No.1 January 02, 2008 - Washington, DC

THE CURRENT
Restaurants
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2, 2008
St. Albans Swim Program
SWIM CLUB/ SWIM LESSONS
SWIM CAMP / LIFEGUARDING
POOL PARTIES / RENTALS
NORTHWEST CHEFS
Indebleu chef travels for authentic taste
ROBERT GREEN Aquatics Director
MARK LEWIS Assistant Aquatics Director
202-537-6462 322/
www.stalbansschool.org/swim
By JULIA WATSON
Current Correspondent
T
o extend his research into Indian cuisine, Ricky
Moore is taking a couple of weeks off to
immerse himself in spices at the hands of a
master Indian chef. In India? No, in Toronto, with the
renowned owner/chef of Cuisine of India, Shishir
Sharma.
Established at Indebleu since November as executive chef, Moore isn’t anticipating turning the Penn
Quarter restaurant into a destination for fiery rogan
josh and eye-watering biryani. Instead, he describes
the cuisine this way: “It’s going to be seasonal
American, Indian-inspired. Not too much frou-frou.”
So mussels come curried, with a kaffir lime aioli.
Scallops are cardamom-glazed. Lamb chops arrive
with garlic mashed potatoes, the Indian angle found in
the accompanying green lentils, mojito reduction and
the fact that they’re roasted in a tandoori oven.
“I’m going to be true to what India brings in terms
of heat, but not in every dish,” Moore says. He emphasizes the seasonal more than the Indian slant: “I want
to make sure when someone eats here, whatever the
preparation, they are going to feel and know what time
of year it is by the ingredients.”
Moore came to Indebleu from Agraria, the
Washington Harbour restaurant owned by the family
farmers that supply its produce. So he’s deeply committed to seasonality and careful sourcing. His other
attachment to the land comes through the youth leadership program Green Youth Farm, for which he is an
adviser. The volunteer organization encourages teens
to develop business skills and self-confidence through
running two organic farms in Chicago.
His Chicago ties go back to time as executive chef
at the Parrot Cage Restaurant and South Water
Kitchen. From there the North Carolina native came to
Washington to work with Roberto Donna at Galileo,
Jeffrey Buben at Vidalia, Todd Gray at Equinox and
Gray Kunz at Lespinasse, now closed.
He credits his mother, Arlene McClease, with his
enthusiasm for cooking. (His other influences are an
interesting mixed bunch: Sidney Poitier; Norman
Rockwell; James Baldwin; Fernand Point, the greatest
culinary influence on modern French cuisine;
Grandmaster Flash; Ayn Rand; and Alain Chapel, one
of the fathers of “Nouvelle Cuisine.”)
Raised in New Bern, N.C., by a strong set of matriarchs, he describes his grandmother as a multitalented
woman who taught the family to enjoy the Sunday
meal. “Supper started at 12 noon and ended around 6
o’clock. There were usually 12 around the table, eating
good Southern country cooking.”
Later, studying at the Culinary Institute of America,
he wrote a report comparing his family’s cooking with
the cooking of rural France. “I grew up with chicken in
a pot with onions and herbs, a dish similar to coq au
vin; one-pot dishes, good country fare.” He cites cassoulet, the slow-cooked French casserole of beans,
Chef Ricky Moore shared with The
Current his recipe for Tandoori
Marinade. It can used for baked fish,
chicken, steak or chops.
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons red chili powder
1 teaspoon smoked paprika (available at
Whole Foods)
1 teaspoon fresh garlic, peeled and grated
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, peeled and
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Bill Petros/The Current
Indebleu executive chef Ricky Moore grew up with
Southern country cooking.
sausages and joints of meat and fowl, as another example. “We had kidney beans with ham inside — so similar. And we’d eat it with killer crusty bread,” the same
way the French serve it, he says.
Moore, his three brothers and his sister always
enjoyed eating, he says, and they threw big parties.
Still, he didn’t immediately attend culinary school,
instead going to college to major in graphic arts. But
soon he decided he’d rather go see the world. So he
left and joined the military.
