Bake for Japan Sale at Busboys and Poets
Come treat your sweet tooth & help Japan…all at one event!
Some of our favorite bakeries, restaurants, and other businesses are hosting a nation-wide bake sale this weekend, with some sweet treats made by some of the most talented professional and amateur bakers around. Word on the street is that DC’s event will have sweets from the newest cupcake food truck (Cupcake Buggy) and Sprinkles cupcakes as well as… from you, if you would like to participate!
Professional and amateurs bakers, cooks, artists and musicians are coming together around food to make something big happen at the 5th street Busboys and Poets this Saturday, April 2nd. If you would like to participate, you can either bake something or come and eat something! All proceeds collected will go to Peace Winds Japan, a Japanese NGO dedicated to the support of people in distress, threatened by conflict, poverty, or other turmoil. The organization is currently providing emergency relief to the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Northern Japan.
Baked goods will be accepted from 8:30-10am at Busboys and Poets. You do not have to be a professional baker but you do have to deliver your treats with a complete list of ingredients as well as a name for the item. If possible, baked goods should be individually wrapped. Japanese themed treats, such as green tea flavoured items or mochi are more than welcomed! If you want more information or plan to participate as a baker, please email Joelle at dcbakesale4japan@gmail.com and don’t forget to spread the word on twitter with the hashtag #bakesale4japan.
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This post was contributed by Mount Vernon Triangle resident and blogger FrenchtwistDC.
Interior buildout at 425 Eye for Veterans Affairs humming along
Two years ago The Paramount Group initiated renovations to upgrade the former Chester A. Arthur Building at 425 I Street NW from Class B to Class A office space. The overhaul included a complete gut and re-skin of the building. Paramount reconfigured the ground floor from entirely office to include 28,000 SF of retail space. The changes weren’t limited to the structural – the property was also rebranded as simply 425 Eye.
Last May we learned that Veterans Affairs had signed a 10 year lease with intent to use 425 Eye as “swing space” while their current home near McPherson Square is renovated. The details accompanying that announcement suggested that Veterans Affairs would begin to occupy 425 Eye by June 2011. Progress on the interior buildout had appeared negligible until the last few months. In the last week interior walls have been sheetrocked and cubicles erected on several upper floors. Therefore it would seem the move is very likely to be on track for a June date.
Perhaps most interesting to residents of the neighborhood is the potential retail. Extra daytime office workers in the area should help raise the foot traffic on 4th and Eye Streets. The commercial broker for the retail space is Transwestern Retail which has been involved with brokering several nearby retail placements including Buddha Bar, Subway Cafe and the future Corner Bakery Cafe at 6th & H.
Chinatown Coffee hosts Food Truck Thursdays
Starting March 31, Chinatown Coffee Co. will host a joint happy hour each Thursday evening from 6:30 – 8:30pm with a different DC food truck. With spring on its way and Washingtonian’s Food Truck Fight in full force, it is the perfect time to bring back this popular partnership, Food Truck Thursdays, between the brick and mortar shop and the food truck community.
The week’s featured food truck will be parked outside the shop, on the corner of 5th and H Street, NW. Customers will be able to purchase food outside and bring it into the shop to eat and enjoy some beverages. Chinatown Coffee Co. will offer $3 beer specials, in addition to a selection of wine and absinthe.
French “Slam” Poetry at Busboys and Poets – March 31st, 9PM
French language music has always had a certain poetry to it, with more emphasis on lyrics, clever play on words and rhymes than on the actual melody. French music today is about more than Edith Piaf and Celine Dion. Following on the footsteps of the US, France saw the emergence of urban musical styles like hip hop and rap. Those are actually thriving in France right now but artists like McSolaar, Neg Marron or Doc Gyneco have kept their lyrics typically French with a great emphasis on puns, double entenders, suggestive phonetic combinations or the use of verlan (the practice of saying words backwords – verlan is the phonetic opposite of l’envers which means reverse).
One of the most popular hip hop style in French language music right now is “slam” a musical style that oscillates between hip hop, a one man show, poetry and verbal sparring. Here again, it’s all about words, and oftentime, songs are performed accapela, with no background music whatsoever. If you’re looking to experience this urban musical style for yourself, the 5th street Busboys and Poets will host one of the pioneers of Quebec’s hip hop movement, Webster, for a slam session of rhymtic poerty this Thursday.
