Scraping the Bottom of the Barrel

I know that a shopping trip after a workout hardly counts as "covering" the eats of Southeast, but there's food, and it's in Southeast, so there. To the gentleman or lady who attempted to hide the last glass six-pack of Schweppes regular tonic water, I have news for you. Those stacks of ginger ale as camouflage were a clever ruse, but ultimately an insufficient defense against my determination to find the simple and essential ingredients for a properly made gin and tonic. I had a fifth sense telling me there was regular Schweppes tonic water to be had this evening at Harris Teeter. Those Canada Dry decoys were artfully strewn across the aisle floor though. Well played. I look forward to our next contest!

There's something melancholy about a single slice of cake. Now, there are exceptions. Campagno's in Monterey, just off the Presidio, serves up custom sandwiches combined with cake slices. But these mammoth wedges from the local Italians exemplify American excess perfected in cake batter. But, the tiny cake slices - forlorn in their individual plastic packaging - at Harris Teeter made me both sad for myself to be buying one, and sad for the cake that had lost its brother and sister cake slices. This cake slice will never know holiday joy. For it, its demise is that of detached anonymity. Already shorn away from its whole hours earlier in some back room, the individual cake slice is destined for an inglorious end.

Given my druthers, I would blog about the fabulous eats at new bars and restaurants in Southeast, but there's a slight tightening in the credit markets, making the opening of new dining establishments particularly difficult. Of course, that didn't stop Mayor Fenty from making the rounds in Las Vegas... Maybe if we're lucky, I'll be able to write about something other than burgers soon. Rumor has it that Gordon Biersch or some such bar is looking to set up around the ballpark. Here's hoping! Otherwise, my next post will have to discuss the pros and cons of fresh fruit vs. pre-packaged/pre-cut.

Hunt for the Elusive Tonic

This weekend I scoured the vast expanse of southeast liquor stores in search of the elusive tonic water. Something so simple: Schweppes, regular, tonic water. Not diet. Not Canada Dry. Not a generic brand. Either plastic bottles or glass would have been acceptable, though of course the glass bottles are preferable. And yet, as I bull-moosed my way, sweating, in shorts and cut-off pitted-out white t-shirt, topped off by a soaked do-rag, I was inevitably disappointed at every stop.

I was finishing a run through D.C., and thought to pick up some tonic water at one of the ubiquitous liquor stores along Pennsylvania Ave., but repeatedly shoved my way past Saturday night Capitol Hill crowds only to be frustrated in my search. After leaving 7 liquor stores along Pennsylvania and Barracks Row, two CVS drugstores, and a deluxe Harris Teeter, empty-handed, I was only more determined to find my one needed ingredient for a cool gin and tonic (G&T).

I got into the car and - braving crowds of pedestrians walking around Nationals ballpark, I drove to yet another liquor store on South Capitol (aka Taxation Without Representation Street), only to be foiled by another unenlightened shopkeeper, as well as annoyed by hounds of punk kids buying flask-sized Jack Daniel's bottles. There was only one alternative left: The "Unsafe" Safeway (Ed. note: there seems to be some disagreement about the identity of the genuine "Unsafe" Safeway). Not my moniker for Southwest's only (I think?) grocery store, but that's how the blogerati and hipsters refer to it. Well, I finally found several sticky bottles of Schweppes regular tonic water - the plastic kind, not refrigerated - at Safeway, and was able to return home victorious. To enjoy the most hard-earned G&T ever.

Update: Harris Teeter usually carries some sort of Schweppes regular tonic water, but in this case, every in-store location had been "looted" prior to my arrival, and the storeroom - it was realized after an exhaustive search - was empty of Schweppes, too.