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Cary Pollak for Whisk and Quill
July 31, 2013
A recent business trip to Austin, Texas provided an opportunity to do a quick Texas Two Step to a couple of the Lone Star state’s most intriguing cities. I had heard nothing but good things about the Austin scene over the years, and I could take a short drive to nearby San Antonio’s famed Alamo and River Walk.
If you want to check out San Antonio from the airport in Austin, you can hightail it by car and arrive in San Antonio in just over an hour. And despite the basketball playoffs in San Antonio that night, we made good time. Legend has it Spurs fans on their way to a playoffs game are more fearsome than Santa Anna’s troops when they stormed The Alamo, but we managed to sneak through their lines safely.
It was a picture perfect day to visit to The Alamo. Though the 18th century Spanish mission is a relatively small and simple edifice, once you get up close you notice it is dwarfed by the thriving modern city that grew up around it.
 The Alamo The sight of the Alamo can conjure up feelings of reverence for the men who fought and died in a battle critical to the shaping of the United States. It was Sam Houston’s Texas Army that drew on the incident for inspiration during a successful campaign to gain independence from Mexico. Now a lovely and peaceful garden graces the iconic structure, and a small museum portrays daily life in March of 1836 when the Alamo fell. A beautifully elaborate vest worn by Tennessee frontiersman Davey Crockett and a Bowie knife from the 1830’s are among the displays. Both Crockett and Jim Bowie were killed in the legendary battle.
 Davey Crockett’s vest – Bowie knife Across the street from the Alamo is the entryway to the San Antonio River Walk. Billed as “The Number One Tourist Attraction in Texas”, it is a long, winding path along the San Antonio River lined with charming restaurants, shops and hotels on both sides. We chose an outdoor table at Rita’s on the River, and enjoyed fabulous Tex-Mex cuisine in a lovely setting. The fajitas arrived sizzling on a cast iron skillet hot as a branding iron. Rita’s menu prepares you for “Texas-sized portions,” and accordingly, fajita platters feature an astonishing three quarters of a pound of meat along with onions, peppers, rice, refried beans, pico de gallo, guacamole, sour cream, and cheese. You might want to take an extra-long stroll down the River Walk to work off one of Rita’s generous meals.
 San Antonio River Walk – Rita’s on the River First time visitors to Austin might be surprised to learn that the town’s informal slogan is “Keep Austin Weird,” which can be seen on t-shirts and in store windows around town. The more traditional moniker for the capital city, chosen by community leaders in 1991, is “Live Music Capital of the World.” A good argument can be made for both descriptions.
Reliable sources such as the Travel Channel reckon that the town is home to over 200 live music venues and more than 1900 musicians. As you stroll down popular 6th Street, where bars and restaurants often keep doors open and live bands in view, don’t be surprised if the cadence of your walk shifts to the musical strains of blues, jazz and country. On Briscoe Street, step into The Driskill Hotel to view an elegant showplace reminiscent of early Texas. The Driskill is a beautifully restored Romanesque-style hotel built in 1886 by a rich cattleman who seemed to want to best his neighbors to the north.
 Lobby of The Driskill Hotel The 1869 Café and Bakery occupies a light and airy room with high ceilings and a display of house made pastries that will have you craving dessert at any time of day. Try the glistening cherry Danish. The elegant and highly rated Driskill Grill features local Texas beef and game in a clubby 1920’s décor.
 Interior of the Driskill Grill Stubb’s Bar-B-Q at 801 Red River bills itself as “the heart of an explosive music scene,” with good reason. It offers about four or five live performances a week, usually ticketed, on both indoor and outdoor stages. Barbequed meats get a coating of house made dry rub before being slow smoked over Texas Post Oak. Side dishes are made from scratch. The place is so busy that some of the meats can be left on the slow smoker a bit too long. On one visit the turkey breast was tasty but too dry. But the sweet potato fries were timed just right, crispy on the outside, hot and tender on the inside.
Banger’s Sausage House and Beer Garden on Rainey Street boasts the largest selection of sausages in Austin and has 100 beers on tap to wash it all down. The restaurant claims to be named for fictional character Olaf Banger, whose legend can be enhanced by anyone who goes on to the www.BangersAustin.com website and makes up a new story. The menu draws on sausage making traditions from all over the world. The signature bangers and mash is house made Irish style pork sausage with onion gravy and skin-on mashed potatoes. The Cajun Boudin Plate features the famous Louisiana sausage with saltine Crackers, Tabasco Sauce, red beans & rice. Bratwurst is mild and flavorful, just like in the old country. It is made of pork, but the menu correctly explains that any combination of veal, beef or pork is authentic. The most creative menu item is the “Veggie BLT,” actually a sausage made of crushed sun dried tomatoes and cheese curds and topped with shiitake mushroom “bacon”, field greens, and onion aioli. Fabulous! Diners are frequently treated to live music in the beer garden .
