This week’s e-mail question, “I’m from out of town and coming up Friday for the Dave Matthews Show at Nats Park, what’s a good pre-show plan?”

Metro to the Potomac Ave stop on the Orange Line, it’s a little past Nats Park in Southeast DC, but its also home to two of the best bars in the city. 

1)    Wisdom – Start here and try an Absinthe, long banned in the US but now back in a big way, this is by far the best Absinthe collection in DC.  While the old story that Van Gogh drank it, hallucinated, and cut off his ear was probably a myth, you might want to take it easy and start slow.  They also serve the classic American Old Overholt Rye and have an incredible cocktail list.

1432 Pennsylvania Ave SE
(202)543-2323

2)    Trusty’s – This was the best Nationals bar in DC when they played at RFK. Its still great and perfectly dive-y, from the beer served in Mason jars, to the board games, to the incredibly weird new School Bus bar on the second floor.  Yes, that’s a real yellow school bus they somehow got up onto the second floor and turned in to a bar.  Try the Pork Slap Pale Ale.

1420 Pennsylvania Ave SE
(202) 547-1010

3)   Belga Café - Make the ten minute walk down Pennsylvania Ave to 8th Street, and hit Belga Café for the truly incredible Belgian Beer selection.  From Lambics to Reds to Goldens and Browns, not to mention the Abbey’s and Triples and of course the Trappist ales.  Almost 50 beers and all Belgian.  Don’t just limit yourself to a Chimay or Orval, you can find beer usually seen only in Belgium.  And if you like mussels, this place is for you.

514 8th Street SE
(202) 544-0100

4)    Ted’s Bulletin – Three words, Alcoholic Milk Shakes.  Indulgent yes, but delicious. Bailey’s, White Russians, Tequila Sunrise and much more, served in classic 1950’s aluminum milk shake mixer cups.  You might want to go for the very good grilled cheese or sloppy joe here before you hit the show.

508 8th Street SE
(202) 544-8337

And then, well maybe you’ve had enough. Its time to move slowly down M Street to the concert.  If you're really feeling lazy, jump in one of the pedi-cabs for a bike ride with no pedalling.  Enjoy the show!

      

All I wanted was a nice Sunday afternoon in July.  A matinee.  A 1:35 start under a cloudless 90 degree sky.  July 11^th dawned as a beautiful day.  Until the first San Francisco batter stepped up, Aaron Rowland.  A sure out to Ian Desmond turns into yet another league leading error.  Or should have.  The hometown scorer however rules it a hit.  But you get the idea.  Four hours later, its Giants 6, Nationals 2.

Worse than the score is the slow, sloppy style.  My friend called it American League baseball, but that’s doing an injustice to the junior circuit.  Its simply hideous.  From the bases loaded one out strikeouts to the abysmal play in the field.  And why?  Well, of course, its All Star eve.  Players from last place teams are thinking about their flight home, their families, their buddies, the kids, the lawn they’re finally going to cut.

Finally at 5pm its over.  The few thousand fans left trickle out.  Lesson learned: All Star eve baseball is a slow motion, error-filled afternoon in July to avoid…

      

So I finally go to a Strasburg game and he loses.  Then they go to Baltimore and blow three straight games.   This is not a good week in Natstown.  But one thing is good, very good and while a little belated in my opinion, its better now than never.  Yes, that’s right, the first neighborhood bar and restaurant, actually café according to the owner, but whatever.  Its here.  A real place, not a vacant parking lot with a tent bar and bean bag toss.  Its a two minute walk from the stadium in the new Velocity Condo building next to the New Jersey Avenue Metro exit.

Its called Justin’s Café, and yes there is a really Justin, Justin Ross.  He’s the young energetic hands-on owner.  I caught Justin running around behind the bar with his staff trying to keep up with the post-game crowd following the historic first Strasburg loss.  And to be honest they were a little overwhelmed, with more than a couple people standing around waiting for their order at the counter.  The small place is really a pizza, soup and sandwich shop but with an outstanding beer list and a full bar.  The pizzas are worth noticing, very fresh ingredients including specialties like roasted eggplant, and don’t miss the grilled chicken and tomatoes on a top of a ranch dressing base.  Sounds like a college dorm room invention to me.

But the beer list is really what makes Justin’s, and he is very proud to talk about it.   The Great Lakes Brewery out of Cleveland has finally made it to DC and Justin’s stocks a bunch of their best varieties, and of course the great for summer Oscar Blue Dale's Pale Ale and Pils, out of Colorado.  If you haven’t had Oscar Blues beers, you're missing the company that made canned beer delicious, thanks to a special lining, it definitely keeps beer better than a bottle.

