Cafe Rio

Cafe Rio, a fast-fresh Mexican restaurant chain from Utah, has finally made it to the DC area. Cafe Rio has mostly expanded to states bordering Utah, but they made the jump out here probably because there's a pretty decent population of transplants from Utah. A lot of Utah mormons come out here to work for the government, or to attend one of the many universities here.

Cafe Rio is affectionately referred to as Mormon crack (the pork salads with the creamy tomatillo dressing are considered the most addictive). And, speaking from experience, you don't actually have to be Mormon to enjoy the food (I swear it!!). Every time we would go back to visit family in Utah, Cafe Rio would be on the list of places we had to go. When we moved away from Utah, we found copycat recipes so that we could enjoy Cafe Rio-esque food when the craving called. Now Cafe Rio has finally joined us here! And we couldn't have been more ecstatic. It's a bit out in the middle of nowhere (i.e., nowhere near a metro line), but luckily it's only a 25-30 minute drive from where we live. That could be a lot worse.

We heard about the new Cafe Rio location here during its first week of business. We heard the news on a Friday and went on a Saturday. So we went when it was still fairly new. We wondered if it would be very busy yet. Cafe Rios in Utah always have a line. It's just expected that if you want Cafe Rio, you're going to have to wait for it. We wondered how busy it would be at this one -- obviously Utahns in the area would definitely go, but how many would that be and how long would it take for them to hear that a Cafe Rio was in town? I should have known the power of Cafe Rio and its cult status... We pull into the new Cafe Rio and the parking lot was packed. We saw a shitload of minivans and SUVs -- the automobile of choice for many a mormon family. We also saw a decent amount of Virginia license plates (when Utah mormons move to the DC area, they end up living all over...but, there does seem to be a larger proportion that choose to live in Virginia. I guess DC and Maryland are just way too liberal for them...). Coming from Virginia means they were willing to drive quite the distance to get themselves some Cafe Rio. (Oh and there was even a Idaho license plate in the parking lot. They probably were relieved a Cafe Rio opened up while they were in town or when they just barely moved to town).

Walking into the Cafe Rio I experienced two things I don't see much of in the DC area: Tons of little kids and all the customers were white. Walking through those doors, I stepped into a portal that transported me to Utah. It really felt like we were in Utah. That could be the Utah embassy. There were so many young couples with children. There were also a decent amount of young pregnant women. I heard Utah accents. The outfits were Utah-mormon (including girls wearing tank tops under not-that-revealing shirts and dresses, men in khaki cargo shorts with brown leather flip flops. I also saw plenty of undergarment lines). The hair was Utah-mormon. It's hard to describe exactly what Utah-mormon hair or clothing looks like, it's just one of those things you know when you see it. Only people that grew up in Utah really know what I'm talking about. Just know that it looked like Utah exploded all over the place.

Eagan is posing with my salad and his. He didn't actually order two salads...

You could tell which people were the Utah transplants and which people were just visiting this new restaurant called Cafe Rio. The Utahns were the ones that didn't need to look at a menu at all, and they ordered their meals and all the fixings really quickly. I even saw people pulling out Cafe Rio stamp cards. You can always count on Utah mormons to be thrifty. Cafe Rio has a card where you get a stamp for each entree you purchase, and when you get 10, you get a free meal (and when this happens, the workers shout out "FREE MEAL!" They also shout out "EXTRA MEAT" when someone orders that). This Cafe Rio is in its first week, so the odds are this is the customers' first time coming to this particular Cafe Rio. Which means these customers have collected Cafe Rio stamps at other Cafe Rio locations and they keep the card with them, ready for any chance visit to a Cafe Rio. I myself do the exact same. I have a Cafe Rio card in my wallet that I keep for when I go to Utah, and I'm glad that I can now use it here. One person even got a free meal at Cafe Rio the night we were there (I bet the owners didn't think they'd be giving out a free meal that early in their tenure). That's another way you could tell the Utahns from the non-Utahns, when the workers would shout out "FREE MEAL!" or "EXTRA MEAT!", the Utahns didn't flinch at all. The other customers looked very confused.

