Pride Roundup

By Thomas Martin, EdibleDC Contributor

🌈 ☂ at the LOVE mural by @lisamariestudio 📷 @golightly #edibledc #districtofcolor

1,355 Likes, 35 Comments - Edible DC (@edible_dc) on Instagram: "🌈 ☂ at the LOVE mural by @lisamariestudio 📷 @golightly #edibledc #districtofcolor"

Do not fear! There is NO shortage of events in the capital to celebrate Pride 2018. The parade and the festival will be held this Saturday and Sunday respectively, but there are many options for those wishing to join in the festivities. From baseball games and Pride brunches, to special restaurant offerings and late night celebrations, there is something for everyone during PRIDE month.

June 5, Tuesday

NATIONAL’S NIGHT OUT
When: 7:05 PM
Where: National's Stadium, 500 S Capitol St SE
Age Restriction: NONE
Price: Ranges from $15-$50, depending on seat

Home sweet #Nats Park

2,331 Likes, 8 Comments - @nationals on Instagram: "Home sweet #Nats Park"

NATS NIGHT OUT AFTER PARTY WITH ORCHID
When: 9:00 PM – 1:00 AM
Where: Orchid Bar, 520 8th St SE
Age Restriction: 21+
Price: Free admission, happy hour prices on drinks

June 6, Wednesday

PRIDE SIGN-MAKING CLASS WITH THE LEMON COLLECTIVE
When: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Where: The Lemon Collective, 3015 Georgia Ave NW
Who: Calligrapher and lettering specialist Samantha Testa
Age Restriction: 21+
Price: $30

PRIDE PILS LAUNCH AT TOWN DANCEBOUTIQUE YAPPY HOUR
Bring your best friend (canine variety AND human) to snatch up a can of DC BRAU's flagship Pride Pils, featuring artwork by Alden Leonard. Leonard's design captures both the joy and the dissent that make PRIDE such a vital celebration.
When: Town Danceboutique, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Where: 2009 8th St NW
Age Restriction: 21+

June 7, Thursday

DC RESTAURANTS SHOW THEIR PRIDE
When: June 7 – June 9
Where: Four popular restaurants will be celebrating with an ice cream cart (Le Diplomate), Rainbow Almond Cake (Osteria Morini), Night Out at National's Park Pride happy hour (Morini Piccolo) and rainbow cocktail specials (BRABO Brasserie). 

CAPITAL PRIDE HEROES GALA
Annual Pride keynote awards gala presentation.
When: 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Where: 880 P St NW
Who: Honorees include Gregory Cendana, Jesse Garcia, Patrick Grady, Jorge Hernandez, Samantha Master
Age Restriction: 21+
Price: $75

June 8, Friday

EARTH, WIND, GLITTER & FIRE PRIDE OPENING PARTY
When: 9:00 PM – 3:30 AM
Where: Echo Stage, 2135 Queens Chapel Rd NE
Who: DJ Alex Lo, Naomi Smalls, Allie X, DJ Kitty Glitter, Marquis Clanton and more
Age Restriction: 21+
Price: $30 for general admission

It's ELEMENTAL our dear watsons, also appearing at our Earth, Wind, Glitter and Fire @capitalpridedc opening party will be the marvelous @donnaslash (and SO MUCH MORE, check out our insta stories for a full preview or head to the link in our bio) GRAB those tix by the... horns 👆// 📷 by @photobyjeff // #BYThings #Pride #BYGays

160 Likes, 1 Comments - BYT (@brightestyoungthings) on Instagram: "It's ELEMENTAL our dear watsons, also appearing at our Earth, Wind, Glitter and Fire..."

