Pet Worth: This Month's Highly Adoptable Animals
New Whole Foods to Open Up Exactly Where it is Needed Least
Jack Evans Hops Aboard a SmartBike at Bike Lane Unveiling
The Weekly Feed: Experimentation Edition
Morning Roundup: Change Edition
Don’t get in Hagan Blount’s way this weekend if you run into him in a D.C. bar or restaurant. He’s got mouths to feed—or more accurately, one mouth, 24 times: his own. Blount, who blogs under the name “Wandering Foodie,” is invading D.C. this weekend in an attempt to test 24 of the area’s eateries in 24 hours. He performed a similar feat in Boston last month—video footage available here and here—and has now been scouting D.C. for the better part of the last two weeks: testing routes, interviewing fellow foodies, and talking with some of D.C. food industry insiders. Some of his interview footage is already posted here.
Blount, for whom food was just a hobby until recently, is a recovering mortgage industry salesperson who decided to become a full-time foodie after the mortgage market crashed in 2008. He toyed with law school, he told DCist in a phone interview last week, but then he realized that what he really wanted to do was “eat a bunch of food and travel.” He started out blogging about beer during a motorcycle trip around Costa Rica, but upon his return, decided to focus more on food because “I think it might have made me a bit of an alcoholic,” he jokes.
24 in 24 was born out of his desire to establish himself as a household name in travel and food writing. Now based in Las Vegas, he started in Boston because he recently lived there—before that, he lived in various places around the D.C. area for almost 10 years. “Food and travel have always been two of my passions,” he said. “And I’m not going to stop doing what I’m doing until I’m a food personality.” Or perhaps, until he runs out of cash? Blount admitted he’s currently sinking his savings into the Wandering Foodie endeavor. He also includes a charitable factor in planning these trips—for the D.C. trip, he’s raising money for the Capital Area Food Bank.
This weekend, whether you’re out and about in D.C., Virginia or Maryland, you have a good chance of bumping into Blount, as he’s got local joints in all three areas on his list. His route is ambitious however—from Etete in the U St. Corridor to Ray’s Hell Burger in Rosslyn during the lunch hour? Could be tight. Citronelle in Georgetown to the Capitol Lounge between 8 and 9 p.m. on Saturday night? Good luck. Ditto for Perry’s drag brunch in under an hour—those entertainers aren’t likely to let Blount off that easily.
Here’s his full itinerary. See any favorite spots he’s missing? Any other items that are going to require miracles of modern transportation and traffic to accomplish? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
Saturday, September 12th
5:00 a.m. - The Diner
6:00 - Afterwords
7:00 - Peregrine Espresso
8:00 - Market Lunch
9:00 - Busboys & Poets
10:00 - Florida Avenue Grill
11:00 - Perry's DQ Brunch
12:00 p.m.- Old Ebbitt Grill
1:00 - Etete
2:00 - Ray's Hell Burger
3:00 - Fojol Brothers
4:00 - 2 Amys
5:00 - Zatinya
6:00 - Makoto
7:00 - Cashion's Eat Place
8:00 - Citronelle
9:00 - Capitol Lounge
10:00 - The Gibson
11:00 - Brickskeller
Sunday, September 13th
12:00 - Adams Morgan
1:00 - 18th Street Lounge
2:00 - Ben's Chili Bowl
3:00 - Tangier
4:00 - Amsterdam Falafelshop
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
i appreciate the effort to make it to ray's, but its the only one not in the district-- unless he has a jet pack or something, that's going to be a hard schedule to keep. also, 2:00p on a saturday, probably going to be a line.
Speaking of jetpacks, wise move on his part for saving Ben's for later in the marathon. Not only is Ben's chilicheese halfsmoke famed in song and story for it's "relaxing" effect on the bowelguts, with the simple addition of a Bic lighter, you have an effective "afterburner" IN YOUR PANT, turning otherwise mundane trousers into a low-altitude "escape vehicle." Watch out for re-entry "splashdown" otherwise they'll be calling you the "Waddling Foodie."
That schedule is NEVER going to work
The Makoto-Cashions-Citronelle series seems logistically whack. And who isn't over Zatinya? Better to squeeze in Sonoma on the way to Cap Lounge? But glad he is starting at The Diner and raising money for charity.
Good luck at getting in/out of Ben's (or Ray's) in less than an hour.
The first thing he'll accomplish is increasing the risk of having a heart-attack. Seriously! 24 restaurants in 24 hours? Is he going to eat then barf it out to make room for the next place? I guess he didn't consider the wait time to get a table, cooking the meal, then traveling (car, parking, traffic, etc).
Why on earth would anyone eat at Afterwords? And Brickskeller has food? Who knew?
I think we all know what's going to happen at 5:00 on Sunday. There's a secluded alley located around the corner from Amsterdam Falafel where he can do his dirty, dirty business.
Brickskeller has decent wings, but everything else is fried cardboard. Luckily, they always have your first choice of beer on hand to make you forget how bad the food tastes. Or something.