One thing that kind of weirded me out is that the line/prep line went left to right at this location. Every Cafe Rio I have ever been to the line goes right to left...with the ladies making tortillas to the right and the person that puts your completed meal on the tray is to the left. It was the opposite here. It just felt wrong...

Halfway through our meal, we noticed a couple of young kids playing on the patio out front by the parking lot, unattended, while their parents ate inside. The kids were walking/balancing on a raised railing, with a cement patch down below. Like I said, I felt like I was actually in Utah.

But guess what?! This Cafe Rio is actually open on Sunday! That's definitely the time to go. I bet the place will be nearly empty. A Cafe Rio open on Sunday -- I never thought I'd see the day! I will revel in this rare opportunity.

Red vs. Blue TV Shows

A media research company, Experian Simmons, analyzed what shows Republicans tend to favor compared to Democrats. It appears as if, very generally, Republicans tend to like popular/mainstream shows that are on the basic network channels like NBC, CBS, ABC. On the other hand, Democrats are more likely to like shows that are on basic cable or premium cable channels like AMC, HBO, Showtime. These shows are often critically acclaimed but don't have high ratings, because the audience isn't very broad (e.g., Mad Men).

A senior marketing manager at Experian Simmons said, "Looking at the Democrats side, I don't mean to make light of it, but they seem to like shows about damaged people. Those are the kind of shows Republicans just stay away from." Haha. Though, I think that's actually a pretty fair assessment. A lot of Democrats tend to be well-educated (many with liberal arts degrees...), and also younger, and that demographic tends to appreciate shows that feature more complex storylines and characters (where the protagonist is not always a good person. Or, maybe a better way of putting it is that the protagonists have a tendency to be more morally ambiguous). These type of viewers usually aren't as interested in shows that fit the typical mold (i.e., unoriginal), have blah writing/art direction, are fluffy, or have a laugh track.

No surprise, the most polarizing shows (in the top 15) are Glenn Beck and Countdown with Keith Olbermann. 

I had to do a double-take when I first went down the list of most popular Democrat shows. Mad Men at number two, very nice. Dexter at number 3, I approve. Then we get to Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami and 90210?!? What the fuck?! What caused that drop off to terrible land?

Reality shows tend to be more popular with Republicans. Five of their top 15 shows are reality shows. Whereas with the Democrats, one reality show is in the top 15 (and it's a pretty bad one). 

I was surprised that Modern Family made the top 3 for Republicans, but didn't make the top 15 for Democrats (though Modern Family scored 124 with Republicans and 108 with Democrats. So it's not like Democrats have no love for Modern Family). I understand why Republicans would like Modern Family -- it's on ABC, it's a sitcom, it's about family. But it's also a kind of a progressive show. I mean, it does feature a happy gay couple that have an adopted child...and it doesn't result in the world catching on fire. I'm just surprised it's as high up on the Republican list and as low down on the Democrat list. 

Yay Democrats: Democrats appreciate 30 Rock, Community, Parks & Recreation, and Breaking Bad for the great shows they are. Republicans are missing out.  

The Republican score for Mad Men is 55 and for 30 Rock it's 68; yet their score for Dancing with the Stars is 117, The Bachelor is 114, and Two and a Half Men is 112?! Blasphemy!

I Heart Takoma Park

In a previous post I had written about a neighborhood in the area called Takoma Park that is known for being a hippie/granola/earth child neighborhood.  I had mentioned that Takoma Park has those little shops that sell stuff like "My Karma Ran Over Your Dogma" bumper stickers, Buddha statues, and incense. There's lots of free-flowing patchwork shirts and dreadlocks, as well as boobs not held down (or up) by bras and skin not held down by soap. There's a pet accessories store that is "for the socially-conscience pet" -- not the socially-conscience pet owner, but the socially-conscience pet. There's a toy store that specializes in non-competitive games. There also seems to be a building requirement that all businesses in the area must have a nazar (an amulet that protects against the evil eye) visible. I love Takoma Park; it's great.

Anyway, there was a news story recently about a guy getting arrested in Takoma Park for cocaine possession. The opening line of the article read, "What did a suspect allegedly carrying around $50,000 worth of cocaine in Takoma Park first do to capture the interest of police?"

My answer: "He was in Takoma Park." Pretty much everyone walking in Takoma Park probably has drugs on them. I'm pretty sure "Being in Takoma Park" is admissible in a court of law as a legitimate form of probable cause.

