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Philadelphia's most-visited landmark isn't the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall or the Museum of Art. It's a food market.
More specifically, it's Reading Terminal Market, a 119-year-old structure housing more than 80 grocers, restaurants and shops. A testament to the city's appetite for both the gourmet and the workaday, the epicurean bazaar tallied 6.2 million visitors in 2010, according to Marketing and Event Manager Sarah Levitsky.
The concept of culinary getaways — vacations planned around restaurant reservations, cooking classes and market visits — may be as old as leisure time itself, but anecdotal evidence suggests it's suddenly growing in popularity.
Tommy Nicolosi, the owner of DiNic's restaurant in the market, says he's noticed a spike in out-of-town customers. "All of a sudden, aside from my regulars, I started getting people coming here as a destination," says Nicolosi, who has served his famous roast pork sandwiches in the market for 31 years. "It's, like, 'Oh, we're in from New Mexico,' or, 'We're at the convention center and we had to come across the street to see you.' That's a fairly new phenomenon."
David Loy, the president and CEO of Epitourean LLC, which sells food-centric travel packages through Epitourean.com and Cookingvacations.com, says he's also observed booming interest in this type of tourism. In 2010, Epitourean's sales increased by more than 300 percent compared to 2009, Loy says.
"Obviously, people dine when they travel, but what we have seen is a significant growth in the number of people wanting to learn a little bit more while they're on vacation," he says. "People get exposed to the local culture by learning about the cuisine."
Our hyper-awareness about what we eat, how we eat it and where it comes from — as well as some chefs' media exposure — makes it easier than ever to arrange a jaunt entirely around legendary dishes or landmarks. That makes it practically inexcusable not to, says Jeff Swedarsky, the founder of DC Metro Food Tours, which offers eatery crawls around Washington.
If you're not experiencing a city through your stomach, Swedarsky says, "you're missing out on a whole lot."
Whether you're a beachgoer, a market scourer or a TV devotee, there's a mappable, moveable feast for you. We've assembled itineraries for six beyond-the-Beltway destinations, each with recommendations for drool-worthy dishes. Think of these trips as time off from your skinny jeans.
Continue Reading "Loosen Your Beltway: A Journey Through Food-Focused Destinations" »
Tales of privileged individuals temporarily embracing lower-class life are a staple of modern pop culture; look at "Green Acres," "The Simple Life" and "Undercover Boss."
But back in 1916, long before anyone had even heard of television, two young Victorian ladies — who, conveniently, happened to be avid chroniclers of their own lives — pursued momentous fish-out-of-water experiences. Smith-educated socialites Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamund Underwood left behind comfortable yet boring lives in Auburn, N.Y., for one-year teaching positions at a schoolhouse in rural Colorado — a move that was unheard of for women of their era and upbringing. Nearly a century later, Dorothy Wickenden's "Nothing Daunted" ($26, Scribner) recounts their tale.
A couple immortalized on a life-size carved-stone sarcophagus set the tone for the National Geographic Museum's "The Etruscans" exhibition about the ancient society, which reached its height of power in the sixth century B.C. in what are now the Italian regions of Tuscany and Lazio. A reclining man reaches his arm out to touch the back of the woman sitting next to him. She gently tilts her head in his direction. They seem to project contentment — and a mutual fondness that's not typically associated with nearly 3,000-year-old civilizations.
"So often when you see a man and woman together [in ancient representations], there's no interaction. You might see them side by side, but not with this obvious familiarity and affection," says Susan Norton, the museum's director. "Women had a certain level of respect and honor in that society, and they certainly weren't brushed to the side."
A good documentary will make you more interested in the real-life stories that surround you every day. A great documentary will make you want to stand up and throw stuff, either in exceeding joy or flat-out rage. "Project Nim," opening Friday at the E Street Cinema, falls into the latter category. From James Marsh, who directed the amazing "Man on Wire," comes the story of Nim, a chimpanzee who's taken from his mother (just like all of her offspring) and raised in a human family as part of a language-acquisition experiment. He goes on to live with graduate students and learns sign language. And then he slowly gets less cute and more dangerous, and then bad stuff starts to happen and you'll be glad theater seats are bolted to the floor. A tremendous story of ultimate (if long-delayed) compassion, it's a quiet little movie about a chimp that says a lot.
