Prescription Chicken

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By Lizzy Gendell, Photography by Hannah Hudson

Feeling punk and missing Mom’s home cooking? While the holidays and “cold and flu” season may arrive simultaneously, DC’s newest delivery service, Prescription Chicken, sends out homemade chicken soup for those of us who don’t want to get out of bed.  

Co-founder Valerie Zweig got sick one too many times and was desperate for a soothing bowl of chicken soup. Zweig and her business partner, Taryn Pellicone, recognized that a delivery option for a the legendarily healing soup was a natural niche. 

The rich chicken broth with hints of dill and ginger is a heady, herbal remedy. Full-on “grandma style” gives soup eaters a choice of matzo balls or noodles. Or order a vegetarian (chickenless) version. There is also a nutritious bone broth and a spicy “hangover” soup.  

“When Life Happens” packages offer other solutions that include soup and beyond for the very sick, new moms and those with morning sickness. The “Super Sick” package comes with soup, throat lozenges, tissues and fresh squeezed OJ.  

Zweig and Pellicone are currently cooking out of the incubator kitchen DC’s Mess Hall and deliver Prescription Chicken via Uber Eats, Postmates and DoorDash. The soup is also available for From the Farmer subscribers and at Glen’s Garden Market. For more information or to order go to prescriptionchicken.com. 

A Field Guide to Holiday Lights & Nearby Eats & Drinks

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By Tim Ebner

National Christmas Tree

The Ellipse: Look for giant toy soldiers guarding the doors at Old Ebbitt Grill, just a few blocks from the National Christmas Tree. You’ll want to head straight to the raw bar for half-off oyster specials during happy hour (3–6pm) and late night (11pm to close).  

Parade of Lights

600 Water St. SW: Warm up with a winter cocktail at Ashlar, located inside the Kimpton’s Hotel Monaco. Get into the holiday spirit with drinks like the Sherry Cobbler #2, served with Dewar’s Blended Scotch, bianco vermouth and Alexandro Cream Sherry. 

Zoo Lights

3001 Connecticut Ave. NW: For hearty pub fare and a children-friendly option, head to Duke’s Counter, located across the street from the National Zoo. Bring an appetite because their “sarnies” (or sandwiches) can easily feed two.  

Georgetown Glow

Georgetown canal area and waterfront: Escape the madness of M Street by recharging and re-caffeinating at Grace Street Coffee Roasters, an independent, locally owned coffee company that’s new to Georgetown. 

 Christmas on the Potomac  

National Harbor, 201 Waterfront St.: Chef Edward Lee has been adding a Southern twang to National Harbor’s dining scene for about a year now. His restaurant, Succotash, serves a variety of shared plates, including Southern-style wings, pimento cheese and skillet cornbread.  

 Miracle on 34th Street  

720 W. 34th St., Hampden: Le Garage is a few blocks north of Miracle on 34th Street and offers a dive hideaway with an expansive beer list, the best french fries in Baltimore and a variety of tartines (open-faced sandwiches).  

 Festival of Lights and Carols  

The Mormon Temple, 9900 Stoneybrook Dr., Kensington: Swing by Jenny Cakes Bakery in Kensington and pick up some holiday sweets before your visit to the Mormon Temple. This cute little bakery is tucked away in the Kensington historic district and serves mouthwatering cupcakes, cakes and cookies.  

 Festival of Lights

Watkins Regional Park, 301 Watkins Park Dr. (Route 193), Upper Marlboro, MD: Breakfast for dinner? Or Southern fried chicken? Both are possible at Mrs. K’s Restaurant, known as a “hometown, home-cooked, hole-in-the wall” place that has a local following for all-day breakfast and soul food. Open every day but Sunday ’til 8pm. 

 Annapolis Light Parade  

Annapolis Harbor and Spa Creek: Head away from the crowds, up Main Street, to Preserve. Obsessed with Mid-Atlantic cuisine, Chef Jeremy Hoffman pickles many local ingredients to last through winter. Try the pickled platter of root vegetables—served in a Mason jar—and a seasonal cocktail. 

 Garden of Lights

Brookside Gardens, 1800 Glenallan Ave.,Wheaton: Wheaton is a wonderland of cheap eats. To bring the heat and spice to your holiday look no further than Ruan Thai. Favorite dishes include grilled pork with spicy sauce and fried whole flounder with chili and basil. 

