| |

Acqua al 2 (and Community)

ByElizabeth

Last night, after yoga class, I went with a couple of students to the new Italian restaurant at Eastern Market, Acqua al 2.  I’d been shown the inside before it opened, but this was the first chance to go and eat.  A long-time neighbor, yoga student, and friend is the mom of one of the co-owners and has known the other owner since childhood.  The co-owners were both were raised in the District and have returned after college, along with many of their friends to live, and work, and be with family.  I went to eat with the eagerness of knowing my friend and her family better and supporting them, more than for the purpose of needing to be one of the first to check out a new dining opportunity on the Hill, although that was certainly another pleasure.

As we planned the dinner (we have been awaiting the opening for some months and talking about going since then), I thought about how different it is to go to a business where I feel a connection to the proprietor or the workers.  I felt more open to what would be there, more joyousness at its very existence, and a yearning to find it wonderful and be supportive.  When the business is run by a stranger, or even more removed, some corporation whose duty is mostly to shareholders, the natural forgiveness for quirks that we have for those we like, welcome, and love is missing, and we ourselves miss out the essence of true relationship.  Getting to share this new place with my friends was a superb reminder how important is community and how we can support it and cultivate it.

What a delight that, even as a NY-bred food snob, I can cheerfully recommend the restaurant.  It is larger than most restaurants on the Hill, so it does not feel like a neighborhood-style Hill restaurant. but I think the neighborhood was ready for something larger.  The atmosphere is lovely:  communal seating in front near the bar for those who have forgotten to make reservation (yes, you already need them, unless you are coming after 9 [kitchen serves until 11]), spacious, pleasantly lit, comfortable tables, and  a great mural on the outside, which transforms a concrete wall a foot along the side of the restaurant into a view of Florence.

We started with the “zuppa del giorno,” which yesterday in keeping with the unseasonably cool weather, was a warm bread and tomato soup that was a rich and flavorful concoction.  Given the lateness of the hour, we didn’t have the entrees (though I’ve heard good reports).  We shared at our table for three, the pasta sampler (for two), which was five different vegetarian pastas of the chef’s choosing, and the salad sampler (which you can get as all vegetarian if you ask).  We each had different favorites of the pastas, but all were good and very classic in preparation and presentation.  The salads were light and fresh, with an emphasis on bitter greens, which I like, and were an excellent foil to the rich pastas.  The pastas came out one by one, giving an opportunity to have two or three bites to savor, with then a little wait in between for the next one.  This was not a meal to be hurried; things come at a European pace.   I was too full for dessert, but my friends insisted.  The cheese cake is the kind that is more like mousse than the heavy American cheese cake and my companions raved.  I had a fruit tart that was well-prepared — most of which I took home.  I will enjoy eating it today after speaking on a telephone seminar with people I know are asking challenging questions.

The restaurant is still getting its rhythm.  It was packed with lines out the door even at 8pm on a Tuesday night just two weeks after its opening, which is no doubt inviting the staff to live up to intense challenges.  The food is sure to be good, and if you go with the generosity you would have for family and friends starting out on a new venture, you will have a delicious experience.

Note:  Plenty of vegetarian options with the pastas and salads, but it would be harder to find vegan on the menu (given that it is a Florentine restaurant).  My only wish based on last night’s meal, is that the restaurant would use more environmentally friendly containers for taking things home.  Right now, it is using foil trays with a plastic cover, so if you anticipate bringing part of a dish home, try to remember to bring your own carry container.

Similar Posts

  • | | | |

    Hot Day (and aligning with it instead if fighting it)

    ByElizabeth

    It astonishes me how much time is spent complaining that it is hot. It is July, and I live south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Much of what gives rise to the complaints has to do with trying to dress in accordance with traditional office dress, being active according to some preconceived exercise routine, and wanting to eat heavy food from a diet based on habit rather than season.

    Yes. It is hot, and being hot can be uncomfortable, especially if we try to fight it.

    If we wear loose, light clothing, exercise less vigorously and only in the morning or after the heat of the day has waned, and eat lightly of the fruits of the season, then we can experience less discomfort. We also then can better open to the delights of the heat–stretchier muscles, a call to stillness, and chilled watermelon are a few things that make summer a joy for me.

  • | |

    Expanding Your Edge

    ByElizabeth

    Thursday night,  I took a dance improvisation workshop at Dance Exchange, the second in a series of three workshops.  One of the exercises we did was in groups of two.  The game was to do simultaneous improvisation.  Without designating a particular person as a leader, each dancer was to try and stay in synchronized movement with his or her partner.   When we were done with the exercise, some of the dancers talked about their goal having been to be in control of the lead or trying to push their partner past his or her edge.  I had been innocently (or perhaps naively) unaware of these dynamics, as I had been seeking to find where the dance could be the leader rather than either partner.

    After the workshop, when I was walking to the metro with the teacher and another participant, both of whom are performers in their 20s, I raised the issue of people trying to push others past their edge (I’d held off raising it in the group as it seemed too many were in a different space).  I said that knowing that my partner was a lot less flexible than me, though lots stronger, and knowing his competitive edge, I never would have tried to push him beyond his physical limits.

    The teacher said he liked being pushed past where it seemed like a good idea; it made him get to another place.  I agreed that it is good to try to expand, to go beyond what we think are our limits.  I have been taught, though, by my teacher John Friend, not to blow past my limits.  Rather, in the practice of Anusara yoga, we seek to be intimately and exquisitely aware of our edge at every moment, and then expand it.  The game with the partner using this paradigm would have been to find the edge and then see if the dance could expand it rather than to try and exert control or see if we could push our partner past his or her limits at our partner’s risk.   When we operate in a paradigm of straining and striving, or we push for control or try to compete with ourselves or with others, that is where we get injured.  I’ve had my share of dance injuries, I added, but to continue dancing through the decades, I cannot be blowing past my limits, though I am still growing.  I was not sure that what I said felt relevant, but I could also tell that it was information that went into the thought mix for later.

  • | | |

    Cat on the Hat

    ByElizabeth

    My friend who was driving the car, pointed out the cat on the hat and asked if he should stop the car. I waffled; he encouraged. I already had my camera out in my lap, so it was nothing to run out of the car for the photo.

    The cat gave a purring grin (though he wouldn’t keep his face towards the camera, too busy was he looking at something down the street). The guy asked if I would give some money so that he and the cat could get something to eat. Sure; I was happy to give them a dollar for their offering.

    I thought about how much I appreciated being reminded of how we can use needing to get by, when getting by can be so challenging, to spur creativity and connection instead of letting it beat us down.
    cat on the hat

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.