Since when? They must have improved their game because I'm usually lucky to get my THIRD choice of beer.
Anyway, good luck with that schedule. Reminds me of the time I tried to jerk off to every 1976 Playmate from January to December over a 12-hour period. I finally gave up after Miss November, Patti McGuire. So close!
I'm convinced that Brickskellar hasn't stocked anything but Miller and Bud since 1992. But they're real good at adding imaginary beers to their "world's largest list"!
At least YOU saw the irony in my comment!
Well, of course. That alley has the best fucktacos in town. You can get them fresh from the oven at that hour on Sunday.
From mortgage broker to professional glutton. This guy is the poster boy for conspicuous consumption. Hopefully he uses a stretch Hummer limo to travel between restaurants.
What??? No cupcakes on that menu?
And doesn't he mean Madams Organ at midnight (or is he just going to eat some skanky co-ed?)
I was thinking leftover Jumbo Slice scooped up off the sidewalk.
you know... I've actually seen someone throw up into one of the garbage cans outside Jumbo Slice then reach in and grab a leftover crust to eat.
I get that there are time limits on when places are open/serving food/relatively less busy. But it's like he's gonna go out of his way to criss-cross DC 47 times.
He needs to go visit the Good Stuff Eatery on Pennsylvania - Spike from Top Chef owns it and they have the best burgers!
yes... we know.
you beat me to it smithie. who does tacola think we are?
Hmm, perhaps a distinction between the commentariat - of which tacola is a prime example - and the commentgentsia (commentsia?) is in order.
I always preferred the term "commenati"...
He only has an hour to spend at each place. It takes that long just to get to the toilet.
Nothing says "authentic DC experience" quite like waiting an hour to pay $12 for a hamburger with some fruity $h!t on it.
fuck good stuff. shit is not dc, shit is just plain shit. but you get to pay $12 for that shit. and he's already getting good shit at ray's hell burger. if he were to venture into the shit that is capital hill, might as well go somewhere good... like the bbq joint up the street from good shit. shit on a shingle.
JUNKPUNCHERS.
+1
Dude is missing out on some of the best food in DC by not being here during the week. Taqueria Nacionale, Mangialardo's, and Deli City are all closed on the weekends.
“And I’m not going to stop doing what I’m doing until I’m a food personality.”
How utterly American. Dude sounds ridiculous.
Stinks of FAIL.
for a budding "food personality" he's eating at a lot of whatever restaurants. the diner? mehhh. ditto afterwards, fojol bros and brickskeller. busyboys is good but hardly an essential experience. fojol bros to 2 amys to zatinya is never going to happen in that time frame either. 2 amys will be packed!
I fail to see how this is blog-worthy, much less newsworthy. Just reeks of a publicist and self-promotion . . . to what end? To be known as a foodie. This 'event' has nothing to do with the local food scene, regional food scene or national food scene - only him and his token charity.
I thought August was over, DCist, don't we get back to the reals right about now???
Isn't Perry's DQ brunch only on Sundays?
Yes, I do believe the DQ brunch is only on Sundays. To my knowledge at least, then again, I'm no self proclaimed "foodie." Ugh, I hate that term so much.
I hope he visits Junkpunchers!
It's not like you can just type in "Junkpunchers" on google and figure out what you're talking about - a link would be helpful.
Hi new person! Just plug "junkpunchers" into the DCist search box and you'll learn more than you ever wanted to know.
In regards to the whole Junkpunchers thing, this is pretty much the ur text.
am i the only person who finds the term "foodie" kind of silly and pretentious all at once?
You are not alone. However, since I enjoy things like Kriston's sports writing, my opinion may not count for much.
At least he's not claiming to be a foodie critic. He's just making an @$$ of himself. 24 in 24 doesn't impress me much.
Not at all. The consensus opinion among my friends and acquaintances that work at various fine dining joints around town is that, people who call themselves "foodies" tend to be insufferable, obnoxious douche-nozzles.
Seeing all these comments that he's going to puke or hit the toilet or otherwise fail... is it wrong to feel that a "recovering mortgage industry salesperson" now "based in Las Vegas" fully deserves it? That picture of him sure doesn't earn him any support, the fool.
+1. Yes, please change headline to "Wandering Fool-E" Guy sounds (and looks) like a complete dork.
Cut them some slack. Would you read an article with the headline, "Dork Defecates through DC in a Day?" Alliteration can only help so much.
If it's featured on DCist? Why not! You think we're in the office to work? Puh-leaze!
I find this hilarious because, as someone who used to work at the Brickskeller, the one thing I always tell people who insist on going there is, "Fine. But whatever you do... DON'T EAT THE FOOD!" I cannot tell you the complete lack of sanitary standards and rodent controls at this place. Kitchen staff pulling their hands out of dirty sink-water and then handling food, etc. Rats ran rampant through the place and ESPECIALLY through the kitchen. Good luck, buddy!
I ordered a Toña. We didn't go to The Gibson for the food either.