June 9, Saturday

PRIDE AND SHINE BRUNCH WITH URBANA
When: 10:30 AM – 6:00 PM
Where: Urbana, 2121 P Street NW
Who: Mike Hot-Pence and DJ Trayze
Age Restriction: 21+
Price: FREE, with Open Bar package available for $50

ALL-DAY, ALL-NIGHT TICO TOWN PARTY
When: 2:30 PM – 2:00 AM
Where: Tico, 1926 14th St NW
Who: DJ Jeff Carr, DJ Bruno Bartolo
Age Restriction: 21+
Price: Cocktails are $10, small plates range from $5-$7; No cover charge

WASHINGTON BLADE PRIDE PARADE VIEWING PARTY
When: 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Where: 1501 14th St NW
Who: DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, DC Attorney General Karl Racine
Age Restriction: 21+
Price: $25

June 10, Sunday

CAPITAL PRIDE FESTIVAL
When: 12:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Where: Pennsylvania Ave NW, 3rd & 7th Streets
Who: Alessia Cara, Troye Sivan, MAX, Asia O’Hara, Keri Hilson, and Kim Petras
Age Restriction: NONE
Price: FREE, with pit and VIP passes for concerts available

PRIDE HANGOVER POOL PARTY WITH DNV ROOFTOP
When: 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Where: Donovan Hotel Rooftop, 1155 14th St NW
Who: DJ Hamsey
Age Restriction: 21+
Price: $10 charged at the door, but FREE for those wearing wristbands from Urbana’s Pride and Shine Brunch

NOT THE WHITE HOUSE PRIDE PARTY
When: 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Where: Republic Restoratives, 1369 New York Ave NE
Who: DJ Tezrah
Age Restriction: 21+
Price: $20

Thomas Martin is a sophomore at Yale University studying English. He is a staff writer for Yale's The Politic and writes about food, politics, and culture.

For You: A Classic Marinara Sauce

An essential recipe for your kitchen from Cento Fine Foods

Sponsored by Cento Fine Foods

One of the most versatile recipes every chef should have in their repertoire is a simple and satisfying marinara sauce that pops with the fresh flavor of tomatoes. Though traditionally served on pizza or pasta, a classically made tomato sauce opens a door of possibilities as it can be transformed to fit almost every recipe and cuisine.

Ask any Italian and they’ll tell you the secret to making the perfect sauce is using premium quality ingredients, specifically imported certified San Marzano tomatoes. San Marzano tomatoes are widely recognized as the gold standard by top chefs, Italian cooks and foodies because of their thick inner walls, few seeds and sweeter, less acidic taste. Specially grown and processed in the Sarnese Nocerino area of Italy, the ideal Mediterranean microclimate, rich volcanic soil from Mount Vesuvius and high water table of the area all combine to make San Marzano tomatoes the premier choice for any recipe.

Cento Certified San Marzano Tomatoes are held to the highest of standards and monitored from seed to shelf, adhering to the strict conditions and regulations set by Cento. Certified San Marzano tomatoes follow very specific guidelines in terms of growing, selection and processing. Each can of Cento Certified San Marzano Tomatoes comes stamped with a lot code which allows us to trace each can to the exact farm in Italy where the tomatoes were picked. Using Find My Field, you can view the exact field from which your Cento can came from on Google Earth. Try it out for yourself and learn more about Cento Certified San Marzano Tomatoes: www.findmyfield.com.

San Marzano Marinara Sauce

Prep time: 5 min
Cooking time: 25 min

• 2 tbsp Cento Imported Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup white onion, chopped
• 1 tsp Bellino Minced Garlic
• 1 can Cento Certified San Marzano Tomatoes (28 oz), hand crushed
• Cento Fine Sicilian Sea Salt, to taste
• Cento Ground Black Pepper, to taste
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves, for garnish

Heat oil over a medium flame in a medium sauce pan. Sauté the onion until translucent, approximately one minute, then add garlic and gently brown for an additional minute. Pour in tomatoes and season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir well, cover and let simmer for 20 minutes or until desired thickness is achieved. Remove from heat, add basil and spoon sauce over your favorite pasta.

Serves 4-6.

This content and recipe was sponsored in partnership with Cento Foods. 

Tico DC x Herradura

An Evening of Tequila Tasting and Tasteful Pairings

Edible DC partnered with Herradura to sponsor a dinner focused on tasting the different expressions of tequila, Reposado, Silver and Añejo. The assembled group learned the basics of tequila production from Herradura's education lead, Casa Herradura is the last true tequila-producing hacienda left in Mexico, producing handcrafted and barrel-aged spirits from 100% agave since 1870. 

Tico DC’s chef de cuisine, Rodrigo Perez, created a menu that complimented the different expressions of Herradura, starting with a savory margarita and finishing with something we could have everyday: a "Jalisco Red-Eye" which was coffee, Galliano and tequila. It was delicious. We're sharing the entire menu and our favorite recipes.

