Warren on Making the World a Little Richer and Sweeter

"I was raised outside of Cleveland, Ohio and moved to D.C. in 1995 to do my law and public health degrees at George Washington University. When I graduated, I worked for Health and Human Services as a federal litigator. I enjoyed it, but found myself wanting more creativity. I knew that some of my natural talents were never going to be exercised as a lawyer. 

"As a kid, I cooked all of the time and built a lot of models. While I was a social kid, I enjoyed the solitary and technical process of building things. When I started to teach myself how to bake to be a more well-rounded foodie, it reminded me of being a kid and building those model two inch soldiers. At the time, I was baking in my apartment on 13th and Belmont for fun. I would try out different recipes and baked cakes for people's birthdays or to bring into work. Through that, I got a lot of feedback on my stuff and it was a nice way to share my creativity. 

"About ten years ago, I decided to leave my job and do this full-time. Before opening the first store on U Street, I ran the business out of the kitchen in what is now Saint Ex. It was a little bit of a rocky road at first, and I remember having a panic attack four days into it, as the decision to leave my job settled in. But, that passed and things worked out, thanks in part to people who helped me along the way. 

"People used to ask me all of the time if I really wanted to turn my passion into a job. Of course I did. I loved all of the work connected to the bakery and felt like I was finally tapping into the things I was really good at and passionate about. Every inch of this business is literally covered with my blood, sweat, and tears. I have been touched by people who find my story inspiring. I never planned for things to turn out like this. I just wanted to do something that I liked and make more money than I was spending. In truth, I took a lot of risks at the time because I didn't fully recognize how risky they were. But things worked out and I found that opening a small business was one of the best ways to really see how this country really works. 

"I really think that people should be more entrepreneurial about their own future. We need to encourage kids from a young age to be more artistic and entrepreneurial, so when they get older, they feel encouraged to take risks. Our community would be so much richer if people exercised their real talents and passions. We all should leave this world with little regrets. 

"I hope that the world is a little richer and sweeter because of Cakelove."

Warren Brown is the founder and owner of Cakelove. 

Nora on the Nation's First Certified Organic Restaurant

"I was born in Vienna. In Austria , there is a lot of emphasis on fried foods, heavy sauces, and desserts. My parents were unusual in that my mother cooked very light and my father was into yogurt and fruit. He was also very much for outdoor exercise, which is typical in Austria . He always said that health is the most important thing that you have and you need to preserve it. From a young age, I was taught that food is important and you need to combine it with outdoor activity.

"I came to D.C. with my French journalist husband as a young bride in 1965. Here is where I first became conscious of what the food situation was like in America . I always say that D.C. was a culinary wasteland in the 60's and 70's. My first exposure to how awful food here was going to a supermarket. There were shelves and shelves of Wonder bread. When Pepperidge Farm bread finally came around, it was like a gourmet statement! The produce department was the smallest department. The biggest department was frozen foods. There were the same fruits and vegetables all year-round. Nothing seasonal or local. It was a shock to realize that this country, which was supposedly the richest country in the world, had no food culture.

"In response, I did a lot of research in the Yellow Pages and found ethnic markets and local farmers to get healthy and fresh food for me and my family. I read a lot, too, especially Elizabeth David and James Beard. Those books really inspired me. I also became interested in American agricultural practices. I remember finding a farm in Virginia where you could buy sides of beef. The woman there proudly told me that they fed the cows corn, so that they would fatten up. Then she went on and told me the cows were kept inside and regularly given hormones. That was the first time I realized that chemicals were used in agriculture. Then I learned about pesticides in fruits and vegetables. Things like this were not happening in Austria when I was growing up.

"At the time, I was cooking a lot and we were having people for dinner once or twice a week. A lot of people really liked my food and friends asked if I would teach them what I had learned through my little culinary journey. At the beginning, it was informal, but I also realized that I needed to make some money. I eventually opened a cooking school in my home in the evening. On the weekends, I did catering. It was very simple. I cooked something at home and brought it to someone's house, and they pretended they cooked it.

"I did that for about three years. Then one of my students asked if I would be interested in opening a restaurant in a small bed-and-breakfast in Dupont Circle called the Tabard Inn. First, I was a little scared, as I had never really committed myself to being a professional, but I realized I had to do it because my husband and I split up and I needed to support myself and my kids. The restaurant started off with only lunch and became very successful. We served natural meat, and I picked up vegetables from farmers in the area. The word got around that I was purchasing fresh and local items, so farmers starting coming to me. At the end, I was one of the first to do the farmer-chef restaurant connection. This was back in 1976. At that time, if you said organic, no one would come to your restaurant. It sounded like a biology class and people thought it would taste disgusting. It is only in the last ten years that people stopped associating health food with bad food.

