President Barack Obama’s much-buzzed-about visit to Taylor Gourmet Italian Deli on 14^th Street NW yesterday ended with an exclamation, according to Taylor co-owner David Mazza. The president took one look at the Spruce Street sandwich he ordered and said, “This is a big sandwich. A BIG SANDWICH.”

The leader of the free world then took his turkey hoagie and $68 worth of additional sandwiches for a White House luncheon with congressional leaders, left $100 and said to keep the change, signed a few autographs, and left the building in a tornado of staff, sirens, and flashbulbs.

When I ran into Mazza around lunchtime in the line at the Greek Deli on 19^th Street NW, near where Taylor will open its fifth location this summer, he told me how it had all come together. I had in mind the old Phil Hartman Saturday Night Live skit lampooning President Bill Clinton’s jogging detours to McDonald’s, but the course of events can actually be traced back to Mazza’s encounter with a woman on H Street NE, shortly after he and his business partner Casey Patten opened their flagship location in 2009.

The woman was Bridget Bean, a longtime Small Business Administration staffer who is now director of the agency’s Washington Metropolitan District Office. Mazza was introduced to Bean by Anwar Saleem, the head of H Street Main Street whom many consider to be the godfather of growth in the white-hot neighborhood.

“I gave her my card, and a few weeks later we were in her office shooting the shit,” Mazza says. “She was great, and she turned us onto a 504 SBA loan, which we ended up securing to build both our Bethesda and City Vista locations.”

Mazza and Patten developed a close relationship with Bean, but even they were a bit anxious when Bean left a “we gotta talk” message on their phone last week.

“I was scared she was going to rip into us because we recently refinanced our SBA loans without getting in touch with her,” Mazza says. “I tried to get Casey to call her back, but he wouldn’t do it, so I just said, 'Fuck it,' and called her.”

As it turns out, Bean had a much more benign proposition to put on the table. She asked if Mazza and Patten wanted to be part of a roundtable discussion on small business with Obama.

“My hands started shaking,” says Mazza. “I said, 'Uh yeah, done and done,' and she told me to expect a call from the Secret Service.” Read more The Making of the Presidential Sandwich 2012

On a recent Wednesday afternoon, a stream of customers flows into Peregrine Espresso on 14th Street NW. Almost no one stays very long, since nearly all of the dozen seats are filled.

Two twentysomething guys in faded T-shirts and jeans casually chat at one of the tables, while a woman with frizzy gray hair intently edits a sheaf of papers nearby. The few laptops open are running Microsoft Word, not Facebook.

What kind of bullshit is this?

As a freelance journalist who has made a career out of frequenting java joints of every size, this doesn’t seem right. Places like this are supposed to be a haven for people like me who want to get out of the house just so that we feel like we’ve accomplished something.

It’s like there’s something missing here.

Oh, yeah, free Wi-Fi. What was once an integral coffeehouse element is now no longer guaranteed. Read more Wi-Fried

What better place for a roundtable on small businesses than a small business that serves hoagies? That appears to have been the rationale for President Barack Obama's visit to Taylor Gourmet on 14th Street NW this morning. Most of the trip was a platform for Obama to push Congress to pass some initiatives of the administration's, which, due to the fact that the federal government barely functions in an election year, it will not pass.

But there was also a chance for the chief executive to eat. Per White House pool reports by Politico's Donovan Slack, which Washington City Paper obtained from a news organization that actually gets 'em, Obama ordered a 12-inch Spruce Street sandwich, with roasted turkey, prosciutto, roasted red peppers, and provolone. Slack also reports: "A White House official says POTUS did in fact pick up hoagies for his lunch with congressional leaders at the White House today. The official declined to elaborate on exactly what types, saying only that it was 'an assortment of sandwiches.'" The tab came to $62.39.

