Tweaked

Any other Expanse fans? The final season drops on Dec. 10 via Amazon Prime. Set roughly 200 years in the future, The Expanse deals with the social, political, and military world as humans have colonized Mars, the asteroid belt and various large moons of Jupiter and Saturn...all with a space alien twist. The show is based on novels written by James S.A. Corey, the pen name for the collaboration of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck.

The Cava money is in their CAVA fast casual concept, 133 locations plus what ever they are converting from their Zoes Kitchen take over. The sit down restaurants feel like side projects these days. And the Hill location had gone way down hill in recent years.

A good one for anyone heading to Baltimore during the holiday season. A Modern Influence: Henri Matisse, Etta Cone, and Baltimore "This exhibition explores the 43-year friendship between artist Henri Matisse (1869-1954) and Baltimore collector Etta Cone (1870-1949). More than 160 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and illustrated books provide new insights into the formation of the renowned Cone Collection, one of the greatest collections of modern art in the United States. Etta, with her older sister Claribel (1864-1929), acquired more than 700 works by Matisse between 1906 and 1949 and bequeathed the majority of them to the BMA as part of a gift of 3,000 objects. Etta’s dedication and curiosity ultimately lent the Cone collection its characteristic depth and breadth. After accepting Etta’s invitation to visit her in Baltimore in 1930, Matisse realized he could have a major U.S. presence, and began creating and offering Etta specific works of art with the Cone collection in mind.” Among these works are masterpieces such as The Yellow Dress (1929-31) and Large Reclining Nude (1935), rarely shown drawings, and the preliminary studies for his first illustrated book, Poems by Stéphane Mallarmé (1932). The works in the exhibition are generally arranged by acquisition date, demonstrating Cone’s increasingly discerning eye for Matisse’s work throughout their long partnership. A fully illustrated catalog accompanying the exhibition contains new scholarship on the formal, technical, and social aspects of the decades-long working partnership between artist and patron." Washington Post article

Another delicious take out order from K'Far this weekend. I really like the smoked salmon and cream cheese Jerusalem style bagel. We also had a very good pistachio sticky bun and a good pumpkin challah Danish (the sticky bun was the better of the two). We also enjoyed a three pack of the borekas, but having had them several times now, I think they need more filling...the filling to pastry ratio is off in my opinion. We ordered via their website and was given a 25 minute wait time at 8:30 on a Saturday morning. When we showed up at 9am the order was packed and ready to go. It was a holiday weekend and they didn't appear to be that busy at that hour. After trying them three times now, K'Far is definitely on the rotation for Philly trips, especially when staying in the Rittenhouse Square area.

Ericandblueboy for the win. Sushi Nakazawa Will Remain If Trump Hotel Is Sold “Sushi Nakazawa DC and our lease are not affected by the sale of the hotel. Beyond that, we have no comment at this time,” says Director of Operations Vito Ferraro. (Leases typically remain intact until they expire, even if the landlord changes.)

According to news report, the Trump Organization is selling and the hotel will become part of the Hilton Hotel Waldorf Astoria brand. No word yet on the fate of current tenants.

According to news reports, the Trump Organization is selling and the hotel will become part of the Waldorf Astoria brand.

Mr. Chen's still sucks.

I always feel like the VMFA flies under the radar a bit, but it shouldn't, it's a very nice art museum. For photography and Ansel Adams fans...plus you can always hit up ZZQ afterwards! "Ansel Adams: Compositions in Nature presents photographs from every period of the artist’s celebrated career. Included are many of Adams’s most-famous and best-loved photographs as well as lesser-known works. Visitors will delight in elegant details of nature, architectural studies, portraits, and the breathtaking landscapes for which Adams is most revered. In addition to a selection of his most highly regarded works that Adams printed at the end of his career—“the Museum set”—the exhibition features donated photographs recently added to VMFA’s permanent collection. The overview of the artist’s career explores changes in his aesthetics and technique, as well as his constant keen eye for composition. Visitors will experience Ansel Adams’s photographs that are some of the best-known images produced by any artist of the era, including Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, The Tetons and the Snake River, and Monolith, Face of Half Dome. In a study of Adams’s changing technique, the exhibition displays prints of the same photograph produced decades apart for visitors to compare and contrast."