Congratulations and thank you Justin!  You win the prize for being the first bar in the neighborhood, God Bless…

      

The Nationals were gracious enough recently to ask a few web sites to get to know the Nats players and staff. Meeting someone in person makes you understand what makes them tick and of course gain empathy with that person as a human, not a TV character.  I’m sure this was a well-understood part of the Nats “New Media” Department’s strategy in having a few web sites visit the team.   The team has looked to web sites for more coverage with the demise of The Washington Times sports section.

Of course, it worked perfectly. I really was genuinely impressed with the three Nats I met at the Park. 

Drew Storen – I could not believe the genuine, personable and very intelligent vibe from the rookie, who just left college last spring.  I had no idea this guy went to Stanford, but you can certainly tell.  On top of that, his Dad is a nationally known sports talk radio host, so he’s obviously ready for questions..  Not sure there are many 21 year olds of any profession who would have been articulate as Storen.  He’s good friends with “Strass-y” and will take some of the heat off the less articulate Strasburg. 

Josh Willingham – Josh reminded me of one of my favorite kinds of people, friendly, southern, with a great accent and demeanor that is all-Alabama.  I had a chance to ask Josh if he’d ever had as many walk off or just dramatic homers as he’s had this year.  He replied that he’d never had as many “big” home runs in any of his 9 seasons, and we’re not even to the All-Star break.  A quick glance show’s that his power numbers are at all-time highs since he came to the Nats.

I'll have my thoughts on Jim Riggleman next.

      

All good Nats fans know three basic facts about the New York Mets:

1)      They overpay for some terrible players
2)      We’ll definitely pass them in the standings this year.
3)      Their fans are not as bad as Yankee fans, but that’s not saying much.

Now here’s one Food and Bar Column fact that you may not know about our NL East rivals: They serve fresh Lobster Rolls at their games.  Yes, the succulent, delicious, taste of summer, fresh lobster rolls at the ball game, courtesy of Chef Dave Pasternack, who brought the lobster roll to the Mets’ Citi Field last year.

The Wall Street Journal reports him saying, “Well, the Mets are a Long Island team, so we wanted something you could find along the shore,” he said. “And with the change in the economy, one thing that has definitely changed is the price of lobster.”

He goes through about 1,000 pounds of lobster a season and “even more when they win.”

I had my first lobster roll as a kid in Maine, when it seemed virtually impossible to get one outside of New England.  They were everywhere in Maine in the summertime, even the A &W hot dog stand served them fresh on great toasted rolls, just a little celery and mayo, mostly great lobster. 

Soon, thanks to the dropping price, DC will be getting a food truck on the streets of downtown selling them for as low as 14 bucks.  That truck is courtesy of New Yorker Susan Povich, who began the Red Hook Lobster Pound  last year with her husband and has been wildly successful in Brooklyn.  Yes, Susan Povich is daughter of Washington Post sports columnist and legend, Shirley Povich…

I’d advise Hank’s Oyster Bar on 17^th Street or Kinkead’s at 2000 Pennsylvania Avenue for the best lobster rolls in town.  But we don’t need a restaurant, lobster rolls are the perfect hand held treat for the ball game.  Are you listening Nats Park?

      

Imagine a great sitcom premise; Two young guys in DC.  Make one of them a Federal employee for some local flavor.   They go up to an out of the way town in upstate New York and find an original 1940’s diner for sale at its original location.  They pick it up and bring it back to lower-middle class, African-American, North East DC.  A mix of all races and classes come together for coffee, country breakfasts and a little bit of waitress love and wisdom…

Turns out Matt and Patrick, the two owners, are real people and this is a delicious new place on Bladensburg Road NE, near hopping H Street.  Matt had originally just wanted to open a cheese steak cart to capture some of the drunks leaving H Street at night.  Patrick convinced him to go up to buy an original 1940s diner on EBay.  Now, both are deep in personal debt and have hurdled amazing amounts of city red tape to get the diner in place. 

Its completely vintage, down to the refrigerator and milk shake machine. The only problem, Patrick told me, was that there is no storage and they are going through an incredible volume of food.  The place was packed on a Friday lunch with a wide variety of locals from the neighborhood and diner lovers from far and wide. 

When the H Street streetcar opens in 18 months, the place is going to be even hotter, but they can’t hold any more than the 16 small seats at the counter and five booths, which are already packed.   Its open 24/ 7 on the weekends.  And the mammoth “Super Happy Fat Boy Breakfast” is a steal at $8.75.  With coffee, pancake, 2 eggs, bacon and biscuit, this is going to be every H Street bar hound’s new hangover cure.

The best part the amazing waitresses from the surrounding Trinidad neighborhood, who tell stories, talk to everyone, constantly ask how everything is and still mange to get the food out from behind the tiny counter space.   The Capital City Diner can only be called a brand new, old-fashioned, one of a kind for our city.