I guess the correct answer was that he was publicly drinking, and a police officer noticed and chased after him. The guy threw his bottle at the officer, kept running, and then he threw a bag into the dumpster. When police returned to the dumpster, they found the bag was filled with 1.2 pounds of cocaine. Then they went and searched his house and found a gallon of liquid PCP and two guns.

I'm guessing Takoma Park has officially rescinded his Takoma Park citizenship for "being such a downer, man."

Eagan said, "Seriously. I heard they were making 'bummers' a capital offense."

I replied, "They've already made it a felony to have a bad aura."


*This blog post is approved by the Takoma Park Chamber of Tourism

Well-Said

Christopher Hitchens wrote a great op-ed piece about Glenn Beck's rally this past weekend and how this group of people are afraid that this country "will be submerged by an influx from beyond the borders and that it will be challenged in its traditional ways and faiths by an alien and largely Third World religion." He brings up the examples (all from just this summer) of the Arizona immigration law, the calls for amending the 14th Amendment (so that children born in this country to non-citizen immigrant parents cannot receive automatic U.S. citizenship -- we don't want "terror babies"! ), the fight over the "Ground Zero" mosque, and now Glenn Beck's rally this past weekend that called for a (Christian) religious revival.

I loved this part:

In a rather curious and confused way, some white people are starting to almost think like a minority, even like a persecuted one. What does it take to believe that Christianity is an endangered religion in America or that the name of Jesus is insufficiently spoken or appreciated? Who wakes up believing that there is no appreciation for our veterans and our armed forced and that without a noisy speech from Sarah Palin, their sacrifice would be scorned? It's not unfair to say that such grievances are purely and simply imaginary, which in turn leads one to ask what the real ones can be. The clue, surely, is furnished by the remainder of the speeches, which deny racial feeling so monotonously and vehemently as to draw attention.

I also loved how he said that Glenn Beck's rally this weekend was "large, vague, moist, and undirected: the Waterworld of white self-pity."

I don't really get what the message/point of his shirt is. Is it that if there happens to be black people around the world that own/owned slaves, that it's ok that white people do/did, too? Also, who could forget that wonderful country Mauitania?! I don't know if he just happened to forget to put in the "r", or if he thinks that's actually what the country is called.

Oh look! He had another wonderful shirt under his Mauitania shirt!

The Interconnected World of Indie Dating

I was riding the metro today and The Elected came on my ipod. This band was a side project of Blake Sennett's from Rilo Kiley. Hearing the song made me think about how Blake Sennett was once engaged to Winona Ryder (they eventually broke up. You think Winona could actually be in a longterm relationship?!). And then it got me thinking about how Winona and Conor Oberst (from Bright Eyes) had dated before Winona and Blake did. And Blake and Conor are friends. They appear on each other's albums. Rilo Kiley and Bright Eyes were both on the close-knit Saddle Creek Records label. Then I started thinking about all the indie band relationship connections (and how 'incestuous' indie dating is). And then it soon spilled over into some actors who seem to enjoy dating indie musicians. So I pulled out the magazine in my purse, found an ad page with open space, and then started drawing a diagram connecting indie musician relationships. Once I got home I transfered the diagram to some notebook paper to make it look neater.

Here's what I came up with:

(Note: Some of these relationships might have just been gossip/rumors, but, regardless, I heard they were in a relationship and that's good enough for me.)

Black lines = Relationship (dated/married)

Blue lines = Musical relationship (in a band together/collaborated (i.e., appeared) on each others albums)

Double lines (black and blue line) = They both dated and had a musical relationship

And these are just the connections I'm aware of and could think of off the top of my head. There definitely could be more.

Detailed Explanation of the Diagram:

Conor Oberst (from Bright Eyes, his solo work, Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band, Monsters of Folk, to name some) dated Maria Taylor (from Azure Ray and her solo work, to name some). Both Bright Eyes and Azure Ray were on Saddle Creek Records. Conor and Maria often made appearances on each others albums.

