Apparently, I was not the only one who simply couldn't wait to try Le Diplomate! The 260-seats brasserie just (soft) opened and it's been swamped every night this week. And I know that because I've been there almost every night this week ;-)It's no surprise. Ever since it was announced that Philadelphia restauranteur Stephen Starr would be taking over a former laundry mat building at the corner of 14th and Q, it became one of the District's most anticipated openings. And I don't care if Washingtonians were excited about it because of Stephen Starr's fame and reputation, because of the location, or because they're like me and always looking for good French food in the city... I'm just excited ...
Out and about
2012: the year of the ramen
Since I take a lot of pictures of the food I eat, it's quite easy for me to look down my stomach memory lane. And by the look of things, I ate a lot of ramen in 2012... My first meal out of 2012: Toki Underground (DC) My favourite ramen of all: Totto Ramen (NY) Occasionally, Mandu serves late night ramen (DC) Royu ramen at Hokkaido in Paris' Japanese quarter (Paris) Les Parisiens have caught ramen fever too ;-) Chosun Ramen at Sakuramen (DC) Where it all started: Momofuku noodle bar Minca (New York) Now I just need to get myself to Japan so I can actually try the real thing... travel goal for 2013? ;-) ...
Art All Night ~ 2nd Edition
The Nuit Blanche and I were just not meant to be this year :( I missed Paris' Nuit Blanche on October 6 because I was in Washington, D.C. And I won't be able to go to the district's Art All Night this Saturday because I'm in Paris. Figures. Of course, both events are not really comparable... Paris' Nuit Blanche, enjoys the full support of the city of Paris which means it actually spreads all over the city and can last all night. In Washington, Art All Night is produced by the Downtown BID and is concentrated in just one part of town, in eight venues throughout the Shaw-Penn Quarter area. It ends at 3AM too, so "all night" is kind of a misnomer (to be fair, do you really want to be walking ...
Nutella’s Breakfast Tour ~ D.C. Edition
Even though I prefer not to eat the American version (it's European Nutella or nothing for moi!), there's a Nutella Truck roaming the streets of D.C. this week so obviously, I had to check it out. The truck was parked across the street from the Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Library this morning. There wasn't much activity, so I hope they have a little more success at their other stops which are: · Wednesday, October 17 at 502 4th St NW near Judiciary Square Metro (7AM — 12PM) · Thursday, October 18 at 110 4th St SW near Waterfront Metro stop (7AM — 12PM) · Friday, October 19 at 3690 O St NW in Georgetown (7AM — 12PM) And while I do look down on American Nutella I would still like to see Washington ...
Monsieur JR Goes to Washington
While the entire city is bubbling with Natitudes and buzzing about the Expos Nationals this afternoon, I have been busy obsessing over the new mural that just went up at 1401 T Street, NW. JR is a French artist who considers himself a photographer first, a street artist second and an activist third. His civil-right themed 14th street mural reflects all three elements of his work. "I am Man" Mural at 14th and T Street NW. Photo by moi, taken at 2PM on Wednesday, October 10 2012 JR began his career of taking art outside of the traditional setting of museum in Paris, where we have a LOT of museums! He plastered pictures of suburbian youths first on the facade of the grim subsidized ...
Getting Trashed at the DC Green Festival
This morning I brought a group of college students to the D.C. Green Festival to volunteer on the Green Team. The D.C. Green Festival is one of the country's largest environmental consumer event and is taking place Saturday and Sunday at the Convention Center (September 29-30, 2012). It's actually the only national sustainability event that screens exhibitors for their commitment to social justice, sustainability and ecological balance. The festival itself aims to have as little an impact on the environment as possible and the green team helps out basically by sorting through trash ;-) Throughout the festival, Ford had set up some resource recovery stations where some of the students ...
♫ Comme un Ouragan ♪
On Monday, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus and convention CEO William Harris unveiled the final stage for the Republican National Convention at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. Now, I'm not cool enough to get to see the stage during the official media unveiling, but I did get a sneak peek yesterday when I got to take an advance tour of the hall. In one week, I'll be back in the hall as the eyes of the world (well, at least America) will be focused on governor Romney as he accepts the Republican nomination for president of the United States. In two weeks, I will be at Bank of America Stadium, I mean, the football stadium, when Obama does the same thing for the Democrats. And I'm thrilled. But ...
Soccer in the City at Yankee Stadium
Now, I’m not actually a Paris-Saint-Germain fan. I’ve never been to any of their games. I don’t think I’ve even watched one on TV either. I couldn’t name a single one of the players currently on the roster. But I am from Paris and for all intents and purposes, PSG is my home team. If they cross the Atlantic to play an exhibition match a few hours away from where I live now, you bet I’ll be right there in a spanking PSG(ish)-branded shirt I had a really hard time finding here in the US ;-) Friends for 15 years now, we have the same taste in macaron flavours, but not in football teams It was a night of firsts… My first time cheering for the Paris-Saint-Germain. My first time at ...
Look Both Ways During Farragut Friday
Farragut Friday is a D.C. food truck tradition where many meals-on-wheels purveyors park around Farragut Square on the last day of the week. The weather was so nice, I couldn't help but ditch the lunch I had brought to work with me and drag some colleageus for an impromptu picnic. Obviously, I wasn't the only one with that idea, and the Farragut Sqaure was quite a circus. Actually, it was literally a circus. The Midnight Circus was there to entertain the hungry crowds with acrobats, clows and contortionists as part of Look Both Ways: Street Arts Across America, a week-long performance arts festival organized by the Kennedy Center. As far as food is concerned, I opted for Ficelle's ...
Un éléphant ça trompe énormément!
I'm running a half marathon this weekend and it was so nice and warm yesterday that I thought I would go for a quick jog around the Capitol. It was your typical D.C. evening, lots of other runners around the mall, some tourists, a lot of policemen of course... perhaps more than usual... and a LOT of kids which is definitely unusual... oh, and ekephants ;-) There's always something interesting happening in the District, so I guess this was just another usual warm spring night. With elephants blocking traffic! Not that that's entirely unuual either... ...