Taste of DC

[wisehands]

Went to Taste of DC around noon Sat. Biggest problem was the system for getting tickets was a fiasco. We waited in a line that was a least a couple hundred people long that snaked down and around Pennsylvania Ave. for at least 30 minutes. It was especially bad for people who paid for tickets online who had no choice but to endure it. I talked to a Taste of DC honcho when I finally got my tix and he didn't even know how bad the line was. OTOH, most of the lines at the food booths ... once you got there ... weren't too bad. The price point for the tickets was too high because pricing in $1.50 increments made some things overpriced ... other stuff was just too pricey. For example, a piece of candy that should be $2 is $3 because it can only be priced at 1.50 or 3, a lobster roll (Luke's) for 5 tix sounds not bad until two bites later you realize you just paid $7.50 for 1/4 of a lobster roll, seafood paella (La Tasca) for 4 tix that turns out to be $6 for two spoons of tepid rice with micro specks of seafood, or 1 tix for a beer sounds great, but in reality it's $1.50 for a one ounce shot.

The best bites were: Cajun Experience's crawfish etouffee, Surfside's fish tacos, Feelin' Crabby's crab salad, Sauca's medi veggie, Whoopie Gourmet's whoopie pies, Sprinkle's cupcakes, Edward Marc's chocolates. In the OK category: Luke's Lobster's lobster, crab, and shrimp rolls, Station 4's charred octopus (good ... but $6 for ONE chunk??), Amsterdam's falafel and fries. Doghouse: La Tasca's seafood paella was regrettable.

Hero of Taste of DC: the guy who gave me 2 shots of Urquell for 1 tix because it was my last ticket (honest!).

[pizza man]

I was there with my buddy Alex and some other good people. It was crazy because we were right next to freedom plaza, and the occupy DC gang. Megaphones get a bit tiresome.

We had a good time anyway.