Review from the Washington Post: Major Alma Thomas retrospective at the Phillips shows breadth of her achievement

If there is one art exhibition to see in DC this Fall, this is the one to go see. Alma Thomas was a leading artist in Washington, DC. The first graduate from Howard University's art department. First African-American woman to have a solo show at The Whitney. Was a member of the Washington Color School (DC's main contribution to Western modern/contemporary art). And was an art teacher for 35 years at Shaw Junior High School. "Alma W. Thomas: Everything Is Beautiful provides a fresh perspective on the artist’s dynamic long life (1891-1978) and multifaceted career that was defined by constant creativity. This major retrospective traces her journey from semi-rural Georgia to Washington, DC, to becoming the first Black woman given a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art at age 81. Through artworks and archival materials, this exhibition demonstrates how Thomas’s wide-reaching artistic practices extended far beyond her studio, shaping every facet of her life—from community service, to teaching, to gardening. In 1907, Thomas and her family migrated from Columbus, Georgia, to DC, and by 1924, she became the first art department graduate at Howard University. A constant learner, she studied the latest developments in art, visiting museums in New York, Europe, and DC, including The Phillips Collection. For 35 years and in a segregated city, she empowered art students at Shaw Junior High School to see beauty in the everyday and brought exhibition opportunities and cultural enrichment to Black youth. Thomas’s home located at 1530 15th Street, NW, was her artistic epicenter. There, she created small watercolors, aerial landscapes, and brightly patterned large-scale abstractions that reflect her local surroundings, her fascination with space, and her dedication to the environment. Along with these themes, the exhibition explores her interests in performance, puppetry, costume design, and fashion. Everything Is Beautiful contextualizes Thomas’s art and life within her creative community, delving into her association with Howard University, American University, and the Barnett Aden Gallery, which she helped co-found. Some of her works are placed alongside examples by her friends and contemporaries like Loïs Mailou Jones and Morris Louis who also helped shape the DC art scene. The exhibition offers an intimate look at this inspiring cultural icon who used her imagination and ingenuity to lead a rich and beautiful life."

The Jasper Johns retrospective is so large it is being hosted simultaneously by two museums in two cities: The Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Whitney, museums that have long-standing relationships with Johns. "Few artists have shaped the contemporary artistic landscape like Jasper Johns. With a body of work spanning seventy years, and a roster of iconic images that have imprinted themselves on the public’s consciousness, Johns at ninety-one is still creating extraordinary artworks. This vast, unprecedented retrospective—simultaneously staged at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York—features a stunning array of the artist’s most celebrated paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints as well as many lesser-known and recent works. Each a self-contained exhibition, the two related halves mirror one another and provide rare insight into the working process of one of the greatest artists of our time." "Jasper Johns’s groundbreaking work sent shock waves through the art world when it was first shown in the late 1950s, and he has continued to challenge new audiences—and himself—over a career spanning more than sixty-five years. He was born in 1930 in Augusta, Georgia; spent the majority of his adult life in New York; and today lives in Sharon, Connecticut, where, at the age of ninety-one, he remains active in his studio. Johns’s early use of common objects and motifs, language, and inventive materials and formats upended conventional notions of what an artwork is and can be. His profoundly generative practice helped spark movements including Pop art, Minimalism, and Conceptualism, among others, and has inspired successive generations of artists to this day. Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror is the most comprehensive retrospective ever devoted to Johns’s art. Featuring his most iconic works along with many others shown for the first time, it comprises a broad range of paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures from 1954 to today across two sites. Conceived as a whole but displayed in two distinct parts, the exhibition appears simultaneously here at the Whitney and at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, two institutions with which Johns has had long-standing relationships. This unique dual structure draws on the artist’s lifelong fascination with mirroring and doubles, so that each half of the exhibition echoes and reflects the other. Organized in largely chronological order, the retrospective presents pairs of related galleries—one in each city—that offer varied perspectives on the artist’s turns of mind. Individually, each gallery focuses on a particular aspect of Johns’s thought and work through the lens of different themes, processes, images, mediums, and even emotional states. Taken together, they provide an immersive exploration of the many phases, treasures, and mysteries of a radical, enduring, and still-evolving career."

Might be a curious study to see how many area gas stations have become havens for immigrant food entrepreneurs during the pandemic. Krishna Shrestha was a partner in the now closed Everest Kitchen in Ashburn. Wash Post with the story. Liberty Gas Station 43673 John Mosby Hwy Chantilly, VA

Excellent profile in Eater DC. Chit Chaat Cafe operates from a family-owned gas station in Vienna. The Eater article references a Chantilly restaurant but I can't find info on that location. Gas station address: 200 Maple Ave E, Vienna, VA 22180

A return to the back bar crime scene and I feel like 2 Amys is getting its mojo back. The daily specials are getting more adventurous with a bigger selection. Last night we enjoyed the always classic Sicilian anchovies with bread and butter; the also classic fried salt cod croquettes; Japanese sea bream crudo; chanterelle mushroom crostino; tortilla Espanola with shishito peppers and aioli; oven roasted mussels with bread crumbs, garlic, butter, and parsley; and shaved matsutake mushrooms with pecorino, celery leaves, and lemon. Not bad for a Tuesday night.