For the next seven years he was stationed all over
the world. “I learned to eat the way the locals did.
There were a lot of common denominators with here.
In Germany, they had rotisserie chicken. Same as here,
on a spit; came with french fries and garlic mayonnaise.” In Korea he discovered kimchi, brined pickled
vegetables served with every meal. “For me it was so
cool to know people buried cabbage in the ground with
spices and let it ferment.”
On Sept. 11, 2001, he was cooking at Le Tarbouche
(now Restaurant Kolumbia). “I worked all that day. All
of a sudden I thought, I know where this is going. I
said to my wife, ‘You know what? We need to take a
sabbatical.’”
He had watched French chef Michel Husser, owner
of Le Cerf in Alsace, a two-Michelin-star restaurant,
battle “the king of Iron Chefs,” as Hiroyuki Sakai was
dubbed, on the popular TV show. “I said, ‘I think I
want to work there.’ So I e-mailed him and set it up.”
Thus began a six-month stay in France, working first
with Husser, then in Paris at Apicius and Le Violin
d’Ingres.
His wife, who is an information technology specialSee Chef/Page 25
CHEF’S CHOICE
grated
1 cup yogurt, thick
Butter for basting
1 onion, sliced thin
1 lemon, cut into wedges
1 teaspoon chaat masala (from Indian
markets)
Mix cilantro, lemon juice, chili powder,
paprika, garlic, ginger and yogurt in
bowl.
To use, preheat the oven to 400
degrees. Apply marinade to fish, chicken, steak or chops. For chicken or
fish, place on a baking tray and bake
(about eight minutes for fish, 30 minutes for chicken). Baste with butter
and bake five minutes more until
done. For steak or chops, broil or grill
to desired degree, removing to baste
about two to three minutes before the
end. Serve hot with thinly sliced
onions and lemon wedges. Finish with
a sprinkle of chaat masala.
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BROTHEL
From Page 3
trafficking.
Citizens association president
Jackie Blumenthal said her neighborhood group has encouraged
neighbors for the past two years to
write to the property’s landlord and
has contacted the police about
TRAIL
From Page 6
Susan Jaquet
tearing down trees or rerouting the
path through the center of the southern portion of the park.
“It’s such an objectionable idea,”
said Russell Katz, a member of
Friends of Rose Park and the
Citizens
Association
of
Georgetown. “And I find it frustrating that it’s even being posited.”
Bicycles frequently use the path,
and they should not, said Katz, who
called himself an avid biker. “It’s
really dangerous. ... There’s not
enough room for two bikes to pass
each other all the time.”
But Rock Creek Park superintendent Adrienne Coleman said she
does not understand why residents
are discussing the issue, because the
path is already mixed-use for bicycles and pedestrians. Part of the path
is owned by the Park Service and
part by the city, she said.
“It’s always been mixed-use,”
Coleman said. “It has never been
designated for one particular use.”
She noted that all of the paths in
Rock Creek Park are mixed-use.
Coleman said that the D.C.
Venus Spa and OK Spa.
The group was also in communication with Ward 3 Council member
Mary Cheh about the establishment,
and Blumenthal said Cheh’s
involvement was “instrumental in
targeting the property as a nuisance
property.”
“The police did a really remarkable job in tracking this down and
fixing this,” Blumenthal said.
Department of Transportation has
submitted a proposal to the National
Park Service for rehabilitation and
restoration of large sections of the
Rock Creek Park trail, which
stretches from Georgetown to
Broad Branch Road. The Rose Park
path is part of the project. Coleman
said the Park Service is continuing
to review the proposal.
Georgetown activists say they
have waited a long time for rehabilitation but hope that widening the
path is not part of the plan.
Georgetown advisory neighborhood commissioner Tom Birch,
whose district includes Rose Park,
said that widening the trail would
consume green space that is otherwise there for park enjoyment.
“Our position is the same that it
was a year ago, which is to maintain
the path the width that it is now,”
Birch said, noting that the neighborhood commission voted in
December 2006 to support the
path’s rehabilitation but not its
widening.
