Recently in Entertainment Category

So in case you did not know, it is Restaurant Week in DC again.  At $20.09 for lunch for $35.09 for dinner, diners can enjoy or sample select menus from participating establishments.  But even at the discount rate, $35.09 is a lot to spend, though you get a 3 course meal.

The Sports Freak, a co-worker of his, and I went to Charlie Palmer's near the Capitol earlier in the week.  None of us had dined there before, so it seemed like a good place to try.  We got there about 15 minutes early so after letting them know we were there, we settled at the bar for a pre-dinner drink.  Value is not what you expect there, as I ordered a vodka tonic that was more tonic than vodka and cost $10.

Dinner was better.  After we placed our orders, we were given an amuse-bouche of tiny shrimp ceviche.  Served in a metal "Asian soup spoon", there was the right balance of acid and seasonings.  The tiny shrimp came in twos and marinated in lime juice and cilantro.  Very good start.  For appetizer, I had the cold Virginia Corn Soup.  The cream based soup was light and refreshing.  While they put a little Maryland blue crab in the middle, I think the soup would have done just as well without it.  The others had heirloom tomato salads with goat cheese.  Two big slices of tomato and a mix wild greens, they reported it to be good.

On to the main entrees.  All three of us had the roasted beef sirloin.  The sirloin itself was very good.  Tender and flavorful, it was a good portion of meat.  I had ordered mine medium and it might have been a bit on the rare side, but still good.  The accompanying carmelized shallots were excellent, but how can carmelized onions not be good?  The potatoes, not so much.  Boulanger potatoes were sliced thin, but surprisingly tasted slightly raw, even though they seemed througly cooked.  It could have used a little more salt as well.  We also ordered a side of zuchinni and squash for the table.  That was great was shavings of parmesean cheese on top.

Dessert was possibly the big let down of the meal.  The Sports Freak and I both had the peach cobbler.  Baked and served in a ramakin with a dollop of frozen vanilla custard, it was very runny.  That might have been the downfall for the dessert as being baked in the small vessel instead a big batch made the crust finish quickly.  The peaches were still very firm, almost as if they were just warmed or quickly boiled and the liquid never had a chance to bake out of the dish.  The co-worker had ordered the Pennsylvania berry soup, which was a raspberry base served with panna cotta and sorbet.  He said it was very good, but he is partial to raspberries.

In all, it was a very good meal.  The restaurant decor is very bright and modern and you feel that it is very new, yet the service was established.  It is in the bottom of a fairly new building which opened earlier in the decade.  I would go back for Restaurant Week again, but would find it hard to go on the regular menu on my own dime.  The pricing was very high, but for a special meal or business, it would be on my list of places to go.

Friday marked the end of an era in Washington DC radio.  For the first time since the 1980's, there will be no Don or Mike on the radio, as WJFK-FM flipped to sports talk from their "guy talk" concentration.  That left Mike O'Meara, who has lead his own radio show since Don Geronimo "retired" in 2008, on the sidelines without a timeslot to run his show.  Lifelong Washingtonians may remember this duo as some of the best radio has had to offer.  Even some transplants might know them, as the Don and Mike Show and subsequently, Mike's own show, were playing in other parts of America.

There has been the constant reports of demise of radio since the mid 90's.  First it was the "Pay to Play" era coming to the forefront, where every radio station was "Top 40" and consisted of the same 50 songs being played over and over again.  Then it was the iPod.  Surely now that anyone with a CD collection could program their own "station" and drop the radio.  Next, it was satellite radio and more importantly, the decision by Stern to leave terrestrial radio and head to Sirius.

I have not been a regular radio listener since the late 80's.  I couldn't stand the vanilla music, instead relying on my trusty walkman and eventually my car tape deck to play my own music.  Admittedly, it was kind of vanilla with Guns & Roses, Metallica, with bursts of other pop/rock from my "mix tapes".  Remember those?  But only two constants from radio remained.  WTOP News and the Don & Mike show.

Sure there have been spurts where this show wasn't on.  They quit their WAVA-FM morning show and sat out their contract until WJFK signed them for the afternoon drive.  The occassional suspension from their "shock-jock" days also had them sitting out in favor of best of tapes.  But it seemed like the show would be on forever.

Now, no more.  On Friday, a 20 minute taped segment from Mike O'Meara and crew detailed that they plan on trying to revive the show on another station.  It is the first time this show has been derailed for good by the station it was running on.  Good luck to the crew.  I'll probably listen to 106.7 The Fan to see what the fuss was about, but DC radio has changed for good and it just won't be the same.