You can eat very well in Philadelphia. You can eat very well in Philadelphia and only eat at Mike Solomonov joints. You can eat very well in Philadelphia and only eat at Mike Solomonov joints along Sansom Street, which includes a Dizengoff, Federal Donuts, Goldie, Abe Fisher, and K'Far Cafe, all with in four blocks of each other. For breakfast or a light lunch, I suggest K'Far Cafe, an Israeli inspired bakery cafe with Jerusalem style bagels (in Israel they are called Ka'ak Al Quds), borekas, various toasts, salads, cakes, cookies, and coffee. In our pandemic times, to-go orders are placed at the cashier and then you wait outside for your food. I'd expect a 5-10 minute wait. The cafe does have indoor seating and a small patio area available. On a Sunday morning at 9:30am, more than a dozen people were waiting outside for their orders, most of the seating was filled, and they easily had 20-30 to-go bags waiting for pickup (their website does push you toward online ordering, but you can walk up and order.) The smoked salmon bagel was good and the borekas are very good. Even their drip coffee is solid.

Admittedly, Unit Su Vege is not the most inspired name for a restaurant and the interior is very generic...but the made-to-order dim sum is good (although a cut below A&J) We enjoyed the vegetarian kung pao chicken bun, pickled cucumbers, chinese broccoli, watercress dumplings, pan fired vegetable dumplings, and spring rolls. All of these I would order again. The scallion pancake was ok, the shrimp dumplings over steamed, seaweed salad kinda boring, the veggie lo mein was bland. We were one of three or four tables at noon on a Saturday. Service was fast and soon our table was overloaded with food. The area immediately around the Philadelphia museum district is a bit of a food wasteland, so the dim sum at Unit Su Vege is a good choice.

Expanding to Woodley Park (2649 Connecticut Ave., NW, the Starbuck's space across from the WP Metro) and Barrack's Row at 522 8th St., SE. Washingtonian "Both restaurants will serve the most popular items from Han Palace’s all-day dim sum menu, such as scallop, shrimp, or pork-and-crab dumplings, rice rolls, and barbecue pork buns. The kitchens will also recreate Cantonese specialties like lobster sticky rice, Han-style filet mignon, and Peking duck. New to the lineup: delicate homemade soup dumplings, a popular yet not widely available dish in the District. Due to the small size of the new kitchens, Zhu says Han Palace’s most intricate items like stuffed whole duck—which must be ordered 48 hours in advance—will remain a specialty in Virginia."

SakuSaku Flakerie has been quietly making a name for itself in Cleveland Park. SakuSaku is housed in a small store front that is part of Al Volo with access to the old Firehook Italian Garden patio. This weekend Eater DC ran an article bestowing "cult" bakery status. I ran over Sunday morning to pick up some pastries, and there was a dozen people in line and then about 15 people in line when I left (which was occurring before the Eater article). Also, this is a bit misleading because the store front in so small, they only let in one customer group at a time. I waited about 15 minutes. I have found that it is best to order a pastry that contains a filling. The plain croissant is so crispy and flakey that it practically shatters while the fillings hold it together. The chocolate plus either pistachio or almond are both excellent. This weekend we tried a pumpkin cream filled cruffin which was also excellent. SakuSaku is run by husband wife team Yuri and Jason Oberbillig.