"Two colleagues from the Tabbard and I opened Restaurant Nora in 1979. We found this location through pure chance. We wanted to stay south of Dupont Circle, near the Tabbard Inn, because there was already a group of people who supported us, but we couldn't find anything affordable. This space used to be a Yugoslav restaurant run by the father of some of the kids who were in school with my children. Sadly, he was ill and ended up selling us the restaurant. We all worked 24/7 and lived off of the tips. My kids would come here after school and do their homework, so I could watch them while I was cooking.

"For the first 15 or 20 years, people thought I was completely nuts and the whole organic business was not true. Restaurant reviewers criticized me for telling people how to eat. Still, people came to eat here because the food was good. When environmentalists became prominent was when I started to get more serious support for what I was doing with health and food. Things also changed when Fresh Fields came to D.C., which is now Whole Foods. The supermarket did a lot to educate people on where food comes from. We live in a very chemical world, and there are so many chemicals in our society. I think that people need to take responsibility for their own health. Now people tell me that they can't afford organic food. I tell them that they can't afford to be unhealthy. Would you prefer to spend your money on food or the doctor?"

Restaurant Nora became the nation's first certified organic restaurant in 1999. Nora Pouillon is the author of Cooking with Nora.

Ayehubizu on Big Chair Coffee

"I am from Ethiopia. I came to Washington in 1988 with my little girl. I am a registered nurse and did my training in Ethiopia. For my whole life, I have always worked two jobs. I was working at Birney Elementary School in Anacostia as a nurse. I would usually bring my own food because there was nothing to eat around here. I ended up having to go to the Safeway when I wanted a snack.

"With time, I saw that nothing was being opened, so I thought why not try myself. I heard that the government was giving grants to help businesses in Anacostia, which didn't happen to me. I wasted my time trying to get help from the city. I did it all by myself. I used my savings and had my family help me. We opened in January 2010. Now, my brother is the manager. My son and nephew help out. I come when I can and also still work as a nurse.

"I wanted to open on this side of the river because there are so many people who need coffee and a place to sit around and relax. This is the only place where you can get an espresso around here. Remember, coffee comes from Ethiopia, so this is what we love, too. I also wanted to give the community healthy food. I am also thinking about bringing Ethiopian food in by request.

"Now, a lot of people are thanking me and sending me cards. But I feel I am the one who is blessed. We have people who come by and say, 'We will still come and support you in the bad weather because we want you to succeed.' They want the neighborhood to succeed."

Big Chair Coffee, home of the Marion Barry Latte, is located at 2122 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave., SE.

Justin on Captain White's

"I grew up in Annandale, Virginia. My family owns Captain White's at the Maine Avenue Fish Market. We've owned it for 38 years or so. It originated with my grandfather selling fish off of a picnic table here and just expanded. I started working at the market when I was eight years old and was pretty much raised here. When my parents were here, I was here, unless I was at school. After school, my Mom would bring me down and I spent all of my weekends around fish. Owning this market, we ate our share of fish growing up.

"In the last twenty years, the market hasn't changed all that much. We've expanded a little bit, but otherwise there have not been big changes. We still get the seafood from all over, with about 90% of it coming in fresh daily. The different stands are owned by different families, and we are all pretty competitive. Most of us have been around for a while.

"This market has become my family. Without this place, we wouldn't have anything. I didn't go to college, I don't know anything else."

Elijah on the World Famous Florida Avenue Grill

"I grew up in Philly. I came to D.C. in 2004 to work at the Florida Avenue Grill. One of the managers asked me to come and help him run this business. I knew about this place in Philly. Everyone knows about this place. 

"The Grill was established in 1944 by Bertha and Lacey Wilson. When they started off, there were only two stools in here. The restaurant was only a fraction of what it is now. They used to share this space with two other stores. The Wilsons eventually bought the whole building and then sold the restaurant to their son. During the 1968 riots, most of the black businesses burned down except for this one. The owner was a Marine and he protected this restaurant. There were a couple of fire bombs thrown in the restaurant, but nothing that really stopped the business from running. After the riots, the business was really booming. Everyone started coming here to eat. That is how it got the momentum to stay here this long.

"The customers are a big part of this history. Learning about them is learning about the history of this community and of this restaurant. To me, working here is the best introduction to D.C. Everyone eats here, politicians and prostitutes and everyone in between. Through working here, I get to know a lot of people. When I started law school at the University of the District of Columbia, a bunch of professors knew me from the restaurant. Here you have white and black people, old timers and those who just moved into the neighborhood.  This place has it all and has seen it all."

The Florida Avenue Grill is at 1100 Florida Avenue NW. 

Gianni Moto on the Sushi Bar

"I've always been cooking. I started working at a French restaurant when I was fourteen. I worked in sushi restaurants as well, but I never got a chance to make sushi until I came to D.C. I always wanted to do it and finally got an opportunity at Sticky Rice. I am half-Japanese and half-Italian, so we were living this whole fusion lifestyle before the word became popular. We have been eating udon noodles and spaghetti at the same table my whole life. 

