Cynicism, voyeurism, crankiness & more
DND Edition Six: Spring has turned me grumpier, I think
Dear readers and eaters:
What a marvelous two weeks! The weather turned, it was spirit week at middle school, my childhood friend Mali came to visit… Things are looking up in DC. I won’t burden you with all that, though, because I know what you’re here for. Here’s what I’ve been eating.
Since you sickos seemed to really enjoy the last narrative-y piece I wrote about going to a bar, I wrote another one. This time the focus is the Gibson, a speakeasy on 14th Street. I thought this place was hilarious: it was so bafflingly dark in there, and I spent pretty much the entire time listening to the couple sitting a table over who were clearly on a first date. Read my voyeuristic report here.
I also visited the bagel shop everyone in the District goes beserk for, Call Your Mother, and finally got up the nerve to express my feelings about it. Spoiler alert, they’re not positive. While I was writing this piece, my ACTUAL MOTHER called ME, which felt like a chiding from the cosmos for not respecting the establishment. Oops! Read a real New Yorker’s true thoughts on Call Your Mother here.
I was really excited to score a reservation at Magpie and the Tiger, a new highly-anticipated Korean-American fusion restaurant in Petworth. I dragged Mali all the way uptown for Petworth Porchfest, and then we just loafed around for a few hours until our 9:30 reservation (okay, more than just “a few” hours). The food was as glamorous as I expected, but the room surprised me. Read about this restaurant’s playful, comfortable aura here.
Some other places I went these past two weeks, but haven’t written articles about yet:
Zeppelin: a sushi restaurant in Shaw that also, strangely, offers karaoke after-hours. Very good, very pricey. I ate a tiny, raw squid for the first time. I cannot lie and say it’s my new favorite food, but the rest of the sushi was great. (Does anyone know where to find good sushi that isn’t offensively expensive in this city? If so, please leave a comment…)
Tatte: a chain-y bakery with divine pastries which I technically already wrote about in my best bakeries of DC article, but feel like I didn’t really do justice. I sent my sister a care package with some cookies from here and she went crazy over them. I would write a whole essay on their sunchoke, spinach, and egg dish alone. YUM.
Lyman’s Tavern: a dive bar with a whole bunch of pinball machines in Petworth. The girl who brought us here told us that they’re “famous for their microwaved hot dogs,” which I thought sounded oxymoronic. I did not sample the aforementioned dogs, but did have a veggie quesadilla, which was exactly as good as you’d expect a veggie quesadilla from a place famous for microwaved hot dogs to be.
Zenebech: Ethiopian restaurant in AdMo. My go-to for a cheap, filling dinner out. I usually get a selection of veggies and sometimes a pot of tea, and it’s never over $15/person. (Unfortunately, on this most recent trip I told Mali she wasn’t allowed to ask for a fork and she just started picking up the veggies with her bare hands because she’s “not so into injera,” so now I can never go back.)
One last quick thing: I want to shout out the people I don’t know who have recently started following this Substack. What a wild feeling, to have a little audience all my own! I appreciate you taking a chance on me, and will try to keep this newsletter quirky enough to continue intriguing you.
Love,
Hannah
P.S. Happy (1.5 hr early) birthday, Dad!