 Live band next to the Banger’s sign If you think that Banger’s provides an unusual dining experience, you should pay a visit to Threadgill’s, a food and music establishment that holds itself out as the reason why “Keep Austin Weird” became a popular expression. Threadgill’s now has two charming and homey locations, on North Lamar Street and on West Riverside Drive. They feature a southern style menu that appears not to have been changed for decades. One minor concession to modern tastes might be that the menu offers their “world famous” chicken-fried steak with cream gravy on top or on the side. Those in favor of lighter fare have some options too. Grilled or broiled chicken is well prepared and the Rio Grande veggie burger packs a lot of flavor. The West Riverside Drive location has on display a piano that was played by rock star Jerry Lee Lewis and that accompanied a young Janis Joplin when she developed her early folk singing style.
 Piano at Thrreadgill’s There are a number of reasons why many Austinites think their hometown is unique. Austin is known for being socially and politically progressive in predominantly conservative Texas, and residents usually vote Democratic. And one of the most unusual attractions in the country is a nightly celebration. Here people of every political stripe gather under the Congress Avenue Bridge throughout the summer to watch the nightly outpouring of the world’s largest urban colony of bats. To top it off, The Museum of The Weird on 6th Street houses a collection of creepy attractions, some in the form of display items from horror movie sets, and some live bugs and reptiles. There’s an entertaining live show by sword swallower Juan Martinez. After the sword is fully inserted down his gullet, he takes a deep bow. He explains that this is a rare and dangerous move, even among the 100 or so sword swallowers currently practicing in the U.S. This performer clearly is a cut above.
 Bats flying from Congress Avenue Bridge – Sword swallower at Museum of the Weird Austin and San Antonio deliver some of the most interesting experiences Texas has to offer. Austin is alive with the sounds of music and is full of surprises, some weird and some just wonderful. San Antonio’s River Walk is a joy to explore. Long after you leave that historic city, you will always “Remember the Alamo.”
All photo credit to Cary Pollak
Jordan Wright
July 28, 2013
Special to The Alexandria Times
 Bad Idea Bears (puppets), Matt Liptak and Charlene Sloan – Photos by Keith Waters With the presentation of Avenue Q The Little Theatre of Alexandria continues its successful leap into the 21st century, with productions that a few years ago would have seemed, well, unseemly to their faithful supporters. My, how times have changed. No longer content with a steady diet of British farce, show tunes and murder mysteries, the theater has branched out this year to include complex religious themes in the sensitive and brilliantly crafted Cantorial, racy topics with a splash of nudity in the hilarious The Full Monty, and now X-rated humor with the uproarious musical Avenue Q. It’s taken some adjusting from the Old Guard benefactors. Overheard – “If they say a bad word, I told him I’d cover his ears.”. Even the director’s notes encourage playgoers to loosen up with this comment, “Let political correctness and sexual and social propriety take a back seat…” But all theaters know they must attract newer, younger audiences and in this day and age swear words and sex talk is everyday TV fare.
Avenue Q picks up where Sesame Street left off. It centers on the generations of kids who grew up with the furry puppets and kooky TV characters that cheered them on, mollified their fears, and taught them the alphabet and, who now as young adults entering the work force, struggle to realize their dreams. The actors, who are quite visible to the audience and mimic the puppets’ emotions, manipulate the twelve furry creatures in a set-to-music guide to the galaxy filled with lessons on love, sex and the Internet.
 James Hotsko Jr., Kate Monster (puppet), and Kristina Hopkins – Photos by Keith Waters Everything takes place on Avenue Q. Princeton (Sean Garcia) is new to the neighborhood. He’s just graduated college but his life has no purpose, “What Do You Do With a B. A. in English”, he posits. Kate Monster (Kristina Hopkins) is the girl-next-door, an aspiring teacher that Princeton falls madly in love with. Unfortunately he thinks love is not fulfilling enough in his self-absorbed world of job searches and grown-up responsibilities. Christmas Eve (Stephanie Gaia Chu) is the neighborhood’s crazy Japanese lady and psychotherapist, who doesn’t care if she is perceived as Chinese or Korean, but won’t abide by the term Oriental, her significant other is Brian, an out of work Caucasian who wants to be a stand-up comedian.
 Princeton (puppet) and Sean Garcia – Photos by Keith Waters Nicky (Matt Liptak) and Rod (Sean Garcia) are roommates. Rod, who is still in the closet, hopes to convince everyone otherwise with the song, “My Girlfriend Who Lives In Canada”. And then there are the cuddly cute Bad Idea Bears (Charlene Sloan and Matt Liptak), who try to undermine everyone’s better judgment by sobbing uncontrollably when their devilish advice is not taken.
