Ruth Tam

Hey all, Dish City's first episode just dropped! You can subscribe on your favorite app of course, but it's also online if you prefer the web experience: https://wamu.org/story/19/09/12/dishcity-half-smokes. If you have thoughts...you can share them with me in person! I'll be at The Passenger with my co-host Patrick next Tuesday to chat about the episode. In fact, every Tuesday for the next two months, we'll be at a different local bar to discuss our most recent episode. We figured it would be a fun way to meet listeners and hear feedback. Hope to see you there! Here are the details: dishcity.org/sidedish

Here's our trailer, if you're interested! At this point, you can subscribe to Dish City on whatever podcast app you use.

For those saying "don't judge me" or "laugh if you will": All tips about queso are good tips. Thank you!

I'm looking for delicious-by-Texas-standards queso in the Washington region. Chile con queso, not queso fundido. The only queso I've had in D.C. was from Chipotle, and it was so disappointing, I angry Tweeted at the company, which is not a habit of mine. The Tex Mex places I can think of: Lauriol Plaza, Guapo's, Republic Cantina, Texas Jacks, Cactus Cantina. Does anyone have experience with the queso at these places, or others? Thanks!

Yes, I've certainly considered the trend, but as far as my reporting for this particular episode on Salva-Mex food, that's not really what I'm looking for. I'm more interested in what drives a recent immigrant restaurateur to cook a more 'established' cuisine for businesses reasons. From what I've seen, it's usually a cuisine that is somewhat regionally closer to their own (Central Americans cooking Mexican. Southeast Asians cooking Chinese, etc.) I'm also curious about when they decide to integrate their native cuisine's dishes on the menu. Perhaps this can be a separate thread since we're getting further away from Zabver's!

I'm looking for immigrant restaurateurs who can talk about why they feature cuisines other than their own when they open up shop. It's a business strategy that I'm curious about since I'm covering Salva-Mex cuisine in my podcast, Dish City!

Reupping this old thread to ask...does anyone know why Zabver wound up closing?

We're planning on interviewing Don next week! I'm really excited. We don't know where he fits best in the series yet, but it's nonetheless valuable to our reporting process to talk to as many local food experts and figures as possible. I've already learned a lot just from our informal chats. We are definitely speaking to chefs (some of them of the celebrity variety). Our plan is to use longtime local dishes and cuisines to explore how things have changed rapidly in the past few decades. Each episode will focus on a different food and answer a question about how things have shifted in regards to neighborhood development, demographic shifts, etc. We'll do that by interviewing a wide range of Washingtonians: diners, restaurant owners, suppliers, chefs, etc. and welcome any more thoughts on who you think we should chat with. That's great to hear! So far, Dish City is more of a food history project than a cooking project. But my cohost Patrick and I love to cook so perhaps recipes can be part of what we share on WAMU.org or on Twitter. Good news: We'll definitely be covering places that play a role in local history and have been around for decades. Let me know if there are specific institutions you're interested in! Interesting idea! I think for some folks, the lychee salad at Rose's or the roast chicken dish at Kinship might be classic. But for others, they may be relatively new, or not as accessible, as other so-called classics. Our series focuses on dishes or cuisines that could be considered iconic because of their history with the District (half smokes, Ethiopian cuisine, pupusas, Jumbo Slice, mumbo/mambo sauce, etc.). While restaurants like Rose's and Kinship are certainly a part of D.C.'s story, we are opting for a populist approach to what could be considered "classic."

Hi all, I'm a producer at WAMU working on a new show called Dish City. With my co-host Patrick, I'm exploring city change in Washington, D.C. through the District's iconic foods (think: half smokes, Ethiopian food, mumbo sauce, pupusas, jumbo slice, etc). There are food & food history podcasts out there, but I don't know of one that zeroes in on D.C. specifically. Would you listen? What kinds of foods do you think we should be covering and what kinds of questions do you hope we explore? We're really open to feedback. We launch in September. It'll be just one season of 7 episodes --around 20 minutes each. If you like, you can follow us on Twitter to see what we're reading and what we're up to.

Anyone know a pupusa super-fan or expert? I'm a producer at WAMU working on a new podcast called Dish City. One of our episodes will focus on pupusas and the marriage of Salvadoran and Mexican food at so many local restaurants. So far, I've interviewed an academic about Salvadoran migration to DC, and the manager at El Tamarindo in DC. Are there any specific restaurateurs, historians, food fans, etc. that you would want to hear discuss pupusas and Salva-Mex food? If you were to listen to this episode, what questions would you want us to discuss?