Katz said he hopes that the city
can soon get the project under way
but that neighbors have not heard
specifics from the Transportation
Department.
ce Counts. Now more than Eve
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FIRE
From Page 1
about 50 percent if his or her home
has a smoke alarm, he explained.
In July, the D.C. Fire
Department launched an ambitious
program to ensure every home in
the District has working smoke
alarms. The Smoke Alarm
Verification and Utilization (SAVU) Program was started after 5year-old Asia Sutton died in a house
fire where no working smoke
alarms were present.
Under the program, which
Crosswhite is heading, firefighters
and volunteers go door-to-door
once a month to check on whether
the homes have working smoke
alarms. If they do not, alarms will
be installed free of charge.
Residents may also request that a
smoke alarm be installed in their
home by calling 202-727-1600,
going to www.fems.dc.gov, or visiting their local fire station. The
smoke alarms that the department is
giving out “are not the cheap kind
either,” said Crosswhite.
Supported by corporate and private donations, the department provides two types of alarms. One
alarm is a combination smoke and
carbon-monoxide detector. The
other is designed to help wake children during a fire. It records the
sound of a relative’s voice, which is
far more effective in waking up
children than the typical, highpitched beeping, Crosswhite said.
“There’s no reason why every
home in the District doesn’t have a
smoke alarm,” Crosswhite said.
“We need to get out there and protect our citizens.”
Teare said she was particularly
struck by the kindness shown by
one of the members on the fire prevention team, who visited the block
several hours after the fatal midmorning fire had been extinguished.
“And then, I think because she [the
firefighter] realized this had been so
traumatic for the block, she said,
‘Give me a hug.’ And we had this
very nice embrace.”
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THE CURRENT
Northwest Real Estate
ANC 1C
ANCMorgan
1C
Adams
■ ADAMS MORGAN
The commission will meet at
7 p.m. Jan. 2 at Mary’s Center,
2355 Ontario Road NW.
Agenda items include:
■ police report.
■
consideration of Alcoholic
Beverage Control licensing matters.
■ discussion of the National
Marathon.
For details, call 202-332-2630 or
visit anc1c.org.
ANC 2A
ANCBottom
2A
Foggy
■ FOGGY BOTTOM / WEST END
The commission will meet at
7:30 p.m. Jan. 16. The location
has not been determined.
For details, call 202-736-1775.
ANC
2B2B
ANC
Dupont
Circle
■ DUPONT
CIRCLE
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The commission will meet at
7 p.m. Jan. 9 at the Washington
DC Jewish Community Center,
1529 16th St. NW.
For details, visit dupontcircleanc.net.
ANC
2D2D
ANC
Sheridan-Kalorama
■ SHERIDAN-KALORAMA
The commission will meet at
7 p.m. Jan. 14 at Our Lady
Queen of the Americas Church,
California Street and Phelps
Place NW.
For details, call 202-744-5770, email [email protected] or
visit dcnet.com/anc/2d.
ANC 2E
ANC 2E
Georgetown
■ GEORGETOWN / CLOISTERS
Cloisters
BURLEITH / HILLANDALE
The commission will meet at
6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 2, at
Georgetown
Visitation
Preparatory School, 1524 35th
St. NW.
Agenda items include:
■ police report.
■ transportation report.
■ election of officers and appointment of committees.
■ community comment.
■ discussion of the National Park
Service’s environmental impact
statement on the Georgetown
University Boathouse.
■ discussion of the Rose Park pedestrian path.
■ discussion of the voluntary agreement with Epicurean and Co.