It’s no coincidence that rapper Ali Ndiaye chose Webster – as in the American lexicographer and political writer – as his nom d’artiste. Having studied history at the University level, Webster has a genuine understanding of the historical context surrounding Quebecois culture and he widely considered as a “grassroots hip hop historian” (This Magazine). Webster will bring his fervor and drive to a unique evening of passionate (French) prose at the 5th Street Busboys and Poets on Thursday March 31st. Sponsored by l’Alliance Française de Washington and the Educational and Cultural Departments of the French Embassy in Washington, the concert will start at 9PM, free for Alliance Francaise members, $8 for general admissions. Registration is required at (202) 234-7911.
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This post was contributed by Mount Vernon Triangle resident and blogger FrenchtwistDC.
Chinatown lands a Corner Bakery Cafe
A scan of the recent deals on the website of Transwestern Retail reveals Corner Bakery Cafe will lease 3500 SF of space at 777 6th Street NW. The office building at the corner of 6th & H has over 10,000 SF of ground floor retail space. One would presume Corner Bakery will occupy space on the corner.
Corner Bakery Cafe should do well with the lunch crowd and catering for local office tenants. Will they have a substantial impact in filling the breakfast void for local residents of Chinatown and the Triangle? I see a variety of scramblers and paninis on their breakfast menu but sadly no bagels. Does Corner Bakery have good coffee?
Kushi news
Congrats to Kushi Izakaya for earning the superlatives of Best Asian Restaurant and Best Sushi in the readers poll portion of Washington City Paper’s Best Of DC contest.
Also noteworthy is that Kushi has committed to donate 100% of Pork Belly Kushiyaki sales to Japanese Red Cross Earthquake Disaster Relief. This relief fundraiser began on March 15th and will run indefinitely.
Liberty North Community Market press release
The below is a press release update on the new Liberty North Community Market that will begin the first weekend of April in the parking lot at 5th & Eye.
(Washington, D.C.) – The Liberty North Community Market, a new public market at 5thand Eye Street, NW, will open on April 2nd and operate Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00-6:00 p.m. every weekend. The market is located on the site of the future Arts at 5th and Eye Hotel, to be developed by Donohoe Development.
“We are very excited to sponsor the Liberty North Community Market on our site,”said developer Jad Donohoe. “The market will activate this burgeoning neighborhood until we are ready to start construction of the hotel.”
The Liberty North Community Market will feature arts, crafts, produce, prepared foods, and home improvement goods. More than 80 local vendors have been identified to make this market a unique location for shopping and dining, including an award winning fashion designer, metal worker, Asian produce, and a hand-crafted chocolate maker.
“We are revolutionizing the way people think about public markets,” declared Chef Kenac, market manager. “We are clustering artists together so that there is more synergy between creative people. Artist will be paired under a gazebo to create an inviting, gallery-like atmosphere that protects their works from the elements.”
The Liberty North Community Market derives it name from the historic Northern Liberties Market that operated for 120 years in the neighborhood. Its first location was on Mount Vernon Square in 1846 and then it expanded to 5th and K Streets, NW in 1874 –where Safeway is today. The market burned in 1946 and finally closed in the 1960s. The area north of Massachusetts Avenue, NW was considered beyond the civilized part of town in the early 19th century – hence the moniker “Northern Liberties.”
Liberty North Community Market is produced by Chef Kenac Productions and is sponsored by ANC6C, Donohoe Development, the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development’s office, and MVTCID. To learn more about the market or become a vendor, visit www.libertynorthcommunitymarket.com.
House of Big Pot
Washingtonpost senior food critic Tom Sietsema tweets a few more details on the forthcoming ramen restaurant slated to be built at 705 Sixth Street NW. The new concept from the owners of Sushiko will be called Daikaya, which means House of Big Pot, and will feature a Japanese tavern on the 2nd floor.
tweet from @tomsietsema on March 17th
This new restaurant is next to another under construction called Graffiato – which is an Italian concept from Chef Mike Isabella.
Friday Open Thread
Open Thread today. What’s on your mind?
The Irish Channel 2.0
As the chalk board out front casually announces, the Irish Channel Restaurant and Pub (500 H Street, NW) re-opened on March 7th. The quaint and unassuming pub was recently renovated when the former Red Roof Inn was converted to a Marriott-run Fairfield Inn & Suites.
It’s clear much consideration was spent refurbishing the modern Irish public house and restaurant. Many new updates are plainly visible upon entering: the bar stools and church pew style booths have been reupholstered and several large flat-screen televisions have been added throughout the space. A new (slightly lower) ceiling was installed along with new light fixtures over the bar. And the once-open walkway between the hotel lobby and the bar has been walled off, better defining the bar as separate from the hotel. But renovations weren’t only cosmetic: new electrical wiring, heating element, and redesigned bathrooms are present as well.
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