 Bull Run Festival of Lights

7700 Bull Run Dr., Centreville: To fend off December’s chill, head to Vit Goel Tofu for steaming bowls of tofu soup. This tucked-away Korean restaurant has a variety of vegetarian soup options, like soondubu, which comes with a whole egg to crack open and into the stew. 

 Winter Walk of Lights

Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, 9750 Meadowlark Gardens Ct., Vienna: Clarity Chefs Jon Krinn and Jason Maddens consistently get top nods in northern Virginia for delicious and creative cuisine. Dishes like cold-smoked diver scallops, braised lamb ragout and local tomato salad get rave reviews. 

 Festival of Lights and Carols  

Old Town Hall, 3999 University Dr., Fairfax: Bring the heat to the holidays with tsukemen, a nontraditional ramen, where the noodles are slightly thicker and served alongside a firey orange dipping sauce. At Marumen Ramen Shop in Fairfax, each bowl comes with a hearty helping of sides. Choose from options including pork belly, pickled cabbage and creamy buttersweet corn. 

Illustration by Mabel and Maggie. Artists Sarah Bohl and Mary DeStefano make hand-drawn and hand-lettered maps, cocktail cards and a variety of other paper products. mabelandmaggie.com 

The Gift of Giving, the Gift of Food

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by Andrew Marder

November 2014 was the first time I saw my son go under general anesthesia. My wife carried him through the halls of Children’s National and into a room where a handful of doctors and nurses twiddled knobs and smiled behind green masks.

“Does he like strawberries?” one of them asked. “The gas smells like strawberries.”

He was just over a year old at the time. I didn’t know if he liked strawberries.

“Sure,” I said.

They put the tiny mask over his face and we sang Rainbow Connection to him and he cried for a few seconds and went to sleep. We kissed his head, told him we loved him and shuffled back out into the hallway.

Then, we walked down to the cafeteria and got coffees, clutching our phones and waiting to hear that all had gone well. This is how it works, every time.

Every surgery or scan or procedure is terrifying. Every call telling us it all went well is a blessing. The time in between is always spent looking out at the McMillan Reservoir, surrounded by parents, kids and doctors.

The Children’s cafeteria is my support community. I’m not there to eat a Bib Gourmand meal; I’m there to feel sane.

It’s no different than the Thanksgiving meal with friends or the New Year’s feast. Food is the hub around which our communities spin. We gather around food because food is a constant. We can talk about it, make it, plan for it and momentarily pretend like we have some control over our lives.

As we roll into the holiday season, we’re presented with an opportunity to help families feel safe and sane, if just for one meal.

If you love food, you love the way it can change lives, and the charities presented here are some of the area’s best examples of that power. As someone who has been fortunate enough to find solace in a food-centered community, I urge you to give your time, your money or your heart to one of these organizations.

When Max wakes up, we smile at the people around us and rush off to see him. The community kept us going while we wrung our hands. Now, we have an opportunity to keep other food communities going so that less privileged parents and children can also find solace, relief and happiness in food.

All of the organizations below feed children and families and seek donations to fund their efforts. Help prevent hunger this holiday season and help fund food and assistance for those in need.                                                                                                                  

Horton’s Kids

Horton’s Kids is a nonprofit that serves 500 children, grades K through 12, living in Wellington Park in Ward 8, one of Washington, DC’s, most at-risk neighborhoods. The vast majority of households have an annual income well below the national poverty line. For many children, the Horton’s Kids Community Resource Center is the only safe, consistent and accessible source of healthy food and other critical resources within walking distance of their apartments. Make a donation or volunteer at www.hortonskids.org

DC Greens     

DC Greens is changing the local food scene from all angles. This nonprofit works to create a healthy and equitable food system, creates policies that support on-the-ground work, assists teachers in developing food system curriculum, creates partnerships with farmers markets and cultivates an urban agriculture space (K Street Farm)—all with the goal of getting all people healthy food. Quite notably, their Produce Plus program offers select DC residents $10 per farmers market trip twice a week. You can support this and their other wonderful programs by donating to https://dc-greens.networkforgood.com/ or go get your hands dirty at K Street Farm Thursdays from 10am to noon and 5–7pm.

