Drug Policy Conference at the Cato Institute

Last week I attended a conference at the Cato Institute called Mexico's Drug War: The Growing Crisis on our Southern Border.

The place was packed. They had to use a spillover room. The big draw was Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of Drug Policy Alliance and probably the most prominent drug policy reform advocate in the U.S.

Nadelmann made a really interesting statement during his presentation (which he said so fast it seemed like he might have been on speed). He said that "prohibition represents the abdication of regulation."

What he meant was that by keeping drugs illegal, it is criminals who decide what drugs are produced and sold, who the drugs are sold to, etc. If drugs were legal, the state would have a say in all of that. Interesting way of putting it, I thought.

Erhu Musician in Washington, DC

I love this guy. He plays an erhu, a Chinese string instrument that goes back like a thousand years.

He plays it over a recording of an odd selection of jazzy pop - the kind of songs you can never quite place.

I often run into him as I am getting off the metro in Dupont or Farragut North. I think he must hop around from metro to metro.

I'm guessing he makes a pretty decent amount of cash, as he is adorable. He also seems like he's digging what he's doing. He may have discovered an enjoyable and recession proof job.

Street Musicians in Washington, DC

It isn't quite New Orleans, but there are still plenty of street performers in DC, especially musicians. On a nice day, Dupont Circle will usually have some entertainment.

These kids were in town from New York and trying to make a few bucks. Later, they were joined by a very strange and possibly homeless man who sang obnoxiously over them.

I think the kids were annoyed with the interruption, but the audience thought it was great. I'll bet they even picked up a few extra entertainment bucks. Besides, street performing isn't exactly a controlled environment.

Another common site is the trash can drummer. Here's one we spotted in Chinatown last week:

Review of Jaleo

Jaleo is a sister restaurant to Oyamel, owned by the same chef - Jose Andres.

Like Oyamel, it focuses on small plates, but these plates are more Spanish than Mexican. Homemade chorizo on a puree of garlic, seared scallops with pistachios, raspberries
and red beet dressing, gorgeous selections of Spanish meats and cheeses, and (of course) paella all make appearances.

The restaurant is not as artsy and funky as Oyamel. In fact, the outside reminds me a bit of a diner. Inside is more elegant than you might expect. The service is excellent.

I must now admit to you that I have only gone there one time. While I found all the food delicious, it just didn't impress me as much as Oyamel or Ceiba and those are the restaurants I keep returning too. Still, Jaleo consistently rates higher than both of those amongst some critics. The only thing to do is try them all.

Jaleo, 480 7th Street, NW, Washington, DC

Review of Oyamel

The fact that I have not yet written up Oyamel is rather shocking. This is one of my favorite restaurants in town and a must stop for all out of town guests.

Oyamel serves gourmetified Mexican tapas in a colorful, funky setting. The restaurant feels as though it could be in Mexico City. Calaveras and other Mexican artesanias fill the modern restaurant and bar.

The menu features staples like tacos and ceviches, but none of the items are standard fare. The carnitas are served with green tomatillo sauce, pork rinds, onions and cilantro. The tuna ceviche with red onions and cilantro sauce comes wrapped in jicama root. I've yet to have anything bad.

Oyamel also has a pretty nice cocktail menu and an extensive list of tequilas, so it's a great place to come for happy hour. Those little plates can really add up though, so watch your wallet.

Oyamel, 401 7th Street NW, Washington, DC

Scientology Protests in Washington, DC

We live right next to two Scientology buildings. One seems to be a guest house. The other is an old mansion that looks like someplace where people have secret meetings.

The old mansion is on a busy stretch in Dupont and very often has protesters outside. Some are in masks. Sometimes they wear hilarious outfits. (One woman was wearing a foil box last week.)

They usually stand silently with signs like this one. Sometimes they say that Scientology is a cult. Sometimes the signs say something about children of Scientology.

When the protesters are not there, the Scientologists will often have some creepy guy outside offering stress tests. He offered to give Chris one once and Chris said "Dude, do I look stressed to you?"

Fry Bread at Mitsitam Cafe in Washington, DC

I've already reviewed the Mitsitam Cafe in the National Museum of the American Indian. I mentioned the honey covered fry bread, but I've since become so obsessed with it that I feel it deserves its own post.

The way Mitsitam makes it is a bit like what happens when you fry up pizza dough. It's thicker than your average doughnut and it isn't sweet. You can order the plain unsweetened version, which would traditionally be topped with meats. Or you can order it covered in honey and sugar like I do.

My obsession with fry bread is not a good thing for my weight, as (according to the USDA) each lovely fry bread is reportedly about 700 calories and 27 grams of fat - ouch. Still, if you are anywhere near the mall in DC and haven't given it a try yet, I would highly recommend it.