First Course

Hamachi Duo:  Grilled Tuna Collar and Crudo Tostada

Pairing: Marco Margarita: Thai Basil and Cucumber Herradura Silver Margarita 

Second Course

Roasted Young Chicken, Sweet and Sour Onion Broth, Fresh Peas and Curry Pickle

Pairing: Lerma/Santiago Raft: Edible Herradura Reposado Chayote Paloma

The tuna collar, pictured above,  was absolutely delicious.

Third Course

Brisket Asado, with Chile Relleno and Grilled Vegetables

Pairing: Old Fashioned Horseshoe: Herradura Anejo Old Fashion with Coriander

Dessert

Hibiscus Margarita Trifle: toasted brioche and lemon curd

The Coriander Old-Fashioned

• 2 dashes angostura 
• 2 ounces añejo Herradura
• 3/8 ounce coriander syrup

To make the coriander syrup,

• 1 cup water
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons coriander seeds

To make the coriander syrup, heat one cup of water, 3/4 cup sugar and 3 tablespoons coriander seeds over medium heat in a heavy-bottom saucepan until the mixture just comes to a boil. Remove from heat, cover and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Pour over one large ice cube, stir together the liquids and garnish with the orange twist and the árbol chili and serve.

Redefining Chesapeake

A trio of chefs reimagining from-here fare that shores up its future
By Whitney Pipkin, Photos by Hannah Hudson

This story originally appeared in our Summer 2016 Sustainability issue. We are re-sharing in honor of Chef Jeremiah Langhorne's James Beard Award for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic.

Chef Spike Gjerde, Chef Jeremiah Langhorne, and Chef John Shields (Photo by Hannah Hudson)

John Shields doesn’t waste any time when he arrives at the eatery run by his longtime chef-friend and fellow Baltimorean, Spike Gjerde.

“I have to talk to you guys for my book,” he says to Gjerde and Jeremiah Langhorne, a Washington, DC, chef who trekked to Charm City on his day off to talk shop and sustainable sourcing with the other two.

“It’s about where we go next for the Chesapeake.”

Far from off-the-wall, the question is one these three chefs spend inordinate amounts of time mulling. They’ve each come to see their restaurants as tools for tackling some of the region’s most vexing environmental issues—and for promoting its rich resources.

Shields, 65, has been “slinging crab cakes” since childhood, starting as a volunteer serving business lunches at his grandmother Gertie’s church in Baltimore and going on to write The Chesapeake Bay Cookbook: Rediscovering the Pleasures of a Great Regional Cuisine 25 years ago. It includes recipes for braised muskrat, Maryland Beaten Biscuits and Lady Baltimore Cake, not to mention blue crabs.

His next book, The New Chesapeake Kitchen, due out next year, will be part cookbook, part call to action as he challenges readers to embrace fare that’s better for “the bay and the body.”

Shields first put the region’s best on the map in 1983 when he opened Gertie’s Chesapeake Bay Café in Berkeley, California, just as diners were beginning to tip their hats to from-here food.

“People were just opening up to American food as being valid and not second-class to European,” says Shields, who cooked in California alongside local-food pioneers like Alice Waters. “It reflects a sense of place and a sense of geography and a sense of history—and stories. It’s who we are.”

Years later, Shields moved back home to host a public television series on the Chesapeake and to cook the region’s specialties closer to the source at Gertrude’s inside the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Gjerde, 53, took a more circuitous route to the conclusion that this region can produce some of the world’s best food. Last year, the James Beard Foundation declared him the “Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic,” in part because his cooking so keenly represents the very essence of the area.

“Gjerde’s food reminds me what a great pantry he has in his backyard,” says Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema, who served on the award committee.

Gjerde moved to Baltimore’s suburbs as a kid, but “I didn’t connect with the traditions and foodways of this region the way John did.”

The Chesapeake Bay foodshed just happened to be where he put down roots after going away to school and returning to the city to start a restaurant.

“It turns out, I was very lucky.”

Langhorne, 31, feels the same way about the diverse growing region that surrounds the nation’s capital—and that’s why he chose to move here. When the District native left Charleston to open The Dabney last year, the question he got most was, “Why DC?”