Martha's Table

Over the 30 years, Martha’s Table has created programs that increase access to education, healthy food and family support. While one of their key programs is providing their clients with healthy meals, they have expanded to running a thrift shop, offering child reading lessons and writing programs, serving before-school breakfasts, teaching technology in their Computer Learning Center and more. They will soon open a second location in Ward 8. A small donation can provide a family’s fresh groceries or textbooks for students in their education program. https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/marthastable

Capital Area Food Bank

Capital Area Food Bank is on a mission to take hunger off the map. Hunger is a serious issue that is sadly endemic to neighborhoods in and around Washington, DC. Capital Area Food Bank is raising awareness and alleviating hunger and related complications such as undernutrition, heart disease and obesity. The organization partners with organizations in the DMV to provide programs including weekend bags for children, kids’ summer meals, senior brown bags, nutrition education and mobile markets. Their programs reach 540,000 people per year! You can help extend their reach by donating food, volunteering to pack food or giving a monetary donation at https://my.capitalareafoodbank.org/donate.

Brainfood

Brainfood is a nonprofit organization that works to empower young people through food. Their programs help teens and young adults build life skills, explore their creativity and raise self-expectations through the lens of food. Participants can enroll in after-school, summer and year-round programs to learn life and leadership skills through food and cooking. The organization highlights healthy living, critical thinking, teamwork, responsibility, community service, independence, job skills and, most importantly, fun! A donation here will help stock up their kitchen with the best supplies and food. https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/1441912

Children’s Inn at NIH—The Family Dinner Program

The Children’s Inn at NIH is a space where families who are undergoing serious medical treatment can go to relax. During times like this, it is hard to find time to grocery shop and cook meals for your family. You can volunteer to prepare a home-cooked meal for families at the Children’s Inn. Volunteers can either drop off the meal or stay to serve the families. Ready to get cooking? Follow this link to sign up and see guidelines for meal preparation and delivery: http://childrensinn.org/get-innvolved/volunteer/group-volunteer-opportunities/family-dinner-program/

Dreaming Out Loud

Fresh and nutritious food is not always easy to come by in DC. Over 34,000 residents, mainly in Wards 7 and 8, live in “food deserts” where their homes are more than a mile from a supermarket. Dreaming Out Loud works to bridge the gap in food access. They are rebuilding a community-based food system by making spaces for intensive urban agriculture and creating access to fresh food through farmers markets. In working to increase access to fresh food, Dreaming Out Loud is creating economic opportunities, capitalizing on local knowledge of food and building resilient communities. The organization has reached 40,000 people and grown 300,000 pounds of produce! Help them continue to enrich our local food system by donating at http://dreamingoutloud.org/.

Arcadia

Maybe you’ve seen a bright green school bus filled with beautiful fresh vegetables around DC? That’s a Mobile Market—just one of Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture’s innovative ideas to help bring local, sustainably produced and affordable food to underserved communities in the Washington, DC, area. At their main farm, located just south of the city, they not only grow produce but also work on education, community engagement, environmental stewardship and food access and train veterans to be farmers. Through their work on the farm and in the city, they demonstrate how small-scale sustainable agriculture can have a very big impact! To volunteer, go to http://arcadiafood.org/volunteer-opportunities-arcadia-farm, or donate here: http://arcadiafood.org/donate.

Bread for the City

Bread for the City provides vulnerable residents of Washington, DC, with services including food, clothing, medical care and legal and social services. They address several problems around DC: hunger, health care inequity, homelessness, mental illness, unemployment and domestic violence. They have a food pantry, offer healthy cooking demonstrations at their medical clinic and are now growing some of their own food. Last year, they provided food for more than 24,000 DC residents through their food pantry. You can volunteer at their food pantries, orchard, clothing room or garden events http://www.breadforthecity.org/getinvolved/volunteer/ or donate here https://www.breadforthecity.org/givetoday/. 

Nonprofit organization list compiled by Lizzy Gendell.

EdibleDC 2016 Local Gift Guide

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Spirited Away to 14th Street

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by Andrew Marder

I can't imagine I'll actually die here. There's probably some system in place at restaurants to revive idiots like me, right? I have never been more interested in the emergency preparedness of a business than I am at this point in time, sitting among the stills of District Distilling, stuffing my stupid face with food.

At one point in the dinner, another diner noticed that I was cleaning my plate with every course.

"You're eating all of it?"

"Am I not supposed to?"

No. I was not supposed to. Or maybe I was supposed to, but only because it's a sort of social experiment wherein the chef wants to know what true gluttony looks like.

