You don't even need cutlery for most Curbside noms.

If you were looking for something fun to do today, you may want to head to the Curbside Cookoff at 11th and H Streets NW. Although the “most popular Food Trucks in D.C.” have been serving everything from sandwiches to sweets since 11 am, this evening, from 5-8pm there will be live dance performances and music.

Trust me when I say that you will be grateful for the distraction, as your food is prepared. That’s how I felt yesterday, when I waited for a delicious District Taco.

I was in line for about thirty minutes, which flew by because of all the people watching– the event was packed. Once at the front, I  was told that our tacos would be made to order and considering how slammed they were, that might take a little while. It all seemed so festive, I barely cared. I took my number and wandered over to the stage and watched hand-dancing, break-dancing and finally line-dancing.

The best thing about Curbside Cookoff is how it took on the feeling of a neighborhood block party– in the middle of buttoned-up, downtown D.C. By the time the dancing was over, my tacos were ready– and well-worth the almost year-long wait. I have seen some complaints on Twitter about the lines (true) and the lack of vegetarian options (not true– I could’ve had pizza, Sauca, Indian food and more if I didn’t want tacos). The lines are long; there’s no denying that. But this is a one-off event meant to celebrate Food Trucks, so it’s not comparable to trudging out of your office during a regular work day to grab something portable, to go.
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FILED UNDER: Culture, DCRA, Delightful City, Food, Food Trucks
October 7, 2010 | 6:46 PM | By

Curbside Cookoff is a hit.

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Several hundred people are still happily waiting in very long lines for grub from D.C.’s 20 best food trucks, as of 6:45. Though some trucks are already out of treats, the event will continue until 9pm, at 11th and H streets nw. If you are busy today, it resumes tomorrow, at 11am.

p.s. Check out our review of the event, here!

FILED UNDER: Culture, DCRA, Delightful City, Food, Food Trucks
October 7, 2010 | 9:30 AM | By

Red Hook Lobster Truck: The Interview

http://twitter.com/LobstertruckDC

So remember way back on Monday, when I blogged about Council member Tommy Wells’ tweet? The one which admonished the red-hot Lobster Roll truck for doing business near Eastern Market without paying a vendor fee? It also mentioned Lobster Roll patrons shamelessly devouring their sought-after seafood at Marvelous Market’s tables. Well, it is irrelevant whether you remember it at this point because I just recapped it all. Handy!

I said I would reach out to Red Hook Lobster Truck to find out more and I did. We eventually connected late Tuesday afternoon, when I had a very long conversation with co-owner Leland Morris about “The Food Truck War”, his business philosophy and whether or not they let people get tacky and mooch Marvelous seating.

The first thing Leland said to me was this, and it set the tone for the entire interview: “We do everything by the book and in the spirit of the community we’re doing business with. We want to put positive energy out there. We do this because we love the positive experience people are having.”

What would you take away from that intro, DCentric readers? Yeah. Positivity. Morris was upbeat and up front. He sounded ready to answer any question I might pose. He also sounded…nice. I found myself hoping that he had a great explanation for Wells’ tweet…
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FILED UNDER: Culture, DCRA, Food, Food Trucks, Small Business
October 5, 2010 | 6:01 PM | By

Ben’s Chili Bowl Loves Vegetarians

What I used to get at Ben's: Chili Cheese Fries

One of you emailed me this link to DCist with the subject line, “Good news for you!”. Thank you for that! As for the “news”, it turns out that Ben’s Chili Bowl just started serving vegetarian hot dogs; now I can finally eat something at Ben’s which looks like what the rest of you order. From Ben’s Big Blog:

For a few years now customers have been calling and emailing Ben’s requesting that they offer veggie hot dogs. Though it took some time to find the one that lives up to the quality and reputation of Ben’s, a veggie dog is now on the menu! Get yours with mustard, onions and Ben’s famous veggie chili. Don’t forget, for years Ben’s has offered Veggie Burgers, Veggie Chili, Veggie Chili Fries and Veggie Chili-Cheese Fries.

I’m a vegetarian and I love Ben’s…mostly because I have happy memories of the instances when it’s almost empty and the staff and I sing along to “My Girl” or similar. Everyone who works there is so kind. And the chocolate milkshakes are yummy.

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FILED UNDER: Delightful City, Restaurants, Delightful City, Food, Small Business, U Street
October 5, 2010 | 10:01 AM | By

No Word from Lobster Truck

A quick non-update regarding yesterday’s post about the Lobster Truck doing unfair things this weekend at Eastern Market. I reached out to Red Hook Lobster yesterday and promptly received this tweet:

…as well as two emails to coordinate a time to talk. Nice! The last email said the line had ended early, and they’d call me around 1:30. When they called me at 2pm, they were somewhere very loud AND they were suddenly busy with customers again so I offered to speak to them later in the evening– they said around 6pm. I waited (as did my puppy, whose trip to the dog park was being delayed in the interests of investigative non-journalism)…and waited. No word. At 7:30, I gave up and grabbed a leash. I’ll try again today. I’d really like to hear their side of things; I know some of you would, too.

FILED UNDER: Around the City, Food, Food Trucks