pic courtesy of We Love DC

Vinoteca, once you find it, lives up to the hype. “Everyone goes to Vinoteca.” “My friend had a great engagement party there.” “It’s the best place in the world!” (Choose the true statement)

Tucked into a demure rowhouse off U Street, Vinoteca surrounds you with a clean and modern Italian feel once inside.  What is an Italian feel?  You be the judge.

The happy hour crowd is jovial but not rowdy, a welcome change for the U street scene, especially across the street at Solly’s where standing room can be not nearly roomy enough. The bar is adorned with greenery in tasteful and modern glass and crowded with tasteful and modern young professionals.

Happy hour extends to the high stools around a counter separating the bar area from the dinner seating.  Wine by the glass is half off, though the delightful bartenders may cut you a deal on a bottle.

Stop onto Vinoteca for a glass (or glasses) of wine after a long day at work. You’ll be transported to a world where clean lines, sunlight, and good wine are at the front of your mind.

1940 11th St NW
Happy Hour runs from 5-7pm every day.

Stretch your legs and your mind during the 30th Annual Dupont Kalorama Museum Walk (June 1 and 2, 2013). June 1 10am-4pm June 2 1pm-5pm. Nine diverse museums will open their doors free of charge for this weekend long celebration in one of Washington, D.C.’s most beautiful neighborhoods.  Discover Anderson House, Dumbarton House, Fondo del Sol Visual Arts Center, Heurich House Museum, Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site, National Museum of American Jewish Military History, The Phillips Collection, The Textile Museum, and the Woodrow Wilson House free of charge.

Family Fun… Free Admission…Shuttle Busses…Fun Scavenger Hunts for All! Stretch your legs and your mind as you take in some of the priceless art usually only seen for the price of admission.  In addition to a wide variety of exhibitions and a neighborhood-wide scavenger hunt, many sites are offering special programming. Enjoy period music in the gardens at Dumbarton House, stop by The Textile Museum’s Celebration of Textiles, take part in Jazz n’ Family Fun Days at The Phillips Collection and celebrate the memory of a loved one at the National Museum of American Jewish Military History with a skit, video, journal, or other creative format.

pic courtesy MidCityArts

For the first time, Mid City Artists (MCA) is offering curator led tours of their open studios on May 18th and 19th.  Local curators Laura Roulet, Sondra Arkin, Judy Sherman and Blair Murphy will be leading tours at designated times throughout the weekend.  Each curator will visit 4-6 studios in about two hours. You must reserve in advance and the meet up location will be sent to you in a confirmation email.  Please RSVP through our website.

12:00pm til 5:00pm, Sat May 18 @ Mid City Artists, 1716 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20009

Visitors can hop from one studio to another within vibrant Mid City and witness an expansive offering of art and culture by the city’s most-talented and creative artists.

price free

pic courtesy Passport DC

This May, travel across the globe without ever leaving the city.

10:00pm til 7:00pm, Sat May  4 @ Washington, DC, Washington, DC

Cultural Tourism DC is presenting the sixth annual Passport DC—a month long celebration in May comprising international programs and events around the city. Visitors and residents have the opportunity to travel around the world without ever leaving the city with tours of more than 70 embassies and hundreds of other international cultural activities that include street festivals, performances and exhibitions. The festivities kick off on Saturday May 4, 2013, with the Around the World Embassy Tour.

price free

pic courtesy Girl Meets Food

Let’s face it — Washingtonians love their speakeasies. The latest in the growing roster is Harold Black on Capitol Hill, located quaintly at REDACTED. Just kidding, it’s right above the Italian restaurant Acqua Al 2 across from Eastern Market.

Unlike other such bars dotting the District’s landscape, HB feels like a true speakeasy. It’s only open at night, and you need a reservation, which is only procurable via text message from a number that isn’t published. Because of course there’s no sign, you have to walk into a door marked only for the adjoining restaurant SUNA, walk up a staircase, at which point you open a sliding door that reveals the most secret bar you’ve never seen.

It’s equal parts Boardwalk Empire and 007, on the rocks. The decor is dark and vintage – even the bathrooms have an old-time W.C. feel. You’ll see what I mean.

The mixologists at HB don’t mind taking risks and use some awfully obscure liquors in their creations. Stone-pine liqueur, shochu, stone water madeira, just to name a few. All the special cocktails (aptly titled elixirs) are a not-unreasonable $12.

There’s a full bar and a few beers available too, for those not feeling quite so adventurous. If you’re one of the fortunate ones, you might just get one of the big spherical ice cubes they make at the beginning of the evening.

As a distinguished establishment, they have a few non-negotiable rules (no cell phone use, no flash photography, keep conversation low and civilized), but curiously the first rule isn’t to not talk about Harold Black.