UPDATE: NBC Washington has the pool video:

After the jump, the official White House bios on the owners of Taylor, Yes! Organic Market, and Francis Lee Contracting, a Ward 8-based construction firm that also participated in Obama's visit:

Read more Obama’s Taylor Gourmet Pick: A Turkey Sandwich

Back in February, on an unseasonably warm winter afternoon, Standard chef and co-owner Tad Curtz chatted with Y&H about what new to expect this summer at his 14th Street NW beer-and-barbecue hangout. He wanted some of last year’s specials—the smoked half chicken, the Flintstones-sized bone-in beef short rib—to become everyday offerings. And he was eager to barbecue “more exciting meat”—lamb shoulder and crispy pork cheeks, for example.

But he never mentioned that he would be smoking a whole freakin’ pig’s head.

“I was planning to just offer the jowls with some cheek meat,” said Curtz, “but when we got the heads in, I thought, Why not just smoke the whole thing?”

The heads, from Horst Meats, an old school Amish butcher shop in Hagerstown, Md., are seasoned with Standard’s pork shoulder rub before shacking up in the smoker for 14 hours. Each is served in full trophy form—whole head, snout up—on an aluminum sheet tray. On a blisteringly bright, fully crowded weekend afternoon, its appearance makes for quite the scene.

I was fortunate enough to reserve one last week, and, come Saturday afternoon, amid gasps and ahs, Curtz navigated the prize through Standard’s crowded garden and positioned it on our sliver of a communal table near the street-side Donut Robot fryer.

Read more Pigheaded: Standard’s New Smoked Summer Special

Each week in Market Research, Washington City Paper will present a guide to a seasonal ingredient available at area farmer's markets. Here's the first installment.

Ingredient: Ramps

What: “Fresh Wild Ramps!” advertised the hand-lettered sign at the Penn Quarter farmers market. But the ramps were only for sale to those who purchased mushrooms from Phillips Mushroom Farms. Ferial Welsh was quick to shoo away customers drawn to the bright green leaves: “For mushroom buyers only. Please don’t touch; they are delicate.”

How to Spot: Ramps are a wild leek—properly a member of the lily family. They are native to North America, and grow in forested, shaded areas. While ramps can be cultivated, they are most commonly foraged. (Phillips’ ramps are gathered wild in West Virginia.) They appear at markets in mid-to-late May, and disappear quickly—probably by this week or next. “They are good for your immune system and a boost for your energy,” Welsh says. But like onions, they come with a potent smell—Foxfire 2, a collection of oral histories from the Appalachian South, says of ramps, “They’s not for ladies or those who court them.”

How to Buy: Ramp bulbs are about the size of a marble. Look for a firm bulb and undamaged leaves. Dirt caught in the bulb’s roots is a sign the plant hasn’t been manhandled.

How to Eat: Use the entire ramp, chopping the bulb and leaves down as desired. Think of them as a very exclusive onion: pickle, sauté, and wilt the greens as a means of adding a kick to anything. Welsh suggests sautéing chopped leaves and stems in butter and olive oil for about a minute. You can then add those mushrooms you were strong-armed into purchasing and cook the lot for another three to four minutes. The mixture can be served over pasta with a squeeze of lemon, or become the filling for an omelet. (I went this route with the addition of some Havarti cheese.)

Photo by Phoebe Connelly

From left, Jeff Eng, Mark Marrocco, Will Artley, Michael Bonk, Steven Cardello, Nicholas Stefanelli, and Bradley Walker

Last Saturday afternoon, Brewery Ommegang of Cooperstown, N.Y., hosted the first in their series of beer-and-food pairing "Hop Chef" competitions at the Atlas Theater. Sound heavenly? It was. Out of seven local hopefuls, top honors were awarded to Jeff Eng of Clyde's of Tower Oaks in Rockville, based on scores from a panel of local foodie and beerie judges (including yours truly). Will Artley of Pizzeria Orso in Falls Church won over the hearts and tongues of more than 150 attendees for the People's Choice award.

Find details and mouth-watering pictures after the jump.