Chocolate Festival at the NMAI

The National Museum of the American Indian does a yearly valentines day chocolate festival. If you are not aware, chocolate is indigenous to the Americas. Those Europeans were seriously missing out.

There were demonstrations on how chocolate is made, activities for children, and (of course) chocolate for sale. El Ceibo is gourmet chocolate made in Bolivia. I purchased my dark chocolate bar from this lovely lady.

The bar was delicious. It was also $7.00. In 1999, 36% of Bolivians were in extreme poverty (living on less than $1.00 per day). It is still one of the poorest countries in the Americas. These people must think we're insane to pay $7 for a chocolate bar.

Fritz Scholder Exhibit at the NMAI

There is a phenomenal exhibit at the National Museum of the American Indian through August 16th. The artist is Fritz Scholder.

Scholder was a controversial Native American artist who really pushed the boundaries of what was considered Native American art. You won't find the same old stylized representations that you're used to seeing - except maybe to make fun of them.

His work is vibrant in color, but often dark in content. It is violent and playful. Wild and free, yet contained. Much of it is purposefully incongruous. One of Chris's favorite pieces was a buffalo dancer holding an ice cream cone.

Photos don't do it justice, but if you can't make it to Washington, DC or New York (where a sister exhibit is showing at the American Indian museum), check it out online.

Spring in February in Washington DC

It has been a crazy couple weeks here in DC. We've had incredibly warm weather. This past Sunday we had a high of 67. The Sunday before it was 61.

The entire city descended down into the streets in a spring-like euphoria. Outdoor cafes were packed. Dupont circle (pictured) was filled with locals. One savvy group of travelers set up their band equipment outside and played for cash.

Of course, when the weather started turning back again it was a crushing blow. I complained to our cab driver and he unsympathetically reminded me that it is still February.

Review of Ceiba Restaurant

Ceiba bills itself as a restaurant serving "contemporary Latin cuisine." Since nuevo Latino is at the top of the charts in my favorite food category, I was really looking forward to trying it.

The restaurant is deceptively large with lots of little, moody rooms. The main dining room is a bit too cavernous to be called romantic and a bit too plain to be called funky. The service is mostly friendly, if a tiny bit slow at times.

The bar is an excellent post-work happy hour spot. Each evening there is a different drink special. Piscos for $5 one night, mojitos for $5 another night. There is always a little tasty bite served for free with your drinks. If that doesn't satisfy you, you can always order a snack from the bar menu - like seafood nachos drowned in cheese and topped with one perfect jalapeño slice.

For dinner, we started off with the ceviche sampler platter. It was a bit hit or miss. While the wild bass with chile cream and sweet potatoes was outstanding, the classico was missing some lime. The yellowfin with cucumber, mango, jicama, aji amarillo lime dressing and crushed cashews was also excellent, but the unimpressive shrimp ceviche was just shrimp in cocktail sauce.

Things started really looking up on the next course. Chris had a black bean soup that was perfectly sweet and spiced. The server poured it into his bowl over a perfect ham croqueta. I had the salad with jicama, orange, toasted pumpkin seeds and aged sherry vinaigrette. I don't know why I never think to put seeds in my salads.

It was the main courses that really blew us away. Chris's Yucatan style grilled pork tenderloin on a pupusa was perfectly cooked and spiced. My seared yellowfin tuna was also perfectly cooked and spiced and sitting between sweet purple mashed potatoes and a crisp slaw of shaved asparagus. It's only flaw was that it was too good and I kept eating long after I should have stopped.

We finished off our glutonfest by sharing a surprisingly light key lime corn cake with key lime pie ice cream and guava and strawberry tequila marmalade. Chris also polished off the rest of the rum infused platanos fritos (which we ordered as a side and which I could have eaten a vat of).

Despite a few flaws, Chris says this may be his new favorite DC restaurant. And while this would be a fairly pricey regularly scheduled dinner stop, you will certainly see us there for some happy hours.

Ceiba Restaurant, 701 14th Street NW, Washington, DC

Chinatown Gate in Washington, DC

Washington DC has a pretty sad little Chinatown. It's basically a strip of chain stores and restaurants that also have their names written in Chinese.

However, Chinatown does have one cool thin - the Chinatown Friendship Arch. The arch was designed by local architect Alfred H. Liu.

It was erected as a joint project between DC and our sister city - Beijing. It is supposedly the largest single span archway of its kind in the world. It is one of DC's more colorful pieces of public art.

False Alarm Fire

So we were sitting in the apartment the other night when we heard fire engines coming really close - like right behind our building.

It appeared that they were coming straight for us, but apparently it was the building next door.

I thought we were going to be watching a raging inferno from the comfort of our bed, but it turned out to be a false alarm.

Must be irritating to get pulled off of watching the game to come out for nothing. And they had already unwound that massive hose. Looked really heavy.