There are several booths and some seats at the bar, but this place is very exclusive. You can’t book any more than six people at a time, and reservations are strictly limited to 90 minutes. Highly recommended.

Harold Black
212 7th St SE
202-540-0459

On a final note, since DC Style Is Real is in its last week – it’s been a joy reviewing local things for you over the last few years. Until next time, friends.

Written by Joel Church.

A year ago this coming Friday, I stepped off a Bolt Bus into a balmy 70+ degree day in my new home in Washington DC. My stuff had been moved down days before. Riding down in a U-haul, in a makeshift “middle-seat” with my cousins, the weather had been cold. There was still snow on the ground. Three days later, it was too warm for a coat.

A friend of mine from New York accompanied me for the journey and wanted to run errands, so that day we rode the metro from Union Station to Dupont and then walked to Lululemon and then Whole Foods on P Street. Even though it was Whole Foods, the prices were cheaper than they would be in New York. I loved it.

Eventually the weather grew colder (but not for very long). It snowed once in February and then by the end of March I was already sporting a sunburn, from having worn a strapless sundress while wandering the Mall.

I write this because I feel fortunate to have moved down here when and how I did: funemployed during freakishly amazing weather that did not make me long for New York City. Rather than getting to know the city through the lens of a job and an idealistic mission, we became acquainted through jogs around the Capitol or Lincoln Park, through strolls back and forth along the Mall, through happy hours and parties and having the time to sit and watch. And write.

And over the past 12 months, it’s changed me.

—

I was recently at a party at which someone asked me upon finding out that I was “funemployed,” “well, if you could do anything, what would you do?” To which I replied, “find a day job and write.” He didn’t seem to understand what I’d said, because he said “no, but what do you really want to do.” Amused at his confusion, I replied “I want to find a meaningful 9-5 job that will allow me to continue writing.” Still not getting it, he exclaimed “I know, everyone wants to write. But what do you want to do?” as though I was the one who was confused. It was a glorious moment.

You see, I had come to DC a broken shell of a person at the convergence of a “third-decade crisis,” my very first lay-off (too cynical? Maybe), and years of workaholism that were wreaking havoc on my body. I know, moving from one workaholic city to another wasn’t maybe the best laid plan, but I was addled from my hard idealism-binging ways. I had always wanted to live in DC for a while and, when I turned 30 and realized that I was facing a huge career and life shift, it made sense to revisit that old dream.

The philosopher and theologian, Soren Kierkegaard once wrote, “fear…is a dry nurse for the child–it has no milk. It is an anemic disciplinarian for the youth–it has no lasting beckoning power. Only one thing can help us to will the Good in truth: the Good itself.” I don’t know how I managed to overcome the fears (of failure, of making unwise decisions, of not making a name for myself) that had been my tutors for years, but I somehow got myself down here and set about finding a job.

I didn’t. As of this writing, I still haven’t. At least, not a paid job.

Instead, I found myself. Which is maybe not the story you hear about DC all the time, but bear with me.

—

Like so many people armed with political science/public policy/public administration/international affairs degrees, I moved down here with a dream. Or at least, the dream that I’d entertained for years in the private sector, sure that I was wasting away focusing on the bottom line. After grad school, I continued working in New York City. I truly enjoyed my job, but I know that I stayed out of fear as much as love. I didn’t want to be jobless in “this economy.”

Yet here I was. To stave off the crippling fear of purposelessness and the boredom that comes from job searching, and the frustration that comes from following roads to nowhere and then waiting, I began to write. For this blog, actually. And it pushed me to enjoy and experience as much of DC as I could because I needed to write about something (haven’t you all enjoyed my takes on eyebrow threading and Brazilian waxes?) And it pushed me to start my own blog media empire, which has changed everything for me, including my aforementioned career goals of “day job and writing.” So thank you, DC. You helped me find myself sooooooo much better than New York City ever did.

In that spirit, here are the highlights of my past year in DC:

1) Living on Capitol Hill in a huge house, paying less than $100 more than my old rent in New York for a bajillion times the space, a huge yard, and a view of the Capitol dome. America, fuck yeah.

2) Finding an even better deal in Mount Pleasant, paying significantly less than my Capitol Hill house–for less space and less yard and no view–but not having to worry about being legitimately raped or just kind of mugged while walking home from the metro after midnight (because there aren’t people on the street on the Hill). Oh and for the chance to live near Bestway.

3) Being funemployed during freakishly warm and beautiful weather. Thanks for the life-vacation, DC!

4) Seeing the cherry blossoms bloom before the actual festival, due to the freakishly warm weather. Walking around the Mall in a strapless dress so I wouldn’t get tan lines. In March.