After debunking stereotypes about the capital’s lack of food culture, he would tell them that the District is, in fact, “geographically one of the best places in the entire country to open a restaurant.”

For starters, it sits on the footprint of the largest estuary in the country, home to iconic and diverse seafood species—and a costly cleanup effort to keep them all here—from striped bass and soft-shell crabs to the more recent addition of farmed oysters.

West of the District, farmers have for generations cultivated or grazed animals on the fertile Piedmont soils in the shadow of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, where nearby forests also provide fodder for mushroom and ramp foragers. That thread of diversity runs throughout the Appalachian Valley, where food staples such as sorghum, heirloom beans and funky vinegars are experiencing a comeback.

There are chickens and cows and a preponderance of pigs being raised, increasingly on pastures, throughout the six states that make up the Chesapeake drainage basin. Add Pennsylvania’s dairy and cheese culture and Maryland’s legacy of grains—and that “bounty” certain chefs speak of starts to come into focus.

“You have everything that a chef could possibly want within a very close radius, and that is incredibly rare,” says Langhorne.

These chefs benefit from that bounty, sure, but they also feel a duty to protect and support it. Gjerde has been known to post how much money his restaurant gives to the producers of the butchered meats in his case at Parts & Labor, because making sure they have a future in their business is central to his.

“I want to use whatever resources I have to help get the food system that I want,” he says.

These chefs’ visions are big and sometimes hard to grasp without sitting down for several courses at their restaurants (which we recommend you do). So we asked them: What would a better Chesapeake cuisine look like if you had to represent it in one plate of food?

In response, their dishes showcase ingredients that reflect the area’s best resources without putting a strain on them. To stretch those resources, the lump crab cake becomes a crab soup that can feed eight rather than two. The proteins, as Thomas Jefferson once recommended, become more of a condiment as they cede the spotlight to good-for-the-soil grains and rooftop-grown microgreens. The sauces are rooted in old-school fermentation and plentiful-but-underused local ingredients such as walnut leaves.

The dishes are a window into the cuisine these chefs and others are chasing and elevating at the same time. Call it “Mid-Atlantic.” Call it “Chesapeake.” But call it something, because it’s ours.

Jeremiah Langhorne, 31
The Dabney

“The eggs,” Langhorne starts a sentence, and then hurries toward the kitchen, where cooks are fanning the flames of an oversized hearth to life long before the start of a weeknight dinner service.

He returns with a carton of the multi-hued orbs, one of which has “Trixie” penciled onto the shell: “These guys take their eggs so seriously that they write the name of the hen on them.”

Though such novelties are central to Langhorne’s zealously local concept, he would never bring these eggs out to a table of Washington diners poring over the restaurant’s succinct, seasonal menu.

“Lots of times, we don’t tell people unless they ask,” he says of the painstaking steps his staff takes to source the best ingredients, reinterpreting long-lost recipes of the Mid-Atlantic region along the way.

Born in the District and raised near the Shenandoah Valley, Langhorne’s ascent to opening the restaurant with business partner Alex Zink in the District’s Blagden Alley is well documented for those who want to get into its weeds. Washington Post food writer Tim Carman followed Langhorne’s journey from the first farm visit to opening night this past winter.

But if anything’s proved that the concept is still a little foreign to Washingtonians, it’s their cynicism. Langhorne balks at the criticism he’s received from those who’ve seen one too many Portlandia episodes, who assume his efforts come from a place of pretention.

“Believe me,” he says, leaning forward, “these farmers are not about any form of arrogance. It’s literally people working their hardest to give you the best plate of food they can.”

That’s why Langhorne won’t give up on Mid-Atlantic or the farmers that are bringing its best products to market. Not to mention, one taste of his hearth-smoked seasonal mushrooms might be enough to convert any naysayers.

“I want more producers. I want a better foodshed,” he says. “I want a better place to live.”

The Dish: A spin on a summer panzanella, this dish features a fried duck egg over cooked greenery with flowers from whatever’s growing on The Dabney’s roof, in this case tatsoi and fennel pollen. Large croutons are cooked on the hearth so they remain chewy and a bacon vinaigrette melds with the rich yolk and charred green garlic.