■ consideration of zoning and planning matters: 1671 Wisconsin Ave.,
Expertise Landscape sign scheme,
including wall-mounted, gatemounted and projecting signs (existing permit); 1514 34th St., residence, shed at rear of property; 3401
Dent Place, residence; 1525 34th
St., residence, two-story rear addition; 1310 Wisconsin Ave., TMobile, replacement of cellular
antennas on roof or replacement of
chips on equipment console; 3034
M St., Juicy Couture, sign scheme,
back-lit brass letters on M Street,
pin-mounted on Thomas Jefferson
Street; 3270 M St., Shops at
Georgetown Park, alterations and
additions for mixed-use residential
and retail building; 3245 M St.,
Tackle Box, new storefront; 3303 M
St., Qdoba Mexican Grill; 3429 M
St., Dixie Liquor, replacement of
storefront window, existing deck
and alterations; 3509 M St., commercial, Spinal Arts Institute, rear
addition, alterations; 1063 Thomas
Jefferson St., commercial, replacement of front door; 1046, 1048,
1050, 1052 and 1054 Potomac St.
and 1025, 1027 and 1029 33rd St.,
RB Properties Inc., Caton’s Walk
alterations, rear addition, rooftop
additions; 1516 29th St., residence,
partial demolition, two-story rear
addition, shed-dormer; 1206 30th
St., Sotheby’s, sign, alterations to
storefront and planters; 3103 P St.,
residence, new window openings,
alterations, rear side addition to
replace covered porch; 1229
Wisconsin Ave., Apple, facade alteration (concept); 3045 N St., multifamily residential, rear and side window and door alterations, rear roof
deck (in progress); and 2727 Q St.,
residence, site alterations, driveway,
parking lot.
For details, call 202-338-7427 or
visit anc2e.com.
ANC 2F
ANCCircle
2F
Logan
■ LOGAN CIRCLE
The commission will meet at
7 p.m. Jan. 9 at Washington
Plaza Hotel, 10 Thomas Circle
NW.
Agenda items include:
■ election of officers.
■ reports from the Metropolitan
Police Department, the Executive
Office of the Mayor and the D.C.
Department of Transportation.
■ community announcements.
■
consideration
of
D.C.
Department of Transportation matters.
■ consideration of crime and public
safety matters.
■ consideration of Alcoholic
Beverage Control matters: HR-57,
1610 14th St., application for
restaurant-class license, sidewalk
cafe, entertainment endorsement;
and El Sauce, 1227 11th St., pending protest.
■ consideration of Community
Development Committee matters.
■ consideration of 2008 meeting
dates.
For details, call 202-667-0052
or visit anc2f.org.
ANC 3B
ANCPark
3B
Glover
■ GLOVER PARK/CATHEDRAL HEIGHTS
The commission will meet at
7 p.m. Jan. 10 at Guy Mason
Recreation
Center,
3600
Calvert St. NW.
Agenda items include:
■ election of officers.
■ police report.
■ discussion and vote regarding the
Glover Park liquor-license moratorium.
■ update on plans for the Stoddert
Recreation Center (tentative).
For details, call 202-338-2969,
contact [email protected] or visit
dcnet.com/anc/3b.
ANC 3C
ANC 3CPark
Cleveland
■ CLEVELAND PARK / WOODLEY PARK
Woodley
Park AVENUE HEIGHTS
MASSACHUSETTS
Massachusetts
Avenue Heights
CATHEDRAL HEIGHTS
The commission will meet at
7:30 p.m. Jan. 21 at the 2nd
District Police Headquarters,
3320 Idaho Ave. NW.
For details, call 202-232-2232 or
visit anc3c.org.
ANC 3D
ANCValley
3D
Spring
■ SPRING VALLEY/WESLEY HEIGHTS
Wesley
Heights
PALISADES/KENT/FOXHALL
The commission will meet at
7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 7, at Ernst
Auditorium, Sibley Memorial
Hospital, 5255 Loughboro Road
NW. The meeting was rescheduled due to the holidays.
Agenda items include:
■ police report.
■ community concerns.
■ consideration of a public-space
application to permit installation of
a parking pad and removal of five
feet of an existing retaining wall at
2836 Arizona Ave.
■ election of officers.
For details, call 202-363-4130 or
visit anc3d.org.
ANC 3E
ANC 3E
Tenleytown
■ AMERICAN UNIVERSITY PARK
American
University Park
FRIENDSHIP HEIGHTS/TENLEYTOWN
The commission will meet at
7:30 p.m. Jan. 10 at St. Mary’s
Armenian Apostolic Church,
42nd and Fessenden streets
NW.