5) Discovering the joy of happy hour. See, in New York City, getting drinks after work could mean anything from a traditional happy hour special to meeting up at 8 or 9 and calling that “happy hour.” Here in DC, happy hour is a thing and it’s glorious. My favorite? Ping Pong in Dupont Circle. Lychee and rose martinis for $6 with some kind of dumpling? Yes please.

6) Julia’s Empanadas. Actually, I had been turned onto Julia’s on a visit before I moved down here, but since I now live within a very short walk from the Columbia Heights outpost, I find myself craving them almost nightly (thank God for self-control). My favorite is the Jamaican Style mainly because it reminds of my elementary school lunches growing up in Queens.

7) Peregrine Espresso and Sidamo. I’ve been to a lot of coffee places here, but those are my favorites. Oh and speaking of Eastern Market, Capitol Hill Books. I’m actually glad I don’t live as close as I used to, because I’d probably buy a new book a week if I did.

8) Finding my shoe guy. George Corner Shoe Repair on U Street has fixed so many pairs of heels that fell apart while I was walking. Thank you, George.

9) Yoga District. I started taking Pilates classes about three years ago. I preferred that practice to yoga, because it seemed less hippie-ish. But then I started interning at Yoga District and taking classes and now I’m pretty hooked. The teachers are great and their classes are extremely affordable. I love the Yogalates classes and Bernie’s Yoga 1 Alignment Focus class.

10) Renew DC Churches. A good friend pointed me toward Church of the Advent in Columbia Heights and Church of the Resurrection, its sister church by Eastern Market. The services are Anglican and for an outsider (I was not raised Anglican, Episcopalian, or Catholic) totally accessible. The people are friendly and warm, but not in a creepy way. They care about the city and want it to flourish–all parts, not just the pretty ones.

So, there you have it folks. One year in DC. Thanks for making room for me!

Written by Juliet Vedral.  Check out her media empire and, if you see her, buy her a drink!

Vendetta will boast two bocce courts upstairs (think H Street Country Club) and will feature a Vespa themed bar, with several of the popular motor scooters hanging from the ceiling. Let’s hope they’re well secured.

Vendetta will serve casual Italian cuisine, with a wide selection of pastas and pretentious sides, including something called vanilla Chianti polenta. Sigh. It’s only a matter of time until some enterprising chef unveils an artisan sea urchin ceviche accented with violets and pine nuts.

In terms of ambiance, partner Jimmy Silk says he’s going for a rustic feel, probably akin to distant neighbor Boundary Road but with more of a focus on wood. The space will have 120 seats over both floors.

The 5,000 sq ft space at 1210 H is better suited as a restaurant. When Palace of Wonders and the Red and the Black merged a few years ago, it lacked cohesion, although the renovated performance stage upstairs will be sorely missed, not to mention the sword-swallowing strippers.

As for the Vendetta plan, the ink hasn’t dried yet, but the partners are fast-tracking this for a Spring opening. Pretty exciting!

And the transformation of H Street continues…

Written by Joel Church.

My friend Karina lives off Magazine Street, a long street filled with bars, shops and tons of boutiques and jewelry stores. That is where ‘the locals hang out’. Our first night out we went to a couple of local bars, heard some live music, I took in the city in a very non-Bourbon Street kind of way. Which I saved till my friend from DC arrived so we could be tourists together. Having lived in DC for two years I am taking in this great local fashion and vigor. Not to say that every city needs it – it is just not a priority here in the capital. Aside from the occasional U Street hipster one does not see a lot of original fashion and creativity. In the words of a New Yorker living in DC, “Why is there so much Ann Taylor here!?”

Both my friend and I (who is a native Washingtonian) kept looking at the trendy clothes, great boots and shoes, and that great Southern hair on all the women down in NoLa. They all had personalities to match and Southern Hospitality is a definite presence. Having moved to DC from New York I used to call DC the South; I will not be doing that again! Washington is definitely mid-Atlantic: the center point of the North and South. NoLa is most definitely in the South but with a lot of clothes and trends that you would ordinarily see in the East Village in New York or in London. Self-image is valued immensely there (or that is what I thought and observed) while in DC …not so much.

Aside from the hustle and bustle of Bourbon Street, the crazy costumes, Mardi Gras, and colonial architecture, there is a very creative and stylish populace – mostly young people who are looking good and having a great time doing it. I recommend everyone visiting NoLa check out the Magazine Street vintage stores and boutiques. We need a Magazine Street in DC too! The biggest reason people here dress so standard and uniform – there are not many places to shop, plain and simple.

Citizens of DC, post your ideas for fun and individual places to shop in DC proper in the Comments.  Why do you think DC dresses quite uniformly?

Written by Asif Khan.