Exclusive: Get a taste of the DMV's hottest new restaurants at this festival
Why it matters: NKOTB is a rare chance to try local businesses before they open — some from star chefs (hey, Marcus Samuelsson) and others from rising talents you should know.
How it works: Co-founders Al Goldberg of Mess Hall — which hosts the Saturday, April 26 event — and food writer Nevin Martell curate a dynamic lineup of forthcoming bars and restaurants for their 11th festival. Some will open soon, others are still searching for spaces.
The past 60+ participants include Rose Previte with Maydan, Call Your Mother (before it was CYM), and Oyster Oyster.
Guests will sample food and drinks from nearly a dozen vendors over two afternoon sessions, plus cocktails, Right Proper beers, and stuffed goodie bags for VIP ticket holders. Limited early-bird passes (starting at $99 or $139 VIP) are now available via Eventbrite.
We got an exclusive sneak peek at who's coming, what they're planning and when(ish) they'll open.
Marcus DC, a seafood-focused brasserie from celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson (Harlem's Red Rooster), is opening by Union Market. ETA: Spring
Samuelsson, an Ethiopian-born, Swedish-American chef, has taken over three venues in The Morrow Hotel (deets coming soon). The brasserie will serve global fin fare—raw, cured, and dry-aged—plus steaks and comfort food classics. Chef Anthony Jones, a Food Network and Dirty Habit alum, will helm the kitchen.
Barbouzard, a French-Mediterranean restaurant helmed by chef Cedric Maupillier (ex-Convivial), is opening near Farragut Square. ETA: Spring/Summer.
The former Kellari Taverna space is getting a lively coastal med makeover with indoor and outdoor dining, a piano and DJ booth, and a Champagne lounge. Côte d'Azur-chic is matched with Maupillier's Francophile fare, high-end seafood, and in-house bread and pastry program.
Electric Bull, a new-wave steakhouse by chef Victor Albisu (Taco Bamba), is opening in Vienna, VA. ETA: Summer.
Albisu, a former BLT Steak chef who opened South American steakhouse Del Campo, is back to his roots with a unique 80-seat steakhouse. Expect Latin spins on raw bar and grilled apps, classic and lesser-seen cuts, lamb ribs, homemade chorizos, and the return of Albisu's signature burger and rolled skirt steak. Also: a butcher counter for meats to-go.
Chai Pani, a smash-hit Indian restaurant by Meherwan Irani out of Asheville, NC, is opening near Union Market. ETA: Late summer.
Look for Irani's James Beard Award-winning street foods like crispy okra fries, bhel puri chaats, "sloppy jai" sandwiches, and homestyle thali platters in Chai Pani's signature kaleidoscopic setting.
Burnt Hill Farm, a destination overlooking the Appalachian Mountains from the siblings behind Old Westminster Winery and chef Tae Strain (D.C.'s Momofuku). ETA: Fall
The estate vineyard in Clarksburg, MD (roughly 40 minutes outside D.C.) will host an immersive fine dining experience from Strain, who blends local ingredients and traditions with his Asian-American heritage.
Marv's Dogs, a lively fast-casual from Diane Gross (Cork Wine Bar), is opening in Tenleytown. ETA: Fall
Hot dogs and video games — that's one of Gross's fondest childhood memories with her late dad, Marv, which is the inspiration for this family-friendly concept. The restaurant will dish up nostalgic dogs, soft-serve and canned beer and wine, while guests can play vintage arcades in a game room below.
Nhau by Moon Rabbit, a cocktail bar from chef Kevin Tien and bar director Thi Nguyen, is opening near Dupont Circle. ETA: TBA.
An offshoot of the modern Vietnamese restaurant's award-winning cocktail program, Nhau will highlight Southeast Asian flavors in boldly flavored drinks and snacks.
Snow Crane, a Japanese ice cream concept by former Rose's Luxury chef Takeshi Nishikawa. ETA: TBA
Fine dining chops meet Japanese ice cream in Nishikawa's concept, which is currently on a pop-up circuit and will likely open near his Hyattsville home. Look for artful scoops using sweet and savory ingredients from Japan, like milk ice cream topped with Okinawa black sugar syrup.