For details, visit anc3e.org.
ANC 3F
ANCHills
3F
Forest
■ FOREST HILLS/NORTH CLEVELAND PARK
The commission will meet at
7:30 p.m. Jan. 14 at the Capital
Memorial
Seventh-Day
Adventist
Church,
3150
Chesapeake St. NW.
For details, call 202-362-6120 or
visit anc3f.org.
ANC 3/4G
ANCChase
3/4G
Chevy
■ CHEVY CHASE
The commission will meet at
7:30 p.m. Jan. 14 at the Chevy
Chase Community Center,
Connecticut
Avenue
and
McKinley Street NW.
For details, call 202-363-5803 or
send an e-mail to [email protected].
ANC 4A
ANC 4A
Colonial
Village
■ COLONIAL VILLAGE/CRESTWOOD
Shepherd
Park
SHEPHERD PARK/BRIGHTWOOD
The commission will meet at
7:15 p.m. Jan. 8 at the Fort
Stevens Recreation Center,
13th and Van Buren streets
NW.
For details, call 202-291-9341.
THE CURRENT
Real Estate
DOG
From Page 1
is under investigation.
Morauw declined to give specific details of the incident, but he said
he was in view of the dog when the
officer shot it and the dog did not
approach him in a menacing way,
either by lunging or attacking.
“At this stage of where we stand,
I’m waiting to see the results of that
investigation of the police. ... To me
it wasn’t necessary to shoot the
dog,” Morauw said.
He said his dog had never
attacked a person or an animal.
“Scooby was like an overgrown
puppy. He was the most gentle dog
— not only with humans, but with
other dogs. He didn’t have an
ounce of aggressive activity.”
Morauw confirmed that the dog
was not on its leash, but he said
that’s common in the West End
park, which has become a de facto
off-leash area. D.C. law requires
owners to keep dogs on their leashes except in certain planned dog
parks, which have not yet been
established.
The dog shooting was not the
first such incident in Northwest
D.C. In August 2005, an officer
shot a Weimaraner in the Palisades,
and in September 2006 a police
officer shot a dog in Dupont
Circle’s center park.
In the 2005 incident, the officers
had responded to a false alarm at
the house, and they were in the
driveway when the owner arrived
home. The owner opened the
garage door, and her dog ran out
into the front yard. It stood and
barked at the officers, who took out
their guns and aimed at the dog.
The officers told the owner to control her dog, but she hesitated to
approach while the officers’
weapons were drawn, according to
a family friend, and one of the officers shot the dog.
The incident outraged many
neighbors, who said it was cruel
and that the police department
should better train its officers in
dealing with dogs.
In
the
2006
shooting,
bystanders said the dog was harmless and reported being shocked at
the use of a firearm in the circle
park.
The Washington Humane
Society has said that it would not
press animal-cruelty charges for
such a shooting, explaining that a
charge of cruelty is tagged to only
deliberate or long-term neglect.
The society reported that many
police officers are afraid of dogs
and that it offers training for officers to help them learn to respond
to barking dogs and to understand
signs dogs give.
A blog that appears to have been
created on Dec. 26, at
dogsdc.blogspot.com, descibes the
Dec. 24 shooting. It calls for residents to “help stop unnecessary
killings of dogs and help protect
police officers by giving them proper training.”
N
CH
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2, 2008
19
THE CURRENT
MARKET
From Page 14
in front of a soda counter from the late
1950s, with the original stools and even
some original soda fixtures behind the counter. It looks like something straight out of an
old movie or TV show, with characters sitting around ordering milkshakes and hamburgers. This shop on my block has a full
deli menu, with items made to order behind
the counter. There is also a grocery section,
with a few aisles of essential items.
I first heard about The Massachusetts
Avenue Deli & Market from a fellow build-
INDEBLEU
From Page 15
ist, didn’t need persuading to
move. She’s his food companion,
he says. And he had no problem
with the language. “The fun part is,
you go to another country and the
language of the kitchen is cooking.