Maria Taylor was in Azure Ray with Orenda Fink. Orenda Fink is married to Todd Fink (né Baechle), the lead singer of The Faint. The Faint were also a Saddle Creek band. Todd grew up in Omaha with Conor Oberst. They were in the band Commander Venus together (also a member was Tim Kasher from Cursive/The Good Life -- two more Saddle Creek bands).

Conor Oberst also dated Neely Jenkins (from Tilly & The Wall). They grew up together and actually lived next door to each other. They were both in the band Park Ave. Also in the band was Clark Baechle (he also is in The Faint. And he's the brother of Todd Fink) and Jamie Williams. Neely and Jamie eventually formed the band Tilly & the Wall.

Jamie Williams (now Jamie Pressnall) dated fellow Tilly & the Wall bandmate Derek Pressnall, and now they're married.

Conor Oberst also dated Winona Ryder.

Winona Ryder also dated Ryan Adams (from his solo work and Whiskeytown).

Ryan Adams is married to Mandy Moore.

Mandy Moore also dated the musician Greg Laswell.

Winona Ryder also dated Blake Sennett (from Rilo Kiley and The Elected. He also was an actor).

Blake Sennett also dated his Rilo Kiley bandmate Jenny Lewis (also from The Postal Service and her solo project. She also was an actress).

Jenny Lewis allegedly dated her Postal Service bandmate Ben Gibbard (who also was in Death Cab for Cutie, as well as other projects).

Ben Gibbard is married to Zooey Deschanel (along with being an actress, Zooey is in She & Him with M. Ward. He also is in Monsters of Folk with Conor Oberst).

Zooey Deschanel dated Jason Schwartzman (in addition to being an actor, he was in the band Phantom Planet and has a solo project called Coconut Records).

Jenny Lewis is currently dating indie musician Johnathan Rice. They're also working on an album together. (Johnathan Rice also recently went on tour with Ben Gibbard)

Jenny Lewis also dated Jake Gyllenhaal.

Jake Gyllenhaal also dated Kirsten Dunst. Kirsten Dunst is dating Jason Boesel (from Rilo Kiley, The Elected, Bright Eyes, and Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band. He also played drums for Johnathan Rice. So there's connections to Jenny Lewis, Blake Sennett, Conor Oberst, and Johnathan Rice). Though, I haven't heard recently whether Kirsten and Jason are still together or not.

Jake Gyllenhaal also dated Natalie Portman. Natalie Portman also dated indie musician Devendra Banhart.

Kirsten Dunst and Natalie Portman also both dated Andy Samberg. Andy is dating indie musician Joanna Newsom (though I haven't heard recently whether they're still together or not).

Kirsten Dunst also dated Ryan Gosling (in addition to being an actor, he's in the indie band Dead Man's Bones). Ryan Gosling also dated the actress Michelle Williams.

Conor Oberst also dated the actress Michelle Williams.

Michelle Williams also dated the director Spike Jonze.

Spike Jonze was married to the director Sofia Coppola. Sofia is dating (and has children with) Thomas Mars from the band Phoenix. (Sofia is also cousins with Jason Schwartzman)

Spike Jonze also dated Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

In conclusion, Conor Oberst seems to be the center of the universe when it comes to indie dating (that man-slut/music-slut!). He is the Kevin Bacon of this diagram.

I Heart Word Nerds

The Washington Post had an interesting (and awesomely nerdy) article on linguists and lexicographers choosing a word of the year. Merriam-Webster picked "admonish" (boring). The Oxford English Dictionary picked "unfriend." The Global Language Monitor's media-analysis software made "Twitter" the word of the year and "global warming" the word of the decade. The American Dialect Society chose "tweet" for 2009 and "Google" as the word of the decade.

The article has all kinds of nerdy tidbits and dialogue:

*The American Dialect Society's first ever Word of the Year, in 1990, was "bushlips" (ouch. I bet there's some regret there...).

*In 2000, the American Dialect Society picked "web" to represent the 1990s, "jazz" for the 20th century, and "she" for the millennium.

*Merriam-Webster's online dictionary gets 1.3 billion page views a year. Look-ups for "empathy" shot up during the Sonia Sotomayor hearings; "philanderer" during the Mark Sanford confessions; "emaciated" after the news of Michael Jackson's death; "indigenous" after the premiere of the movie Avatar.

*Merriam-Webster adds 100 words to its database each year.