"In D.C., I was able to cross paths with people who really inspired me and are not making the typical forms of sushi. I learned everything I know here. Still, sushi is still really young in this city and we, as a city, are still working to bring high-end, diverse and interesting sushi to this town. My inspiration will always come from the old-school Japanese chefs in Japan and New York. These guys are crazy alcoholic nuts, but amazingly talented. We need to bring more of that here. I would love to see more straight up, old-school Japanese places in D.C. Now, you see that there is a blending of the Asian restaurants where Chinese restaurants will serve sushi and Thai food. But, there is nothing like a sushi bar in a traditional Japanese place. 

"Here, if you come sit at the sushi bar, we do our best to get people to try sushi and introduce them to new and interesting flavors and textures. Look, a lot of people are still grossed out by the idea of eating raw fish. When you think about it, it sounds kind of strange in our age of over-processing. But, that makes working in an open sushi bar that much more interesting. We are always coming up with stuff and being inventive. I spend my time looking around this city and the world for ideas and inspiration. And, I always come back to my family roots as inspiration on how to mix diverse cultures and flavors into my food." 

Christylez on Rising Through Education

"I've been in D.C. all my life, man. I grew up on the South Side, in the Southeast quadrant. I moved to Northwest two years ago. It is a whole 'nother world over here. I tell you, it's dope living over here. The thing that makes Northwest so nice is that there is more diversity here than on the South Side. You run into Embassy people and there are more outlets to express yourself creatively. And don't get me started on the public transportation! I spent all day waiting for buses over there. Stuff stops running at times and there is no Circulator or express route near where I grew up.

"Even though I am here, I spent a lot of my time going back to the South Side. I want to bring what I learn here back there. I taught creative writing in the schools for four years on the South Side. It was dope. I'm happy I didn't have to teach formal writing because that would have been hell. I mean, I got to mix hip-hop into creative writing and use other cultural references to make it easier for kids to open up and talk about their own lives. I think that an unstructured forum is the best way to get kids talking about their lives. For me, writing and hip hop is all about bridging gaps. See, I could connect to these kids who were in similar situations to me coming up. Over time, some of the variables in the equation change, but it is the same old story of growing up in the ghetto. You always got to watch your back and do your best to rise through education.

"A lot of people don't realize that on the South Side there is going to be more crime because that it is where most of the low income housing options are. So, when you bring all these poor people together, you end up creating ghettos just like the ghettos in Nazi Germany. In this case, these are economic ghettos where people who can't afford housing are all rounded up together. Come on, you can't just put all of these people together and have them eliminate each other. I mean, if they don't kill each other then the lack of healthy food options will. I mean, Murry's Steak House, you ain't gonna never see one of those in Tenleytown or Georgetown. Only poor areas get Murry's as they are the worst freaking grocery stores. The food is, nah man, it's all genetically modified stuff and just bad for you. As you look around at a lot of these people, their health is declining and they all suffer the same health issues over time. Education is the thing that will break us out of these cycles."

Christylez is a progressive hip-hop artist. Check out his work here.

Sheldon on His Mom's First Visit to D.C.

"I grew up in South Carolina. I've been in Washington for nine-and-a-half years. I think that one of the largest motivating factors for me to move to D.C. was spread somewhere between personal and career motivations. You know, I am an openly gay black male and I spent most of my time, up until that point, living in the rural south. I knew that there was a limit to my own personal quality of life and development down there. Unfortunately, that is just the way that life down there is structured. So, I wanted to explore that part of my life in D.C. In terms of career, the pace down there was much slower. Things like actualizing a career take a long time. I was working for an organization where my next move up would have had to depend on the death or retirement of the person above me. I just didn't have the energy to wait for twenty or thirty years for a promotion. On the other hand, it can also be faster down there as people get married and have kids earlier. I'm 33 and most of my friends have kids who are about to enter middle school.

"When I first moved here, I lived in Alexandria, Virginia, and worked as a psychotherapist with sex offenders. Living and being in this area was like a gateway to so many different worlds that I never saw in South Carolina. With time, I saw the writing on the wall that therapy was not the path for me. I did some work in the fashion industry and then started performing and acting while waiting tables. Now, I work at restaurant Marvin. I did my first show in 2007. At that point, I was in between directions in life between activism and performing. The juxtaposition of the two forced me to do my activism through performance. My first show was a one-man performance called Faggot. The show was about my relationship with that word growing up in the south. It was also about how that word can have a potentially deadly impact with the growing level of youth suicide related to sexuality. In 2009, I got back on the performance track and performed a narrative about the two halves of my life: growing up in rural South Carolina looking for a man as a father figure and then moving to D.C. and looking for a man as a partner. For me, it is a very necessary and personal exercise because I wanted to deal with the honesty of my own story so that I could go on and tell the stories of others, no matter how painful it may be. A lot of this story was about my own family and my relationship with my mother.

"My mother only fairly recently came to terms with my sexuality. We had the first conversation about my sexuality in 2001. It was a very challenging conversation for her. She had her ideas of what it meant to be gay. Growing up in the rural south, she had a very narrow view that gay people ended up alone and in institutions. I always tried to encourage my Mom to come up to Washington D.C., and see for herself, but just was never interested. I knew that it was largely because she was not settled with my sexuality.

