episode 29: bar carts, best in DC, and banning meats

this week we are talking about bar cart liquor, NYT's best restaurants in DC list, and banning lab-grown meats!

fraud at Hank’s! 🤑

if you thought paying $50 bucks for oysters and drinks was expensive….try $700,000 fraud! a woman who used to be a general manager at Hank’s Oyster Bar, a seafood restaurant with locations across the DMV, has pled guilty to several felonies in an embezzlement case. the manager stole money by creating fake employees and “paying them” by submitting falsified time sheets and pocketing the money for herself. after legal proceedings, she was ordered to pay back all money and was sentenced to 30 months in prison.

stocking the bar cart 🍾

sometimes when I go to a liquor store i’m confused about what to buy. I know I can’t buy bottom-shelf anymore but I have a hard time telling the difference between the nice-looking bottles in the $25-$50 range, between the overpriced celebrity alcohols and the good ones. depending on your alcohol preferences, here are some recommendations as you stock your summer bar cart:

• 11 types of Gin for martinis and beyond from Bon Appétit

• best of Vodkas after a blind taste test from Bon Appétit (with a redemption for Svedka?!)

• best of each alcohol category from Food & Wine - I bought their recommended tequila and it was pretty good!! (for tequila, lol)

NYT 25 Best in “DC” 🧑‍🍳

for many years the D.C. restaurant scene has been written off by the New York Times as a boring, steakhouse town, criticized by its apparent inability to sell a “decent” slice of pizza, amongst other shortcomings. (it took many years for NYT discover that we do indeed have neighborhood restaurants.) this year even Washingtonian’s Jessica Sidman proclaimed the NYT’s list of best restaurants in DC as fine, even, pretty good! the list is guilty of the same gripe I have with Washingtonian’s Top 100, that there are many restaurants that are not located in D.C. proper, and would be better placed on an MD or VA specific list. however, I do appreciate the inclusion of favorites from locals like Baan Siam and Ethiopic alongside favorites like Maketto, Lapis, and Reveler’s Hour. check out the “acceptable!” list, here.

the HOOHA Act 👨‍⚖️

apparently your refrigerator is way too woke!!! enter, the HOOHA Act. the Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act (see what they did there) would amend the Energy and Conservation Act of 1975 to prohibit the Secretary of Energy from prescribing new energy conservation standards that aren’t “technologically feasible and economically justified.” this Act of the Regan era dictates energy efficiency standards for household appliances that must be updated every few years. the Department of Energy recently set new standards for residential washers and dryers that will save consumers $1 trillion and avoid 2.5 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions over 30 years. these standards sounds good right? well, apparently the Republicans are so anti-government, they don’t want you saving money on your appliances - and of course its toooootally not because they’re pocketing PAC money from utilities and appliance manufacturers. while its unlikely this legislation will go far, let’s be honest, I really just wanted to include this because of the hilarious name! i mean, HOOHA!! come on!

mad about meat 🥩

cell-cultivated or “lab-grown” meat has been controversial, met with much skepticism from the Agriculture Industry and its supporters. with how terrible factory farming is to animals and the environment, the emerging technology is looking to gain traction as a better-for-many meat alternative. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis banned cell-cultivated meat ostensibly to protect the state’s farmers but also as a culture-war type move against the leftist anti-meat lobby. but its not just the right-wingers, Democrats have been falling over themselves to protect Big Agriculture, even Democratic Senator Fetterman from Pennsylvania supports the ban on cell tech, saying he refuses to “serve that slop to [his] kids.” my dude, if you think manufactured meat is bad, wait until you hear how they treat animals during factory farming! you can read more about the lab-grown meat controversies here.

cheesy troubles! 🧀

the dairy lobby strikes again! a vegan cheese company called Climax submitted a “bleu cheese” to the prestigious Good Foods award in a category amongst other dairy cheese products. not only were they nominated, but they were slated to win the award - until the blue cheese was sneakily disqualified a week before the ceremony. someone tipped off the foundation that the Climax cheese contained kokum butter (which is not GRAS, or generally regarded as safe) but the recipe actually contained cocoa butter, which is GRAS. they also claimed the cheese wasn’t “retail ready” even though Climax is partnering with the Bel Group (of babybel) and sells its cheese in top vegan restaurants like Eleven Madison Park. turns out these GRAS requirements were added retrospectively after submissions closed, and the rule change was utilized as a tool to express frustration from dairy-based cheesemakers rooted in the decision to allow foodtech cheese into the competition in the first place. by moving the goalposts and requirements the pro-dairy whistleblowers took a very shady route to knock out some vegan cheese.