Everybody does the same thing
wherever you go. Sauté is the same
everywhere. It’s all about cooking
at the end of the day.”
What most impressed him about
French cooking was its respect for
regionality. “They don’t get caught
up in trends. They say, ‘This is my
version of choucroute,’ not because
this other person is doing it this
way. The food is un-fluffed-up.”
SHOPPING
From Page 13
too small. No amount of tugging or
shoehorning (“Go ahead, yank!”
urged Casey, my sales assistant,
with exquisite concern for any pain
I might be in. “You can’t hurt the
boot!”) would get my ugly-stepsister-sized foot into that 38 Dries Van
Noten. Finally even Casey admitted defeat. (Usually he only concedes minor skirmishes, such as
when he approaches the dressing
room — “I’m really excited about
this idea; are you decent?” —
swaths me with pieces that sum to
way too much fabric, then stands
back, cocks his head and says, “I
hate it!”)
Of course once I acknowledged
that the boots didn’t fit and Relish
had no more in my size, they were
all I wanted. Casey surreptitiously
wrote down the names of three
other places I could look — all in
New York. “Try Barney’s first,” he
advised conspiratorially.
When I called Barney’s, they
were very mean. “We’re all sold
out in the larger sizes.” Hey, this is
America, not Belgium. Eight and a
half is not a “larger size.” My
resolve stiffened; I was determined
to find these boots no matter how
many insults I had to endure. I contacted the Dries public relations
people and got in touch with
Maria, who said she was going on
vacation but would turn my request
over to someone else, who had an
extended-absence greeting on his email.
As Nancy, I don’t give up. I
don’t care if the stories about me
ing resident — the ever-friendly Clint, who
has been walking over every morning for 25
years or so to sit on a stool at the counter and
have his morning coffee. Clint and another
fellow resident of my building, Jane, are regulars at the shop, friendly faces always happy
to say hello and talk.
I stop in from time to time to pick up
some groceries, but my favorite time spent is
at the counter. Something magical happens
when customers sit on those stools. The fast
pace of life seems to slow down. Perhaps it’s
the friendly atmosphere. Perhaps it’s feeling
like a character in an old movie. Or perhaps
it is just the energy in there. I always leave
feeling happy.
Moore and his wife live in
Arlington with their daughter,
Hunter Johanna, age 3. “She has a
great palette,” he says. “She eats
what we eat. There’s no such thing
as child food in our house.”
They have another baby on the
way, and Moore now finds himself
at a stage in his career when he can
focus more on his family. “I
believe at this point where I am,
everybody in this business has
worked really hard. Now you have
ability to plan, to teach your team
to execute work for you. At the end
of the day, the family comes first,
everyone else second.”
Indebleu (202-333-2538;
Indebleu.net) is located at 707 G
St. NW. Main courses cost $17 to
$32.
are formulaic and identical, written
according to a strict prescription by
skilled workers in Mumbai and
churned out by a factory somewhere in China under the magical
nom de plume of Carolyn Keene.
If that’s all you can see, you’re
missing the point. Much more
important, the spirited titian-haired
detective would never be daunted
by some weenie Europeans who
don’t make big-enough boots.
The week between Christmas
and New Year’s found me in Los
Angeles, where every single person
except for me was wearing fabulous boots. (As well as little tam
o’shanter-style hats, I might add,
but that’s a separate story.) Finding
myself with a free morning and
few clues to pursue, I decided to
place the key in the ignition and
direct my roadster to Barney’s in
Beverly Hills. Arriving in person,
my plan was to give them my best
Nancy, polite yet firm. I would ask
for the boots and the helpful sales
clerk would fetch the boots. In my
size.
And oy gevult if it didn’t work.
As Randy Newman says, “We love
L.A.” Although it wasn’t the exact
same pair (sorry, Casey, I am cringing), they were the color, the look,
the designer I wanted. Christmas
guilt absolved, Barney’s forgiven,
Casey’s vision realized (mostly),
retailers on the rebound. Nancy
rules. I love and adore my new
boots. Next year for Hanukkah I
will have to give them to myself in
a different color.
