New Nightspot opening on K St.

Apparently there's a new nightspot opening on K St this weekend. From an email:

DC hotspot Capitale (1301 K Street, NW DC), is set to captivate party goers with its opening this Saturday, September 8, 2012. With a breathtaking and unique design scheme, the Hogwarts-meets-Hollywood inspired nightlife venue is the brainchild of hospitality masterminds Tony Hudgins and his nightlife mogul partners. With four massive, brass leaning columns taking center stage in the venue’s Great Hall and commissioned art of celeb socialites like Scott Disick and Tuesday Weld, the same men who brought Washingtonians venues such as K Street Lounge, Play and Public Bar have joined forces to wow DC’s party scene once again.

Not being a big nightspot person these days, that bit isn't terribly interesting to me. What is interesting is their happy hour concept:

With plans to implement a rotating “food truck” happy hour in late September, Capitale will serve as not only a late-night hotspot, but also as a new option for DC’s flourishing happy-hour scene. The food truck happy hour idea is that of partner Tony Hudgins.

“I’m constantly following DC’s foodie scene and was always intrigued by the accessibility and on-the-go nature of our booming food truck empire. Our venue has no kitchen, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want our patrons to snack while they sip. I think a weekly, rotating selection of food trucks will offer Capitale guests the luxury of a casual, delicious bite in a cozy and elegant venue,” says Hudgins.

Capitale’s hours of operation will change once the happy hour schedule is released in late September.

Their current hours of operation are 10pm - 2am during the week, 10pm - 3am on the weekend, closed Monday and Wednesday.

Small Plates: 09.07.12

For those who are curious, here's the difference between cheese and margherita pizza. [Serious Eats]

ShopHouse Asian Kitchen is hoping to move into the old Furin's space in Georgetown. [PoP]

How to build a better brisket? First, buy a fatty piece and make sure the fat's on top. [WaPo]

Bachelor Pad/Bachelorette contestant Chris Bukowski is planning to open a 'ladies sports bar. [Eater]

No, I don't know if it's a sports bar for ladies or a Hooters-style sports bar, and Chris hasn't really made it clear yet.

Lately, I've been wanting to make a hash for dinner. It has something to do with the surfeit of potatoes we've been getting in our CSA, but especially with fall coming on, it's a nice comforting dish. I based it on a recipe for Red Flannel Hash from Rick and Ann's restaurant in Berkeley, but with some changes. I used to make a sausage and onions dish when I was in law school, and still enjoy playing with sausage meat, so I used de-cased sausages in place of the bacon. I also added some jalapeno and vinegar to kick it up a notch. It turned out pretty good, and it's a nice, easy recipe to have in mind.

First, I started the potatoes steaming while I peeled the beets. I chopped a jalapeno, onion, and a garlic clove. I also sliced open the sausages and removed the casing. Once the beets and the potatoes were done steaming, I started frying the sausage. After the sausage was browned, I removed it and deglazed the pan with some vinegar, after which I added the aromatics. Once those were brown, I added the potatoes and beets in, mashed them, and once they had heated up a bit and gotten a bit brown, I put the sausage back in and let it all meld together.

It was really quite tasty, with just a couple flaws. First, the sausage didn't actually have enough fat to grease up the pan, so I should have added some oil/butter/fat to the pan before putting in the aromatics, and certainly before adding the potatoes. Second, I'm not sure the beets ended up as well cooked as I would have liked. But the jalapeno and vinegar gave it a good kick, the flavors worked really well together, and the combination of beets, sweet potatoes, and russet potatoes had a really nice color. Recipe after the jump.

Small Plates: 09.06.12

In honor of the Democratic Convention, here's some places for barbecue in North Carolina. [WaPo]

Anna Spiegel gives us some more details about R J Cooper's plans for Mosaic District. [Washingtonian]

Homebrewer John Lutz is teaming up with a local blog to brew Obama's Honey Ale. [DCist]

In case you wanted it in one spot, here's 12 places that are going to be opening this fall. [Eater]

Small Plates: 09.05.12

Kafe Bohem, the expansion of Bistro Bohem in Shaw, is now open. [Washingtonian]

The Red Derby, up in North Columbia Heights, is adding a roof to its roof deck. [PoP]

Ben's Chili Bowl finished a mural commemorating famous people who've eaten there. [DCist]

Chocolate City and DC Brau are drooling over possibly making Obama's Honey Ale. [Young & Hungry]

Fojolmania

Photo by Ben Murray, on flickr.

Volothai, the Fojol Bros Thai truck, is good, but not great. The drunken noodles I found bland, and the beef was too chewy. The green curry is excellent. It's fairly spicy and made with Brussels sprouts, whose mustardy taste goes well with the curry. The chicken pad thai is, again, bland. There's not a lot of peanut flavor, no spicy, and the chicken is dry. The very large chunks of green onion didn't do it any favors.

The Indian truck is best known for its superb butter chicken. Just like any good butter chicken, it's quite creamy and moist, but theirs has a nice kick to it, a good complexity that a lot of butter chicken lacks. The cauliflower-potato dish is a bit less good. It has an odd bitterness and some of the potato chunks are a bit larger than they should be. It's not bad, though, and some of the problem might just be that it doesn't pair well with the butter chicken.

I've only been to the Ethiopian truck, Benethiopia once, and found it better than average, but because Ethiopian food doesn't get along well with office clothes, I haven't been back. Overall, Fojol Bros is a good choice for Indian food if you want something a bit different for lunch, but it's generally not exceptional.

Small Plates: 09.04.12

Lou's City Bar is getting a big revamp. Hopefully they're keeping the wings! [PoP]

Signs for Red Apron Butchers have finally gone up in Penn Quarter. [PoP]

Vigilante Microroaster is opening a pop-up shop at Mr. Yogato, 17th and P, in the mornings. [PoP]

The new Iron Gate Restaurant has applied for a liquor license. [PoP]