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3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Art Fein, Cable TV Host & Author, Dies at 79: ‘The Ed Sullivan of Public Access TV'
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The show is where he really flowered. In 1992, when the show was eight years and 400 episodes into its run, The Los Angeles Times ran a major feature on Fein and his show. The writer of the piece, Bob Baker, noted that prior to the show, Fein 'had been making an uneven living in the margins of rock music —working as a music consultant on films and TV shows, writing freelance articles, writing album liner notes and, for a couple years, managing the Blasters.' 'If this show is a springboard, I'll be mighty happy,' Fein told Baker, 'but if it's not, I'm having a ball doing what I want to do. I've always had an artistic temperament, but before I started the show I never had any art. I couldn't sing; I didn't want to write a novel. But this is something I feel really good about. I almost feel like a knight going off to battle when I leave the house, like I'm going to really say something.' 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San Francisco Chronicle
6 hours ago
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Fans celebrate the 80th birthday of the Moomins, Finland's most lovable literary cartoon family
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The Senns also made an Instagram page documenting the trio's adventures, which now has nearly 11,000 followers. The social media account has connected them with Moomin fans all over the world, including Stefanie and Michael Geutebrück from Germany. Moomin merchandise Stefanie Geutebrück said she remembers falling in love with the Moomins while watching their animations during her childhood in East Germany. She also brought the Moomins into her husband's life, to the point where they also traveled to Tampere for Saturday's entertainment. "Now he's a total fan and our apartment looks like a Moomin shop,' she said. Beyond the Geutebrücks' home, Moomin merchandise is hugely popular. There's a massive market for Moomintroll, Moominmamma and Moominpappa souvenirs across the globe, and secondary characters like their friends Stinky, Sniff, Snufkin, Snork Maiden and Hattifatteners are also well-loved. 'The Moomin mug is one of the best-known collector items worldwide,' Selma Green, director of the Moomin Museum, said. 'You buy a Moomin mug, you like the characters, you maybe see something on TV — but we all go back to the books, the original illustrations.' Depictions of the character Stinky, described as a lovable rogue who has captured Moominmamma's heart, generated debate and outcry in Finland this summer after reports emerged in Finnish media that Stinky was removed from murals in an exhibit at the Brooklyn Public Library in New York due to concerns that the cartoon might be perceived as racist. Jansson's drawings of Stinky shows the character with a dark, fuzzy body, with skinny legs and antennae. He has a reputation as an unsuccessful criminal — whose plans get foiled or he gets caught in the act — with an appetite for furniture and other wooden things. 'To me, this became as quite a big surprise because I have more thought about Stinky being close to a mole or a vole," Sirke Happonen, a Moomins scholar and associate professor at the University of Helsinki, said of the library's decision. "He's an interesting character in many ways, like controversial and fun.' Moominvalley as an escape The Moomin stories honor the idea of family as a flexible concept. Diverse gender roles and queer themes also come across in Moominvalley, as well as in Jansson's other works, reflecting her LGBTQ+ identity. Her partner of more than 45 years, engraver and artist Tuulikki Pietilä, was memorialized as the character Too-ticky in 'Moominland Midwinter.' The couple lived in Helsinki and spent their summers on the small rocky island of Klovharu in the Gulf of Finland until the 1990s. Jansson's stories also reflect war and catastrophe. The first book, 'The Moomins and the Great Flood,' features the displaced Moomin family and was published in the final months of World War II. The conflict had ruined Finland, even though it had remained independent, and one of the author's brothers went missing during part of his time at the front. While Jansson sought to portray Moominvalley as an escape, Moomin stories have always had a mixture of peril and comfort. 'Her first Moomin book came out in a dark era. She felt it was very difficult to paint, and she started writing what she called a fairy tale, but she excused herself not to include princesses or princes,' Happonen said. Moominvalley was borne of a need to find beauty at a time when Jansson's existence, along with everyone else in Finland, felt frail. 'I think she wanted to make a contrast — Tove Jansson loved contrasts — by writing about this beautiful world, full of friendship and love,' Happonen said. __ Dazio reported from Berlin.