Top Summer Ingredients:

-       Soft-shell crabs

-       Zucchini and squash (turns them into noodles with nasturtium butter, crab and black bass)

-       Pawpaw

Spike Gjerde, 53
Woodberry Kitchen, Parts & Labor, Artifact Coffee and A Rake's Progress

Among the people working to rebuild a food system on the back of a Chesapeake region that deserves its due, Spike Gjerde is the fanatic. He’s the conflicted genius, tackling one problem after another with the Baltimore-based restaurant group he owns with his wife, Amy. More than a flagship alluding to a broader mission, the restaurants are a cog in the larger food machine he’s trying to improve, a way to funnel funding and ideas for new ingredients back to the farmers and fishers who form the foundation of it all.

At one moment, Gjerde is giddily dishing about his successful hunt for mustard seed or ancient stores of salt in West Virginia. In the next, he’s downcast, lost in his own thoughts as he recalls an item he hasn’t yet checked off his dream list of sourcing locally, such as citrus (though vinegar, he says, can often lend an equal bite to dishes).

“What we’ve lost is generations and sometimes millennia of knowledge,” says Gjerde, who combs historical sources for recipes worthy of revival.

His now-signature Snake Oil sauce is based on an heirloom fish pepper that was nearly lost to this area until he asked farmers to grow more of it. Gjerde committed to buying hundreds of pounds of mustard seed each year from farmer Heinz Thomet, and then figured out what to do with it.

Supporting local growers was a big part of Gjerde’s inspiration to open Woodberry Kitchen nine years ago, but it’s become about much more than that—about producing food that is good for the landscape from which it comes.

“That can be one of the weaknesses of, quote, ‘farm-to-table,’” Gjerde says. “If you don’t have a clear idea of why it’s important, then you’re willing to compromise at some point.”

The Dish: A pork-rib cap smoked slowly over the hearth at Parts & Labor served on a buckwheat sourdough crisp. Crab debuts as a sauce with seasonal vegetables from under the crisp, topped with ramps pickled in the spring.

Top Summer Ingredients:

-       Artichokes

-       Fish peppers

-       Stone fruit like apricots

John Shields, 65
Gertrude’s in the Baltimore Museum of Art

John Shields’ Chesapeake Bay education began at his great uncle’s seafood packing plant on Tilghman Island, where he’d spend weekends and summers as a child immersed in the waterman’s way of life.

His grandmother Gertrude, or “Gertie,” became the namesake for his future restaurants when she taught him to cook the sort of dishes that should accompany such an upbringing in and around Maryland’s shoreline.

When he wound up in California ready for his own restaurant, Shields pulled from that past to open Gertie’s Chesapeake Bay Café, showing the other coast what a crab cake should taste like.

“I called up my fisherman and said, ‘I’m opening a Chesapeake Bay seafood restaurant in Berkeley. I need food,’” Shields remembers.

Several years later, after Maryland Public Television asked him to star in a Chesapeake-based cooking show, he moved closer to the source to open Gertrude’s in Baltimore with a renewed focus on from-here foods.

“It’s just how I grew up. It’s all I knew,” says Shields.

He has since realized that the way of life he knew as a child—when local rockfish, or striped bass, was cheap and plentiful rather than fine-dining fare—won’t be available for others without some effort.

So the $30 crab cake that takes “a second mortgage” to serve to a crowd sometimes becomes a Maryland crab soup these days.

“We’re stretching the precious protein so it takes a little stress off of the bay and off of our body,” Shields says. “It helps to rebuild the local food economy and it puts maybe a little more money into the pockets of the farmers who are growing grains and vegetables and fruits.”

The Dish: A filet of rockfish, or striped bass, served with crabmeat, vegetables and, in the summer, with a succotash of sweet corn and lima beans.

Top Summer Ingredients:

-       Rockfish

-       Sweet corn

-       Lima beans

A Foraging Trip Yields A Surprising Bounty

Bourbon Steak's Drew Adams creates vegetarian spring whimsy from a walk in the woods

Bourbon Steak Chef Drew Adams pulls wild onions during a foraging hike in maryland.

