While Georgetown students know the Tombs goes hand in hand with the true “Georgetown Experience,” it seems that various travel and leisure guides are finally recognizing the magnificence of Georgetown’s quintessential college bar.

Actually, Yahoo! Travel+Leisure recently ranked the Tombs one of America’s best college bars. The article highlights the plaque with the names of the 99 Days Club Members (who celebrate their last 99 days of senior year by visiting the Tombs and purchasing a drink or dish each day until graduation), the varied customer base, ranging from professors to students, and, of course, the classic comfort bar food, which has been noted a “gastronomical experience” of its own.

The Tombs has previously received a fair amount of press, most significantly for its diversity in regards to customers and menu items. U.S. Airways magazine commended the Tombs for providing an atmosphere for families, professors, and senior college students alike to enjoy, relax, and dine. In terms of food, the Tombs menu can meet the tastes of most palates, ranging anywhere from Mediterranean to American with items like quinoa tabbouleh with falafel, Shanghai Rolls, and classic Chicken wings.

At the same time, the college bar enthusiasts over at Yahoo! probably didn’t know that Tomb’s lamb ragu was so good because it came from upstairs.

In middle school, we all learned about the Native American custom of not wasting a single part of a slain animal. Apparently, 1789′s relatively new executive chef Anthony Lombardo subscribes to that same idea, and is sticking parts of the animal not classy enough for 1789 into your Tombs menu.

According to an article posted yesterday on Washington City Paper‘s food blog Young and Hungry (where we also got that delightful photo to the left), Lombardo sends the “scraps,” or pieces of meat not classy enough to make it into 1789′s $36 lamb shank, downstairs to the Tombs’s kitchen, where head chef Frederick Valentin repurposes them for less expensive bar food. The Tombs’s lamb burger, lamb ragu, and bratwursts (made from, as described by WCP, nondescript “pig parts”) are all part of these waste-not options.

Although the restaurants expect to see some reduction in costs with this system, it was by no means a purely financial decision. It’s also enhancing what Lombardo describes as Tombs eaters’s “gastronomical experience.” Because personally, that’s what comes to mind when I think of beef scraps.

So we forget to write about Tombs trivia names last week. We were there — promise! — but in the midst of hand-wringing about what’s offensive, what’s not, and a sudden need to try on habits, it slipped our mind. To make up for it, here’s a photo of a potbellied pig.

First place (the “fighting the pussification of America” memorial trophy): The number of times I thought my cab driver was Osama or Are you sure it wasn’t Cat Stevens? or Any of the other dozen bin Laden-themed names, really Like Jeff Dunham’s career, these should be buried far away from society forever and ever. It’s a good thing that the world’s less one scumbag, but that doesn’t excuse tired stereotypes.

Second place (the “whiny little bloggers” silver medal): If a tree falls on a woman and there’s no one there to hear it … wait why was a tree in the kitchen? The minds behind this name should go into advertising.

Runners-up (the “it’s called dark humor” consolation ribbon) How many drinks does it take to abort this baby? Is there anything particularly funny about this name? Or is just it a lazy ploy to get people to laugh at an uncomfortable topic? Call the exterminator this place is full of WASPs It’s a Catholic school, goof. My couch pulls out but I don’t Classy.

The “four years later and we’re still drinking in a basement” moment worth celebrating: A Tombs trivia night without any rape jokes. (Assuming, you know, you ignore the other crude names.) Progress!

Vox returned to Tombs trivia for a third time this week to see if Hoyas were still yukking it up with cheap jokes about horrible things that happen to other Hoyas. We were not disappointed … which is to say we were deeply disappointed. Who “won” this round?

First place (The “whiny little bloggers” memorial trophy): It’s not rape if you say, “Surprise!” Surprise! Week after week, Hoyas who can’t come up with clever team names decide to make fun of rape instead.

Second place (The “fighting the pussification of America” silver medal): Is it too tsunami for Japan jokes? Have experts likened its nuclear crisis to Chernobyl? Then … probably, yes.

Runner-up (The “it’s called dark humor” consolation prize): Hit your baby one more time. Failing that, push her down the stairs, right guys?

Sigh.

But we’ll be the first to admit that last night, team names were on the whole more hilarious than nasty. So after the jump, find out which team won the inaugural “Four years later and we’re still drinking in a basement” medal of honor:

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The Tombs may have taken a break  from tired rape and abortion jokes to watch an awful basketball game last week, but came back strong during yesterday’s trivia night. Some of the team names veered into the world of lazy shock humor. Others were funny. The suggestion that the two aren’t the same will inevitably start another flame war in the comments. So let’s get started!

First place (The “fighting the pussification of America” memorial trophy): Number of girls I’m going to cuddle tonight. Nothing says funny like mocking the girls who found creepy men in their rooms last weekend. Or mentioning a nickname that makes assholes who sexual assault women sound like teddy bears. If you don’t think this name is funny, you obviously don’t understand humor.

Second place (The “inescapable fact of reality” silver medal): Number of sluts who blew Tiger Woods even after he blew the Masters and She told me it was razor burn. Slut shaming is truly a cornerstone of comedy. The women — they can’t help themselves!