Gary Coleman (Aerika Saxe) is the street-smart African-American superintendent who balances out the yuppies’ dilemmas with real life issues in the number “Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist”. But they all agree on one thing, including Trekkie (Matt Liptak), the kindhearted but scary monster, in “The Internet Is for Porn”. “He a pervert,” Christmas Eve suggests, but he’s no match for Lucy the Slut (Claire O’Brien), whose Mae West allure has Princeton in her thrall.
 Lucy the Slut (puppet) and Claire O’Brien – Photos by Keith Waters In a show where puppets rule, the actor’s expressions, as they mirror the speaking parts of their hairy avatars, are crucial. Each actor must take on their puppet’s personality and dialogue, both physically and verbally. To say that this troupe excels in their character’s puppet persona, is an understatement and a tribute to Director Frank D. Shutts II’s superb casting as well as Puppet Master Kristopher Kauff and Puppet Wrangler Katherine Dilaber, who taught eight neophytes the art of puppeteering.
Highly recommended. For adults only.
Through August 17th at The Little Theatre of Alexandria, 600 Wolfe Street. For tickets and information call the box office at 703 683-0496 or visit www.thelittletheatre.com
Jordan Wright
July 18, 2013
Special to Alexandria Times
Oxford may be a scant eighty-four miles from Washington, DC, but it is a long and fascinating journey back in time to a postcard-pretty village that has vouchsafed its history as one of the oldest towns in Maryland.
 Parked along the strand in Oxford For our adventure to the Eastern Shore we drove a 2013 Ford Escape Eco-Boost Titanium and it proved to be beyond our expectations in fun, style and technology. Some very cool features stood out – nighttime sidelights that illuminate the area you are turning towards, a remote starter (How did we ever live without this?), blind spot detection and GPS, and the foot-activated rear door, especially handy when arms are loaded down with baggage and souvenirs. Ours was a lovely shade of celery green they call “ginger ale” that drew compliments wherever we went.
 The BBQ Joint in Easton We crossed the Bay Bridge to Rte. 301 and headed due south past acres of flat farmland and roadside stands. Wooden crates stacked high with fresh corn, sun-ripened tomatoes and juicy cantaloupes had to wait for our return as we made our way to the county seat of Easton and a pit stop for lunch at The BBQ Joint. This super cute restaurant with its shady sidewalk tables is recognized as having some of the South’s best barbecue and definitely merits a detour. It’s where Chef/Owner Andrew Evans left the world of fine dining to serve up his award winning smoked meats and unique sauces.
 The list of hot sauces – Local blue crab salsa at Crabi Gras in Easton Easton boasts tons of antique emporiums, galleries and upscale gift shops along with the Academy Art Museum A whose exhibits feature local as well as world-renowned artists. On Harrison Street is Crabi Gras for hot sauces, spices and pickles from around the country. We rehydrated at Hill’s Soda Fountain and Café with a glass of JMX, a vitamin-packed elixir of fruits and vegetables, juiced on site, that locals buy by the quart.
 The Academy Art Museum of Easton After a ten-mile drive we come upon Oxford and the Oxford Inn. The yellow clapboard structure with green shutters and a large porch was built circa 1880 and sports an antique British taxi parked out front. The seven-bedroom B&B owned by Lisa McDougal and husband Dan Zimbelman was bustling as preparations were in high gear for dinner and the bar already had its first guests of the afternoon. McDougal is a world-class chef who thrills diners with her inventive European bistro cuisine in the inn’s Pope’s Tavern, a country chic dining room where she showcases her imaginative seasonal dishes. Have a cocktail in the bar and meet the locals or sit on the front porch for a view of the canal. We discover the taxi is to give locals a ride home after an evening of over-tippling. You need only climb the stairs to your cozy room to call it a day.
 The Oxford Inn with its iconic antique British taxi If you came to the Eastern Shore to do some crab picking, there’s no better spot than the Masthead at Pier Street Marina whose waterside view of the sunset is breathtaking. Get a bucket of Ipswich steamers and spiced crabs and dig in.
 Chef Lisa McDougal’s soft shell crabs with succotash – Salmon seviche with house made crisps at the Oxford Inn The combination of savory aromas wafting upstairs and the morning’s sunlight pouring into our bedroom window pushed out any thoughts of lolling about in bed. There’s nothing like the sound of halyards pinging against a ship’s mast and pennants flapping in the breeze to get the spirit moving – that and sizzling bacon. Weekends are when McDougal goes all out with a lavish breakfast of omelets, bacon, sausage, pancakes, frittatas, fresh fruits and house made breads and scones. Did I mention she does the baking too? All with an engaging energy that makes you feel you’ve known her all your life.
 “Come Bike With Me” – Oxford Picket Fence Project Exploring the village by foot is the best way to experience its tree-lined streets and historic homes. For the past five summers the town has organized a picket fence project. Twenty-two fence sections are given to local artists to decorate and display around town before being auctioned off at the end of September with proceeds going to the artist’s favorite charity. Grab a map from the inn and see how many of these highly original fences you can spy. If you see one you like you can bid online before the big night. This weekend a free historical walking tour of Oxford leaves from the ferry dock at 1pm Saturday, July 20th.