By Susan Able and AJ Dronkers, Edible DC, photography by AJ Dronkers

A rambling walk in the woods with a chef focused on a spring foraging produced a surprising amount of edible forest matter and was a great education for our west coast team rep, AJ Dronkers, on what mid-Atlantic forests can produce as food. AJ joined Bourbon Steak's Chef Drew Adams on a hike last week in Maryland with Edible's contributing photographer, Jennifer Chase, who came along to capture the action and learn more about foraging.

On our hour and a half walk in the woods in Maryland, just north of the Potomac River, we found wild mint, nettles, wild onions, wild mustard greens, mulberries, wild carrots and turkey tail mushrooms. As we went along, Chef Drew pointed out edible plants that ripen along with the seasons, like pawpaw trees and spice bushes. He carried along a long stick that served as a leaf lifter and makeshift shovel for exploring and removing flora, but recommended a small shovel as an expedient way to remove various finds. Ramps, for example.

Turkey tail mushrooms. one of the most studied medicinal mushrooms due to its ability to boost the immune system, and even benefit certain cancer patients when used in conjunction with chemotherapy. 

And of course, ramps were found. This is their season. Drew reminded us of an important foraging principle:  Only pick 10% of what you find. Especially for something so popularly foraged such as ramps, taking only a small amount will insure the plant has a long term survival in the region. Also, he suggested it is always a good idea to follow the rules if you are foraging in a state or local park. 

Drew Adams grew up in Maryland, and has been traipsing through the woods as long as he can remember. One strong memory of his woodland explorations is a cautionary tale--he ate an unknown mushroom and had to visit the ER to get his stomach pumped. This incident did not slow him down. As an adult, he has researched and learned on his own about how to forage, including taking walks with a local educational botanist. "I'm an 'intermediate level' forager," Adams explained to the group. "There is still so much to learn, and so many chefs who are taking things next level. One thing for sure, this is not a trend, and for professional foragers, it is how they make their living. People don't often share their reliable spots for finding popular items, like morels. It can get pretty intense over guarding spots, sometimes event violent, especially over something with a high market value like wild ginseng." 

After our walk, we returned to Georgetown and Bourbon Steak where Drew put to work the finds from our walk. He delivered a sourdough bread platform that was a forest fantasy bruschetta. The grilled bread was topped with house-made ricotta with lemon and honey, pickled turnips and fiddlehead ferns, wild onions, apple blossoms, pickled garlic and mustard flowers all combined into colorful deliciousness. 

The reward from the hike:  Sourdough bread topped with forest findings.

Adams told us, "I'm still so passionate about learning. The field behind my parents house is filled with what must be 10,000 violets, yet only about 1 in 10 have a violet flavor, so its funny how that can be hit or miss. But I'll tell you one thing, the thing I love most is the pawpaw fruit which will be ripe in the fall. It's got these amazing tropical flavors  and I can't wait to bring that on the menu." 

Drew Adams is the Executive Chef at Bourbon Steak, Four Seasons Hotel Washington, DC. A Baltimore native, Adams is a graduate of Johnson& Wales. Before arriving at Bourbon Steak, Adams has cooked at some of the top DC restaurants including The Dabney, Rose's Luxury, Plume and Marcel's. 

Boutique Fitness Options Abound in the DMV

So how do you know what’s right for you?

By AJ Dronkers

Photos from the Cut Seven EdibleDC Magazine bootcamp. (Photo by Kara McCartney)

DC came in last year as the second-most-fit city in the U.S. according to , and it’s no surprise the fitness industry continues to explode here on track with the rest of the nation with an over 400% growth in the past five years. But most of that growth is not in traditional full-service large gyms, it’s from the boutique fitness sector, defined as small studios with tailored workouts, “one place where you do one thing.”

And the impact on DC is tangible. In the city’s refurbished urban neighborhoods, you are as likely to see a boutique fitness studio as you are a bar or restaurant. In a town known as a nirvana for happy hour drinking, classes at the boutique gyms are packed at happy hour with patrons sweating away.

I decided to join the trend. Three years into working two full-time jobs I had lost track of my health. It didn’t help that one of those jobs (hello Edible DC Magazine!) included what seemed to be endless cooking, eating and drinking. I had gained a lot of weight, which I’ll call my “Edible 40”, and I knew I had to change things up. I made one major commitment to myself: to sweat five times a week. As an extrovert who loves good company, good food and drinks, an extreme diet or abolishing entire food groups has never created sustained results in my path for balance. The focus on “sweat” or exercise does work for me. It wasn’t about a number on the scale, but about how I felt about showing up for myself.