Read more Jeff Eng Named Brewery Ommegang’s First “Hop Chef”

When Red Apron Butchery announced in February that it would open a couple of local butcher shops this fall, including one in the District, I was thrilled. All things considered, I prefer my meat locally sourced and ethically raised—and to buy it from someone who can give me tips about the best cut for my recipe. That’s meant schlepping to Eastern Market, visiting the upscale Wagshal’s boutique in Spring Valley, or buying meat from a cooler at a farmers market.

Red Apron has spent most of its three years operating market stalls, in addition to supplying the various eateries owned by its backer, Neighborhood Restaurant Group. Its long-promised brick-and-mortar butcher shop, though, won’t be the only new option for meat devotees. Jamie Stachowski, whose cured meats and sausages are another staple of area farmers markets, recently opened a deli and charcuterie on P Street NW in Georgetown—with a small portion of the space devoted to fresh meats, such as whole Bell & Evans chickens and rib eyes from Martin’s Angus Beef in Virginia.

So it may seem a bit churlish to feel underwhelmed by the local butchery landscape. But considering the food culture that has blossomed here and the popularity of local nourishment, five outlets—assuming you count two Eastern Market stalls separately—doesn’t seem like a lot for a city of 600,000. Especially not when some of them are essentially charcuterie joints with a few fresh cuts. Read more The Butchers of Washington

It's the biggest pizza oven on the East Coast, or at least that is Menomalé's claim. Weighing in at just over 5,500 pounds, the new Brookland eatery's custom-built oven from Naples, Italy, is made from a salt-based stone used for the texture and flavor it adds to the crust. The torcher burns wood, not gas, and cooks pizzas at 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit in about 60 seconds (which one-ups Pizzeria Orso's similar setup in Falls Church by about 200 degrees and 30 seconds).

Eager Brookland residents, and anyone else who is curious, have the chance to see (and taste) the oven in action starting tonight. Read more Brookland’s Menomalé Opens with Neapolitan-Style Pizza and Craft Beer

“If you want to buy a Happy Meal with a horsemeat burger, a can of Four Loko, trans fat fried foie gras, and a side of shark fin soup, I applaud your right to make those choices,” says Baylen Linnekin as we sit on his porch in North Bethesda.

The 39-year-old executive director of the nonprofit Keep Food Legal has a decidedly libertarian perspective on food politics. “We want you to have the right to grow, raise, produce, buy, sell, cook, eat, and drink the food of your own choosing,” he says. “We’re opposed to subsidies that skew those choices and bans that clear those choices off the board. People are not stupid. They can make their own choices and live with the consequences.”

To that end, we’re sipping on cans of lemonade-flavored Four Loko, malt liquor cranked up with guarana, caffeine, and taurine. When I admit my ignorance over the final ingredient, Linnekin offers, “I think it’s approved for use in animal feed as a stimulant, but not in human food.” That’s reassuring.

The boozy energy drink was banned in several states in 2010 after it was linked to illness and, in some cases, death. Before the company pulled it off the shelves, Linnekin ran out and bought several cases, but not because he likes it.

“It’s disgusting,” he admits. “But I don’t believe that my personal tastes should dictate what other people choose to enjoy.”

With its presiding bitterness and lingering chemical aftertaste, Four Loko definitely isn’t Country Time lemonade, but Linnekin is more concerned with his philosophical point than his palate.

Since founding Keep Food Legal in 2010, Linnekin has taken on a number of high profile issues, including arguing against subsidies for soy and corn, as well as bans on foie gras and horsemeat; he’s also weighed in on the battle over unpasteurized milk—known as raw milk—which is illegal in the District. “You can buy raw chicken, beef, or fish,” he says. “Sushi is still legal—thankfully—though it has sickened people as recently as a week or two ago. People should have the freedom to make those decisions on their own for themselves and their family.”

Read more Just Eat It

As frequent visitors may have surmised, there's been light posting in this space lately: Last week was the great Chris Shott's final one as your Young & Hungry blogger.

Fear not! The dry spell will come to an end soon: As of May 21, Bisnow's Jessica Sidman will take over. Here's the internal City Paper email that we sent out today about the hiring.