Chinese New Year Parade in DC

Last weekend, DC celebrated the Chinese New Year with a parade downtown. The weather was gorgeous and it seemed like half the town came out to enjoy it.

It was a small parade, but it packed a punch. There were musicians, breakdancers, lots of dragons, a troop full of elderly, and the requisite beauty queen traveling around in a convertible.

Howard Zinn at Busboys and Poets

Howard Zinn made an appearance at Busboys and Poets on Tuesday night. This is a very bad photo I took through the window on my way out.

He was in town raising funds for a movie he is doing based on his most famous book, A People's History of the United States. (I got a signed copy while I was there, very exciting.)

He spent most of his time speaking about the current political situation and reminding us that Obama is a politician – more intelligent and thoughtful a politician than we have seen in a while, but a politician nonetheless.

Our job, as Zinn sees it, is to push Obama. We don’t need just another liberal democrat in office. Going back to the Clinton years is not good enough. Our entire system is collapsing and we need people who think in a whole new way.

He reminded us that Obama said that he did not just want to end the Iraq war, but he wanted to get us out of the mindset that got us into the war. Zinn says we must get out of the mindset that got us into this financial crisis as well.

And to all the people who say we should give Obama a break and understand that he is walking a fine line and that he would antagonize certain people if he pushed to far? Zinn says some people need to be antagonized. You don’t worry about antagonizing slaveholders when fighting against slavery.

My favorite quote of the night was one he shared that was actually from Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He was running for his second term and had already pissed off a lot of business interests with his social programs. Talking about the wealthy people who were pissed off he said "they are unanimous in their hate for me and I welcome their hatred." We could use some of that attitude now.

Review of Busboys and Poets

Busboys and Poets is one of my favorite spots in town. It's a restaurant, a bookstore, a bar, a community center, and a venue.

The owner, Andy Shallal came here from Iraq when his father was sent here as some sort of diplomat. He fell in love and never left. And he has created a U Street icon.

The part of the restaurant pictured here is the more traditional part, but you can still see some of the art on the walls. Before this part is a cozy section with sink-in couches. Next to that is a bar area.

There is another room at the end for private parties and performances. That room is covered in murals painted by Andy. Chris and I have seen a couple great musicians in there. There is also a bookstore in the front run by a nonprofit called Teaching for Change. There mission is to "transform schools into centers of justice where students learn to read, write and change the world."

Andy hosts writers and speakers of all sorts (more on one of those tomorrow). He also hosts a world famous peace cafe where Jews and Arabs get together to speak about the conflict in Israel. Often the peace cafe will host Israelis or Palestinians working for peace in some way.

All that and I haven't even gotten to the food. It's good. And it is very reasonably priced, particularly by DC standards. Last I ate there I had a poached pear salad with goat cheese and balsamic vinaigrette that was sweet and savory and quite perfect. It's also a popular brunch spot, with all the usual breakfasty options. But my favorite item may be the banana bread pudding. It's to die for.

Busboys is funky, diverse, socially aware, intelligent, artistic, and fun. What more can you ask for in a neighborhood restaurant?

Busboys and Poets, 2021 14th Street, Washington, DC

Review of Nando's Peri Peri

I first discovered Nando's while I was in Oxford, England. Reasonably priced food is in short supply there, so a fifteen dollar dinner is a real find. Turns out they have opened one in Chinatown here in DC.

Nando's is a few steps up from fast food. They seat you at a table with a number. You go up and order. They bring the food to your table. The decor makes it feel like a real restaurant. It's artsy, with exposed brick walls, funky paintings, and low lighting.

They serve mainly chicken with a Portuguese flair. They have a smorgasbord of sauces (from garlic to extra hot) for your chicken. They're all delicious. The chicken is tasty. And, unlike your typical fast food place, they serve alcohol. We had a refreshing pitcher of sangria. Nando's also has a collection of interesting side dishes. You don't often see squash on the menu at a fast food place.

Best of all, Nando's is very inexpensive. Two thrifty, non-drinkers could easily eat there for $20. That's a steal in DC.

Nando's Peri Peri, 819 7th Street NW, Washington, DC

Icy Sidewalks Make for Fun DC People Watching

We had our first good snow last week. It was immediately followed by icy rain. Ice covered the city from top to bottom. Even though it was 50 degrees and sunny yesterday, like 5 days after the icing, you still had to watch out for slick patches.

This is one of the sidewalks near my apartment. It was one huge sheet of ice. Sadly, I didn't manage to catch anyone wiping out. I almost wiped out three times on the way to work that day. It was like we were all wearing those sneakers with the skate wheels built in.

Sadly, they did not close anything. I was really looking forward to my first snow day ever. I guess I'll just have to hope for a better storm.