JOAN GUÀRDIA

Joan Guàrdia operates La Castanya, a record label and booking agency (Ted Leo, Obits, Rebecca Gates, Daniel Higgs) in Barcelona.

What was the food highlight of your year?

I travelled quite a bit during the past year discovering some new places and trying new dishes. Mexico and Texas were amazing highlights since I was visiting for the first time. Besides this, touring Spain again was one of the best culinary experiences of the year: amazing seafood in Galicia, great “pinchos” in Euskadi, or delicious black rice in Tarragona… the variations on traditional recipes are never ending, so you have to keep touring!

What was the music highlight of your year?

Music wise 2013 has been an intense year and it is hard to choose. Here are a few highlights: Rocket from the Crypt playing the 5th anniversary of our label and booking agency in Barcelona and cooking ”boquerones” for them in exchange for the amazing show they delivered. A great celebration. Shudder to Think playing at The Black Cat’s 20th anniversary in Washington DC. I thought maybe we could cook for those guys one of these days. Charles Bradley playing at the Daptone Soul Revue in Brooklyn on what felt like the last day of summer. No “boquerones” in NYC, so… It was also great to see Mrs Magician, Parquet Courts, and Ex Hex for the first time. And I saw Nueva Vulcano, Obits, and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists as many times as I could. It reminded me of the important things in this world, as always.

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

It came together many times, especially when we cooked for our friends in bands or when those friends cooked for us when we visited each other. Of course, meeting at our favorite restaurants also counts. “La Cova Fumada" in Barcelona was one of the places that hosted many music meetings with spanish and foreign friends during 2013. Places like that are always memorable!

lacastanya

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