The finalists for Outwin 2022 have been announced. This triannual exhibition is by far one of the best art exhibitions in DC. "The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery has announced the finalists in the sixth triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. Their work will be presented in “The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today,” a major exhibition premiering at the National Portrait Gallery from April 30, 2022, through Feb. 26, 2023, before traveling to other cities in the United States. Every three years, artists living and working in the United States are invited to submit one of their recent portraits to a panel of experts chosen by the museum. The 42 finalists in this year’s edition were selected from more than 2,700 entries. The first-prize winner, to be announced in the spring, will receive a cash award of $25,000 and a commission to create a portrait of a living person for the museum’s permanent collection. The Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition encourages artists living and working across the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands to submit work that challenges traditional definitions of portraiture." Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2022 Finalists: Holly Bass, Washington, D.C. Lois Bielefeld, Chicago Gustave Blache III, New York, N.Y. Rebecca Blandón, Queens, N.Y. Frank Blazquez, Albuquerque, N.M. Clarissa Bonet, Chicago Donna Castellanos, Elmhurst, Ill. Jess T. Dugan, St. Louis Michelle Elzay, New York, N.Y. TR Ericsson, Brooklyn, N.Y. Adama Delphine Fawundu, Brooklyn, N.Y. Paula Gillen, Boulder, Colo. Rigoberto González, Edinburg, Texas Kira Nam Greene, Brooklyn, N.Y. Inga Guzyte, Santa Barbara, Calif. Mari Hernandez, San Antonio, Texas David Hilliard, Boston Keegan Holden, Los Angeles Pao Houa Her, Blaine, Minn.* Tom Jones, Madison, Wis.* Laura Karetzky, Brooklyn, N.Y. Khánh H. Lê, Washington, D.C. Timothy Lee, Brooklyn, N.Y. Riva Lehrer, Chicago Jarod Lew, Beverly Hills, Mich. Tim Lowly, Elk Grove Village, Ill. Narsiso Martinez, Long Beach, Calif. Rania Matar, Brookline, Mass. Elsa María Meléndez, Caguas, Puerto Rico* Cheryl Mukherji, Brooklyn, N.Y. Marianna T. Olague, El Paso, Texas Maia Cruz Palileo, Brooklyn, N.Y. Joel Daniel Phillips, Tulsa, Okla.* Melissa Ann Pinney, Evanston, Ill. Stuart Robertson, San Francisco* Robert Schefman, West Bloomfield, Mich. Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Los Angeles Josephine Sittenfeld, Providence, R.I. Grade Solomon, Fredericksburg, Va. Ilene Spiewak, West Stockbridge, Mass. Alison Elizabeth Taylor, Brooklyn, N.Y.* Vincent Valdez, Houston*

THINKING OF YOU. I MEAN ME. I MEAN YOU is Kruger's first first major solo show in twenty years. "THINKING OF YOU. I MEAN ME. I MEAN YOU. encompasses the full breadth of her career—from early and rarely seen “pasteups” (works that use an analog technique for physically arranging a page’s contents with manual “cut and paste”) to digital productions of the last two decades. The presentation includes works on vinyl, site-specific installations, animations, and multichannel video installations. The exhibition is not, however, a retrospective. Challenging notions of career building and a strict chronology, Kruger has reenvisioned the retrospective itself by rethinking, remaking, and replaying her work over the decades for the constantly moving present." Los Angeles County Museum of Art from March 20, 2022 to July 17, 2022 The Museum of Modern Art, New York, July 18, 2022 to January 2, 2023 Washington Post

The return of Ann Cashion and John Fulchino. Opening mid-October-ish. Washingtonian with the story "Cashion’s menu at Los Compañeros will be more traditionally Mexican than Tex-Mex, though diners will find a few nods to the Austin Grill days—as well as Cashion’s, Johnny’s, and of course Taqueria Nacional, whose neon signs all line the wall. “In the spirit of the food there’s a connection,” says Cashion. Diners can start with homemade salsa, guacamole, and a queso dip that Cashion’s been tweaking for decades. Street-style tacos are similar to those at Nacional, and come stuffed with fillings like carnitas or fish (there’s also a green-chili/egg taco by request). Other classics include ancho chile enchiladas, gulf shrimp quesadillas, Yucatan-style grilled chicken, and veggie-studded rice and beans. A crab cake Veracruz and gumbo-like seafood stew may placate the Johnny’s fans, but Cashion isn’t looking for comparisons—Los Compañeros is designed to be casual with a small, nimble menu that’ll allow room for specials (keep an eye out for Cashion’s chili this fall, topped with cheese, onions, and homemade crema)."

I've never had much luck with my Cuisinart machine. I'm now a firm believer in the no-churn method using a base of heavy cream and condensed milk.

For anyone in Paris or fans of Christo and Jeanne-Claude. L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped, a temporary artwork for Paris, will be on view for 16 days from Saturday, September 18 to Sunday, October 3, 2021. The Arc de Triomphe will be wrapped in 25,000 square meters of recyclable polypropylene fabric in silvery blue, and with 3,000 meters of red rope.

If you are interested in CONCACAF WC qualifiers or watching all of Star Trek then keep it. If not, yours is a good plan.