ALEX BACA

Alex Baca wrote about music and DJ'd at the Black Cat in Washington DC before recently relocating to San Francisco.

What was the food highlight of your year?

This year, I moved from D.C. to San Francisco by way of a snack-fueled road trip. I've been learning about my new city by eating through it. I love a local novelty like Craftsman & Wolves' The Rebel Within and have been on a steady diet of carnitas tacos, but my favorite discovery is Mitchell's ice cream. It's 16 percent butterfat and 100 percent the dreamiest ice cream ever. The pistachio is the best.

What was the music highlight of your year?

Beach Slang's existence, period. Both Beach Slang EPs are exactly what I want music to sound like, and I love how the band manages to be as goddamned poetic on social media as they are with their lyrics, which are simultaneously joyous and heartrending. I hope when I die, I feel as alive as I did while seeing their Saturday night set at Fest 13.

Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?

My going-away party in D.C., at Black Cat, was also our last Bad Scene, Everyone's Fault DJ night. My dudes Matt, Justin, and I played a lot of sentimental pop-punk for all our friends; after, we got our drunk asses some pizza at Manny & Olga's. It wasn't anything special, but it's nights like that I miss the most living on the other side of the country.

A close second: Eating lemon poundcake from It's All Good (whose building has a tremendous history) at a hardcore show in Oakland. I haven't gone to many shows on the West Coast, and have gone to even fewer house shows. It reminded me of D.C., and the poundcake was incredible.

@alexbaca

MATT COHEN

Matt Cohen is a Journalist, Associate Editor at DCist, and plays bass for the band Collapser.

What was the food highlight of your year?

Literally buying $80 worth of Trader Joe's snacks to drive across the country with a friend. We ate at a lot of great restaurants during the trip (Laramie, Wyoming's only vegetarian restaurant, other places), but Trader Joe's snacks are tops.

What was the music highlight of your year?

I was fortunate to participate in a thing called Call + Response this year. It's a semi-annual art show in D.C. that pairs writers with artists, with the artists creating something inspired by a piece of writing by the writer they've been paired with. This year, the organizers mixed things up a bit by introducing a musical element. Philadelphia's Restorations, one of my favorite bands, wrote and recorded a 12-minute instrumental track for the show, which was given to us writers as inspiration. The short story I wrote was probably garbage (haven't had the courage reread it since I submitted it), but to be involved in the project was incredibly cool. At the opening, Restorations performed the track live. The song and all the stories were published and package as part of a limited 7-inch. It was a huge honor to be invited to participate in such a unique project.

Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?

This summer, some friends and I organized a DIY music and arts festival in D.C. called In It Together Fest. I can go on and on about what a raging success it was and how proud I am to have been involved, but I'll just sum it up with one spectacular moment: we concluded the festival at a skate park underneath a bridge in D.C. We partnered with Food Not Bombs to sell some grub to raise money for charity, had a skate demo, and live music. But the main event featured a buddy of mine jumping over 50 gallons of homemade ramen in a bathtub on his dirt bike, while another buddy shredded the National Anthem on guitar. 'Merica.

@matt_d_cohen

ALEX BACA

Alex Baca in a journalist and bicycle activist living in Washington, D.C.

What was the food highlight of your year?

I finally ate at Blackbird. A friend and I were in Chicago in 2011 for the Promise Ring reunion show and wanted to try it, but our only free day was Sunday, and it was closed then. I was back in Chicago in April 2013 for a conference, and after realizing I’d never even get a bar seat at Girl and the Goat, I posted up at Blackbird. I had a horrendous cold and my taste buds were only operating at about 40 percent, but it was a phenomenal meal. I recall there being quite a bit of fennel.

What was the music highlight of your year?

The World is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die’s Whenever, If Ever has been pretty important to me. I listened to it endlessly when it came out in June. I love the way it sounds and, as a whole, it matches up well with the experiences I’ve had in 2013; “Gig Life” in particular really destroys me. While in Long Island with my boyfriend, he put Whenever, If Ever on in the car and, for the duration of it, I felt very young and very old. A few weeks later, I saw the band at D.C.’s Rock and Roll Hotel, which seems like an appropriate full circle.

Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?

On the first of the two Black Cat anniversary shows in September, Matt Cohen and I drank two bombers of pumpkin beer before ambling over. Neither of us ate dinner. At some point between Ted Leo’s super-high-powered “Me and Mia” and the beginning of a David Yow-ified Boys Against Girls, we looked at each other and said—or maybe brainwave-communicated, I’m not sure—”vegan lasagna.” I’ve drunkenly housed no small amount of Food for Thought’s vegan lasagna over the years, but this evening was a particular intersection of booze, Marlboro Reds, fake cheese, and D.C. punk. (A friend earnestly exclaimed, “There are, like, eight generations of scenesters here!”) Gray Matter played for an hour, but it felt like twenty minutes. 

alexbaca

MATT COHEN

Matt Cohen is Associate Editor at DCist and a columnist at The Week.

What was the food highlight of your year?

There’s this ramen restaurant in D.C. called Toki Underground that’s arguably one of the most popular, highly regarded restaurants in the city. It’s got a reputation not only for serving the best ramen (again, arguably), but also for being impossible to get a table at. The restaurant, situated above one of my favorite dive bars in Northeast D.C. is a tiny space (the entire place seats maybe 20-30 people), doesn’t take reservations and there’s always at least an hour wait. I’ve lived in D.C. for four years and have tried to go to this place many different times, only to find that the wait was almost two hours every time. I finally managed to eat at Toki Underground this year, and it was glorious. An exceptional ramen place that’s easy on the wallet and surpasses its reputation. If you’re ever in D.C., make it a point to go here (my advice is to put your name on the list, then go drink at the bar below, The Pug).

What was the music highlight of your year?

Oh man, there are many to choose from, but I’ll try to keep it to three: 1) I’m always skeptical of band reunions, but I thought the show I caught of Texas Is The Reason’s reunion tour at the Black Cat in D.C. was particularly memorable, if only because it felt like such a warranted, welcomed reunion. So many bands reunite and tour for the wrong reasons, but theirs felt so natural and organic, and created such an energy between the band onstage. 2)  I’m not a huge festival person, but I went to Pitchfork Festival for the first time and really enjoyed it. So many great bands—The Breeders, Swans, Bjork, Waxahatchee, Yo La Tengo, El-P and Killer Mike, Pissed Jeans, Wire—all in one place. It’s hard for anything to top that. 3) Reviewing albums for year-end lists last week, I had the revelation that friend’s bands made some of my favorite albums of the year. I couldn’t be more excited for them. 

Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way? 

There’s a legendary free summer concert series in D.C. at a park called Fort Reno that’s been going on for decades. Over the years, many of D.C.’s finest have played it regularly—Fugazi, The Dismemberment Plan, Q and Not U, Teen Idles, Ted Leo, etc.—and its become a summer staple for me. I can think of no better moment of when food and music came together than packing up a homemade picnic with friends and trekking over to Fort Reno to eat and catching some of the best local bands play. 

@matt_d_cohen