By the time this whole thing wraps up, I'll barely be able to take a single bite out of one of the most gorgeous, Scarlett Johansson-esque chocolate chip cookies I've ever seen. I take that one bite only because the woman across from me effectively dares me to.

"You don't want to be the guy who bails out of the marathon at 24 miles."

So instead I opt to die at the finish line.

Let's run it down. Deviled eggs, smoked rainbow trout on homemade cheese crackers, pork trotter fritter things, foie gras on toasts, fried chicken on a biscuit with pickles and honey, shrimp toast with a quail egg, pork shoulder poutine with bourbon gravy, shrimp and grits with tasso ham, suckling pig on Carolina Gold rice with beans, a crème brulee yeasted doughnut, and the crazy cookie with a side of milk.

This embarrassing list doesn't include all the liquor and mixed drinks that I managed to gullet, either. I've edited it down for clarity and to keep a small dollop of my dignity intact, though there seems little room for it in my system.

It was worth it.

There were points in the proceedings where I told myself, "I'd die for this man." Chef Justin Bittner (nee Saint-Ex and Bar Pilar) cares deeply about the food he makes. Touring of his prep kitchen is like stumbling through the evidence dungeon of a serial feeder, who lures hungry people into his unmarked van and then, inexplicably, feeds them.

He's smoking meat in one corner, making his own hot sauce with hatch chilies on a shelf, freezing cookie dough pucks in the walk-in, and there is - and I'm not making this up - a beat-up, rolling suitcase full of god-knows-what in the fridge.

I feel bad that I've gotten this far and haven't talked about Matt Strickland. It's just that, when you've come so close to death, you tend to forget some of the details along the way.

Strickland is District's distiller, formerly of Nashville's Corsair Distillery. In most books, there's the crazy guy (Bittner) and the sane guy. District Distilling has two mad scientists, instead.

Strickland has copper stills and stainless steel vats towering over him like boozy skyscrapers. The copper column still has two trunks that run up from the distillery into the restaurant upstairs, dotted with portholes that allow you to watch the liquor being produced. It sounds confusing, but it's a striking image.

District Distilling opened with four spirits - vodka, gin, a blended whiskey, and white rum. They're all excellent. The standout, to me, was the rum. It's a crystal clear spirit made with panela and the flavor of that sugar shines through.  There was also a rye in the works, and even without any age on it, it was excellent.

I didn't die. There was a moment where I thought, "This would be an alright place to fall asleep forever in," but then I remembered a party I was supposed to go to and decided to live.

I ended up with a to-go box for some cookies and an unearned and imperfect sense of accomplishment. Sure, the woman across from me had stood out in the cold all night to cover reactions to the election in front of the White House and slept something like 30 minutes. That's impressive - I guess.

I, however, ate a whole bunch of incredible food while downing awesome drinks. So, really, who's to say which one of us is most dedicated to the pursuit of the Truth?

If you need me, I'll be not eating for the next six months. So I guess you'll find me at the bar.

Owen's Ordinary Tavern & Beer Garden

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By Anya Kroupnik

Rockville has always had the edge when it came to having the best area concentration of authentic Asian restaurants, within the past few years, the area (now known in some parts as "North Bethesda") has started getting new options opened by seasoned players who were investing serious money in helping create a new restaurant scene north of the beltway. Count Owen’s Ordinary as one of these--a unique addition from the Neighborhood Restaurant Group, this beer garden meets local sports bar meets open kitchen restaurant is fun with a steampunk decor.

With a focus on local ingredients, veggies and meats are sourced from the DMV area while half of the 150 beer selection comes from Maryland alone. Phil, one of the bartenders, said their unique beer list “was created with a focus on freshness” and their multi-temperature tap system allows various beers to be served at their most enjoyable temperatures. We sampled some of those on tap, including selections from Silver Spring’s Denizens Brewing and Rockville’s 7 Locks Brewing.

 For those not into beer (although from such a vast selection of flavors SOMETHING should stand out to you), the small cocktail selection is well curated. My favorite was the Red Line Rickey which uses organic Art in the Age Rhubarb Tea Spirits. We got to sample some of their food- a crispy fried pork belly topped with pickles and their brioche bun sliders was a flavor explosion. Those pickles must be local too... their crunch was the finishing touch on both dishes.

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 As a "North Bethesdan", this is sure to become my new go-to spot!