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Kicking off the ”Future of Food” conference in Gaston Hall on Wednesday, Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, expressed his disappointment with the Washington Post-sponsored event.
“I wish more food industries were on the panel,” he said. “We want a dialogue, want to find areas of common ground, and, even if you don’t agree with us, you’ll find we serve a good lunch!”
Though Schlosser noticed the conspicuous absence of leading agro-business figures, attendees expressed far more excitement over the sustainability super-stars that were in attendence—most notably, His Royal Highness Prince Charles.
A pioneer in food sustainability, the Prince of Wales delved into the complex challenges facing public health, rural employment, environmental protection, and international food insecurity.
While the audience delighted in Prince Charles’ quip about “making embarrassing speeches about my eldest son during wedding receptions,” he gave the conference an air of seriousness, delivering a sober speech about the perils of continuing our dangerously unstable agricultural model.
Tired of Wisey’s, or Booey’s, or Wingo’s? Try something new for cheaper than usual this week.
The 17th annual Restaurant Week is bringing deals to over 200 restaurants in the DC-area. Participating restaurants are offering three course lunches and dinners at $20.11 and $35.11, respectively. Tax, tip, and beverages are not included, though. Most restaurants are participating from January 17 to January 23, but some businesses will be offering their deals until the end of the month.
Georgetown Patch has posted a full list of the restaurants participating in Georgetown.
Make sure to make your reservations soon because many places are already full for the week.
The world of Georgetown restaurants is cut-throat. From cupcakes to kabobs, most end up in ruthless competition with at least one rival. (Think Chipotle vs. Qdoba, Georgetown Cupcake vs. Baked & Wired, or Wingo’s vs. Wing Co.)
The result? The restaurants that survive the brawl are delicious and provide top-of-the-line service. So, when a new crêperie opened its doors last week to challenge the likes of Crêpe Amour and Café Bonaparte, I decided to scope out dessert juggernauts’ competition.
It seems that Georgetown restaurants can’t get enough of college students. More and more establishments now offer half price specials, almost guaranteeing that their lines go out the door on those special days.
So, we’ve compiled a list, including happy hour specials for those of-age. (After all, even upperclassmen can be cheap.) Let us know if we missed any!
[Editor's Note: Asterisked restaurants require a weekly "secret word" that is found on Hoya Connection.]
Who doesn’t love late-night snacks? We certainly do, but we rarely have enough time to bake our own brownies, cookies, or muffins.
Thankfully, somebody at Georgetown is looking out for us.
Last semester, Elizabeth Sabol-Jones (COL ’13) launched Nightly Noms with her friend, Rachel Hochstetler (COL ’13).
Sabol-Jones, a Compass Fellow, started the baked goods delivery service after getting rave reviews about her food.
“At the first Compass Fellows dinner, I decided to bake banana bread and everyone enjoyed it,” Sabol-Jones said. “[Rachel] said she’d help to deliver if I ever opened a bakery … I kind of started on a whim.”
Nightly Noms isn’t not just about the food, though; the company donates a portion of all profits to Operation Smile.
It’s not worth complaining about our errant dining hall; as long as meal plans are foisted on us through sophomore year, it’s simply something we all have to accept.
There are some coping mechanisms you’ll develop, though. Here are Vox‘s tips for dealing with Leo’s:
Unless you’ve got a prodigious appetite or a passion for bland cafeteria food, there’s really no reason why you’ll need to get a plan with more than 14 meals a week.
Keep track of your meals and Grab ‘n Go usage. The weekly meal cycle starts on Saturday, so by Wednesday or Thursday it should be pretty clear whether you’re going to be maxed out or whether you’re going to have lots of unused meals. If it’s the latter, start picking up Grab ‘n Go whenever you’re at Leo’s, either to store up or to donate to the Grab ‘n Give program.
Don’t be afraid to go alone and study. If you can find a free outlet (most are along the wall on the lower level) and don’t mind ambient noise, you’ll save a lot by getting your caffeine and study snacks from Leo’s rather than Midnight Mug.
Although we really, really wanted NBC Washington‘s story about cupcake bouncers to be true, it isn’t.
“Because of the long line, we posted employees outside to greet customers and hand out menus,” Georgetown Cupcake co-owner Sophie LaMontagne said. “I don’t know about this whole bouncer rumor. They’re sixteen-year old girls!”
The alleged bouncers, originally spotted by Eating Around DC, also hand out water bottles to customers waiting in line.
We can’t help but imagine the ramifications of cupcake bouncers. Maybe they would deliver forearm shivers to Midwestern tourists. Maybe Julian Vaughn could work two jobs. And maybe, in our wildest dreams, they would assault a DC Cupcakes cameraman.
According to health inspection reports uncovered by ESPN, every food vendor at the Verizon Center was cited with a “critical” health violation in 2009.
At least ten of the vendors were cited by health inspectors for mouse droppings found on the premises. D.C. Health Regulations dictate that the Verizon Center had five days to resolve the critical violations.
Ted Leonsis (COL ’77), the newly-approved majority owner of the Verizon Center, quickly responded to the report yesterday.
“I was surprised and disappointed by ESPN’s recent industry-wide report and ratings related to the cleanliness of professional sports venues, including Verizon Center,” Leonsis wrote on his blog. “When and if issues arise, we will take appropriate action, and from what I understand we have done exactly that in the past.”
Although Vox trusts Leonsis—after all, the guy promised to “literally clean up after [the] fans,“—we doubt we’ll be eating much food in the Verizon Center anytime soon.
Since Georgetown Wing Co. soft-opened in June, we’ve suffered from crisis of conscience. Do we stay faithful to Wingo’s, or do we start eating at Wing Co.? Unfortunately, we can’t decide for ourselves.
So, we recruited some help. Some super-secret guest help.
Prepare yourselves—by this time next week, we’ll have put an end to the Great Wing War of 2010.
No really, is it? Who needs to watch games when 47 Facebook updates double as play-by-plays? If you’re one of the few Americans who has not succumbed to the belief that soccer is an interesting sport, or if you’re just sick of the World Cup, here are a few free events in the District to give you a breather from the Most Beautiful Game.
A Modern Delicacy
This Thursday, an exhibition entitled “Delicacies,” featuring 18 local artists, will be having a reception that begins at 6:30 p.m. What makes this art reception different from most others? It will be held at Biagio Fine Chocolate‘s tasting room. Does this mean there will be free chocolate? The event description doesn’t specify, but given its proximity to Dupont Circle (1904 18th Street NW), it’s worth stopping by to see.
Civilian Conservation Corps(e)
Opening tomorrow at the Civilian Art Projects Gallery (1019 7th Street NW) is “Exquisite Corpse,” a unique collaborative photo project wherein artists contribute their own piece to a sequence according to a pre-set rule or by viewing only the end of the previous artists’ contribution. To see what the artists have created, head to the opening reception which begins at 8 p.m. Pabst Blue Ribbon will be sponsoring this event, so there’ll be booze.
Vox Populi is the staff blog of the Georgetown Voice, Georgetown University's weekly newsmagazine. Opinions expressed in posts are those of their author alone unless otherwise stated.
Tired of Wisey’s, or Booey’s, or Wingo’s? Try something new for cheaper than usual this week.
Below, we’ve re-published Voice Editor Juliana Brint’s 2009 guide to surviving Leo’s. As an introduction to the subject, you may want to watch the 
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