RSS FeedSmithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery Courtyard Roof Update (Pic)
It appears that the steel structure is just about complete and workers are experimenting with adding glass to the courtyard roof.
Festa Italiana Comes to Penn Quarter This Sunday!
The city’s lively eighth-annual Italian street festival will take place on Sunday, September 24, 2006, from 11:30 am to 5:30 pm! The festival will take place at 3rd and F St NW. Here is the schedule.
- Festa Italiana celebrates Italian-American culture and Italian-Americans’ contributions to the Washington area. This year’s festival will include live traditional Italian music, dancing, informative displays about Italy’s Piemonte region, raffles, and much more. And those joining in the festivities will be able to enjoy a wide variety of delicious Italian dishes and beverages, including fresh pizza, pasta, sausage and peppers, Italian sandwiches, wine, and baked goods.
Otavio Reviews Vapiano! (Future Italian Restaurant In Gallery Place/Chinatown)
We send many thanks to Otavio, who is currently in Germany, for going out and reviewing the German-based Italian restaurant called Vapiano! We mentioned earlier this week that Vapiano was planning to open up at 623-625 H St NW by next February. Here is Otavio’s review:
Greetings all,
I am just returning home from my visit to Vapiano restaurant, and you would not believe my experience there.
This restaurant chain can best be described with just one word: Lame!
Vapiano restaurant is a self-serve restaurant chain out of Germany.
This particular Vapiano is in Frankfurt, Germany on Goetheplatz 1-3. It is a hit with the Germans, but I can tell you that Washington, DC has much better Italian food than this one!
Customer Service – Nil, zilch, pretty darn low. When you walk in the door, you get a card that you then take to each station to record how much and what you have purchased. You have a Salad line, a Pasta line, and a Pizza line.
This Vapiano was way too overcrowded. You have to get a tray and get into each line to get what you want. I spent 15 minutes waiting, tray in both hands, to get my salad. They prepare the dish while you wait at the counter.
Then I waited another 15 minutes to get my main dish in the pasta line. If there is a crowd of 7 people waiting in front of you, then you just stand there holding your tray until you get to the counter. In my former military days, we called this muscle failure! There is no place to rest your filled up tray while you wait in line.
If you want a pizza dish, then you have to wait in the pizza line.
So, it took me 30 minutes before I could sit down. Of course, since it was overcrowded, it took me another 10 minutes to find a seat.
Also, there is no waiter service. You also get your drink in the salad, pizza, or pasta line.
Food: It tasted like Chinese! There is no way that Italian food should be tasting like Chinese. Aweful! The salad was tasteless, and my dressing tasted like sweet and sour sauce. My pasta was dry and clumped together. Aweful!
Ok, after all of that torture was over, then you go to pay. There is a check out line! So guess what! If there is a line, as in my case, you wait another 10 minutes standing in line to pay! Terrible!
Decor/Interiro design: Simple and conservative. Of course, the German way. Gallery Place could use a bit more originality. This restaurant chain will not bring it unless they change their format for the US-based locations.
All-in-all, this restaurant chain gets a big thumbs down from me. Lame.
Washington, DC residents: Don’t get your hopes up on this one!
Again, thank you very much, Otavio! We hope the Washington, DC version of the restaurant makes some adjustments.
International Spy Museum Hosts Scavenger Hunt Tonight
We’re surprised that we haven’t even mentioned the International Spy Museum (800 F St NW) since we started this blog.
We heard on the radio (107.3 FM) last night that there are still some slots available for tonight’s Ultimate Scavenger Hunt (starts at 7pm). The radio station ad also mentioned a sweet prize – plane tickets to London via MaxAir – an airline that features all first class seats on its flights. Sounds like fun!
Here are the details:
Each team will test its espionage know-how as answers to 50 mission-critical questions are hunted down. Armed with a top secret tricks-of-the-trade kit, cunning challenges will be faced including: invisible messages, concealment devices, border patrol guards, seductive agents, spies of infamy—even spies of fiction! Only one team will triumph, but all can look forward to refreshments in the clear at the Hunt debriefing. Minimum age of 18 required. Tickets $45 per person or $180 per team of four; members of The Spy Ring: $35 per person or $140 per team of four