Last year, DC Central Kitchen teamed up with the 9:30 Club to start what will hopefully continue as a traditional kick off to summer: the first-ever Sound Bites. The event brings local chefs and bands to the iconic club to prepare food and provide jams for those in attendance — and all the proceeds benefit DCCK. (We’ve highlighted the good work that DCCK does in our community — serving as a national model for its innovative program that provides job training, reuses food that would otherwise go to waste, and extending a lifeline to those in need in more ways than one — several times.) Sound Bites returns on on May 22 this year with a new lineup including local acts (Ra Ra Rasputin and DJ lil’e) and fare from 25 District restaurants and food trucks. DCist caught up with William Neuheisel of DCCK, who gave us the details on this year’s event.
How did Sound Bites first get its start?
9:30 Club and DCCK had long wanted to partner somehow. Our founder, Robert Egger, and Seth Hurwitz, owner of the 9:30 Club, have been friends for almost 30 years. Robert was the editor of a local music magazine (Unicorn Times), and booked music at the Childe Harold, around the time when Seth was first starting IMP.
Robert had always dreamed of opening his own nightclub, before he was taken on a different path by a serendipitous moment of social entrepreneurship. He was dragged out volunteering one night in the late ’80s, and saw the volunteers buying food to hand out to homeless folks on the street, night after night. He just asked why don’t they utilize unused food from restaurants, and bring those people in off the streets to train them to cook the meals. People thought the idea was crazy, so Robert, out of that punk, DIY ethos just went and did it.
Anyway, given that Seth is a food lover — by the way, did you catch his cameo at that restaurant on Treme? — and Robert is a punk rocker at heart, it just made sense to do a food and music festival.
How is this year’s Sound Bites different from last year’s?
Last year, we had the restaurants set up in the Atlantic Plumbing Supply lot on the east side of 9:30. It was cool, because it had a warehouse feel, but the space was a bit cramped. This year, we’re closing V Street in front of the club so we can add more restaurants and food trucks. We’re also going to put some dessert stations inside the club, so that folks can move inside, but keep eating as the music is progressing.
All the proceeds go to support DC Central Kitchen. What sort of programs will this help fund?
A lot of people know us for the 4,500 meals we produce every day for homeless shelters and social service agencies. But our star programs are the things we do to really create solutions to fight hunger, recognizing that feeding people is only the first step. We’ve got our Culinary Job Training Program, to train formerly homeless or incarcerated folks and help them find jobs in the restaurant biz. We have our own social enterprise program, that hires some of those grads to do catering and contract dining services, for example in D.C. public schools, or the UDC Firebird Cafe. And the other really cool thing about that is that we’re utilizing tons of local produce to make those meals from scratch and make that kind of fresh, nutritious food available to people of all walks of life, not just the Whole Foods shoppers.
You’ve got an impressive roster of 25 restaurants participating this year. Food-wise, who are the new kids on the block in this culinary lineup?
Harry’s Tap Room just started a new Smokehouse menu, so I’m definitely looking forward to their pulled pork and pulled chicken sliders. As for food trucks, we’ll have Borinquen LunchBox, which isn’t even up and running yet, so this will be your first chance to get a sample of their effort to bring some Puerto Rican fare to D.C. He’ll be doing roasted pork shoulder (pernil) and rice with pigeon peas (arroz con gandules).
What participating restaurants’ fare are you most excited to try, that you haven’t had yet?
I’m pretty excited, because several restaurants I’ve been dying to try will be serving some pretty fantastic items. PORC Mobile is doing Oaxacan BBQ pulled pork with lime vinaigrette coleslaw. Mandu will be serving two dishes: bo ssam (chilled and pressed pork belly) and gim bap (seaweed and rice roll). Policy is making yellowfin tuna tartare with mustard oil, avocado and smoked sea salt on a crispy sesame wonton chip. Kushi is doing meat maki, which I’ve never had, but I keep hearing about.
Tell us more about the artists signed on to perform. Lots of local talent — we like to see that! Can we expect a Michael Jackson dance party courtesy of lil’e?
It’s such a great lineup of local talent, all really fun and dance-able. I’m a major fan of D.C. and our cultural heritage, so I love having this chance to experience some of the best that D.C. has to offer. You’ve got established acts like Trouble Funk and The Pietasters, as well as Ra Ra Rasputin and DJ lil’e who are tearing it up locally right now, and are such fun to see live. We do love MJ, but James Brown would be much closer to our heart at DCCK. We play the lyrics “I don’t want nobody to give me nothin / just open the door, I’ll get it myself” at most of our culinary class graduations.
So, The Pietasters are playing…next year will you have an entirely food-themed musical lineup? Meatloaf, Smashing Pumpkins, the Cranberries?
Ha, our culinary instructors would insist on getting Salt-N-Pepa, of course.
Sound Bites takes place next Sunday, May 22, from 5-10 p.m. at the 9:30 Club. Tickets are $40, and all proceeds go to benefit DC Central Kitchen.
