Washington City Paper: Contents for Apr. 26

Frequent Fryers
Jerry and Joe Chen's grandfather told them that Americans say, "Yum, yum, yum" when they eat delicious food. Hence the name of Washington's most durable eatery.

Cover Story

Inside the Yum's carryout at 14th and P Streets NW, deafening sounds bounced off the greasy, once-white tile that covered the walls. Club kids smoking cigarettes stood in a poorly formed line and placed order after order for chicken wings and "mambo" sauce. In the kitchen, cooks laughed at jokes in a foreign tongue and barked out instructions to one another. Middle-aged men in dusty coveralls dozed and occasionally snored as they leaned against the walls--crumpling the Day-Glo signs that advertised specials: "3 wings and fried rice: $2.99." Only when the woman behind the counter shrieked out, say, "Forty-six!" would the activity stop as customers glanced down at little white slips of paper printed with their order numbers.

My first trip to Yum's was as a hungry teenager in need of a cheap, substantial meal after a night of partying. Along with several friends, I stood in the crooked line surveying the back-lit photos of lemon chicken and lo mein while debating what to order. After reaching the counter, each one of us asked for something different, but all of our food shared a common fate--to be dredged through batter, deep-fried, and coated with one type of sauce or another. While waiting for our numbers to come up, we drank Rock Creek sodas and discussed the DJ ("He was a'ight"), the drinks ("Weak!"), and various skanky outfit sightings ("Did you see the girl with the sandals on? It's October!"). ... Continued

Issue of Apr. 26 - May. 2, 2002

News and Features

Frequent Fryers
Jerry and Joe Chen's grandfather told them that Americans say, "Yum, yum, yum" when they eat delicious food. Hence the name of Washington's most durable eatery.
Cover Story By Sarah Godfrey
Counter Revolutionary
George Gelestino, 1951-2002
Feature By Andrew Beaujon
Cap'n Crunched
How the good ship Beverly landed in the Potomac's dire straits
The City By Felix Gillette
Secondhand Roses
A trail of missing blooms leads to the seedy underside of the flower trade.
The City By Brian Montopoli
Bright Lights, Big City
Nimby Tribunal By Dave Nuttycombe
Stick Figure
The Mail By A. Grace Lopez
Tempest in a Teapot
The Mail By Katie Seitz
Winning at Poker
The Mail By Frank Rettenberg

Columns

Illegal Batter
Cheap Seats By Dave McKenna
Home Stretch
City Desk By Annys Shin
Parcel Postings
City Desk By Joe Dempsey
The Runaround
Loose Lips By Elissa Silverman

Eats

Salt of the Earth
Young & Hungry By Todd Kliman

Movies

Familiar Obligations
Film Review By Mark Jenkins
Criminal Behavior
Film Review By Joel E. Siegel
Life or Something Like It
Film Review By Tricia Olszewski

Music

Chords and Sorcery
Acts Locally By Michael Little
Sounds of Science
Music Review By Shannon Zimmerman
Manning the Barricades
Music Review By Ta-Nehisi Coates

Theater

The God Father
Theater Review By Bob Mondello
Collected Stories
Theater Review By Robert Lalasz
Don Juan in Hell
Theater Review By Pamela Murray Winters

Arts and Events

Traveling Light
All Jonathan Safran Foer needed to write Everything Is Illuminated was a photograph, a plane ticket, and a whole lotta chutzpah.
Arts By Felix Gillette
A Minor Forest
Art Review By Mark Jenkins
Running the Meter
Artifacts By Sarah Godfrey
Another Side of Paradise
Artifacts By Louis Jacobson