The Dish: crab tikki

The Location: Indique, 3512 Connecticut Ave. NW, (202) 244-6600

The Price: $7

The Skinny: For the obvious reasons, restaurants in the region, no matter what the cuisine, feel the need to add a crab cake to the menu. I’ve seen ‘em at barbecue joints, and I’ve seen ‘em at Irish pubs. Upscale Indian restaurants are not immune to the siren call of the crab cake. Rasika, for example, has a masala version. But K.N. Vinod, co-owner and chef at Indique in Cleveland Park, says his sub-continental crab cake was the first in town. I can’t substantiate that claim, but his crab tikki is definitely the tastiest and most original among the Indian interpretations I’ve tried. Vinod chops up lump meat, mixes it with crushed red peppers, shallots, and cilantro, and serves it with a coconut sambal that might be the most creative condiment I’ve ever seen. The cakes themselves release their flavors in succession: beginning with a quick flash of sweet crab meat, followed by the sweet heat of the shallots, and culminating with a three-alarm fire of red peppers. This is where the condiment comes in-the freshly grated coconut, tinted red with a combination of chilies and tomatoes, cuts the heat just enough to make the burn pleasurable, not painful.

’Cause lookin’ cool ain’t easy.

Name: Khalid Larkin

Age: 25

Occupation: Cafe Saint-Ex employee

Residence: Shaw

Spotted: 7:45 p.m., 14th and S Streets NW

Destination: Barnes & Noble in Georgetown, to read

Style Definition: “Small T-shirts, tight [Levi's] jeans. [My style] is first-wave punk. That’s the music I listen to, so that’s the look I go for.”

Hipster Giveaway: He looks like a bike messenger but isn’t one. Speaking about his hat, he says, “I just wear them because it helps with the sweat.” His Peugeot bike cost him $50 at L&N Thrift.

Tattoos: Three on his forearm—a snake on a heart, a beet, and a parallelogram. “My friend Leroy said, ‘You should join my beet club!’”

DIY Item: A white T-shirt with Sharpie drawings of shapes and birds created by friend and artist Alicia Cosnahan.

Ironic Footwear: Low-top black Chuck Taylor Converses he has worn every day for six months

Brush-Off: “It took me five minutes.”

What’s the District’s chief exec really up to today?

FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 2006

Event: Remarks, Sherwood Recreation Advisory Council Third-Annual Back-to-School Community Bash

Time: 6:15 p.m.

Location: Sherwood Recreation Center, 640 10th St. NE

The Lowdown: Ah, that’s it, Linda: If you want Tony to show up, just throw a back-to-the-campaign-trail bash.

The first building bearing the name of Mayor Anthony A. Williams could be in the perfect place for a guy who set the standard for D.C. mayoral travel: Accra, Ghana.

The idea was dropped by the mayor of Ghana’s capital city, Stanley Nii Adjiri Blankson—one of the dignitaries Williams hung out with during his spring break on the African continent.

“Mayor Williams, we have thrown a big challenge to him,” Blankson told reporters at Williams’ Aug. 23 press conference. “We have acquired vacant land in the heart of the city. We want Mayor Williams to adopt that land so that we can build a secondary school which will be named after Mayor Williams.”

The mayor’s press office had no details on what adopting land in Ghana involved. The Ghanian embassy wasn’t sure about Blankson’s offer, either. Let’s just say it seems like Williams will have to cough up more than a key to the city if he wants school-naming rights.

The Anthony A. Williams Secondary School would not only be a testament to the mayor’s hefty frequent-flier account. Blankson’s offer raises the real prospect that Williams will purchase, acquire or at least adopt land overseas before ever owning property in the District.

Williams was surprised by the challenge, but appeared ready to step up. “As a private citizen, I do want to help, in a number of ways, the people of Ghana.”