(NB: Nancy never aged beyond
18, but instinct tells me that the
Ned thing never panned out and
she married his roommate, Ben.)
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2, 2008
I have sat at the counter next to Clint and
Jane, eating my breakfast, poring over
papers, studying for graduate school exams. I
have dropped in for an afternoon sandwich
and sat chatting with fellow customers and
employees long after I finished. I have run
into friends there and even a former professor.
Many of the 4000 Massachusetts Ave.
building’s residents — who have lived there
for decades — rely on the grocery store and
the owner, Alex, for necessary items on a
regular basis and when getting out to a larger
grocery store proves too difficult. Alex
knows all his customers by name, and even
their specific tastes and needs. He has been
ANTIQUES
From Page 14
25 years — and who normally
charges $175 an hour for a written
evaluation.
Another event that might be of
general interest at the show is the
loan exhibition, which concentrates
on this year’s show theme of
“Inspirations From the Garden.”
Curated by Gretchen Bulova of
Gadsby’s Tavern Museum in
Alexandria, the exhibit includes
items from 14 area museums and
historic houses, as well as from private collections that are otherwise
not on public view.
Because the theme is so broad,
Bulova decided to concentrate on
pieces that not only had floral
imagery or garden associations, but
also connections to local residents.
These range from the possessions
of relatively ordinary citizens —
like a sampler made by a 12-yearold Alexandria girl in the early 19th
century — to those of well-known
historical figures — like a watering
can from the estate of George
Washington. And the period covered extends up to the 20th century,
25
known to carry groceries up to apartments of
residents unable to carry them themselves,
and to take special requests for products.
Where else in our modern and hurried
lives can we find such history, charm and
character?
One of the wonderful things about D.C. is
that these distinctive little historical treasures
are around to be discovered and enjoyed.
They can be stumbled upon from time to
time — if you keep your eyes open. So next
time you are somewhere in the city that
seems ordinary, look a little closer. Don’t be
afraid to explore and see what might really
be there, beyond the surface. You just might
come across a gem of your own.
including, for example, a pair of
floral brocade slippers belonging to
Marjorie Merriweather Post,
famous for her gardens at her
Forest Hills estate, Hillwood.
The types of objects in this
exhibit are varied, from “very utilitarian, ordinary things” embellished
with floral imagery to elaborate
decorative pieces. From
Georgetown’s Tudor Place, said
Bulova, “there’s a beautiful presentation urn that was given to them
for their garden in 1835. It’s made
of Tucker porcelain — the first
American porcelain maker.”
From Henry Francis du Pont,
there’s a more practical item: “his
own garden shears, in a monogrammed pouch.” Famous for his
house and garden, Winterthur, in
Delaware, du Pont also has a local
connection: He lived for a while in
Georgetown, according to Bulova.
The show will feature 45 dealers
with antiques of all kinds, including furniture, artwork, china, silver
and jewelry. Show organizers say
they have offerings for everyone.
“The show is for collectors of
every level,” said Helen Burnett,
who has been a publicity committee volunteer with the show for
three years.
The show also offers two lectures. The New Collector’s Lecture
on Saturday is by author James
Archer Abbott, expert on the
Parisian decorating firm of Maison
Jansen (1880-1989). The Friday
luncheon and lecture extends the
garden theme with a talk by Chip
Callaway, specialist in historic garden restoration and design.
The show will take place at the
Omni Shoreham Hotel, 2500
Calvert St., from Jan. 11 through
13, with a preview night on Jan.
10. Hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. to
4 p.m. Sunday. Antiques appraisals
will be offered from 9 to 11 a.m.
Saturday. Advance reservations are
required for the New Collector’s
Lecture on Saturday ($75) and
Friday luncheon and lecture ($80).
Tickets cost $15 per day or $25
for the whole run.
Proceeds will go to Thrift Shop
Charities, a nonprofit incorporated
in the District in 1930 that supports
the Children’s National Medical
Center, the Rosemount Center and
St. John’s Community Services Inc.
More information is at washingtonantiques.org.
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