DAY ONE, Wednesday April 6
12:30 p.m. Meet at Jewlia's house to rehearse before we hit the road. Jewlia and her mom have prepared a lovely lunch of bagels with tuna and capers, curried egg salad, sliced Persian cucumber, surprisingly sweet strawberries, iced tea, and water with lemon, lime, and mint in a tall glass pitcher. I wish I could eat like that every day. I have brought my own lunch from the salad bar next door which I nibble on as well, and a big bottle of water for the road. Jewlia's mom says, "Ganda, you always have food with you. It's very impressive. You're always so prepared." Actually, I have packed several bags of black and green teas and a couple of packets of Cream of Wheat for the road -- because you can always get hot water. I really bring food with me for the benefit of the people I'm with. I turn into a gremlin when I am hungry. Or under-caffeinated.
2:30 p.m. Charming Hostess hits the road in our silver Impala rental (significantly less sexy than its 70s predecessor). Rehearsal in the car. Jewlia says we can eat at the venue, an anarchist bookstore/coffeehouse called Red Emma's in Baltimore. "The girl on the phone said, 'We've got really good vegan cupcakes,'" Jewlia says. HA! Vegans can be funny too. We discuss the possibility of dinner #2 when we go to D.C., where we'll be spending the night.
7:30 p.m. Beautiful Baltimore! I stick my head out the car window and gawk at the Orioles fans swarming the stadium. They are the genus of white t-shirt and sneakers wearing folks I see on the Food Network's coverage of local food festivals. It is weird to be outside of New York. We arrive at Red Emma's. Shelves are divided by social/cultural genre and labeled with Sharpied masking tape. The stage is a small space which has been cleared in front of the magazine racks carrying the Utne reader and various zines.
7:35 p.m.
GANDA: What's that?
WORKER BEE: That's art.
GANDA: No, what is it?
WORKER BEE: Oh, it's sugar. But don't eat the stuff that dripped onto the aluminum. It's okay to eat it off the sculpture though. I had some in my tea the other day.
GANDA: Oh.
8:10 p.m. A nice mixed crowd of people have formed, encouraged by excellent press in the Baltimore Sun. I'm subbing for regular Charming Hostess Cynthia Taylor, so we're all dealing with new parts. It's a bit bumpy but great for the first hit. No vegan cupcakes are offered.
10:00ish p.m. We head down the street to the bar in the Belvedere Hotel. I eat a few mussels with butter and an oyster with Marmite-ish Guinness sabayon off our companions' plates. I'm hungry.
11:30ish p.m. We make it to D.C. and meet up with a birthday party at the Circle Bistro. The kitchen is closed. I order a Coke with 5 cherries. I'm pretty hungry.
12:30ish a.m. Short stack -- Amsterdam Falafel House
The Amsterdam Falafel House serves up a tiny menu of frites and falafels in small or large. It's Israeli style, which means you build your crisp and tasty falafel with your own choice of condiments -- everything from pink pickled turnips and cucumber salad to hummus and spicy sweet tomato salsa type sauce. I love condiments. The frites are crisp and quite good, but the almost chartreuse-colored dutch mayo is so thick it's hard to pump out of the little mayo station. I was hungry, now I am not hungry. Bring on the champagne!
Grade: A
Total: $6.60 for a small falafel and a small frites
Will I return? If I'm in D.C., especially if I'm drunk on that little party strip of 18th St., definitely. Any place that has a condiment free-for-all gets two thumbs up from me.
Amsterdam Falafel House
2425 18th Street NW, D.C.
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