"But, in 2008, she came to me and said, 'I'm ready.' I had already been up here for eight years and I knew what that meant. My mother is not a very expressive person, but she was ready to see what my life was really about here. She came up here and saw my life and met all my friends: gay, straight, black and white. I really showed her the diversity of this city and of my life. She was so taken aback. She could not stop talking about how much she enjoyed herself in Washington D.C. I think that me being in this place offered her tremendous comfort. Being a therapist, I understand the complexity of parents having to deal with a child who is gay or in any way different than they intended them to be. All parents really want is for their children to be happy. If her understanding of gay life was a very miserable existence, why would she want that for her child? When she came here and saw that was not the case for me, I think she was settled with it. But, she never said anything or asked, it was just understood. A month later on the phone, she asked if I was gay. I said. 'Yeah, absolutely.' At the end of the conversation, she took a big sigh of relief. One of the most comforting things that my mother ever said to me, remember she is not a very expressive person, was, 'You seem to be doing very well in Washington. You are surrounded by a lot of people that really like you. I am happy for you. So, do you have a 'friend'?' That was a really big step for us. She's been back to Washington, D.C. two times since and we talk two-to-three times a day. Now, every time she's here, she wants to spend more and more time with me in Washington."

Justin on the Fojol Brothers

"My history is in D.C. My father was born in Italy and my parents met here in D.C. We've lived in the same house in D.C. our entire lives. My Dad is still cooking the same food he was cooking 25 years ago when he taught my Mom how to cook. My Dad thinks that everything good in this world is from Italy and everything not good is not from Italy. He takes a lot of pride in his jobs. He basically started the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. He is one of those people who takes his job really seriously, but is not one of the guys who works 12-14 hours a day to make an extra dollar and not spend time with his family. My Mom worked multiple jobs. I picked up my hard work ethic from both of them.

"The Fojol Brothers is a concept that involves visuals, smells, music, taste and sounds that are all part of what we think are D.C. These all come through in different ways from the complex elements of our outfits to our respect for the earth to giving a portion of our proceeds to at-risk youth. Curry, in a simple way, is something that a lot of people can relate to. People in America can relate to a hot dog, but people around the world can relate to curry. You have people here from Little Rock to Mumbai and maybe we are the intersection of those two places with a little splash of all of the urban sights and sounds you see in this city.

"Yes, this city is so international, but it has a core of people who live here and one of our goals is to help both groups pay attention to the other. This truck was our brainchild of bringing together all of these different themes, but revolving around food and the circus and carnival feel. It just made sense. Everyone likes food. No one doesn't like a circus. We have had all kinds of customers - from managing partners of some of the biggest law firms to hipsters to homeless people - join in this concept. We appeal to a lot of different groups. D.C. is not all power brokers or people getting shot. Yes, those things happen, but we want to show a different side of this city. We are invested in this city and the people here."

See The Fojol Brothers profiled on the BBC here.

Ferdos on Her Introduction to America

“In 1982, I came to America at sixteen as a refugee with four of my younger brothers and sisters. At that time, my Mom was in Saudi Arabia and my Dad had recently died. I had a sister in Egypt, a brother in a Djibouti refugee camp and another sister in Greece. The whole family was scattered and I was the oldest one here and had to care for my youngest siblings all by myself. When we first came here, there were almost no Ethiopians in Minnesota. When we told our relatives where we ended up, they said, ‘Where is Minnesota?’ Nobody even knew such a place existed. Of course, the winter started and it was very tough. We also had the language barrier as I barely spoke English. Back home, we learned English from Ethiopian, Indian, Chinese, and Vietnamese teachers. When I first had an American teacher, no one understood what he was saying! We were making fun of him all of the time. We thought he had such a funny accent.

“In Minnesota, we were sponsored by a woman who helped refugees as a business. Before us, she sponsored 40 Cubans and made a lot of money off of them. She was working for the Church of God, which has good intentions, but she was just corrupt. She sponsored people and the church gave her money, but she did not give it to us. She would seek out donations, things from the garbage and other cheap things and give them to us instead of buying us the things we needed. She put us in a bad neighborhood, although bad neighborhoods in Minnesota are not like the bad neighborhoods here. We had clothes, money and maids in Ethiopia. In our life, we never had used stuff. We didn’t want it. We were in America and expected a better life. But, that was how we were introduced to America. When we finally realized what was happening and told people, they looked into it, but nothing happened to that woman. Later on, one of her sons went on to be a professional football player and she became rich. I have to laugh about it now. What else can one do?

“As she didn’t help us, we met another Ethiopian who helped me and put my brothers and sisters in school. As I started to take on more and more responsibility over the family, it became harder to stay in school. Remember, I was sixteen. I eventually left school and took three jobs to support everyone. But, with three jobs, I didn’t save a penny! Most of my money went to phone calls as I needed to talk with everyone from Egypt to Greece to Saudi Arabia to Djibouti.

