Business in Brief: Photo safari heads to Acacia; Politics and Prose asks us to do our holiday shopping early

Washington Photo Safari clients and their models at Rosemary Bistro Cafe on September 26th.

People love taking photos of their food. We’ve known that since the dawn of social media. Last month, under the tutelage of Washington Photo Safari’s David Luria, a group of students learned how to do it like the pros. The models were plates of food prepared by Rosemary Bistro Cafe.

Luria tells Forest Hills Connection that the safari and Rosemary made for an excellent pairing.

“Clients who attended our first restaurant photo safari at Rosemary Bistro and Cafe in September enjoyed it so much that they have already returned [to the restaurant] as repeat customers,” he said. “It turns out that combining food with photography is a great way to provide support for small business in the Van Ness Main Street area.”

Washington Photo Safari is also based in this neighborhood. Its next food safari is this Saturday, October 24th at Acacia Food and Wine Bar (find information and sign up here). There’s one planned for Uptown Market in November.

“If some of the local restaurants are able to provide outdoor dining with heated dining pods, we can carry this program right through the winter so that we can observe masking and social distancing in outdoor settings at all times,” Luria said.

For the holidays, plan to buy local and early

We adapted when Politics and Prose pivoted to online orders, again when the bookstore resumed pickup ordering, and yet again when customers were allowed to resume browsing the shelves in person. With the holidays approaching, owners Lissa Muscatine and Bradley Graham are asking customers to adapt in another way: Get the holiday shopping out of the way early.

There are several good reasons to do so. For one thing, supply chain disruptions will be more the rule than the exception, so popular titles might be in short supply in November and December. For another, “we won’t be able to accommodate the crowds that typically fill the store between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day,” say Muscatine and Graham. “This unfortunately could reduce the normally large volume of holiday sales so critical to our bottom line.”

The bottom line for customers: By getting your shopping done early, you’ll be helping yourself and Politics and Prose.

For Thanksgiving early birds

Bread Furst is already accepting preorders for a Thanksgiving menu that includes everything except the turkey, and you can pick it up as late as noon on Thanksgiving Day. Call 202-765-1200.

‘Tis the season

Local businesses in the news

Muchas Gracias is one of “Three taco shops that you need in your life right now.” (Post)

I’m Eddie Cano’s ghost restaurant pivoted from Nantucket lobster rolls to Philadelphia cheesesteaks on October 1st. Jimmy’s Philly Steaks is named for co-founder and chef James Gee, who hails from Philadelphia. The City Paper says the menu’s headliner is “just the kind of sandwich you might find at similarly named Jim’s on South Street in Philadelphia.”

The City Paper previously mentioned Jimmy’s in an article about restaurants’ winter survival strategies.

Little Red Fox and Bread Furst are #1 and #2 on Eater DC’s list of 15 places to “grab a sweet slice” of pie.

Next door on Connecticut Ave in Forest Hills & Van Ness, City Paper readers voted as "Best of DC"
– Best Bakery: @BreadFurst (2nd place)
– Best Bookstore: @PoliticsProse (1st)
– Best Dry Cleaner: Zips (2nd)
– Best Wine & Liquor Store: @CalvertWoodley (2nd)https://t.co/Wy15hNp2ek

— Tenleytown & Around (@Tenleytown411) October 17, 2020

Memories…

Do you remember Shanghai Garden? The restaurant was demolished in 2013 along with Van Ness Square to make way for Park Van Ness. Part of Uptown Market now stands on that spot.