we have to talk about Molly 🥛

Molly Baz, a chef and influencer has been at the center of some interesting advertising controversy this week. Baz, who is currently pregnant with her first child, partnered with a brand called Swehl to develop a lactation cookie, which has ingredients benefiting milk production for lactating mothers. to promote this partnership, Swehl released an ad campaign including a billboard featuring Baz in a small outfit with the cookies placed over her chest. after three days of being displayed in Times Square, the ad was taken down by Clear Channel, the advertising platform that controls the digital billboards, after being flagged as violating acceptable content rules, ostensibly because of how much of her skin is showing. while this ad isn’t to my taste (mostly because I find the majority of Baz’s online presence to be a little annoying) it is pretty hypocritical that a billboard that regularly shows underwear ads from Calvin Klein has deemed a non-pregnant midriff to be acceptable but a pregnant one to be inappropriate. on the other side, I wonder if a person who was not a thin, attractive white woman like Baz would have even had this ad approved in the first place.

more on mold ⚪️

in this article titled “what’s that white stuff” BA is going over some FAQ on that weird white stuff you found on your ___ (insert food here). many of these substances are not actually mold, and made of protein, fat, or yeast that are often times safe to eat. we’ve talked before on the newsletter about the white gloops that can be found in an egg, or the bloom that can occur on a chocolate bar; this article has links to explainers for even more foods like grapes, salami, cheese, and chicken. I learned that the white stuff that comes out of cooked salmon is called albumin, and its just a liquid protein that solidifies once cooked, and that yes you may be able to eat a fine-looking berry that has brushed up against a spoiled berry in its carton. this guide is helpful for the mold-averse like me!

restaurant review: Nami Nori 🍣

I know how competitive the NYC restaurant scene can get, so for a recent visit to the city I perused Resy for spots on a Saturday night and stumbled across a hand roll restaurant called Nami Nori. they serve a la carte or curated sets of hand rolls and other Japanese food - everything was so impressive! the salmon rolls were super tasty and the scallop roll melted in my mouth! would definitely recommend for a fun dinner at one of their New York locations.

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f*cked up food

high protein breakfast!

d.c. happenings

openings + good things

• journalist Austin Graff made some FANTASTIC comprehensive D.C. neighborhood guides

• Bread Me Bakery coming to Cafe Cozy Corner space in Shaw

• Malai Ice Cream opening on U St on May 18th!

• Four Five Roasters opening a new location in Mt. Vernon Square

• Bullfrog Bagels coming to Union Station

• Casa Majanos coming to Logan Circle/Shaw

• Pitango Gelato opened a Wharf location

• La Tejana’s evening cocktail bar opening

• Talea Italian opened in Cleveland Park

• Angry Jerk, Caribbean spot opening in DuPont

• Maharaja House of Biryani coming to Glover Park

• Pinxto’s Tacos open on Sherman Ave

• Wiseguys opening a DuPont location

• Dog Haus coming to old Acacia Bistro Space

• Mezcal Cantina opening in Chinatown

closings

• Macintyre’s Pub closing in Woodley Park

• Marcels, a longtime French restaurant is closing (can’t lie…never even heard of it)

• Po Boy Jim on H St closed

• Tono Sushi closed in Woodley Park

• Nama Ko closed on 14th and U

home cooking 🏠

for lunches, i’ve been very into TJ’s Norwegian crispbread lately!! i’ve been doing some smoked salmon and cream cheese on crisp bread toasts, or topping them with sardines or other tinned fish with some veg.

I also did a cocktail night at my house with three tequila-based drinks. the first was this coconut marg called the Wolf Run from drinks by evie, which was good, but honestly the tequila overpowered everything else. next was the “Pump up the Jam” which was perhaps the favorite, I loved the addition of the pepper jam for some spice. I accidentally used pepper jelly which means it didn’t mix as well, but the recipe was good regardless. lastly we did this carrot juice margarita which I always like a carrot drink, I think it adds some interesting flavor to balance out the alcohol. it was a fun cocktails evening!

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thanks all, have a great week!