Every Tuesday and Thursday, we run down what’s going on in local Internet discussion groups.

metropets
Kelly, a dog walker and trainer, says that she comes across so many strays that she always carries around a spare leash. And being prepared has its benefits: “On Friday I was driving to an appointment when I saw a Siberian Husky mix trotting quite briskly towards the woods, with no owner in sight,” she writes. “I swerved over, called the dog, and offered him treats. He finally came over, wolfed down the treats, and I quickly and quietly put my extra leash on him. While he was eating the treats, I read his collar and called the owner. Who it turns out was looking for him. He rode up on a bike about 5 minutes later. Very grateful, and it turns out, very handsome.”

tenleytown
In light of the recent bomb scare, one woman wonders how much earlier she’s going to have to get to National next Sunday for a 6:15 a.m. flight to Houston. “3 hours in advance—the generic advice that came from the vendor—seems insane under the circumstances,” she writes, “but?I’m willing to believe that an earlier than usual arrival is called for.” Not much earlier, it turns out. “I just flew home to TN last week and to tell you the truth I saw no difference at all from a few months ago,” a neighbor writes. “I was there an hour and a half before my flight left and I had plenty of time. I was not all that inmpressed by any new security measures which seemed to consist of security people telling passengers, “No liquids” and that was about it.” BWI, however, might be a different story. “I arrived at 4:30AM for a 6:00AM flight and barely made my flight,” writes Fred. “The main problem at BWI was the line for United, not security. (I’ve never seen so many people before at 4:30AM!).”

RunWashington
With the Marine Corps Marathon just two months away, Max offers Washington runners a mental exercise to help pass the roadwork: Rate the MCM on a scale of 1 to 5. “I know I’m going to get crap for this…but I rate it between a 3 & 4,” writes Debi. James thinks those numbers are reserved for Boston. “I agree that it’s more difficult than many realize,” he says. “[But] something like San Fran or Big Sur or even NY with all the bridges I think would rate higher (having never run any of those courses).” Debi’s response: “A lot of people expect to run a PR at MCM, and end up being totally kicked in the A$$ because it’s a SNEAKY hard. Looks flat, looks easy, but man..what the heck happened to my legs at mile 15?” Nancy requests clarification on the scale: “Is a 5 like Badwater in Death Valley with hangnails?” she asks. “Or Pike’s Peak double with blisters? Is a 1 like pancake-flat Shamrock on a non-windy, overcast, reasonably warm March day?”

What’s the District’s chief exec really up to today?

THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 2006

Event: Guest, Ask the Mayor, Washington Post Radio

Time: 10 a.m.

Location: WTWP studios, 3400 Idaho Ave. NW

The Lowdown: Hmm, what to ask? How ’bout, what were you doing last week?

In tomorrow’s City Paper, you’ll find:

• A story about the Lai family, proprietors of Huong Que (or Four Sisters), the area’s best-known Vietnamese restaurant. Tim Carman profiles LoAnn Lai, the only one of six siblings to make a clean break from the family business.
• In Loose Lips: James Jones on how Linda Cropp has taken all sorts of heat for associating with old Marion Barry cronies—and now stands to get nothing in return.
• Ryan Grim on how he got his stolen car back thanks to a device that the D.C. police has been trying to keep under wraps
• In Cheap Seats: Dave McKenna on one of the biggest chess scandals in years—and the local fellers who helped expose it.
• A last-chance guide to summer reading: Which wonky political book should you read before vacation’s over? We let the books battle it out.
• In Young & Hungry: Carman on the best and worst of Restaurant Week
• Plus film reviews from Mark Jenkins and Tricia Olszewski, music, books, theater, and more

In a minimalist condo in the Cityline at Tenley building, the founding members of the Washington Area Liquor Retailers Association are holding one of their first board meetings. A bottle of liquor and an Asian statuette stand in for decorations; the members—President H. Singh Bakshi, Vice President S.P. Toor, Treasurer Sarbjit Kochhar, and Secretary Vivek Bhargava—lounge in chairs and black-leather couches.

“Charity begins from home,” says the 58-year-old Bakshi, owner of Tenley Wine & Liquor, regarding the group’s decision this spring to organize D.C.’s Indian-owned, Class A liquor stores into a unified force.

