Photos, Food and Fun in Adams Morgan: A Photo Safari!

For those of us who love to take pictures, it is VERY hard to be confronted with a visual culinary delight in a fancy restaurant and not take a picture! You’ve been there, right? Food presentation has now become an art form. That gorgeous dessert dripping with sauce and calories just HAS to be photographed before it is eaten, right?

But it is not easy to do. The picture does not do justice to the dish: it comes out too bright, or too dark, or too blurry, or the wrong color. Or you have committed an even worse sin by leaving your camera at home!

Help is now on the way from professional food and restaurant photographer E. David (first-he-shoots-them-then-he-eats-them!) Luria, Director of the Washington Photo Safari, and from the DC Metro Food Tours that offers guided historical food tours around DC neighborhoods (www.DCMetroFoodTours.com )

Led by your DC Metro Food Tours guide, you will be taken to three restaurants in historic Adams Morgan with the guide giving you information about the restaurant, the history of the neighborhood, and unique cuisine of the restaurant. Then, before you dive in to taste the samples served by the restaurant, Mr. Luria will provide basic tips on food and restaurant photography, including tips on camera settings, white balance, ISO, depth of field and composition and camera stability so that memories of your experience in the restaurant will exist not just in your stomach but in your camera as well, which is a VERY valuable skill to have on your next vacation! He will also show you how to photograph the lovely interior of the restaurant from your table without disturbing fellow diners.

Adams Morgan has been known for its diversity and ethnicity for most of the 20th century. The turn-of-the-century neighborhood has retained its historic charm while becoming the district’s destination for both eclectic cuisine and nightlife. A gateway for immigrants since the 1960’s, the Adams Morgan neighborhood continues to be a home for people of many ethnicities, cultures, races, and religions. The diversity can be seen through its numerous restaurants that include Guatemalan, Nepalese, Dutch, Vietnamese, Ghanaian, Brazilian, Peruvian, Israeli, and Eritrean.

The main thoroughfare, 18th Street, features a mix of bars, various music venues, and chic lounges. Locals love the neighborhood for its late-night scene, quirky boutiques and global cuisine.

Our Adams Morgan Food Tour combines a cultural, historic, and architectural tour with a series of specially created dishes, ending with dessert.

The event will include the following:

• Fully guided historical walking tour
• Multi course progressive meal through the area
• Photo instruction in each restaurant

The Grill from Ipanema, our first restaurant, is a piece of Brazil in the heart of Washington DC, anchored on the 20 year history and legacy of serving the best of the Brazilian cuisine has to offer.

The Grill From Ipanema is the only authentic Brazilian restaurant in DC and a landmark in the historic Adam’s Morgan neighborhood. As a family owned and operated restaurant, they have been committed to offering the best culinary experience with the well-known Brazilian-Spirit of hospitality.

Specialties include Coxhina de Galinha, Brazilian style ground beef and provolone croquette served with a gourmet spicy sauce, Mexilhao a Carioca, Large half-shell jumbo green mussels prepared in wonderful leek, watercress, garlic and butter sauce, and Mandioca Frita, Fried yucca with a housemade savory sauce

Al Volo Osteria, our second Restaurant, was started by Daniele and Mateo to bring together family and friends. Osteria features Green Kale Fusilli, Basil pesto sauce, goat cheese, and Spaghetti Carbonara with Guanciale, black pepper, egg, parmesan, and cream.

Cake Room, our third restaurant, is a wholesome temple to sugar and is a happily welcomed addition to Adams Morgan.  The pastry chef at the Cake Room, Fadi Jaber, is a Jordanian American who fell in love with Western–style treats as a child while living in an American enclave in Saudi Arabia. As an adult, Jaber left his corporate job to pursue baking full-time. He studied at New York’s Institute of Culinary Education, then opened his first Sugar Daddy’s Bakery in his parents’ hometown of Amman, Jordan, before moving to Washington.

For this safari any camera will do, even cellphone cameras, but cameras with adjustable apertures, shutter speeds and the ability to shoot on Manual are highly recommended to give you the maximum benefit from the safari. Lenses such as 18-55mm are fine, wide angle lenses (i.e. 10-20 mm or 11-16 mm) give broader coverage for interior shots, a 50 mm F1.4 is great for blurred backgrounds, macro lens capability is also desirable. We also suggest a table-top tripod or a handy Gorillapod for stability, but we will also show you what to do if you DON’T have one.