The Weekly Feed: She Just Wants to Sleep In Edition
Celebrate Your Moms
If you're lucky enough to have your mom or grandma somewhere easily accessible, then you have the distinct pleasure of celebrating Mother's Day with the real McCoy. As for me, I'll have to settle for a teleconference with my mom while eating pancakes shaped like Mickey Mouse that I'll pretend she made for me. Sniff. I love you, Mom!
If you aren't separated by a continent, then you have some meal planning to do. A lot of people take their mom out for a beautiful brunch with the whole family. We can get behind this in theory, but if you want to be a cool kid for your cool mom, we advise you cancel your Sunday reservation, or better yet, sell it to some schmuck on Craigslist.
Mother's Day Brunch is a close second to Valentine's Day in terms of amateur hour at restaurants; it's like New Year's Eve and St. Patrick's Day at the bars: unbearable. The most preferable option for Mom is to make her brunch yourself (and do the subsequent dishes!). Hit up one of the local markets early, then whip up your mother's favorite meal. Make sure it includes hollandaise, because everything is better with hollandaise.
If you must dine out, go tomorrow. The Post's Going Out Gurus have posted a list of Sunday brunch options, which are good choices in general, but are now Places To Avoid on the big day. See if you can waltz in on Saturday morning instead, when you'll have fewer groups of screaming kids and more unshowered and hungover law school students who finished their finals the day before. It's all about atmosphere, and you'll look like a golden child next to those shlumps.
Here's a few recommendations for some non-traditional celebrations for all the moms out there:
Photo from the Skipping Hippy.
-- If your mom's the do-gooder type, take her to Eastern Market and buy her a T-shirt or donate to the cause. Make a show of writing a check for a donation in her name, then buy her a crepe from the new vendor there.
-- If your mom brought you up not eating the meats, hit Vegetate on 9th St. NW. They're only open for dinner Saturday, so you might have to convince Mom that brunch starts at 6 p.m.
-- Did Mom grow up in the circus? Have a pirate themed, and actually pretty good, brunch at Argonaut on H St. NE, then head down the street to Palace of Wonders to pre-party for tomorrow night's burlesque show. Maybe your mom will scar your psyche forever and join the show.
-- If Mom's a foodie, take her to Vermillion in Old Town, where former Circle Bistro chef Anthony Chittum is turning the season's freshest ingredients into dishes so good they might make your mom forget that whole 3-day labor thing.
Where are you taking Mom for Mother's day? Are you still taking your mom out to eat then making her pay? All you kids whose moms cleaned your face with spit hit the comments.
Much Touted Blog Dies Before it Begins
Remember way back in March, when we told you that Bebo/Galileo chef Roberto Donna was retaliating against a lukewarm review in Washingtonian with both a lawsuit and a blog to review the reviewers? Yeah, that pretty much fizzled. With all of the bluster of Vesuvius and none of the follow through, Donna started his highly anticipated blog with a genial welcome, and then laid into the D.C. dining scene with piercing silence. We here at DCist have felt the chill of Donna's non-verbal e-stare descend over the city since it "began" two weeks ago. To wit, nothing good or bad about Bebo at all. Maybe those bumper stickers Donna is passing out are doing the trick.
Mio Opens Downtown
A new restaurant has just joined the ranks of Il Mulino, BLT Steak, and Georgia Brown's in the McPherson Square neighborhood: Mio, an "American restaurant with global influences." The chef, JohnPaul Damato, fresh from his job overseeing the kitchens at all three Jaleos, has said he will focus on local ingredients from "boutique" farms, something he probably knows about since he was Restaurant Nora's executive chef and certified organic buyer; "product oriented" is how he describes his menu.
The menu unsurprisingly splits the starters between hot, like the "peekytoe crab on puff," and cold, "chicken liver terrine with black truffle and pickled cucumber." The entrée menu, however, is split into preparation styles: Flat Iron and Grill, Pots and Pans, and Roasted and Braised. So, if you're feeling like some hot char, you'll know where to go.
At $17-$28 for entrees, and $8-$12 for starters, Mio isn't the cheapest place in the neighborhood, but it's not going to dip into the 401(k) like BLT Steak or Il Mulino might.
D.C. Stands Strong in Beard Awards
This week has been a hectic one in the land of DCist food, but we did want to leave you with important news: Michel Richard (Citronelle and Central), Mark Slater (Citronelle), RJ Cooper (Vidalia), and Franke Ruta (Palena) won Outstanding Chef, Outstanding Wine Service, Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic, and…Best Chef Mid-Atlantic, respectively, at this year's James Beard Awards. Congratulations fellas! Richard's and Slater's nationwide awards are particularly impressive. Get rundowns on the somewhat confusing evening from Metrocurean and Tim Carman.