Dave Chappelle is a comedic genius, and his skit for Samuel L. Jackson Beer compares favorably with any of the fake commercials produced by SNL. 

I wonder if Greg Engert at Birch & Barley/ChurchKey can add this to his 500-plus beer list? Maybe even hire Chappelle to do his Sammy Jackson shtick? It might actually clear out enough people at the Logan Circle hotspot so that I could get a seat.

What a finish! The competition for the top spot in the hearts and minds of Young & Hungry readers was decided by just a single pageview. Guess who won this week?

Nope, not Select 55.

Your fave posts this week:

1. Birch & Barley Opens Today. What’s Inside?
2. Budweiser Launches Select 55, Light Beer Arms Race Gets Absurd
3. Nick Cho’s Tax Troubles: Where Does That Leave Chinatown Coffee?
4. Frank Morales Takes Over as Chef at Jackie’s
5. Dupont BGR: The Burger Joint Set to Open Thursday or Friday [Note: Now scheduled for a Monday opening.]

So we walked down to Jackie’s on the south end of downtown Silver Spring to see what the heck was going on with Jackie Greenbaum’s place now that chef Sam Adkins was apparently shown the door. I was not prepared for what I found: former Rustico chef Frank Morales leading the kitchen.

In all fairness, Greenbaum wasn’t exactly prepared for me, either. We met last year to discuss her plans for the still-latent Jackie’s a Go-Go, so she knows me by face. She wasn’t happy to see it Friday night, because she wasn’t ready to make an announcement about Morales. But it’s hard to hide your new chef when he’s standing right there in the open kitchen.

Greenbaum told me that she and Morales have similar sensibilities. They both have an interest in pushing against the boundaries of the fairly conservative Silver Spring dining market. Not only will Morales, as executive chef, remake much of the menu at Jackie’s, but he will help Greenbaum realize her other plans for the converted garage off Georgia Avenue, including a revised vision for the take-out operation next door.

Greenbaum couldn’t reveal all the plans she and Morales have cooking, but she did offer up this choice nugget: Jackie’s will soon move into beer, the ingredient that consumed Morales at his previous gig at Rustico. Gordon Banks, Greenbaum’s manager at sister operation Quarry House, will help Morales navigate the byzantine Montgomery County liquor system to build out Jackie’s beer list.

Look for Morales to incorporate suds into Jackie’s menu, maybe even food-beer pairings, within four to six weeks. The chef also plans to sell his homemade breads built from beer-based starters.

The new business partners have even grander plans for that Silver Spring garage — and beyond. Stay tuned.

Let’s just call it Birch & Barley week, shall we? The new Neighborhood Restaurant Group establishment dominated Y&H this week, along with other beer-related posts.

Check it out:

1. Birch & Barley Opens Today. What’s Inside?
2. Budweiser Launches Select 55, Light Beer Arms Race Gets Absurd
3. DC Finally Getting a German Beer Garden? The Lagerheads Share their Outdoor Picks in the Meantime
4. Birch & Barley Opening Tomorrow?
5. Birch & Barley Slated for Summer Opening. Maybe.
   

UPDATE: NRG spokesperson Amber Pfau says that Birch & Barley/ChurchKey will open tomorrow, “barring natural disasters.” For an inside look, see Metrocurean’s preview on the place.

The DC-Beer listserv has been humming today on a rumor that Birch & Barley/ChurchKey, the long-awaited twin-concept, beer-soaked bar and restaurant (which is not a gastropub!), will finally open tomorrow. Neighborhood Restaurant Group has been conducting mock services already, but one member of the listserv writes:

My wife got a press release/e-mail in her e-mail from a local business networking group which states that Birch & Barley opens tomorrow.

Beerspotter Orr Shtuhl says the rumors are true, but I’m trying to get confirmation on this from NRG. More as I know it.

Y&H is thrilled to report that Select 55 has been dethroned — by another beer, Guinness, which celebrated a birthday yesterday.

Let’s raise a glass to Select 55’s long run and to the new king of the Y&H blog.

This week’s most-read posts:

1. Raise a Toast to Guinness’ 250th Anniversary
2. Budweiser Launches Select 55, Light Beer Arms Race Gets Absurd
3. Joe Englert Offers a REAL Tribute to the Dean of D.C. Liquor Lawyers
4. Two Things Y&H Didn’t Expect to See at Sou’Wester’s Opening Party: Frank Ruta and Dancing
5. Stand in Judgment of Georgetown Chefs!
   

This blog has gone to Hell, and readers are taking Select 55 with it. For Christ’s sake, people, can we get over this Budweiser post, which tops the list for the third straight week?

