As Joe Englert and I take a taxi (he rarely drives because he thinks it's cheaper to take cabs, once you figure in parking tickets in D.C.) to Enology, the wine bar he co-owns with Adam Manson, I ask the businessman if this indeed has been an average day for him. After all, by my reckoning, here's his day (at least the parts I witnessed):

Read More "So What Exactly Does Joe Englert Do During an Average Day?" »

Joe Englert keeps teasing me about a blog item I wrote, calling for a moratorium on stories about the H Street Country Club until the place actually opens. Englert thinks that I secretly believe the indoor miniature golf/Tex-Mex joint will never open. As if to prove me wrong, we stop by the construction site so that Englert can help select china, drinking glasses, and flatware.

Read More "H Street Country Club Continues Its Glacial Movement Toward Opening" »

All outward appearances to the contrary, Joe Englert is not some overgrown man-child. He's a pretty serious-minded businessman, of which I was reminded when we took a taxi cab to his second office just off H Street NE. While in the cab, we had an in-depth discussion about the politics (and cash) required to get a business up and running in the District. Believe me, Englert sheds any pretense to silliness when discussing permitting issues.

Read More "What Gets Done at Englert’s H Street NE Office? Drinking!" »

When Joe Englert goes to work, he doesn't drive to some sterile office building in Arlington. After a game of tennis with friend Matt Weiss, Englert is chauffeured to work in Weiss' black Lexus. His office? It's a converted garage on Capitol Hill, where Englert's modest desk takes up a tiny fraction of the space. The rest is filled with pinball machines, Pittsburgh memorabilia (Englert's hometown), a TV lounge, a diner booth, a collection of random signs and souvenirs, a Ping-Pong table, and a bubble hockey game.

Read More "Joe Englert’s Office Is a Shrine to Stunted Adolescence" »

He's better known for his ability to keep the District's twentysomethings entertained and well-lubricated, whether at the Capitol Lounge or at one of his playpens on H Street NE. But Joe Englert's preferred form of fun includes a morning tennis match, often against his sometime business partner and Lounge 201 owner Matt Weiss (both picture here in an extremely crappy shot).

Read More "Joe Englert Can Make You Suffer on the Tennis Court" »

Once I find a door that actually opens at Safari DC, I walk in and ask for owner, William Mukabane. The older man who greets me says the owner's here but is not feeling too well. So he directs me to Mukabane's wife, Alice, a gracious woman who, despite a crowded bar and dining room, tries to explain to me why Kenyans love to stay up so late. It has to do with family values and late-night business deals. I'm afraid I don't quite follow.

Regardless, the main thing you need to know about Safari DC is that it is the area's only Kenyan restaurant, and as such, it has embraced Barack Obama as one of its own, even if the president has spent little time in the country and barely saw his Kenyan father before he died in an auto accident in 1982. The restaurant has dedicated a corner of its bar to Obama pictures, knickknacks, posters, paintings, you name it. There's even a homemade welcome banner with empty spaces where Obama and family can leave their autographs, should they ever step foot into Safari DC. Not that Alice or William Mukabane have asked Obama over, but they have hopes that he and Michelle may stop by during one of their evenings out.

True to the Kenyans' habit of staying up late, Alice Mukabane tells me that she had to skip the inauguration today because she didn't get home from work until 7 this morning, after cleaning up from last night's pre-inaugural party at Safari. Saturday and Sunday nights were just as rough, she says, with about 250 customers crammed each night into her place at 4306 Georgia Ave NW. Tonight will be more of the same.

If she was disappointed to miss the inauguration, Alice Mukabane doesn't have time to express it. She excuses herself for a minute to take care of some customers in the dining room. That's when a man at the bar asks me if I write for a newspaper. I tell him I work for the City Paper. He asks if I'd like to interview him. He smells of alcohol, and his eyes have all the focus a stoner staring at a textbook. He says he's Alice's husband.

But before William Mukabane goes too far off on a tangent with me, whatever that tangent may be, a kindly friend escorts Mukabane outside for some cold air. Yep, he's not feeling too well. He's suffering from excessive celebration.

The elderly woman who caused the Red Line to come to a standstill this morning at Gallery Place/Chinatown is apparently fine, according to Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel. The 68-year-old woman (Metro doesn't ID passengers by policy) was not hit by the train but merely fell onto the track. Her injuries are non-life-threatening.