 The Oxford-Bellevue Ferry By the river’s edge is the Oxford-Bellevue Ferry, in operation since 1683. Purported to be the oldest ferry service in the nation, it is currently owned by Captain Tom and Judy Bixler. The ten-minute ride is a short cut to Tilghman Island, a fishing village punctuated by an old drawbridge.
 Watching the watermen return to port from the Tilghman Island Inn We took a leisurely lunch under a willow tree on the deck of the Tilghman Island Inn. The peaceful spot comes with sweeping views of Knapps Narrows and the redwing blackbirds and great blue herons that soar across the marshes and perch on wildflowers. Over rockfish chowder and fried local oyster sandwiches we watched sailboats heading out to the bay as watermen returned with their daily catch. With a bit of prodding proprietor and Southern gentleman extraordinaire David McCallum will regale you with stories of his notable guests like Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant who brought his family for a week earlier this summer.
 Rockfish chowder at the Tilghman Island Inn After lunch hop a ride on the Rebecca T. Ruark, built in 1886. The antique skipjack leaves from nearby Dogwood Harbor for a two-hour tour of the water. Or check with the inn to book fishing charters, kayaking and bicycle rentals.
Take the Royal Oak Road back to Oxford and you’ll pass Oak Creek Sales. The store cum barn holds an eclectic olio of vintage patio furniture, junk from Grandma’s parlor and attic and terrific finds. I snagged a small cast bronze dog and a brass jockey-themed wall hanging for keys and caps.
 The veranda at the Robert Morris Inn On warm summer nights dining is alfresco at the Robert Morris Inn, a bespoke colonial inn built in 1710 and owned by British Master Chef Mark Salter and Ian Fleming. Salter’s elegant cuisine delivers a modern approach to classically styled dishes like summer gazpacho with lump crab, or the inn’s original recipe crab cakes served with corn succotash, grilled watermelon and white corn sauce. Save room for a slice of pecan pie or Salter’s version of the iconic multi-layered Smith Island Cake topped with whipped cream.
After dinner we strolled along the strand gazing at the stars and hearing the osprey’s call. Then back to Pope’s Tavern for a nightcap with plans for the next day’s stop at a farm market to bring home some of those glorious peaches.
 Sunset from the Masthead at Pier Street Marina restaurant All photos by Jordan Wright
Jordan Wright
July 09, 2013
Special to The Credits – Motion Picture Association of America
 David works with elephant
If you’ve ever seen a rhino in a television commercial, his name is Tank and he’s the only working rhino in show business. Maybe you’ve noticed zebras, bears, leopards, African lions, panthers or Siberian tigers in TV ads or on the big screen and wondered how they’re train to stand still, lie down, run around or roar on command for the camera?
 Meeks with his Zebra Zeke
Many of the animals you see on the big and small screen belong to David Meeks, director of Hollywild Animal Park in South Carolina. Meeks is the East Coast animal wrangler filmmakers call when they need, say, a panther in their in movie. The business side of the 100-acre park is called Cinema Animal Talent, and it’s been going strong for over 30 years. Tank, the white rhino, is one of Meeks’ biggest stars. With over 700 exotic animals living in the park, Meeks has tapped on his zoological collection for over 60 major motion pictures and countless print ads and television commercials since the early 1980’s. For nearly a decade his cougars shilled for Lincoln-Mercury and pounced in The Last of the Mohicans and Reversal of Fortune. Pongo the orangutan did commercials for Mazda, and Donna the Asian elephant appeared in Ryder Trucks and Land Rover ads. Tank the rhino can’t stop getting work, offering his majestic prehistoric-looking bulk for Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Land Rover ads. Meeks’ lynxes have worked for Minolta, while Alfonso the Leopard Appaloosa horse was in The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking, along with some of Meeks’ crafty Capuchin monkeys.
Meeks’ film credits include, A Breed Apart, Order of the Black Eagle, Date with an Angel, Never Say Goodbye, Prince of Tides, Reuben, Reuben, Rottweilers, The Real McCoy, The Stand, Betsey’s Wedding Days, Days of Thunder, Monkey Shines, Prancer, Blood Savage and many, many others.
Recently the park had a joyous occasion when a long-horned African Watusi (a breed of cattle native to Africa) accidentally bred with an American Bison. They tagged the resulting offspring a Waffalo and cheerfully named them Pop Tart and Eggo.
The Credits had a chance to talk with Meeks about his unique career.
 David Meeks with his rhino star Tank The Credits: How do you even begin training animals to camera ready?
I don’t call it training because you can’t really train a wild animal. I call it “conditioning” and you have to keep it up even when they’re not in a film. You have to have a rapport with an animal—be firm but be fair. They’re not circus animals. And they don’t understand our humor.