“With time, I found ways to bring my family to this country one-by-one. Everyone is in America now except for two of my siblings who are still in Africa. Finally, when everyone was here and I was 20, I went back to school to be a pilot. I graduated before I got all of my licenses and then had to get a job. I told myself that I would make some money and then come back to get my commercial pilots license, but that never happened. After school, I got a job with FedEx in Minnesota and worked from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. as a manager. I had no time for anything else. In 1998, I transferred with my job to Washington, D.C. to be close to my two sisters who live here and to get away from the cold. When the opportunity came to leave my job and work in our family business, I jumped at it. In my life, I have worked enough for four people and needed a break! Now, my sister and I own Café Sureia in Brookland, which is named after my youngest sister. We make traditional American dishes, but add our Ethiopian spices to them. So, that’s the story of my life.”

Cafe Sureia is located at 3629 12th Street, NE.

Myra on Sunday Dinner

“I’ve been in DC for over three years. I’m originally from Lowell, Massachusetts. I can remember when I was young and I tried and botched some gelatin dessert that my parents ate, grinning through their teeth. I really got interested in food after college when I was living in New York. I didn’t know a ton of people and my Dad had just died, and I found cooking really comforting.

“My roommate and I decided to start a supper club in D.C. called Sunday Dinner. We picked the name because Sunday is a day that you normally spend with your family, eating a nice relaxed meal and enjoying being around the people that you love. We liked that name because we thought it would invoke the idea of togetherness and relaxing over a nice meal. Here, the veil between restaurant owner and customer is much thinner as the event is in my home. I enjoy bringing people here and sharing a piece of myself with them. It is so much more satisfying cooking some big elaborate seasonal dish and sharing it with people as opposed to having it just sit in my fridge. There is also a comfort level that is really unique with a supper club. I think that there are a lot of other supper clubs in the works in D.C., as they are big now in New York and San Francisco. I read about it quite extensively before I launched ours.

"Every few months, we host a dinner party where my roommate and I will develop a five-course menu and we invite our close foodie friends to come and enjoy it with us. Sunday Dinner gives us an opportunity to really test our skills in a way that goes beyond cooking to presentation and developing menus. Yes, we have mismatched dishes and glasses, but that adds to the fun of it. It is a beautiful, seasonal meal in a relaxed and fun setting. I mean, who doesn’t like to eat good food? And I love the concept of the education of food. I try to have a story behind where these foods are coming from and why we picked them. These are things that I think are important to bring into a dinner party.

“D.C. is the kind of place where we are a little behind the time in terms of new and interesting things, but I think the city is a great place to do it. You are going to find a good group of people here who are doing interesting, diverse thing. The people who come are foodies, but from all different worlds. I have met the most incredible people and learned amazing things about the people I know. Some friends have helped me by baking bread or mixing drinks. These people have amazing talents that I never would have known if I hadn’t started Sunday Dinner."

Read more about supper clubs here. Learn more about local foods to our area in Flavor Magazine.

Sara on Soupergirl

“The go-to story about Soupergirl is that I was on a plane, reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and said, 'This is it. This is what I need to do.’ I had been ready to leave my job for a long time and did not want to get another desk job. This is going to sound extremely melodramatic, but when I was a sophomore in high school, I used to say that I was going to kill myself the night of college graduation. All I saw ahead of me was this life of becoming a lawyer or some other miserable profession where you sit at your desk all day, killing yourself and working for the weekends. I always thought that I was meant to do something different. Not that I am so narcissistic as to think that I am so special, but I was never meant to be on the typical working path.

"For me, my path turned out to be soup. I was so profoundly moved by the importance of the local food movement. I felt the urgency of it and how food impacts everything from poverty to health to the environment. Since reading that book, I have never thought so much about food in my life. I started doing some brainstorming about food and Soupergirl was born. My Mom, Soupermom, and I do this together. She has always made amazing soups. Her soups are cooked from the soul. We did not go to the Culinary Institute and I love that about us. We are just making homemade soup...a massive amount of homemade soup and delivering it around the city. The other thing is that I am very into healthy food and all of our soups are vegan. Our weekly emails also include health tips from Soupermom. We like to say that our soups are really good and really healthy, but you won’t notice they’re healthy.

"I was excited to start Soupergirl in D.C., as I grew up in the area. D.C. is a very politically aware crowd and local food is a very relevant topic now. I talk about local food here and people are constantly, like, 'I’m right there with you!' I know we have kind of a bad reputation in D.C. We don’t have the best fashion sense and people think we’re kind of square, but it is a really warm place. I hate calling it a small town, but I do feel part of a community of locavores and people who care about our community."

Learn more about Soupergirl and Soupermom here.