» E Street Cinema, 555 11th St. NW; opens Fri., $11; 202-452-7672, Landmarktheatres.com. (Metro Center)
Continue Reading "Indies & Arties: The Rise (and Fall) of an Ape" »
"Zero to one percent of Studio Theatre patrons ever get to come back here," Hunter Styles says as he opens the door to an industrial-looking hallway and staircase. We're on a magical journey.
Styles and my other guide, Jennifer Harris, are two of the three directors of "Pop!," a Studio Theatre 2ndStage production billed as "a musical murder-mystery extravaganza." We establish early on that the moniker isn't exactly accurate: The show's not a mystery, and there's no murder. But there is music. And it's certainly an extravaganza.
Continue Reading "'Pop' Into the World of Warhol: 'Pop!' at Studio Theatre" »
When Lisa See published "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" in 2005, she introduced many American readers to "nu shu," a written language used exclusively by Chinese women for centuries to communicate with each other despite being confined in their homes for most of their lives. In the big-screen adaptation of "Snow Flower" that hits theaters Friday, See's 19th-century tale of two lifelong girlfriends is combined with a parallel story line about a modern-day friendship in Shanghai. Though the author didn't work on the film in an official capacity, she read scripts and offered suggestions as she watched her work come to life in director Wayne Wang's hands.
How do you feel about the modern-day additions to your story?
What I like about the modern part of the story is that it gives an insider's feel of Shanghai today. They've really gotten into the city in a contemporary way. There's, for example, one scene that was filmed at a club called Shelter [which is housed inside a Cold War-era underground bomb shelter]. Now, if you and I went to Shanghai, we might never get to that club. But in the movie, you can visit it.
What was the most important element of the book that transferred to the film?
The thing that mattered to me most was the idea of what people will go through for friendship and what they will go through to be heard. Those women had bound feet, they lived in an upstairs room from the time they were 5 until they died, but they had such a desire to be heard that they invented a secret language and kept it a secret. And it, in a sense, allowed them to fly out of the room, fly out the window and reach across the fields and find other people who would listen to them.
Continue Reading "The Secret Lives of Girls: Lisa See, 'Snow Flower and the Secret Fan' " »
Lizz Winstead has made a career out of lampooning the politicians and talking heads who fill our 24-hour news cycle, bringing political snark to the masses as co-creator of "The Daily Show." These days, the writer, producer and stand-up is bringing up-to-the-minute commentary to MSNBC and sold-out venues across the country. This weekend, Winstead will stop by the Arlington Cinema 'N' Drafthouse to poke fun at the pundits and headlines we love to hate.
What can the wonks of D.C. expect from your upcoming show?
People [in D.C.] can actually hear jokes that don't need to be explained. That's what's great about D.C. I can blab on about cable news and the crazy pundits, and it's just fun.
"Captain America" opens Friday, and the superhero will roar into a world where good guys are good and bad guys are Nazis. Let your chest swell with pride with these other patriotic movies. USA! USA! USA!
1) Patton
George C. Scott won (and refused) an Oscar for his 1970 portrayal of the famous general, who's about as American as one can get: obstinate, kind of a jerk, but somehow lovable.
2) Team America: World Police
The creators of "South Park" are behind this 2004 all-marionette film with a theme song ("AMERICA, [expletive] YEAH!") that takes the cake when it comes to bursts of jingoism.
Continue Reading "From Sea to Shining Screen: Films That Match the Patriotic 'Captain America'" »
The fact that Emmylou Harris is still releasing albums is just overkill. She's had such an incredible career, yet she's still writing songs, and they're still consistently amazing. All her silver-haired glory just makes the rest of us look bad.
» Wolf Trap, Filene Center, 1551 Trap Road, Vienna; Sat., 8 p.m., $25-$42; 877-965-3872, Wolftrap.org.
Missouri indie band Ludo never made a big splash, and it's a shame — the group trades in music both rocking and wry, with a healthy respect for camp and a beat you can dance to. Best of all, it avoids the typical rock trap of taking itself way too seriously, or of trying to be funny and ending up flimsy.
» 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW; Thu., 6 p.m., $15; 202-265-0930, 930.com. (U St.-Cardozo)
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