But you’ve got these animals doing tricks…
An exotic animal will only do tricks if he thinks you won’t hurt him. He can react badly if you don’t know how to read his body language and make him relax. When I see that they’re uncomfortable I’ll tell the director, “We have to take a break.” I know what the animals are saying. They’ll scream it at you. You can’t second-guess an animal’s behavior. It’s instinctive for them to act from experience. Even a mixed martial arts master is nothing going up against a lion, a primate or a bear. If the animal doesn’t respect you, you’re gone.
What was one of the most unusual things you were asked to have an animal do?
One film company wanted to do a complete body scan of our rhino— film every inch of the animal’s body so that they could make him do everything a rhino can’t do, like cartwheels or a split. They wanted to make his horns perfect, too, but I realized that if they did that they would never need to use a real rhino again. I didn’t do it. The real thing looks much better.
 Meeks with a potential new star What are a few of the features your animals or you have appeared in?
There are so many. In Stephen King’s miniseries The Stand, where it was good versus evil, we used cockroaches, deer, a dog, a butterfly, hundreds of bats, a crow and a cow. I had to go all the way to Utah to find this giant Holstein. We used bats in The Big Chill, too. In Betsey’s Wedding I stunt doubled for Alan Alda when he had to fight a Bengal tiger we had provided. In another movie I doubled for Gary Sinise. For A Breed Apart, we provided the eagle, which at the time was considered an endangered species. Recently we shipped monkeys to Florida for an upcoming episode of Shipping Wars. And even though we didn’t have a lion in it, my lions were used for study purposes in The Lion King.
Have you ever had to modify an animal’s appearance for the purposes of a film?
Yeah, for this film Prancer [a Christmas movie about a girl who comes across a reindeer with an injured leg]. When director John Hancock came to me to do a Christmas movie I figured they would want a reindeer. I’d never even seen a reindeer up close and never worked with one. But he told me they preferred to use a fallow deer because it’s prettier. I told them any deer that has antlers is a male, and this time of the year they are in rut [their mating season], and there’s no way I’ll work with a deer in rut next to an 8 year-old girl. Even a deer that’s tame and workable will kill you when it’s in rut.
Who knew deers in mating season were so deadly.
Yeah. So I don’t hear from them for a while, and then one day I get a call back and they said I said I could use a reindeer, but now the problem is the timing. I tell them the females lose their antlers before the males and you could have a reindeer that loses its antlers in the middle of the shoot. So I flew up to see them and said we have to have several reindeer on the set because they are herd oriented and they need to stay together. So we used a female and had fake antlers made for her. A puppeteer made a fake reindeer head for close ups but they only had to use it once.
Did any of your animals do something you couldn’t have predicted?
We were in Nashville to do an ad. Every time I’d go there I had to do four or five commercials at a time. The last time I was up there I had a female chimp called Rosie. Chimps are really smart. They work on credit [meaning, incredibly, that they’re so smart they know they’ll be rewarded at a later time.] I said, “Rosie, could you please do some cartwheels over here?” But you can’t rush her. I can see the stool she’s sitting on is too close to the cabinets and there’s a paint bucket nearby. The director says they’ll have the stool secured, and I left the set and went to the trailer with Rosie. When I got back they said it was all fixed. So I dressed her up, put her diaper on, and the stool was still not locked down. Then I saw her go for the paint bucket. She snatched it up and when I grabbed it out of her hand she bit me. Every time animals do something there’s a good reason. They think you make it rain or make the sun shine. They look at you negatively or positively and they think and ask questions. They will instinctively blame you for your mistakes.
 Meeks provided the Carolina Panthers with the real version of their namesake What was the most dangerous thing that happened on set?
Once when we were filming in Chimney Rock, North Carolina late at night, I had my black panther walk between a cave and a rock. There was a fire nearby and she was on a piece of transparent monofilament we use for a leash [a thin plastic wire like a fishing line that can’t be seen, so it’s used as a leash during filming]. When she crossed the fire the filament burned up and I didn’t know where she was. In this case I should have used a steel cable even though it doesn’t stretch. If something goes wrong on a shoot, you have to let the big cat run until you can get them back.
Whoa, you have to let a panther just run? Is that the craziest thing that’s happened to you on a set?
No. I was doing a Ryder Trucks commercial with the actor Steve Landesberg. I had worked with him before in Leader of the Band. We head off to Atlanta with this Asian elephant provided by this trainer I know, Rex.
When we got to the set I saw that the elephant was reaching out her trunk. I could tell she was fixing to hit Steve and I was worried. The line in the ad was, “When I’ve got something really big, I choose a Ryder Truck.” I asked Rex, “Has that elephant ever smacked anyone?” He hesitated. So I asked Rex if the elephant maybe needed a break, and he agreed. But then Rex said, “Nah. Shoot the rest of it.”
As soon as the cameras begin to roll, the elephant knocked Steve clear out of the shot.