The most-read items for the week:

1. Budweiser Launches Select 55, Light Beer Arms Race Gets Absurd
2. Not So Fast: There’s No Deal for a Ray’s Hell Burger in Adams Morgan
3. No Hell Burger for Adams Morgan, but a Ray’s the Steaks for NE
4. Did Vidalia Use “Inferior” Ingredients During Restaurant Week?
5. Drool List: Pizzeria Paradiso at Dupont Circle
   

Just outside of Chichen-Itza, that Mayan tourist magnet, this dude smokes up amazing roadside chicken in a tiny burg called Piste. Our full-bird was moist, charred, and smokey all the way to the bone. We got rice, slaw, a bag of hot sauce (yep, a bag), and the chicken for the price of a fast-food meal back in the states.

Language was a barrier for me as I tried to negotiate my way around the street-food vendors in Izamal, a Colonial town on the Yucatan where all the buildings around the main square are painted a golden yellow, just like the nearby covent. The couple that ran this tabletop stand spoke no English and my Spanish sucked. Best I could determine, those spice-dusted fruits at the top of the frame are the famous sour oranges of the Yucatan. Let me tell you, they taste great with chili powder, salt, and a squirt or two of lime on them. Same for those innocuous cups of nuts!

The guy who runs this modest stand on the main Izamal square is a delightful gentleman, quick to smile and eager to please. His pork sandwiches, however, prepared on a portable comal, were rather bland.

One shop on the Izamal plaza sells all sorts of homemade popsicles. We were slightly worried about meeting Montezuma after our sidewalk desserts, but we shouldn’t have been. We enjoyed all the taste and none of the after effects.

Temozon, Mexico, just north of Valladolid, is known as the place to buy carne ahumada or smoked meats. I stopped by a spot on Temozon’s main drag and purchased a few lengths of longaniza, or the famous smoked sausage of the Valladolid area. I then went to a nearby convenience store, brought some fresh bolillo bread, and ripped right into those natural longaniza casings to prepare sausage sandwiches in the car. The meat was surprisingly sour, and oh-so-smokey.

I didn’t actually try this street food in Cozumel because, well, I thought I could do better than deep-fried wieners and french fries.

The ice cream vendors in Valladolid. When it’s 96 degrees outside, you thank the Mayan serpent god for these guys.

On Isla Mujeres you can drive your rented golf cart right into the Modelorama and get your Mexican lager to go. You can even, apparently, drink and drive right in your golf cart. Wait, I should probably rephrase that: No cop pulled us over for drinking and driving in our golf cart.

Some very satisfied customers at the Modelorama.

Temperance Fountain at 7th & Pennsylvania

Ever so often I’m forced to confront the reality that hanging out with some of my fellow craft bartenders is like being at a Lambda Lambda Lambda frat party. (Imagine Fred “the Ogre” Palowakski shouting: “Nerds!”) Our topics of discussion range from fermentation yeasts to ice density and on our nights off, which are few, we get together in tasting groups and geek out over obscure Belgian Beers, small batched gins and “Aquavit” from the West Coast.

This is far from the romantic ideal of a bartender partying late, getting the girl and tossing piles of cash in the air as he lies down to bed at sunrise. Yet that’s not really a bad thing in a city where the president, no matter how much beer he downs or cocaine he admits to snorting (not that anyone remembers him doing it), receives more than a few comparisons to Steve Urkel. So embrace it, I do.

But the modern cocktail nerd requires certain trappings. And how to fit in? You already know about the Rickey, you may have purchased a fedora, vintage vest and bar spoon and practiced craft bartending signature moves such as the hard shake. Now let’s take it the next step. In the next couple of days I’m going to point you in the direction of becoming a genuine cocktail nerd.

Let’s start at Prohibition. To get the cocktail-speak down you have to realize that Prohibition was not the cause of cocktails, which is a common misconception, but the demise of them. The Golden Age of Cocktails was prior to Prohibition during the late 19th century, approximately between 1860 and 1917. This can be confusing since new cocktail bars often reference speakeasies. (Speakeasies actually existed before prohibition and were often immigrant enclaves where they avoided taxes and government licensing fees.)

During Prohibition you had two choices for spirits, private stock or hooch. Then you generally had some hack bartender mixing your diesel fuel with OJ or soda—anything to mask the taste. Gone then are the Manhattans, Bronx’s and Dry Martinis. Replaced by binge drinking and horrific combinations that would make the Long Island Tea blush.

There is no better way to start your Prohibition education then by Garret Peck’s new book, Prohibition Hangover, in which he charts the effect of Prohibition on the United States. Then walk down to the Cogswell Temperance fountain at 7th and Pennsylvania for a glimpse of the history behind the “Noble Experiment” as it was placed in 1882 by a Dr. Cogswell to encourage men to drink pure water instead of booze. If you’re thirsty, the fountain no longer works but once you’ve taken a gander you can walk half a block to get a cold beer.