The nonprofit’s goals are many: to get fair deals from wholesalers, to provide help to members in legal trouble, to stymie underage buyers and other would-be criminals with a phone-tree alert system. For years, many of the city’s Korean-owned businesses have had a similar arrangement. So far, the association has roped in more than 30 Indian-owned stores out of the city’s 42 (though entrepreneurs of all races are welcomed), and spirits are running high.

“We were a few of the pioneers who initially took over from either the Jewish- or Korean-community owners,” the former of whom controlled D.C.’s liquor trade since Prohibition, says Bakshi. “As a group we want to be heard,” adds Kochhar, 53, owner of S&S Liquors in Brightwood. “Already wholesalers have called to work with us.”

Toor teases Bakshi over this reporter’s request for his age: “Beautiful girls will be calling you up now.” “No,” jokes the president. “Now beautiful girls will be calling you up to get a deal!”

Regulars at the YWCA Gallery Place Fitness and Aquatics Center may soon be pulled out of the water. Due to a budget shortfall, the YWCA is threatening to close the pool for good.

“The pool costs $200,000 per year…the board can’t make ends meet,” says Orysia Stanchak, executive director of the National Capital Area YWCA. Stanchak says hard numbers are difficult to come by—some YWCA members pay for pool use as part of their standard membership—but she estimates that about 175 people purchase “pool-only” packages at $50 a month. “We cannot afford to keep the pool open at those rates,” she says.

Some Y members have banded together for a mission ripped from a bad ’80s comedy: raise $200,000 by Sept. 8, or there may be no more laps. “It’s like a reality show,” says Tamara Alfson, co-chair of the fundraising committee formed by members committed to saving the pool. And as they look under their couches for briefcases full of cash, Alfson and others have questions about financial management—and why the YWCA couldn’t predict and address the facility’s financial problems before notifying members of the pool’s impending closure in late July.

Stanchak says the task force need not have $200,000 in hand on Sept. 8—the pool could reopen if a workable long-term plan is presented to the board later next month. “If someone said, ‘We’re going to sell cookies,’ everyone knows that’s not doable,” Stanchak says. “If someone says, ‘These energy savings save $30,000,’ we can take a step forward.”

Still, Alfson—who uses the pool as part of her physical-therapy regimen for a debilitating joint condition—is not optimistic about the task force’s chances. “We’re not going to have $200,000 by Sept. 8 unless someone flies in and drops money on us,” she says.

What’s the District’s chief exec really up to today?

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2006

Event: Remarks, weekly press briefing

Time: 11 a.m.

Location: ground-floor press-briefing room, John A. Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Ave. NW

The Lowdown: Says Chief Ramsey: “People accuse me of a lot of things, but not working hard is not one of them….You don’t hear about me going here and there like other people are accused of.” You gonna take that, Tony?

Every Tuesday and Thursday, we run down what’s going on in local Internet discussion groups.

AdamsMorgan
Ward 1 Council candidate and Listserv troll Chad Williams writes an open letter to his community in which he touts his ability to…chat with gang members. “We need a councilmember who truly understands how to reduce the criminal activities of gangs in Ward 1. We need a councilmember who is comfortable speaking to members of 640 (Park Morton Apartments), 35 Double O (3500 block of 14th Street), MS-13, Pussy Pound and others. That Councilmember must have the resolve to persuade gangs and enlighten these adolescents to ways of better economic opportunities than a life in crime.” One resident calls bullshit. “Okay, so you have ‘spoken with’ the various gangs,” she writes. “When? How many times? How did your speaking with them reduce crime in our neighborhood?…Do you have any empirical evidence to support your assumptions? Did you come to these conclusions after ‘speaking with’ the various gangs? Please tell us how you have persuaded the gangs in the past; and why you think the gang members will opt for a different lifestyle once they are enlightened about ‘better economic opportunities than a life in crime.’”