Jordan Wright
July 11, 2013
Special to DC Metro Theater Arts and LocalKicks
 Airlie House – photo credit Jordan Wright It is with heavy heart that I divulge to my dear readers one of my secret pleasures – because not to share my latest adventures is anathema to my nature. But first I’ll tell of my history with a place that has been dear to my heart for many years.
Fifteen years ago I discovered one of the nation’s most under-the-radar destinations. A secluded destination that has more in common with Britain’s “Treasure Houses” than a Virginia gentleman’s farm, although that is what it once was. It began innocently enough on a Saturday morning in the beautiful foothills of the Piedmont region where we had gone to meet friends at the steeplechase races. After driving about an hour from Washington we turned off the highway onto a country lane past a series of stone columns fitted with iron gates. A large rock waterfall beside the road appeared as if out of nowhere. Meadows resplendent with wildflowers and a small airstrip came into view. The winding road led us high up to a racetrack that coursed over hill and dale and around several ponds. We spent a glorious day wondering where indeed we were.
 The moon gate at Airlie – photo credit Jordan Wright Fast forward to the following year and we are watching sheep trials on the same wondrous property. We take luncheon in the manor, tour the formal gardens, watch collies work the sheep, and stroll the grounds circling around quiet ponds bordered with more houses, cottages, swimming pools and a small pub. Herons and geese abound, frogs and crickets whir in concert and fish leap out of the water breaking the silence. We are at Airlie House.
 Trumpeter Swans swim alongside Canada Geese on one of Airlie’s nine ponds – photo credit Jordan Wright On our next visit we were guests at a lawn party at one of the homes on the property where the landowner’s son, a young doctor and musician, lived in bohemian splendor amidst mansions and stables and wild raspberries.
 The Roger Tory Peterson Butterfly Garden dedicated to Airlie by his wife Virginia Peterson – photo credit Jordan Wright Soon after we learned of the Airlie Environmental Studies Center and its Director Dr. Bill Sladen whose swan migration program trained Trumpeter Swans, bred on the property, to follow an ultralight plane. And so, we returned for a swan conference, an international ornithological event that occurs somewhere in the world every ten years. For the first time we spent a night in one of the lovely cottages before taking off to a secret location near the Chesapeake Bay where we banded swans while cradling them in our arms. The bus then took us further south to the Great Dismal Swamp on a 32-hour expedition shared with thirty-five ornithologists speaking seventeen languages.
 Poolside at Airlie – photo credit Jordan Wright Last weekend I returned for a stay at Airlie House for the full-on guest experience. The 1200-acre conference center, once known only to high-level government officials, corporate CEOs and those whose business is conducted free from prying eyes, has now flung open the doors and grounds of this historic property to overnight guests, offering weekend packages, winemaker’s dinners in the field and a new partnership with the Castleton Festival. No longer is it the exclusive purview of conference attendees. At last anyone can experience its once-hidden glories.
 Airlie House Executive Chef Jeff Witte at the entrance to the kitchen gardens – photo credit Jordan Wright As the summer sun climbed high overhead I met with Airlie’s Executive Chef Jeff Witte, a Los Angeles native and graduate of Le Cordon Bleu, who guided me through the sustainable gardens, a passive solar hoop house and raised beds bursting at the seams with herbs, vegetables and flowers. Bee hives, the wellspring of Airlie’s honey, dot one side of the fenced-in plots, while climbing hops twine around poles in the biergarten.
The Center’s kitchen benefits from 4,500 pounds of organic produce each year, some of which is shared with community food banks. “We source from over 30 local farms for our meats, cheeses and fruits, buying everything as locally as we can. We’re totally committed to our relationships with the community’s farmers,” explains Witte whose upscale regional cuisine strikes an elegant chord with diners.
 A trio of palate cleansers – Alaskan halibut with Airlie garden vegetables – Garden figs with goat cheese ice cream, shortbread cookies and caramel sauce – photo credit Jordan Wright Kae Yowell, Head Gardener for the Local Food Project at Airlie, who grew up on a dairy farm where her grandparents grew and canned their own vegetables, enjoys teaching others about the pleasures of the garden. “Throughout the year we have a series of lectures on gardening, seed saving and beekeeping. We just had one on making fruit jams and jellies from our strawberry patch.
 The summer garden at Airlie – Flowers grow side by side with herbs and vegetables at the Local Food Project – photo credit Jordan Wright This weekend guests can join in the annual Butterfly Count and by the looks of it there will be plenty of monarchs and swallowtails flitting about the gardens and the surrounding wildflower meadows. For more information on Airlie Center and its weekend packages with tickets to Castleton visit www.Airlie.com.