Nicole on the Last Remants of Italian Life on North Capitol Street

“I was born in France and came to the United States in 1960. I came because I had a sister who suffered a tragic accident. I ended up in Washington because I had a friend here. Thirty years ago, my husband and I bought the Catania bakery. Neither my husband nor I were bakers, but Grace Caruso, the former owner, taught me everything I know. For the last thirty years, we kept the place just as they did. We still make Italian breads using Grace’s recipes and deliver them daily around the District, Maryland and Virginia.

“You know, most of these old Italians can’t live without their bread. Many of them left the area, either died or went down south, but a few of them are still around. This place is the last remnant of Italian life on North Capitol Street. The Italians living around here and coming by are mostly older people. The newer Italian generation is more Americanized, but they will still come in on holidays to get some of our bread because they grew up eating our bread. We also do events with the Knights of Columbus, the Holy Rosary, Catholic Churches, and we used to do the bread for the big Italian convention in DC. Now, we also get a lot of Greek and Turkish customers who love the hard Italian breads, too, but not as many Italians.

“Back in 1932 when the Catania bakery opened, there were Italian stores everywhere here. This was an Italian neighborhood. Most of the community here was from Southern Italy. The Caruso family came from Nicolosi, which was at the base of Mt. Etna. Catania, the name of this bakery, is the name of a province in Sicily where the Caruso family is from. When the bakery opened, they used a wood burning oven and delivered bread door-to-door. Then, after World War II, they started delivering to restaurants. Around the same time, the neighborhood changed and it wasn’t Italian anymore. When we first bought the place, I never came at night because the neighborhood was so bad in the late 1970’s. It got better, but it is still a very dangerous place.

“We have children, but they are not involved with the bakery. Because of this area, my husband was not keen on having our children or grandchildren come here. We’ve had a number of robberies, some of them were big time robberies. My granddaughter used to come down and spend Saturday’s here with me ever since she was three-years-old. But, she was here during a robbery and her parents wouldn’t let her come down anymore. Now, I am here by myself. Danger is still here. But, we have been here for a long time and will stay. We are resilient. The neighborhood is getting better, but that doesn’t mean the bad elements are gone. At night, you wouldn’t want to walk around by yourself, but, the neighborhood is slowly changing. Now, on Saturday’s, I started making and selling croissants out of the bakery. That is my French addition to this place. Otherwise, it is and will remain Italian. You know, after all of this time here, I feel more Italian than French.”

The Catania Bakery is located at 1404 North Capitol Street NW.

Rebbie on Making Farmers Markets More Accessible

“Food stamps used to be physical stamps that people would use in supermarkets or farmers markets. A number of years ago, the government switched to an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) swipe card. While it seemed like a great idea, it largely removed farmers markets as an option for lower income people because the farmers markets did not have access to wireless terminals. In places like California, the government went out and bought wireless terminals for every single farmers market. That didn’t happen in DC. Because of that, a whole generation of food stamp recipients here doesn’t know that they can access farmers markets. When I took over the Mt. Pleasant Farmers Market two years ago and heard that we didn’t have that capability, I just went out and bought one out of pocket. Four other area markets got a grant from the city for wireless devices. Now, we have gone from zero to five markets where you can use an EBT card in the DC area. The wireless machine handles EBT, credit and debit cards and costs $1100 plus a $45 monthly charge. The hope is that the fee we charge people for debit cards usage will eventually pay off the cost of the machine. We don’t break even, but it is important that we have it.

“In terms of EBT outreach, this has been a real challenge for all of us at farmers markets. There has been a ton of EBT outreach in this city with very little success. Now, through Women, Infants and Children (WIC), there are food assistance coupons that can only be spent at farmers market. With WIC, DC residents went from spending zero dollars in 2003 to $32,000 a year at farmers markets. I think this is also due, in part, to word of mouth. I need to find some Malcolm Gladwell connector types and have them start spreading the word across DC and bringing their friends to farmers markets. Then, I think we will hit the tipping point with the EBT crowd as we did with WIC. We are putting up signs and doing outreach, but this is a real challenge everywhere, including New York City which has one of the most successful EBT programs in the country. Our numbers are not stellar. At this market, we have zero to two EBT transactions a week. But, we are trying.

“The thing with WIC money is that it is free money that you can only spend at a farmers market. If you don’t use it, it is gone. Whereas the EBT money can be spent at a grocery store. So, if you want to go and buy $80 of Top Ramen noodles, you can do that. While most products at farmers markets are more nutritious, it is a hard choice to make if you have a big, lower income family and need high calorie, inexpensive meals. But, what is hopefully coming this season is Councilmember Tommy Wells’ proposal to get $500,000 in matching funds for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients. The idea is to use $300,000 of that to match EBT money at area farmers markets. If you use $20 of EBT money here, I would give you another $20. Oddly enough, I didn’t ever think the problem would be how to give away $300,000. We don’t have the numbers right now to prove that there are $300,000 worth of sales. EBT customers still don’t know about or don’t want to come to farmers markets. I really want to spread the word to lower income people around the area and I don’t know how to do that yet."