LDSAbstractSingles
This week, local Mormons tackle illegal immigration. Xenophobic rants ensue: “Really, its becoming more and more clear that the U.S. is getting lost in the cultures of all the other countries out there,” JC writes. “Nobody even knows what the United States stands for anymore unless they are talking about high divorce rate, lots of fat people, and increasingly less morals (Pres. Clinton).…I can’t walk down the street without being bombarded by some other language on a sign or billboard.” Blake responds: “Yes we should be in better control of immigration, but the fear of losing ‘our culture’ is silly. And try not to forget that these 10 million illegals are not sitting around asking for a handout.” JC, however, is not to be talked down to—and he also remains oblivious to the fact that his command of written English would barely pass TOEFL requirements. “I’m really somewhat surprised to see how liberal some people in the church have become,” he grumbles.

TakomaDC
The battle over the Piney Branch Road Safeway’s alcohol license continues. “I am a fan of being able to do one-stop-shopping at Safeway for a meal snd beverage (including alcohol),” writes Evelyn. “I also understand the concerns of not wanting to be a 24 hour liquor store. What I am concerned about is that we don’t make alcohol purchase an option of only the wealthy and well-to-do.” But Judy finds the discussion tangential. “I don’t think I care if the Safeway sells alcohol,” writes Judy, “but I wish they would care more about the shoppers’ experience in the store.” Hence her calls for Safeway to “stop selling farm-raised fish” and “stop their Sunday hot dog grilling, which can only be wasting more $ than it is raising”

Linda Cropp has released her first TV spots of the campaign—one positive, one negative:

“Determined”

“Judgment”

What say you, voters—enough to make you think twice about Fenty?

What’s the District’s chief exec really up to today?

TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2006

Event: Remarks, ribbon-cutting ceremony at Hotel Palomar

Time: 5:05 p.m.

Location: Hotel Palomar, 2121 P St. NW

The Lowdown: 5:05 p.m.? What, gotta leave time for pregame commentary?

Why is the Iwo Jima Memorial in Virginia? And why is there a copyright at the bottom of the statue? If copyrights are necessary for memorials, why don’t they all have them?

The “monumental” view of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument and U.S. Capitol is why the National Parks Service decided on the Virginia location for the memorial, according to National Parks Service spokesman Bill Line, who notes that the memorial is actually called the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial since it is dedicated to all Marines who have died since 1775. Moreover, before construction began on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1982, no national war memorials were located on the National Mall (the lone war memorial on the mall was the D.C. World War I Memorial) since war memorials were thought better suited to be placed close to Arlington National Cemetery.

Officially dedicated in 1954, the memorial is based on a photograph by the recently-deceased Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal. Since the AP holds the copyright to the photograph as an “original work of art,” according to U.S. copyright law, the statue is considered a “derivative work” of the original. As a result, it is one of two monuments in the D.C. region with a copyright.

Monuments and memorials do not need copyrights, but if there is an inherent copyright issue at hand (like the Iwo Jima Memorial), or the memorial’s creator simply files the paperwork (as was the case with Korean War Veterans Memorial creator Frank Gaylord) a copyright will appear on the statue making it illegal for “Joe Blow or Suzy Creamcheese to take a picture of the statue …and sell it for cold, hard American cash,” Line says.

Every Monday, the ‘Huh?’ Bub takes your questions. Got one?

The Washington Post has ramped up the stakes in the hotly-contested at-large D.C. Council race: Judging from the reporter assigned to the contest, the loser among the two main contestants might be written off as politically dead.

The pre-election profile of the Democratic primary contest between attorney A. Scott Bolden and incumbent Phil Mendelson is being penned by Joe Holley, a Metro reporter currently assigned to Post’s obituaries desk.

“I’ve been helping him write it for the last 21 months,” Bolden jokes, about what Bolden sees as a Mendelson political obit. “I ought to done by 10 p.m. Sept. 12.”

Even though vanquished long-term incumbents are most often chalked up as dead if defeated by an upstart, Mendelson thinks Bolden has overlooked a few details.

“He left me to interview Scott,” Mendelson says of Holley. “That would suggest we are both dead.”