 Butterfly weed in the meadows of Airlie – photo credit Jordan Wright Castleton
 The fields of Castleton – photo credit Jordan Wright Entering its fifth anniversary season with Maestro Lorin Maazel, Castleton’s founder and world-renowned former conductor of the New York Philharmonic and guest conductor of many of Europe’s finest orchestras, the festival plays host to international opera and musician superstars, as well as up and coming orchestral virtuoso artists. Situated on a 550-acre farm the Theatre House and its concert venue feature weekend programs of classical music concerts played by a full orchestra, chamber music performances, cabarets, and operas by composers from Puccini to Verdi to Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Maazel’s wife, Dietlinde Turban Maazel, is the festival’s co-founder and Associate Artistic Director. As a stage and screen actress she is singularly qualified to train the young artists that come from around the world to Castleton’s doors for the summer Artists Training Seminars and workshops in the performing arts. Another famous faculty member is American mezzo-soprano, Denyce Graves, veteran of the Metropolitan Opera and native Washingtonian.
 Westward ho for Castleton Festival’s “The Girl of the Golden West” Last Saturday the Castleton Festival staged a spectacular performance of Puccini’s “The Girl of the Golden West” and organizers had put an exclamation point on the theme with a cowboy galloping around the hills on a black and white Paint and a Conestoga wagon pulled by two perfectly matched draft horses at the entrance to the concert hall. It was a glamorous night for attendees and benefactors who basked in the glow of a glittering opening night. For tickets and information on the Festival’s upcoming performances through July 28th visit www.castletonfestival.org
 OTELLO this weekend
Jordan Wright
July 10, 2013
Special to DC Metro Theater Arts, Broadway Stars, and LocalKicks
Debuts and re-dos seem to be the thread of late. Restaurants in the DC Metro Area are opening and remixing at a astonishing rate no one could have imagined a few years ago. Forks up!
La Tasca Gets A Culinary Facelift
At La Tasca the privately owned chain of Spanish-themed restaurants, there’s huge buzz with the hiring of Josu Zubikarai, former executive chef at DC’s posh Taberna del Alabardero. The Basque native, whose knowledge of Spain’s authentic regional cuisine has earned him a beloved following, has come back to DC to ratchet up La Tasca’s menus with tapas and paellas both traditional and modern. He’ll work on pairings with his former Alabardero colleague, Aurelio Cabestrero, whose last stint was sommelier at Marcel’s.
 Flamenco dancers at La Tasca – photo credit Jordan Wright In my experience Spanish wines are some of the unsung stalwarts of the vineyard. At a recent gathering of sophisticated Spaniards I asked an elegant socialite why she thinks Americans aren’t more enlightened about Spanish wines. “Because we want to keep them all to ourselves!” she cheerfully explained. I’m hoping Cabestrero will be more inclined to share his knowledge from the fantastic wine list he’s assembled.
 Berenjenas served with a warm Cabrales cheese dip – Pulpo a la Gallega – Steamed octopus with potato – photo credit Jordan Wright Of the five La Tasca outposts around the DMV, I chose to visit the Old Town Alexandria location. As I approached the sound of flamenco music was pouring out onto the street. A party! Even though the sun was barely setting, the bar was lively, with patrons sipping sherry or drinking pitchers of sangria, some with filled with summer berries or fresh peaches, and nibbling on tapas.
There are over fifty tapas to choose from – – traditional nibbles like Manchego Frito, (fried manchego cheese) served with honey orange marmalade and Croquetas de Pollo y Jamon (croquettes with ham and chicken). The list goes on and on. More contemporary tapas like Mejillones Tigres (spicy mussels breaded and deep-fried with a béchamel sauce) are fabulous and you can’t go wrong with a cured meat platter of salchichon, cana de lomo, jamon de Serrano and chorizo served with picos and Marcona almonds or a cheese board of Tetilla, Montenebro, Valdeon and Manchego that arrives with a delicious fig jam.
 Eggplant with almonds and goat cheese – Brazo de Gitano – A rolled sponge cake layered with quince jam and served with Manchego cheese ice cream at La Tasca – photo credit Jordan Wright Some diners never get around to the paellas, but you should venture forth. Most of the rice-based dishes incorporate shellfish along with the traditional peas and peppers. One variety uses chicken and duck. Finish with café cortado or a glass of Gran Torres Orange, a Spanish liqueur, and hot and crispy house made churros or a creamy flan, and you’ll find yourself clicking your heels and shouting olé! www.LaTascaUSA.com.
Sofitel Lightens Up
No matter how critics whine and moan about small plates, they are here to stay. Whether it’s to please grazers whose palates operate like Twitter, or dieters who eschew heaping portions of protein, diners are choosing smaller, lighter and healthier portions.
 Sofitel Washington DC – photo courtesy of Sofitel To that end Sofitel DC has reintroduced its popular, De-Light by Sofitel, with a lightened up summer lunch menu guaranteed to have business diners served and out in thirty minutes if they so choose, which I do not. Because who wouldn’t want to linger at an outdoor table with a glass of rosé, savoring the cuisine of Executive Chef Franck Loquet and the heavenly macarons from Pastry Chef Vincent Bitauld?