Capital City Diner

1050 Bladensburg Road NE

20002

202-396-DINR (3467)

      

Before the Internet and ESPN, there were a few baseball beacons in America.  They were the 50,000 watt AM signals of a select group of great stations, and on summer nights they followed you for hundreds of miles.  For decades in Michigan the station was WJR and the voice was Ernie Harwell.   Pre-internet, I even spent at least a few evenings a summer, listening to big games in my parked car in DC, where the signal was somehow better than indoors.
 
Ernie was so big in Michigan that my family used to have a record album of his greatest calls from the Tigers Championship of 1968.  The Tigers of the late 1970's weren't very good, but it was easy to put the record on and remember the good years.  By 1984 they were once again World Champions, and I bought the cassette tape of all of Ernie's calls to remember that great season.  In 1999 I took my Dad to the last game ever at beloved Tiger Stadium, and like my Dad had done for decades, I had Ernie in my right ear, even as I watched the game in person. 
 
Ernie was, like Mel Allen in New York, a smooth southern blend that kissed your ear and never let you forget how wonderful baseball on the radio could be.  Football was made for TV. Baseball was made for the radio and especially for Ernie.  
 
He was known for being traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers by the Atlanta Crackers for a catcher and making the forgotten TV call for the famous Bobby Thompson home run.  But for me Ernie will always be the voice of the Tigers games and the calls I still think of today, "He stood there like the house by the side of the road", for a called third strike or "That ball is long gone" for a home run.  My fellow Tiger fans and I know that the voice of baseball and our childhood is gone, but he'll remain in our mind's ear forever.
 

      

What a great evening at the Park last night.  The first win of the season, the weather held out till the game ended and The Phillies fans had to silently get on the Metro as losers.  Except that many Phillies fans didn't just slink off and go home, because our so-called hometown beer garden, The Bullpen, decided to host a Phillies fanatic cover band, Mr. Greengenes, after the game. 

Ive seen Mr. Greengenes for years, they're a Dewey Beach and Arlington favorite.  However, I'd never seen them all outfitted in Phillies jerseys and surrounded by a mob of Philly faithful.  The chanting and "Can you hear us Philly Nation" shout-outs would have been bad enough in the City of Brotherly Love.  But right here?  On the corner of Half and N?  In our post-game bar?    Thank goodness we won, because otherwise it would have been unbearable. 

The only good news, just as I was leaving it started pouring on these idiots.  Good riddance Philly fans and shame on you Bullpen management.  Please leave the other teams' favorite bands off your schedule...

      

We’ve been writing about Teague Park and Water Taxis to the game for a couple of years now, but now things are kicking into high gear.  After a low-key start to service last September, The Potomac Riverboat Company is now offering regular service every night from Old Town Alexandria.  20 bucks roundtrip might seem a little steep, but its sure more fun than driving or the Metro.

Even better they’re offering a ten dollar off coupon to the games with purchase of a water taxi ticket.  And if that’s not enough for you, they’re selling beer on the water taxis, that’s not something that happens on the Metro…

But what’s better than one company is competition, and another company has jumped into the water taxi biz, American River Taxi.  They’re boasting of “Eco-Friendly” boats and service from the Georgetown Waterfront and Southwest DC.  But if their low-res route map is any indication, you may not want to hold your breath for immediate service…

Quick note to everyone going to Opening Day, get there early if you want to see The President’s first pitch.  I was at both W’s opening pitch at RFK in 2005 and at Nats Park in 2008 and it was a mess. Especially the RFK fiasco.   W. could really pitch, great wind-up and delivery, and right from the top of the mound, the full 60 feet 6 inches…   And the Nats won both games in exciting fashion.  Enjoy the season!

      

I got pulled in by the hype and watched Stephen Strasburg’s debut on MASN.

“Stras-y” in the words of guest analyst John Lannan looked great, but if you turned away you would have missed his two quick and efficient innings. The three straight ground ball outs to start his career were a very nice touch.  Mike Rizzo insisted they might leave him in for a third, but when he gave up two hits in the second it was obvious he was gone. 

The real surprise was how strangely comforting it was to hear the voices of “Bob & Rob”, kind of like old friends that you hadn’t spoken to in awhile.  Even the annoying Debbi Taylor wasn’t quite as annoying.  Some highlights:

• They are in love with Ian Desmond.

• Bob quoted from his own blog, “Extreme Makeover: Clubhouse Addition” 
  

• Rob is impressed at “how many guys 6 foot 5 and higher are on this team right now.”

• Bob sees Curly W hats all around the country.
  

• Bob covers Okalahoma Sooner Women’s Basketball in the off-season.

• Viera is getting nicer and even has a movie theater and great shopping now. 
  

• Bob hinted that everyone should mention this to their wives.

• Interesting talk on how many MLB teams are leaving Florida for Arizona.

But too much about "How the whole atmosphere is better this year." Enough already.

Although it is true we are no talking about Daniel Cabrera this year...

Welcome back Rob and Bob, and even you Debbi.