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I used to shop at Blacksalt frequently when I lived closer (this was when they first opened the market). I have not been in a couple years and would assume that the quality has not changed. That being said I would put the quality of the product at District fishwife at least on par with Blacksalt; this is obviously on a small sample size since it is so new, but as others have said it is a very promising addition to this side of town.

The District Fishwife opened some time in the past week. I was hurrying through UM this weekend picking something else up and only got a quick look. The seafood looks to be top notch with prices to match (think Black Salt Market, not Maine Ave Wharf). It will only be an occasional splurge for our family, but it's nice to see a dedicated fish monger focused on sustainability in the area. They seem to have detailed info on every product they offer.

This is all fascinating, thank you again! And now for a pop-sci fad-busting question: the "Paleo Diet" - sorta kinda bullsh*t, or complete and utter bullsh*t?

The permanent space will be in the building catty corner to that where the Trader Joe's is opening which should be sometime this Spring.

My collection of logo-ed bar ware is not insignificant. Not all of it was paid for, but a very large portion was. Some of the remainder were gifts or brewery giveaways, the remainder I chalk up to the former contents of those glasses. And youth. Mostly.

We, too, were only able to hit a few places down there over the long weekend. The highlight for us was certainly The Ordinary (same folks as F.I.G.). We only did cocktails and apps there, but everybody in our group was talking about the marinated razor clams (apple, jalapeno, cilantro, and I'm pretty sure yuzu in there somewhere) from the extensive raw bar selection. Oysters were fresh as well, but the selection was limited. Cocktails were quite good in general, and the space is incredible (old bank building with soaring ceilings). The late dinner that followed at Fish was decent, but with Restaurant Week my expectations were low, and the place turns into a night club after 11:00 or so. We were kind of rushed out of there by the thumping bass. I was flying solo my last night there, and the hotel was right across the street from HUSK. I was hoping just to eat off the bar menu, but it was much more limited in scope than I'd anticipated (literally a handful of bar snacks and a burger). I stuck to cocktails and a snack of pulled pork hush puppies. The former were great. The latter are the 'maple-roasted brussel sprouts' of the Charleston dining scene, they were on seemingly every menu in town. Perfect for something to soak up a couple cocktails, though. Afterwards I walked over to F.I.G. where there were a couple spots at the bar. Echoing the above review everything I had was very good, but I was not blown away. They had a different preparation of the razor clams (fennel, golden raisins, pine nuts) that I enjoyed but did not live up to the preparation at The Ordinary. One surprise down there was the local beer scene. The group I was with had planned a surprise brewery tour for me that was complicated by the fact that A) none of them are open on Sundays, and the top choice and probably the most hyped one down there (Coast) was boxed in by the marathon route and had to alter their hours on Saturday. We ended up at Westbrook, a huge purpose-built facility you can see from the highway that I hadn't heard of. They had a limited but pretty wide selection of styles on tap, including a rye pale ale (One Claw, available year round), a doughnut imperial stout (the maple-roasted-brussel-sprout of the brewing scene) and a Gose (!). The latter was pretty spot on; completely funky with a wicked lemon tartness; even better was Gozu, the same recipe finished with yuzu which mellowed everything out to just the right degree. I got this on tap wherever I spotted it around town. We had planned on hitting Holy City, but never got around to it.

When it comes to the quality of beer that BlueJacket will be putting out I don't think those two events correlate. How much Miller Lite do the Nats sell on game day again? I don't think anybody is suggesting that NRG was relying on baseball crowds in order to pay the bills. People are talking about how good the beer has been (er, not been) given the hype and talent of the principals involved. The most recent news isn't promising in that regard.

This was my assumption on reading the news. Along with I'm sure many others I was so, SO excited for this place to open. Due to various issues it took me over a month after the debut to get down to Navy Yard and sample everything. There is a reason I never bothered to add my comments here. I charitably had hoped they would turn things around and make it a destination to travel across town for, but most of what I've read (with the exception of a couple of stand out beers) doesn't give me much hope for the current line up. At this point I'm waiting to see what the start of baseball season brings us. Hopefully the vision and execution will eventually find a happy medium. The contrast with Right Proper is significant, a brewery that focused on a few solid offerings to open up with and really knocked it out of the park (IHMO, I know they are not universally loved).

