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By Jordan Wright
For those of you who remember the Dixie Pig, a former Alexandria high temple to Southern Fried Cuisine, you will know where to find Vaso’s Kitchen. The only commercial establishment in an otherwise laid-back neighborhood, the madcap neon pig still prances over the rooftop, a testament to the City’s love of historic preservation.
The three year-old restaurant, housed in a cute clapboard cottage, comfortably seats 60, with additional bar and summer patio seating. Its menu pays tribute to chef/owner Vaso’s Greek heritage with a nod to other regional Mediterranean cuisines. Vaso, who worked for Mike’s Italian Restaurant in the Mount Vernon area for 25 years, knows the operations of a restaurant, from kitchen to service, and spoils her mostly local clientele like a mother hen nurturing her brood. (Big reveal here…she is sister to Denise Papaloizou, who with her husband, Chris, own Alexandria’s top Greek restaurant, Taverna Cretekou in the heart of Old Town.) Continue reading VASO’S KITCHEN
By Jordan Wright
To get ready for Valentine’s Day you need go no further than our shops right here in town. At La Cuisine, on Cameron Street, a high-end cookware and gourmet specialty shop that caters to the chef in all of us, they are featuring organic and fair-trade chocolates from Cocoavino. Raspberry and Fig, Blood Orange and Fig, and Drunken Fig Truffles made by two master chocolatieres, Alisha Lumea and Avril Pendergast-Fischer of New York. Getting the festivities off to a good start are in-shop tastings on February 7th. Chocolate samples will be perfectly paired with a taste of wine. Continue reading VALENTINE’S DAY IN OLD TOWN
By Jordan Wright
 Looped reach to director Valerie Harper wraps her considerable performing skills around the witty and uninhibited Tallulah Bankhead like a full-swing sable coat and inhabits the former screen star’s persona like a hungry spirit. Her portrayal of the imperious legend is spot on, an hilarious channeling of this Hollywood “bad girl”.
Bankhead was always a fascinating character in the same vein as Dorothy Parker, Josephine Baker and Eva Tanguy, the original “I Don’t Care Girl”. Bawdy, uncensored and drenched in bon mots, Bankhead was a brilliant but controversial leading lady.
Writer Matthew Lombardo’s “Looped” is based on an episode in a recording studio when Bankhead was asked to redo one line to be synced into the classic b-movie, ”Die! Die! My Darling!”.
Like Kathy Griffin (“My Life on the D List”), Bankhead was notorious for peppering her language with colorful four-letter words that would make a sailor blush, and Harper nails it with an uproarious performance in this over-the-top sendup.
 Emotional projection Fueled by cigarettes, cocaine, pot and booze Bankhead quips, “Everyone has their vices. It’s just that mine all come out to play at the same time.” The one-liners come fast and furiously, most too raunchy to repeat. In his role as studio “suit” Danny Miller, Jay Goede, as straight man, is convincing. To his rejection of her advances she declares, “If I were hungry for a man, I would want a meal not an hors d’oeuvre!”
After the show a little old be-pearled lady beside me whispered, “She’s not like me at all. I’m very straight-laced. Oh, I wish I could be like that!” To judge by the audience’s enthusiasm it seems we’d all like to be a little like that.
Catch it before it leaves town. (Harper will be the Celebrity Grand Marshall of DC’s feathered and fabulous Gay Pride March on June 13.)
If You’re Going…
LOOPED
At the Lincoln Theatre until June 28
1215 U Street
Washington, DC
www.thelincolntheatre.org
For ticket information call (202) 488-3300
 Christophe Poteaux, Chef/Owner, Bastille, demonstrates Poulet Basquaise (braised chicken, Basque style) By Jordan Wright
Question: Who cares more than your mother about what you eat?
A. A restaurant chef/owner
B. Two restaurant chef/owners
C. Two French restaurant chef/owners who hands-on work their magic daily in their own treasure of a restaurant.
If you guessed C, then you should be dining at Bastille, a charming Old Town restaurant that feels, as soon as you cross the threshold, as if you have discovered the little French restaurant you have been dreaming of all your life.
The instantly intimate Bastille has it all.
Here you’ll find French classic dishes with a regional interpretation in a farmhouse-style atmosphere of such cachet you feel as though you have driven miles out into the French countryside; traditional dishes that miss only the pastis to start your meal and servers so knowledgeable about the cuisine you might think they had prepared the food themselves, if you didn’t see for yourself the Chefs Madame and Monsieur Poteaux behind the raised counter that separates you from satisfying your discerning palate. Continue reading The instantly intimate Bastille
 President Barack Obama at his Inaugural luncheon Tuesday By Jordan Wright
President Barack Obama’s Inaugural Luncheon for approximately 200 guests was held Tuesday afternoon at the Capitol’s Statuary Hall after the swearing-in.
The inventive dishes, created by Alexandria-based Design Cuisine as a tribute to Abraham Lincoln’s favorite foods, were paired with American wines and American-sourced food products.
First course was Seafood Stew prepared with lobster, scallop and shrimp with a crisp pastry lid. It was paired with a 2007 Duckhorn Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc from the Napa Valley region.
It was followed by a “Brace of American Birds,” duck and pheasant from Wisconsin’s MacFarlane Pheasants farm, served with a sour cherry chutney and whipped molasses sweet potatoes…a nod to Obama’s affection for Sweet Potato Pie. It was delightfully paired with a 2005 Goldeneye Pinot Noir also from California.
The piece de resistance, and who can resist dessert, was an Apple Cinnamon Sponge Cake with Glace Cream which was highlighted by a Korbel Natural “Special Inaugural Cuvee” from the spectacular Russian River Valley.
The bottle featured a commemorative neck label featuring the Inaugural Seal.
How many bottles were taken home as souvenirs is anyone’s guess.
Below is the recipe for the Duck Breast with Cherry Chutney. Do try this at home!
Continue reading Alexandria caterer prepares Obama’s Swearing-in luncheon
 Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions Behind the Scenes on Alien Trespass with Jenni Baird, Eric McCormack and director R.W. Goodwin
By Jordan Wright
January 4, 2009
R.W. Goodwin, best known as the director/producer of “The X-Files,” was in town last week and Local Kicks Senior Editor Jordan Wright sat down with him to explore his latest cinematic foray into the realms of outer space.
LOCAL KICKS: What is your attraction to the sci-fi genre?
GOODWIN: It was all accidental, if you want to know the truth. Years ago I was a producer on “Star Trek.” They’d given up the idea of a movie at Paramount but wanted to do it again as a series with the original cast except for Leonard Nimoy and Gene Roddenberry. They asked me to do it. I didn’t know much about sci-fi then. I couldn’t call myself a Trekkie.
“The X-Files” was one of those serendipitous things. I was moving our family up to Washington State to get the kids in school up there and we picked a little town called Bellingham, WA. near the border (of British Columbia), and I’d produced a number of shows in Vancouver.
I get a call from Fox and they set me up with Chris Carter who is doing 12 episodes of this show.
“Alien Trespass” came about through Jim Swift who also lives up in Bellingham. I’d known him for about six years, he was an avid “X-Files” devotee, and after a few years he presented me with a story outline. Continue reading The X-Files R.W. Goodwin: Setting Down with Alien Trespass
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