Learn more about the Mt. Pleasant farmers market here. And, if you have suggestions on helping Rebbie and the Mt. Pleasant Farmers Market increase their outreach to lower income individuals, please provide ideas in the comments and/or contact them directly at info@mtpfm.org.

This post is part of a weekly series of People's District on the Prince of Petworth, check it out here.

Rose on Being Where She Wants to Be

“I can recall when they had dirt roads going up and down Martin Luther King Avenue. At that time, it was known as Nichols Avenue. This was many, many years ago. They had ice trucks and watermelon trucks and fish trucks driving up and down these streets. It was wonderful. It is still wonderful. There is a lot to see over here in Anacostia. People should come and visit. Anacostia is a historic part of Washington, DC. And, Frederick Douglass is over here, too. Come over here and see him and get some history out of this old neighborhood.

"All of my life, I have lived in Anacostia and I couldn’t live nowhere else. This is my home. I raised my family here. I met my husband here. I met him at the top of the hill on Mars Road, near Fort Stanton. We are still together after 50 long years. See, this is my homeland over here. This is where I want to be. I don’t really leave here because this is my love. I love the neighborhood and community. They are so supportive. This is where I will be for the rest of my life.

"Now, I own Maple View Deli and Catering. This place used to be the old Miles Long sandwich shop, home of Pearl, the Miles Long sandwich girl. Our signature dishes are the Maple View cheeseburger and fish and cheese on a bun. But, you also got to try our macaroni and cheese."

Go visit Rose and try the macaroni and cheese at Maple View Deli at 1208 Maple View Place SE.

Rose, in orange, is pictured with Little Joe, Daron, Kristen, and Yvette.

Eliezr on Mi Tierra Market

"I have lived in DC for 18 years, am originally from Puerto Rico. There are not that many Puerto Ricans in DC. They can only really get together when there is a Puerto Rican band playing in the area or a parade. I went to see a concert recently in Bethesda and there were about 300 Puerto Ricans there. Outside of the Puerto Rican Day parades in Maryland and Virginia, that is probably the most Puerto Ricans I have seen in one place here. That is nothing compared to a place like New York.

"Today, I am helping FIDMi by working at this food stand in the Mi Tierra market. Whatever money we make goes to help pay FIDMi's bills. Because the economy is so messed up, we need to raise money for FIDMi, the organization that created Mi Tierra, in any way that we can. I am a full-time college student, but volunteer here when I can. Today, we are selling chicken breast with vegetables, Puerto Rican meatballs, and rice and beans. This is some of the best Puerto Rican food you'll find in the area.

"The market is a very special place because it gives people in the minority, mostly Latino immigrants, that want to own their own business, the right to sell a product in a safe place in DC. In the past, many of these people were selling on the streets without licenses and were being chased around by the police. Now, these people can work legally and support themselves and their families and send their kids to school. America creates a lot of opportunities for immigrants and this is one of them."

Read more about Mi Tierra market in The Washington Post.

Eliezr, right, is pictured with Fabio.

Steve on Being a Man of Yogurt

“The story about Mr. Yogato is that I worked for a company called Spacex out in Los Angeles for about five years and then was transferred to DC. When I was in LA, I had Pinkberry probably 500-600 times over two or three years, I would basically go every day. When I got to DC, I saw they didn’t have any frozen yogurt so I decided to open a place. I always wanted to open a ridiculously goofy, absurd store just because most stores here are kind of the same. It was as simple as that.

"I like yogurt and now I get free yogurt, and I wanted a place where I could play games and have ridiculous rules. For example, if you give a Braveheart speech, you get a discount because that is my favorite movie. The Nintendo is from my basement and the rest of the rules and games are from customer suggestions. One guy is a big Michael Jackson fan, so we made one of the rules that if you do the Thriller dance, you get a discount. Our flavors are named by our customers. For example, that lady over there, Susan, is one of our thirty-day champions and just named a flavor Snuggiegusgata after her cats. Doesn’t tell you at all what the flavor is going to be, but it works for us.

"I thought we’d be out of business in two months because it is such a ridiculous idea for a store. But, the beauty of this is that all of the investors here have other jobs, we’re just doing it for fun. I think the reason that it did so well is that there was no pressure on the business and we do whatever we want. That fun nature is not in most businesses. I mean, where else will the owner and employees sing karaoke and play trivia with customers just to pass the time while they are waiting in line. I don’t have to be here and I am here all the time.

"Since we opened, ten other yogurt stores have opened in DC. In my opinion, most of the yogurt is the same, but I like mine the best because I made up the recipe. I would argue that most people come here because it is fun."

Find the rules of Yogato here.

Rob on Decent Food

"I work in a fine dining place in the Washington Hotel called the J & G Steak House. Food in DC is definitely a lot different than Kansas City, Chicago or New York. I would say that DC is a couple of years behind those cities. Overall, the restaurant scene here is pretty decent, but there is also a lot of sloppy food around this town. You have a lot of Congressmen and people who work for the government who are used to certain menu items and that is what the restaurants have to cater to. People want steak and potatoes and fish and chips and that is part of why, I think, it is a little behind.