"They were just very minor," Taubenkibel says.

All rail lines are again operational. Metro is advising the crush of humanity entering downtown stations to stay at least two feet away from the edge of the platform.

Meanwhile, as of 1 p.m., more than 585,000 people have taken a Metro train today, the spokesman says. The lines to get into downtown stations are long. "It is taking some time to get in," Taubenkibel says, "but people are getting in."

Metro is not providing estimates on how long it may take riders to board a train, let alone reach their destination. In other words, take another swig from your concealed flask and relax. It'll be awhile.

Clifford Pugh, a colleague from my old Houston days, writes in his Cliff Notes blog today that Michelle Obama's glittery, eye-catching gold dress was designed by Isabel Toledo, a Cuban-born American designer who once tried to inject a more modern style at Anne Klein, where the designer used to work.

"Her choice continues a penchant for the First Lady-to-be for designers of Cuban heritage," Pugh writes prior to Barack Obama's swearing in. "Michelle Obama wore two outfits by Narciso Rodriguez to the pre-inaugural events on Sunday."

Shall we go ahead and read too much into these design choices? Why the hell not? I see warmer relations with Cuba in the immediate future.

Image by Flickr user davitydave

The Presidential Inaugural Committee figured out a way to watch the parade and get something to eat besides sidewalk pretzels and half-smokes: The members rented out Central Michel Richard for the afternoon, according to General Manager Brian Zipin.

Committee members will be noshing on a luxuriant buffet spread, prepared and served by Central's superb cooks, as the parade rolls by the restaurant's front door, located near 11th Street NW and Pennsylvania Avenue. Zipin says the committee should have an okay view of the parade from Central's front windows, though it may be significantly blocked once the sidewalk starts to fill up. At around 11 this morning, there wasn't "a lot" of people out there, he says.

By 2:30, the start time of the parade, Zipin figures that will change. "So many poeple may be outside the restaurant, I don't if we will be able to open the door," the general manager says.

Assuming they can open the door, will Zipin let his hard-working cooks and waiters take a break and watch the historic parade? "I don't think the chefs will want to come out," Zipin says. As for the servers, though, Zipin says he "shouldn't have a problem with that, as long as it's civil."

Zipin says he may even let the cooks out, should they want to leave their buffet stations for the parade. He understands, after all, the importance of the day and its events. "It's exciting," Zipin says. "It's amazing."

A woman was struck by a Metro Red Line train at 9:25 a.m. at the Gallery Place/Chinatown station, says Angela Gates, a Metro spokeswoman. The woman apparently survived the accident, but there are no details on her name or her exact condition, Gates says.

The accident has limited service on the Red Line, Gates says. Passengers must now exit the Red Line at either the Farragut North or Judiciary Square exits. Gates did not know when full service may resume.

As far as the accident, the spokeswoman said it was still under investigation, and Metro does not yet know the cause.

Given the volume of passengers today, it's somewhat surprising that more accidents haven't occured. By 9 a.m. today, more than 409,000 people had already taken the Metro.

I could cull this list from Google Analytics, which would be oh-so-democratic. It would also prove to you the power of popular search terms, the insular nature of the blog world, and the insatiable need for more Elvis sex tales. Screw that. Here's my personal fave list of this week's blog items:

1. Chef Art Smith Does Brunswick Stew

2. One Dude Who Will Never Join PETA

3. Taqueria Distrito Federal II Adds a Little Color to Kennedy St.

4. Reagan Airport Still Sucks for Healthy Food

5. Whole Foods Wants to Sell You Shrimp for Thanksgiving

6. Lunch Call: Eat at Jackson's Roasting and Carving Co.

7. Not So Fast: Neighborhood Restaurant Group Not a Partner in Eatonville

8. Song Que Moves Into the Old Four Sisters Space

9. Picking Apart the Family Thanksgiving

10. A Blast from the Past: 1972 Burgundy for Thanksgiving

Now, I know all you time-wasting trolls have a hard time surfing away from the smart, sophisticated commentary found on the City Desk blog to sample something new. I'm sympathetic to your plight. I realize how hard it is to move that mouse two inches further south on the City Paper home page and click on the new Young & Hungry blog. So I'm coming to you instead.