Third place (The “it’s called dark humor” consolation prize): Generic offensive team name, suck it Vox Populi. We’re famous!

Or, “The most shameful Tombs trivia team names that the Georgetown community should be ashamed of but probably isn’t.” But that wouldn’t fit in the title. Either way, today we present to you Vox‘s newest feature, designed to celebrate the lowest common denominator of Hoya humor as exemplified by the most stellar team names juniors and seniors selected for Monday night Tombs trivia.

So, without further tongue-clicking:

The winner: No means yes, and yes means anal. Among the high forms of comedy—satire, parody, irony—cracks at rape surely rank as the highest.

Second place: Number of stairs I kicked my girlfriend down when she told me she was pregnant. The lily-livered, PC wimp seated beside me said he hoped that this was a seriously misguided reference to Gone With the Wind. Psssh! If there’s a joke about relationship abuse that isn’t funny, I haven’t heard it.

Runners up: Will someone please change the channel from women’s basketball. Capitally hilarious, especially since the Georgetown women’s basketball team sadly, yet inevitably, lost during the NCAA tournament. Number of guys you have to blow to be a Miller Lite girl. A winning compliment to the hosts of the game, Bud Light. More like Gay-daffi. It’s funny because … gay!

If I missed a real zinger, please share in the comments. And until next week, Hoya Saxa!

Or, at least Complex thinks so.

Described as an ordinary college bar “with a far better menu,” the Tombs just barely slid into the magazine’s “50 Best College Bars in America” rankings. Why only 50th best? Probably because Complex thinks that everyone in the bar “seems to wear flip flops and collared shirts.”

A couple of weeks ago, Vox got the Freedom of Information Act itch and decided to FOIA the Food Establishment Inspection Reports of some local restaurants. We obtained the two most recent health inspection reports from the D.C. Health Regulations and Licensing Administration for 13 area food establishments and perused them over Spring break to see if Georgetown students were eating safe.

What’d we find? Well for starters, you’d better lay off the Epicurean sushi.

The 13 restaurants we looked at netted 30 critical violations and 29 non-critical violations of the health code. Four establishments, Leo’s, Epicurean & Co., The Tombs, and Bangkok Bistro were listed on at least one report as “high-risk” establishments. All of them had critical violations and were given five days to correct their violations or else their licenses would not be renewed.

These four establishments accounted for 20 of the critical violations and 14 of the non-critical violations in all 26 inspections reports. Six critical violations that cannot be corrected on site result in the automatic closure of the food establishment. Owners are usually given five days to rectify critical violations and forty-five for non-critical violations or they risk closure.

Because of the volume of information our FOIA requests turned up, we’ve divided the results into two posts. Tomorrow, we’ll give you the details on the restaurants that were identified as a medium risk or had clean bills of health. And today, we’ll run an accounting of the high-risk establishments, including startling information on Dean & Deluca that the Washington Examiner turned up in their review of health code violators.

EPICUREAN & CO.

Epicurean & Co., shown above, was the biggest violator, and was the only restaurant listed as a “high risk” violator on both of the inspection reports Vox obtained. In late August of 2009, Epicurean earned five critical and four non-critical violations, all of which were corrected on site. They included:

• Food was not properly “segregated, separated, [or] protected.” At the sushi station, eggs were stored in a way where they might contaminate other foods.
• The restaurant was cited for unclean and unsanitized food contact surfaces.
• The restaurant’s food marking and disposal methods were cited.
• Food and non-critical surfaces were not properly maintained.

Earlier in the year, in February, Epicurean had fared even worse, and inspectors discovered 13 critical health code violations, only nine of which were corrected on site.

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Oh, Tombs, you give love a bad name…

The rumors are true—Tombs will indeed be discontinuing their Wednesday 80s Night. According to the Tombs’ Executive Manager Ken Siegrist, attendance at 80s Night was lower than it had been in past years and, with a crop of freshman who can’t claim to be made in the 80s, they’re going to be introducing a new entertainment night.

Siegrist said that 90s Night has started to take off, but they have not yet determined a replacement theme for 80s Night. They will be having “focus groups” with customers and staff members to work out a good substitute.

I enjoyed some more Kenner Summer League action today, this time taking in the Tombs, the other Hoya team. A 3:30 match against Hoop Magic seemed to offer the best chance to compare Georgetown’s incoming talent, as I spent last week watching Hoop Magic play Clyde’s. That opportunity was dashed, however, when Hoop Magic’s star player, Donte Greene of the Memphis Grizzlies, did not play.

It’s hard to pass any real judgment based on one summer league game, but The Tombs’ Hoyas put on a lukewarm performance this afternoon, falling to an undermanned, Greene-less Hoop Magic squad, 55-54.

The Tombs team is led by sophomore guard Chris Wright. Wright showed flashes of brilliance, especially in transition. At times, his speed and vision were clearly the best on the court. In the second half, though, Wright seemed to disappear for stretches and was too sloppy with the ball for someone who may well be Georgetown’s chief point guard next year.

How did Greg “The Doctrine” Monroe do? Find out, after the jump.
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