Billy Long Wields Knife at Taste of the South

Rep. Billy Long, R-Mo., waved the 8-inch blade of a the handmade custom chef’s knife before his eyes on Saturday night and whistled, attempting to command the attention of Taste of the South’s VIP crowd at the gala’s inaugural live auction in the lower level of DAR Constitution Hall.

Each of Long’s feet was planted on the squishy seat of a dining chair, and beads of sweat rolled from his forehead as he hollered for bids on the stainless steel “Tyger,” one-half of a set of knives valued at $1,000.

“I thought falling off the chairs is one thing, the knives are another, but the knives and the chairs together — probably not a good idea,” Long told HOH after the auction, with a hearty chuckle. Full story

Taste of the South Readies Down-Home Comforts

Washington’s Southern belles and their beaus will glam up Saturday night for the annual Taste of the South at DAR Constitution Hall.

Tickets for the charity gala ­— $125 per person ­— sold out within two weeks, according to the event’s chairwoman, Alyson Gabel, primarily to staffers and lobbyists excited for drinks, dancing and down-home delicacies from 13 Southern states in the name of a good cause.

Since Taste of the South’s founding in 1982, the event annually has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charitable initiatives throughout the South. This year’s featured charity is Mercy House, a nonprofit based in Harrisonburg, Va., that helps homeless families. Proceeds will also help The Fishing School, a D.C.-based youth development organization, and other charities from the host states.
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Dating App Rates Capitol Hill as Pretty Attractive Place

Online dating app Hinge declares the Senate’s workforce more attractive than the House’s, but both employ some of the most attractive people in the District, according to user ratings.

The dating app aims to connect single young people by allowing users to rank Facebook friends-of-friends on a scale of 1-5. Hinge users have accumulated more than 1 million ratings, and the site claims to have had its “nerds sift through all the data” to see which local companies employ the highest-rated D.C. workers.

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Sandra Day O’Connor’s Big Day

When Sandra Day O’Connor strode through the curtains to take her seat on the Supreme Court bench in 1981, the Arizona cowgirl became the first woman to sit on the nation’s highest court. Visiting the chamber on Monday, she saw three women on the bench: Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

Later that night, during a sold-out appearance at 6^th and I Historic Synagogue, O’Connor announced her observation with a broad smile on her face. In addition to visiting the court, which was considering a case for which she wrote a lower-court brief, the 82-year-old was in town to promote her new book, “Out of Order: Stories from the History of the Supreme Court.” Full story

D.C. Budget Pint Fight!

Local activists trying to win budget autonomy for the District plan to raise funds — along with plenty of pints of DC Brau — Tuesday night during their inaugural DC Budget Freedom Happy Hour at Meridian Pint (3400 11th St. NW).

Bartenders at the Columbia Heights craft-beer mecca will pour $4 DC Brau Public Ale drafts from 5 to 8 p.m., with 100 percent of proceeds from the first three kegs going directly to the campaign for a referendum to untangle the city’s budget from the congressional appropriations process.

With seven weeks remaining before the April 23 special election, DC Vote is working to spread support for Home Rule Charter Amendment Referendum 8. If passed, it would allow the city to spend its approximately $6 billion a year in locally raised tax dollars and avoid the anxiety that shrouds city government officials each time Capitol Hill nears a spending standoff.

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Barracks Row to Become Giant Cooking Class

Imagine yourself whipping up a batch of  Cava Mezze’s  tzatziki on your kitchen counter, simmering Zest Bistro’s carbonara sauce on your stove top, and popping a Spring Mill Bread almond tart from your oven.

Culinary novices can learn to re-create their favorite Barracks Row menu items on Feb. 17, when Eighth Street Southeast is transformed into a cooking school campus.

Chefs, sommeliers and beer experts will be leading 21 classes over the course of the day, with ticket prices for each lesson ranging from $15 to $30. Classes offer a spectrum of expertise, including rolling sushi with the masters of Old Siam, curing meat with Lavagna’s charcuterie experts or swirling frosting flowers with the pastry chefs of Hello Cupcake.

Students won’t leave class hungry — the professionals at Senart’s Oyster and Chop House will let you eat all the oysters you can shuck, and Ambar’s chefs will offer a post-class Serbian feast with beer.

Space is filling up quickly, with Belga Café’s guide to Belgian cooking, Matchbox’s pizza-making course and Banana Café’s Latin cooking class already full.

Registration is available online at cecrawl2013.eventbrite.com.

D.C. Real Estate Blog Waxes About Obama’s First Apartment

As President Barack Obama prepares to be sworn in for four more years at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, local real estate blog Urban Turf DC takes a look at his first District residence — a one-bedroom unit inside a Stanton Park apartment building.

In a chat with the Johnsie Walsh, the landlord who leased Obama the “plain jane” apartment at 227 Sixth St. NE, the president is described as a very good tenant who tastefully decorated his small quarters. A sleigh bed occupied the single bedroom, and the tiny kitchen contained a half-size stove.

Obama described the vibe during a November 2008 interview on CBS News’ “60 Minutes”: “It had kind of the vintage college dorm … pizza, empty beer bottle feel to it.” (Questions about the apartment start at about the 4:40 mark.)

The president said he used to get teased by his staffers saying, “You’re the only senator who has a worst apartment than your 25-year-old staff people.”

Obama began leasing the apartment in 2005 and stayed there until 2008, when the presidential race started to heat up and the Secret Service decided it would be easier to protect Obama if he stayed in a hotel. The apartment has since been passed on to Obama staffers.

Walsh, who lives in California, never met Obama in person. She did hold on to a copy of his $1,200 rent check, dated May 2008 and signed by Michelle Obama.

The first lady was not a fan of the modest digs. During the same “60 Minutes” interview, she told host Steve Kroft, “I visited, but I didn’t sleep there.”

Speak Easy and Carry a Big Drink

The Prohibition-era ambiance of speakeasy drinking arrives Tuesday night at Eastern Market with one modern twist: To score one of the 26 seats available at Harold Black, the cozy bar opening above Acqua Al 2, you must text a request for reservations to an exclusive phone number.

Hiding on the second floor at 214 7th St. SE, the bar is the latest project by fine-dining team Ari Gejdenson and Johnny Spero. With no website or social media presence, local food bloggers report exclusive invites have arrived via small white cards marked “h b” with a phone number on the back.  Local blog Girl Meets Food appears to have reported the news of the opening first. Eater DC has also been following the opening closely.

The menu features nine $14 “Elixirs” in addition to beer, wine, spirits and “vittles.” Capitol Hill patrons might be keen on sipping the “the Deal-Breaker,” a combination of stout beer, cask-aged rum and vanilla, in Harold Black’s secretive, backroom setting. Would it be bad luck to order one of those during the fiscal cliff negotiations?