I twist on the reservations-as-prepaid-tickets scenario that may have been presaged by this discussion: Couple criticized for bringing crying baby to 3-star restaurantNot to defend this couple, but it does raise the consequences of last-minute changes and how restaurants should handle them. I would feel a little better about Alinea if the response wasn't chiding, "Really, they were out of line for doing this, this restaurant is clearly not suitable for a young child", when the alternative was pocketing $400+ of their money without having to provide any service whatsoever. If they want people to pre-pay for a very expensive dinner which may be a once-in-a-lifetime splurge this type of thing might happen once in a blue moon. Either that or amend their reservation policies to include a strict age limit. Yes, yes, analogies to theater tickets and all that, blah blah blah

The great post-holidays holiday beer markdowns are in full swing. If you love these beers many can be had for 30-50% off, and it's not like the past 2 weeks have seen them go skunked all of a sudden! P St Whole Foods still has cases and cases of the Delirium Noel bombers for 20% off or so; Mad Elf is under $11 a six pack (normally $14+). If you want to impress friends or bludgeon someone to death in style, pretty much every large format bottle is deeply discounted. Most of these beers will cellar very well and will be no worse off for next year's overindulging.

Sure, if your criteria don't include schools or Metro access (equidistant from all Metro lines <> convenient to any of them). Oh, and you have lots of money and work downtown. There's a ton of fun shopping and eating and drinking related things to do in Logan, and there is a nice upscale grocery. If those things are the sum of your day-to-day life experience then 14th and P probably cannot be beat in this city.

We dropped in to sample the line up and grab a bite right after they opened around 5:15. We may have gotten the last table, it filled fast and was packed by 6:00. The crowds started to filter out after an hour or so. I'll start with the space: it's larger than meets the eye from the street. The front is a double storefront open area with table seating in 2- and 4-tops pushed together in various configurations There is a TON of room to stand around in that area between tables, but nowhere to rest your drink. We all thought it wasn't being used very efficiently and frankly kind of weird; I would personally like to see some banquettes along the walls (but that would block the murals that feature so prominently). The rest of the front "room" is taken up by a L-shaped bar and service bar. The back narrows down since it also holds the brewery. There is another long bar that fronts the glass enclosure looking into the brew kettles and separate barrel room. More high top tables back there in a much more cramped environment, especially compared to the front room. Now, the beers. If you are reading this to see how the beers stack up, GO. Just go. The beers being put out happen to align pretty well with my palate, but there is something for everybody to enjoy. As expected everything make use of special yeast strains, and that mostly shines through in the end product: Ornette (grissette, <4% ABV, 12 oz.): Funky, light in body and color, just lets the yeasts speak for themselves. And they sing! I could drink this all night, even in the dead of winter The Duke (strong golden ale, ~7%, 12 oz.): Very good Belgian ale. A bit malt-forward, but you certainly notice the balance with a bit of funkiness at the end Raised By Wolves (IPA, ~5%, 16 or 22 oz.): This was just awesome. Has your typical double or Imperial IPA hop notes right off the bat (grapefruit, pine, not too resin-y, though) with a rich mouth feel, but clocks in at a way lower ABV. Finishes like a nice pale ale. Being There (kellerbier, ~6%, 16 or 22 oz): On first taste I thought this was like the grissette, but turned up a few notches. Tart, funky, but with a firmer malt backbone. I need to go back and taste this one on it's own (and not as the 3rd or 4th of the night). They had two collaboration beers on tap: One with Lost Rhino, I forget the name (wee heavy, 10%, 12 oz.): Brewed with oats and honey. Seemed fairly light-bodied for a wee heavy (as light at 10% will get you). You really got the honey characteristics in the nose. It's a ,must try while they still have it available. Bete Noire (DC Brau, 8%, 12 oz): This was pretty good, but didn't knock my socks off. Probably because it seemed like another version of the Penn Quarter Porter. Across the board it's an incredibly strong showing. I couldn't help but compare it to my one trip so far to Bluejacket. There you have the option of 12-16 beers, but even going the 4 oz tasting route I felt like it was maybe half that made me say "Wow!", another couple that were good to very good, and then a few that I enjoyed but probably wouldn't return to. The best part? The prices. Holy crap! The house beers are all priced at or under $6 (12 oz = $4, 16 = $5, 22 = $6). You'll pay that for a bottle of Miller Lite down the block! I asked but did not get an answer on how much growler fills will be. They have some very nice swing tops for $18 just for the container (32 and 64 oz.), but I assume you will be able to bring in your own. Now for some gripes: - Service was a little off, probably to be expected on their first night open. Lots of things delivered to our table by mistake, a couple beers we didn't order had to be taken off of the final tab, food slow coming out of the kitchen. Thor was up and about working the room. I get a sense that it will take them some time to settle in - 12 oz. beers were just served in wine stems. It's a little thing, and I'm hoping this was just temporary since the pints and 22 oz. glasses were very nice, custom Right Proper logos and all (tagline: "Made in Shaw") - The food: I'll admit it wasn't the focus of our visit, but we did sample a few things from the kitchen and didn't come away impressed. It's mostly snacks and plates for sharing with 4 sandwiches ($7-12) and a couple entrees. I wasn't overwhelmed by anything we ate. I had the lamb French Dip ($12) which seemed to me more of a panini. The jus featured red wine prominently and was by far the best part. A friend had the Southern Fried Chick-Filet (get it?!), which was the best thing we had. A big hunk of nicely fried chicken, but on a somewhat disappointing brioche bun. Two tables near us asked what it was and ordered it; I would get this again. A cup of corn and crab chowder was just OK. A basket of fries was over salted, and a kale a bacon side dish was a little too vinegar-y. Mostly everything came with house made pickled items which were great, though! There were some heartier items on the menu that we didn't try and may stand up better to the stated focus of the kitchen. Even with the mis-steps Right Proper is a must visit for anybody with a passing interest in beer in this city.