 The 30-minute De-Light luncheon menu from Sofitel – photo credit Jordan Wright Or why not dine languorously under the smashing black & white celebrity photo portraits by Gilles Bensimon covering the dining room walls?
But this is news about a quick, well-balanced, low-calorie lunch whose courses are served at the same time. That’s an appetizer or salad, entrée and dessert with a calorie count of under 200 without sacrificing taste or satiety. There are a few choices to make first – Grilled Asparagus Salad with orange basil dressing or Branzino Tartare scented with lemon, ginger and vanilla, a delicate Chicken Tagine with fennel and pearl onions or Mixed Grill, an assortment of fish, tomato, lemongrass and glazed baby vegetables. Dessert is a strawberry and milk foam treat called ‘Milky Way’ for its etherealness.
Bearnaise – Adventures in Retro French Bistro
On the opposite end of the spectrum of Gallic cuisine are the cholesterol-heavy dishes of Bearnaise – Spike and Micheline Mendelsohn’s latest endeavor whose steak frites concept beckons like a croupier at a baccarat table. To say this type of cooking is as out of fashion as Carla Bruni, is an understatement. I had thought we were fast-tracking towards healthier fare, not the cardiac unit. Don’t expect to celeb-spot vegan goddess Gwyneth Paltrow slicing into a filet mignon here.
 Downstairs dining area at Bearnaise -photo credit Jordan Wright I enjoy revisiting the past as much as the next memoirist. Traveling back to a more innocent time, before Bocuse, Guerard and Vergé gave butter and cream the heave-ho and snubbed their consensual noses at the great Escoffier. Before the culinary renaissance of the 60’s trumpeted nouvelle cuisine and French restaurants reigned supreme, sauciers held sway, crepes suzette were made tableside, and bistros redolent of Gauloises and café filtre could be found on every street corner in France. We are enamored of that sexy epoque and so is the restaurant. Framed posters of Serge Gainsbourg, Brigitte Bardot and Coco Chanel dominating the cream-colored walls, are a dead giveaway.
 The most difficult decision of the night – photo credit Jordan Wright Bearnaise is steak-centric and the tender cuts are cooked to perfection. Serving them with a choice of sauces – béarnaise, spicy béarnaise, au poivre, bordelaise or maître d’hôtel butter – ups the ante. Sides include roasted Portobello mushrooms, Brussel sprouts dripping with bacon and tarragon-infused béarnaise, bone marrow for the Paleos, and potato gratin with lardons in a creamy Reblochon sauce. The night I dined there the soup of the day was vichyssoise that would have benefited from more leeks. But the crispy frites made from Yukon Gold potatoes. Sacre bleu! I dare you not to dip them in one of the exquisitely made sauces!
 The bespoke French table at Béarnaise -Steak frites with béarnaise – photo credit Jordan Wright The restaurant prides itself on its affordable French wine list. Over two dozen vintages are offered at $40.00 a bottle or $10.00 per glass. A few, like the 2009 Cardinale Cabernet at $400.00 a pop, are for high rollers only.
So would I eat here again? Mais bien sûr, mes amis! Though I’ll have to eat like a peasant for a month before returning to the French onion soup smothered in melted gruyére, escargots bathed in garlic herb butter and topped with a jaunty pastry beret, flat-iron steaks, unlimited frites and chocolate mousse.
The questions remain. Will the Mendelsohns’ legion of fans that flock to We, The Pizza, and Good Stuff Eatery’s burgers and shakes put their money on steaks frites? Will General Manager Chris Connor bring members from his former gig at the Cosmos Club to the stylish spot? Will Exec Chef Brad Race, formerly of Jose Andres’ Minibar and Michel Richard’s Michel be able to coax diners into dining on bistro cuisine? I’m betting the bank they do.
Malmaison – Not Just for Josephine
While we’re weighing in as Francophiles, I should mention Omar Popal’s new Malmaison is now serving dinner. Mussel soup, vichysoisse, short ribs Bordelaise, vegetarian bouillabaisse and house made duck confit are a few of the offerings in this hidden Georgetown spot best known for hosting dance parties. Malmaison has jiggered its cavernous space, once an ice factory, to provide diners with a view of the Potomac while dining on dishes from Michelin-starred chef Gerard Pangaud, formerly of Gerard’s Place and sweet treats from pastry chef, Serge Torres, an alumnus of New York’s Le Cirque.
 Pastries at Malmaison – photo credit Jordan Wright Popal’s other hot spot, Napoleon Bistro & Lounge, will be celebrating Bastille Day on Saturday, the 13th with a “Vive la France” party at their Columbia Road address. They’ll be spinning French beats and offering champagne cocktails. The French-themed costume party invites you to sport your best beret, black and white stripes and a moustache – ladies are exempt from the latter.
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