*Urban Dictionary receives 2,000 reader submissions a day.

*Global Language Monitor calculates that a new English word is born every 98 minutes.

An editor at the American Heritage Dictionary recently got a tattoo of this phonetic vowel chart on his back. That is awesomely nerdy.

*Jack Lynch, author of The Lexicographer's Dilemma says we're living in a time of rapid word creation, with no gatekeeper for slang. He said purists have always complained about the erosion of "proper" language, but he said a lexicographer's job is to describe the flux, not prescribe a paradigm. "Language has been going to hell since forever. Let's not worry about English. It's been doing fine for 1,500 years and it's going to outlive us all. "

In the behavior spectrum of American conferencing, the linguists and lexicographers fall on the social end, confides a waiter at the hotel's "tavern". They gab. "They're not like the scientists, who sit alone and order coffee without looking up," the waiter says. "And they linger."

In meeting rooms at the hotel, they ramble about Vedic Sanskrit and Oregon English and chide one another for talking too fast. The lobby echoes with chatter about clitics and fricatives and vowel fission. Conclusions are reached about Northern Virginia (natives have begun to speak like they're from Ohio rather than the South) and the effect of first names on longevity (people whose names begin with "D" seem to die soon than others). Talks are given on "Learning to Talk Like a Heterosexual" and "The Effect of Dialect Features Under Intoxication" and how "Abbrevs is Totes the Lang of the Fuche."

Thirty students and scholars show up for Thursday's nominating session in a meeting room. They jaw about the possible displacement of "search" by "Google," how the flu-prevention term "Dracula sneeze" translates into American Sign Language. They argue the merits of "Salahi" as a verb and the pronunciation of H1N1 as "heinie."

The man in the bow tie is a 68-year-old dictionary editor from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and he stops by a table in the hotel tavern Thursday night to greet four fellow wordmen. The average age at the table is about 60, and there's a preponderance of tweed, cufflinks, and monogrammed dress shirts. The 41-year-old Oxford English Dictionary editor literally wrote the book on the F word, and Allan Metcalf, executive director of the American Dialect Society since 1980, literally wrote the book on "OK" (subtitle: "America's Greatest Invention").

There's a posse of rebel linguists who won't let "sea kittens" and "Dracula sneeze" die. A gentleman in a gray suit argues against "H1N1" as word of the year because it would mean succumbing to the pork lobby. There are speeches against "9/11" as word of the decade because it would mean the terrorists win. Every two minutes someone shouts, "Fail!"

*At the American Dialect Society conference, when taking suggestions for word of the decade, a 69 year old man suggested, "Anyone for 'sexting'?" To which someone in the audience replied, "Well if you give me your number!"

*Two linguist students from William & Mary are annoyed that "unfriend" came up as a suggestion for the word of the year. "'Un' is like 'opposite', whereas 'de' connotes 'taking away.'"

*During final arguments, someone from the crowd says, "I'd like to speak against all of these arguments for 'tweet' because they are all over 140 characters long."

In conclusion, I really liked this quote by Richard Bailey, a professor emeritus of English from the University of Michigan: "Language is an index of our social identity."

The Hipster's Worst Nightmare: Target

I just read a pretty ridiculous article/editorial in the Washington Post. It was about how Columbia Heights, a neighborhood in DC that a lot of hipsters live in, is losing it's hipster-cred by getting a Target. I can only hope it's satire, but sadly, I don't think it is.

The first line of the article and the author is already throwing around terms like "hipster", "post-hipster", and "quasi-hipster". God, I hate her already.

In the article she describes Columbia Heights "pre-Target" and "post-Target". As if time should now be measured by this epochal event, right up there with the life of Jesus. Pre-Target Columbia Heights was THE place to be seen. Hipsters were attracted to this neighborhood because of the "bragging rights" that comes with living in a "gritty", "edgy", "urban" area with "semi-permanent police cars" that monitor the "muggings and shootings that still happen in broad daylight" (though I wouldn't be surprised if these same hipsters crossed the street upon seeing a black person).

She talked about how pre-Target hipsters would rent a zipcar and make a special (secret) odyssey (that only occurs every four months) to go down to Target to gets things all hipsters need, like "microsuede storage benches" and "duvets". But they did this "ironically".