Whole Foods P St had a giant stack of it over the weekend

Returning again on Saturday after a few years' absence, and still excited about it! It does look like they've hit market saturation at $140, though. Only Saturday night is sold out at this point, and I think that took several weeks to fill up. DCBrau brewed a special edition of their porter this year mashed in with Raspberry Points that they will be serving alongside the wine. As always, the only thing that makes this event remotely close to being worthwhile is the variety of bivalves available under the same roof: OYSTERS TO BE SERVED AT THIS YEAR'S OYSTER RIOT Crassostrea virginica Battle Creek, Tom's Cove, VA Blackberry Point, Foxley River, PEI Canada Cup, Malpeque Bay, PEI Cotuit, Cotuit Bay, MA Little Island, Bagaduce River, ME Mayflower Point, Cape Cod Bay, MA Mystic, Long Island Sound, CT Pleasant Bay, Little Pleasant Bay, MA Quonset Point, Narragansett Bay, RI Rocky Reef, Huntington Bay, NY St. Simon, La St. Simon Bay, NB, Canada South Parish, Nauset Harbor, MA Standish Shore, Duxbury Harbor, MA Thatch Island, Barnstable Harbor, MA Wallace Bay, Tatamagouche, NS, Canada Washburn Island, Waquoit Bay, MA Watch Hill, Winnapaug Pond, RI Wianno, Barnstable Harbor, MA Crassostrea gigas Fish Point, Samish Bay, WA Glacier Bay, Halibut Cove, AK Kusshi, Stellar Bay, BC Sunset Beach, Hood Canal, WA Ostrea edulis Harpswell Flat, New Meadows River, ME Crassostrea sikamea Kumamoto, Humboldt Bay, CA

Probably the grandaddy of them all and longtime claimant to the title of World's Strongest Beer (until the relatively recent alcohol percentage wars got out of hand): Samichlaus. I haven't had it in several years, but recall really enjoying it (and I'm not a general fan of holiday beers). For several years running I brought a large format bottle of beer to New Year's gatherings to toast with instead of champagne. Usually it was Stone's Double Bastard or one of the Belgian abbey beers in a magnum, but also DeuS which has a reputation for being the "champagne beer" (it's just a light-bodied Belgian ale with fizzy carbonation, and overpriced for what it is). Somebody at Miller needs to get a sense of humor and start bottling High Life ("The Champagne of Beers!") in magnums for the season.