Here are the top blog posts from the Y&H blog, as picked by a neutral committee that weighed such factors as taste, newsworthiness, importance, popularity, and proper hygiene.

1. PETA Wants Lower Health Insurance Premiums for Vegetarians.

2. The Stacy's Pita Chips Challenge.

3. Organic? Nope. Environmental? You Betcha.

4. Junction Market: A Total Jerk Center.

5. Recipe for Disaster: How the Economy Is Affecting Cashion's.

6. AU Is the Most Veg-Friendly College in America.

7. North Sea Restaurant Goes Organic!

8. Andy Shallal's Eatonville to Symbolically Reunite Hughes and Hurston.

9. Jamie Stachowski on Obsessive Chefs.

10. Ashok Bajaj to Open Restaurant No. 7.

Sometimes I hate to admit it, but I love college football. I grew up in Nebraska. It was all we had really. So even though I'm old enough to know better, I still spend way too much time obsessing about the Cornhuskers. This Saturday offered ample proof.

The football team was playing the Kansas Jayhawks in a Big 12 North contest. To most casual college girdiron fans, the game had all the sex appeal of a Colgate vs. Furman match-up. Not for me. Fox Sports Net was offering the game via pay-per-view, but as far as I could tell, I couldn't buy it on Comcast, so I started calling sports bars. I've been down this road before. I've been told at least three other times that a certain bar would carry the game, so  I would dutifully drive there, order a beer and some grease, only to find out that, oh sorry, they don't have my game after all. It really pisses me off.

On my third attempt to find a viewing spot on Saturday, I got a hold of the Green Turtle, a sports bar in the Verizon Center. The woman on the phone said they would have the game. I asked if she were sure. She said yes; they carry FSN and all its games. I emphasized that this was a pay-per-view game, not a regular FSN game, and I really emphasized that it's a long way for me to drive there. She told me not to worry; they'll have it.

Read More "The Sports Bar Come-Hither: Of Course We Have Your Game!" »

Erica Meier, the executive director of Compassion Over Killing, the animal advocacy organization that recently announced its Three Greeen Stars awards for the area's top vegetarian/vegan restaurants, promptly responded to my concerns and questions over this year's VegDC.com contest. Her unedited responses are below.

How many of the winners were part of COK's Restaurant Outreach Program?

Since COK launched our Restaurant Outreach program in 2004, we've worked with more than a dozen area eateries in the D.C.-Metro area, helping them create vegan options to add to their menus. This program, which is absolutely free to restaurants, has been met with incredible success largely due to the increasing interest in healthier and more humane foods. Restaurants we've worked that were voted as serving the "Best Vegetarian Food" of 2008 by visitors to VegDC.com include Java Green and Asylum, as you mentioned in your article in the Onion, as well as Ella's Wood Fired Pizza and Busboys & Poets. Other restaurants we've worked with include Equinox, Asian Grill, Pete's Apizza, Science Club, and more.   

Why didn't you mention this program connection in the press announcement?

This contest was created to celebrate the wide variety of delicious animal-friendly options available in and around the nation's capital. There are over two dozen all-vegetarian restaurants in the area, plus there are hundreds of other restaurants listed on VegDC.com featuring delicious vegetarian options on their menus. 

Did you think of not including these program restaurants in the final tally, since they have a connection and history to COK and its members?

This contest was not limited to COK members; it was open to everyone who visited VegDC.com. More 1,000 people participated in the contest, and we asked them vote for their personal favorite veg-friendly eateries.  

Did COK employees vote in the contest?

COK has four employees, and we did not vote in the contest.

Do you think that the awards give off the impression that they are rewarding participants in your Restaurant program?

No, I don't think so. I think people vote for the restaurants they like the most, and these happen to be the restaurants they vote for. While we're proud of the success of our Restaurant Outreach program and are thrilled that people are enjoying the vegan options available at the places we've worked with, we're even more excited by the growing availability of vegetarian food the area in general--which was what the contest was about. 

As you noted, our program isn't mentioned anywhere in the contest promotion, nor is it mentioned in listings on VegDC.com for these restaurants. Our goal is simply to demonstrate how delicious and easy it is to choose vegetarian fare in the nation's capital, and to encourage people to explore these options when dining out.