"Along the way, you talked about how glad you were that you didn't live down there, and how ironic it was for you to be going there at all ... And on the way home you stopped at Outback Steakhouse (which was totally hilarious), and in polite company you never spoke of these suburban adventures again." (Original emphasis)

Oh the hipster lifestyle, selling your soul for a $30 duvet and a blooming onion. Have you no shame.

The author goes on to say Target was "amusing", just as long as it's not in their backyard. She actually says "NIMBY" (not in my backyard). As if hipsters not wanting a Target in their neighborhood because it would ruin their 'street cred' is along the same lines of neighborhoods and communities organizing and rallying together to prevent something like a freeway being built through their neighborhood.

She argues, "The problem with a Target is that it can lead to other nefarious pursuits. It's a gateway drug to other suburban activities." (Yes, she really did say gateway drug). She gives the example of hipsters that actually ate at -- I can barely type this out -- Ruby Tuesday's! There's one across from the Target. One hipster that ate at R.T.'s (as I like to call it) had his friends give him a really hard time about going to one and he actually felt the need to excuse his actions. Saying, "It was kind of a joke..." and that there was a group of people and they all were hungry and they just got done with an activity and wanted something fast...and did I mention they were all hungry?! And, most importantly, he said he won't go again. Wow. That is sad. Another hipster girl joked about how her and her friends "ironically" went to Ruby Tuesday's. Justifying it with "I don't know how we ended up there!"And they all thought it was "ironic and stupid" -- and they ironically and stupidly ordered food, ate it, and paid for it.

The author even blames Target for these hipsters' out-of-control consumerism and materialism. Acting as if the problem is the Target and not these (usually totally rich kid) hipsters. Or our society in general, for that matter. Our culture is all about conspicuous consumption and materialism. But the author acts like only Target is the problem, and pre-Target Columbia Heights was above consumerism. She gives the example of one hipster that goes to Target four times a week. Another hipster impulsively bought a flat screen TV at Best Buy. Another hipster wanders Target when she's bored, buying stuff she doesn't need. Two hipsters came out of Target with a cart full of stuff including a cat jungle gym; providing the quote, "If I had not been able to walk to the store, I would not have bought this." I don't think the problem is Target (or its proximity), I think the problem is these shopaholics that obviously need some serious help.

When the author makes statements like "[Target is] so awful. so convenient," I'm reminded of who this article is ignoring: The non-hipster majority that lives in this area (those who live in this area for non-trendy reasons). And this includes many families. They are probably quite happy to have a place like Target close by. They probably enjoy the convenience and low prices of a place like Target. Not too many of these residents probably rented zip cars (pre-Target) to go to Targets in the suburbs every four months like our hipster friends.

And don't the hipsters realize they're probably at least partly responsible for the Target coming? These hipsters with their expendable income (as is evident by the random shopping sprees when they're bored) and their college degrees. The mass exodus of hipsters to an area helps bring about the trendy clubs, bars, and restaurants. Next thing you know there's box stores. And then comes the healthy frozen yogurt places and $3 cupcakes. Now I realize young hipsters don't hold that much sway with development -- I wouldn't say they are single-handedly responsible for the Target -- but they definitely change the make-up of residents in Columbia Heights, which contributes to its commercial development.

To sum up the article, I have created the following list:

Hipster:

CVS

Deodorant locked up at the store

Dim lighting

Living in areas with crime

Zipcars

Cardboard boxes as toys for your pets

"Cracked, group-house, hand-me-down" dinner plates

A mis-matched bathroom

Graphic tees

Shaggy black haircut

Slim physique ("city-soft")

"Vintage-y dress"

Nose piercing

Square glasses

T-shirt as a pillowcase

Arts non-profit groups

Not Hipster:

Target

Neatly stocked aisles

Deodorants with fancy scents ("Lotus Glow" and "Valencia Mist")

Bed, Bath, and Beyond

Marshalls

Best Buy

Flat screen TVs

Humidifiers

Pleather sofas

Owning your own car

Big box stores

Convenience

Proximity

"Kitty Cities" or other cat jungle gyms that come in a box

Coordinating bathmat/shower-curtain combo

Matching sheets

Seasonal wreaths

Ruby Tuesday's