Truth.

Turns out it's Restaurant Week that weekend (1/12-19) FIG and HUSK can't accommodate a party our size on a Saturday, so we are tentatively booked at Fish; any reports? The menu doesn't look very inspiring, I'll keep poking around. At this point I'm seriously considering staying an extra day to eat around on Monday!

This is very true, but even a properly filled growler using a nitrogen flush in a dedicated system will have a shelf life. Here's hoping they will at least acknowledge the fill date. Given the principals involved here I have no doubt that standards will be set very, very high.

The time is nigh for Right Proper to open its doors in Shaw around the corner from the burgeoning row of eateries on 7th St. City Paper has a write up on what to expect and when ("early December", permits pending). Initial focus seems to be getting some standard regular beers on rotation using the new system, but it will be very interesting to see what Zeender comes up with once the place is operating on all cylinders. "Farmhouse ales" fermented with brett and other funky strains of yeasts seem to be the next big thing on the microbrewing front, but it looks like he is really going to walk the walk (open fermentation in wooden vats, lots of barrel aging). It's a bit of a gamble for a small storefront enterprise, but it could pay off handsomely. Lord knows he has the chops when it comes to funky, unusual beers. This place should be a like a smaller Bluejacket, but even further out on the edge of normal brewpub offerings. Very excited, I've been watching the build out with anticipation. Oh, and growlers! But "prefilled growlers" gives me pause. Here's hoping you at least have the option to have one filled fresh from the tap.

Unless I'm flying internationally and there is a much cheaper direct flight involved I would rank them: 1) DCA 2) BWI 3) Wisdom tooth extraction without anesthetic 4) IAD I've just had so many bad TSA experiences there and the added cost in actual dollars for cab/parking plus emotional trauma just isn't worth it anymore. We have family in Philly and if the cost is roughly the same I would rather drive up there to fly overseas, or take a DCA connection through New York for a little extra cost. I used to dread BWI, but the last few flights I've taken have been a breeze, and the extended parking options are great. As mentioned above I won't take any flight that has me leaving around rush hour in either direction due to traffic.

We always do big houses if there is a large enough group going, and there are some places we did find downtown (not as big as the places in Isle of Palms, etc., but big enough for who we think will want to fly in). Usually we do big meals at a house with this group, but it's coming up on a milestone birthday for me so I may want to forgo any responsibility and just eat out a lot. The race is really just an excuse for some runners to visit Charleston and gorge ourselves

Funny, I just looked up this thread to ask about places since we are considering heading down for the half-marathon this year as well. I have a more general question, though: if we wanted to stay somewhere centrally located and walk or short cab ride from the beter (and diverse) places to eat and drink, what is the best option? With the number of folks we may be travelling with I am thinking that we may want to rent a house, so proximity to to hotels isn't necessarily a must. Trying to decide on staying downtown vs. a short drive away in a REALLY big house.

Well, that's great and all, Don, but where's my money?!

So, a bunch of self-important windbags whining that they aren't getting compensated for "work" (it's a hobby) that they do on a volunteer basis, above and beyond the perks that Yelp! already lavishes on them. Got it. The real news is buried in the complaint: If that can be substantiated in open court then what is to stop an avalanche of defamation suits from actually bringing Yelp! down?

We got ours from Harvey's Market at UM last year. I think Eberly provides the fresh birds (same as their chicken). It wasn't supermarket cheap, but I didn't feel it was too ridiculously expensive. About on par with other farmers market birds we've had in the past; I thought the quality last year was better, though. Zora - For comparison, how much per pound was a Polyface bird?