Luckily, I started this exercise regime as the boutique fitness experiences options bloomed in DC. Going to the gym hadn’t motivated me enough. So I took the dive into boutique fitness. I tried the indoor cycling studio class at SoulCycle, and got hooked. I really loved the experience and saw quick results in losing weight and building strength.

SoulCycle studio (Photo compliments SoulCycle)

“I tell my clients that the change you will see in your body from SoulCycle will end up being a secondary benefit to the improvement in your self-esteem and attitude when you realize that that you’ve changed the relationship you have with yourself. A SoulCycle workout challenges your mind, forces you to be honest with yourself and gives you better insight into your emotions as well as your physical self. It really is unique.”

— Jared Lee, Washington, DC SoulCycle Instructor 

Yes, at the beginning, waking up at 5am was totally brutal, but the pumping music, instructor enthusiasm and “pack” or team focus really resonated with me. After just three months I had shed 15 pounds and felt confident enough to try something new.

I decided to add a Solidcore workout two times per week. Solidcore is a slow and controlled resistance workout with the goal of helping build long, lean and strong muscles or what I like to call “Pilates reformer on steroids.” Founded here in DC, Solidcore has grown across the entire U.S.

I called my new SoulCycle + Solidcore addiction, the “Michelle Obama Workout Plan,” as it was widely reported she frequented both. After a full year I had lost a total of about 40 pounds, saying goodbye to the “Edible 40.” I’ve continued to try other boutique fitness options, and new ones that have given me a huge challenge are CutSeven and 305 Fitness.

CutSeven focuses on different muscle groups daily and the workout is with a group of about 16. After being greeted by the owners’ dog (named Burpee, of course they named their dog after a hard exercise), you enter a red-hued room and rotate through four different workout areas designed to maximize results for the muscle group of the day. The fun differentiator here is the team focus. A group huddle starts and ends each class, with enthusiastic cheers for each other throughout the class and lots of high-fives.

305 Fitness has a strong following for their dance fitness classes. Forget Zumba, these high-intensity dance classes have a live DJ and offer nonstop dancing for 55 minutes or until your feet give out.

To recap, here’s why boutique fitness worked for my fitness journey:

• Small classes that build community: You really get to know the instructors, the owners and especially your fellow classmates—an added bonus; I didn’t expect all the new friendships.
• Accountability: When people know you, you feel more accountable and inspired. Instructors know your name and will comment or direct-message you, your new friends will challenge you to show up. There are even groups with private online forums for questions and team motivation.
• Variety: If you start to get bored, you can switch instructors, studios, try a themed class or change workouts altogether—there is always something new!
• Vibe: The candles, loud music, specialty lighting and cool design are all part of what hooked me.

The downside is that unless you decide to give up a monthly gym fee, this can all get expensive. The boutique fitness classes range from $25 to $35, depending on whether you buy one class at a time or get a multi-session deal. And also, even though “you can do you” in most situations, some boutique fitness options require fitness prerequisites like being able to jog or hold a plank pose. Make sure and ask before you show up if you have a limitation or are just starting your fitness journey.

Ultimately, it’s up to you to find what motivates you. Don’t be shy about trying something, just tell people you are new. Expect to feel overwhelmed, uncomfortable, nervous and a variety of other things. Just don’t give up. Commit to trying anything new at least five times over the course of two to three weeks. What are you waiting for?

Places to Sweat:

Cycling/Spin

• SoulCycle
• Off Road DC
• Zengo
• CycleBar
• FlyWheel

Slow Resistance Workouts

• Solidcore
• Pilates
• Yoga
• Bar Classes

Cross Training x HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)

• OrangeTheory
• Barry’s Bootcamp
• CutSeven
• SweatBox
• Elevate
• BLAST
• Urban Athletics Club
• CrossFit
• Sweat DC

Dancing

• 305 Fitness
• Joy of Motion

Other

• Squash on Fire
• Urban Boxing
• Rumble boxing (coming soon to DC)