"You have some regional stuff like crab cakes and scrapple, but other than that, I think people here prefer more familiar foods. However, there are lots of ways to be creative with those food styles. Crab cakes, for instance, don’t have to be a regular style Maryland crab cake with Old Bay and celery. You can take the crab cake and serve it with a ginger lime dressing and a horseradish aioli. So, you can put a new twist on older dishes, but it is kind of hit and miss with non-traditional food items. People in DC like home grown stuff. They like chefs from DC and are very closed off when it comes to celebrity chefs or chefs from other areas; they circle the wagons so to speak, when anyone from out of town comes in."

Rob’s favorite restaurants in the area (outside of his own) are Atlantico, Indaroma, and Bourbon Steak.

Mr. Carter on The Hitching Post's Famous Fried Chicken

"I moved to DC from Cleveland, came here to be a police officer when I was 28. I met my wife while walking the beat. She was always supportive of whatever I did, including opening a restaurant. Today, I am very pleased that I made the decision to open The Hitching Post. Now, at the age of 75, 43 years after opening this place, I am still doing what I want to be doing.

"It all started when I was assigned with another policeman at Connecticut Ave. and Calvert St. one evening on a special detail. I was a footman, and footmen were required to stand outside in all kinds of weather for special events. This particular event was the President, at that time, having some festival at one of the major hotels in that area. During that evening, I was talking with the other officer, I don’t remember his name, but I’ll never forget what he told me. He said, 'You interested in going into business?' He told me about opening a restaurant and suggested this location in Petworth and said it was a gold mine. He said if I opened this restaurant, served good food and was nice to the clientele, I would make a good living. He was right.

“We were new to the business, to cooking and to dealing with the public so I learned my trade in here. I started cooking in the 1960s, but there was not much of a need for it then because much of our business was in the alcohol trade: beer, wine and mixed drinks. We had a good relationship with the older people who came in here from the soldiers home across the street. Many of them were from broken families, divorcees, lonely people, but when they came in here, we cheered them up. They made us feel so happy that they could relate their stories to us…and many of them had a lot of stories to tell. They told stories about war and their time overseas and we listened. They were very nice men and we even had a few women too. They would come day after day, we were like a big family.

"Much of that has now gone, and most of our clients are professionals who drive from other areas of the city. There was a lady who came all the way from Baltimore the other day to have some chicken. People always ask what kind of mixture I use to cook my fried chicken. It’s simple. I beat up my eggs and add a little water. That is my dip and then I mix in a little flour with salt and paper….and rosemary. Got to add the rosemary to it, that gives it the flavor.

"I think that our music box has also been a big addition to our popularity. We carry a mixture of music, much of it dating back to the 1940s. I still enjoy listening to Big Band, it has always been a part of my repertoire. We have some of our favorite artists such as Nat King Cole, Jo Stafford, and Chet Baker. A lot of the music is quiet music, nothing that is going to blow you out of here. We do have a little music that would be attractive to the younger generation, but most of our music is for a subtle dining atmosphere. With that Ipod you can collect more of what is available, but the music box still has something that you can’t replace, nostalgia. I think that in time, the music box is going to be an old dinosaur, just like the Carters!

“In the future, I’d like the restaurant to continue to operate. I don’t want to shut it down. I hope that I can manage the restaurant without ever, ever closing or changing it to something else. We spent so much of our life here, it means so much to us.”

Read more about The Hitching Post and other soul food restaurants in Petworth here.

David on Entitled Coffee Drinkers

"I work in a coffee shop and I think that there is a unique sense of community among DC coffee shops. I work at Peregrine Espresso on the Hill and I used to work at Murky Coffee, which no longer exists. I have friends in all different coffee shops and I've met a lot of interesting people that way, people who live in DC for all different reasons. I think that everyone is pretty close and has fun with each other.

"DC has an...interesting customer base at coffee shops. Umm, God, I can't remain anonymous anymore. Fuck it, I'm moving to Paris...people in DC are really into being entitled! I think that's because there is such high turnover, people who just moved here get really high on the fact that like 'I live in DC and I work on the Hill and make no money, but whatever, like, I'm the shit' and they bring that to their coffee shop staff sometimes and they are...dicks.

"But that said, there are also really amazing customers in DC for all of the really, really, really awful ones. I've had some great customers too who have been super nice and supportive and, like, interested in what you do. And the worst one I ever had was from Brooklyn, so whatever.

"In most cases, you try and kill them with kindness. I think that there is a fine line between someone who is being a dick, like, just to be a dick and someone who is being a dick out of ignorance or something like that. Some people come into a store to pick a fight with someone. I don't know why that is in DC. To those people you just have to say, 'We don't need your business. Could you please leave?' Those people, you don't let them get you down."

Read reviews of DC's best coffee and tea spots here.

Shawn Parell and I conducted this interview.