ENDA Now Supported By Majority of U.S. Senate!

With the addition of Tom Carper of Delaware, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) now sports the public support of 51 Senators, a clear majority of the United States Senate. However, in order to become law, the measure will almost certainly need to clear a Republican filibuster, so the real level of support necessary for passage of this key legislative priority is 60 votes.

Astonishingly, ENDA has bipartisan support with moderate Republicans (Yes, Virginia, they do exist!) Mark Kirk of Illinois and Susan Collins of Maine supporting S. 815. However, there are still 5 members of the Democratic caucus who have not signed on:

The 5 Democrats who have not publicly said whether they oppose anti-LGBT discrimination are Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Bill Nelson of Florida, Tim Johnson of South Daoka, Joe Manchin and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia. It must be noted that Machin and Pryor are two of the three remaining Democrats who do not support marriage equality (the third is Mary Landrieu of Louisiana). Oddly, Johnson and Nelson and Rockefeller all do support the right of gay people to marry the person they love but not the right of gay people to hold a job without getting fired! (Cognitive dissonance, much?)

There's no question the clamor around full civil rights for LGBT Americans is going to get louder as the month of June continues and the Supreme Court weights in on the issue in the Hollingsworth and Windsor cases by the end of the month.

2013 WIMBLEDON: 5-time Champion Venus Williams Withdraws

Venus Williams won the Wimbledon championships in 2000, 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2008 and reached the final 3 other times in 2002, 2003 and 2009 losing to her sister Serena Williams in all three appearances. However, her streak of 16 consecutive Wimbledons will come to an end this year because the 7-time major champion announced her withdrawal from this year's tournament earlier today on Facebook:

Unfortunately, I will not be able to participate in Wimbledon this year. I am extremely disappointed as I have always loved The Championships, but I need to take time to let my back heal. I look forward to returning to the courts as soon as possible, with my goal being to return to Mylan World Team Tennis on July 8th in Washington DC. Many thanks to my fans for the love and support and I will be seeing you very soon back on the courts.

Venus turned 33 on Monday and is currently ranked #34 in the world. Her sister Serena is the defending champion at Wimbledon, ranked #1 in the world, and currently on a 31-match win streak, including the 2013 French Open. The longest win streak of this century is Venus' 35-win streak in 2000.

This is very sad news for fans of Venus. The question is should she retire (now? soon?) from singles and concentrate on racking up more doubles titles record with Serena (i.e. they are 13-0 in grand slam doubles finals)?  I think she should see if her body allows her to play the US Open and if not, she should announce her retirement from singles play at that time.

Pew Publishes Survey of LGBT Americans

The Pew Research Center recently conducted a survey of nearly 1200 LGBT individuals and published the results just in time for LGBT Pride Month. Some of the data is fascinating. Who knew that self-reported bisexuals were the plurality of the LGBT population (with nearly 3/4 of bisexuals being female)?

The Pew survey summarizes the difference between the LGBT population and the non-LGBT Americans thusly:

The survey finds that the LGBT population is distinctive in many ways beyond sexual orientation. Compared with the general public, Pew Research LGBT survey respondents are more liberal, more Democratic, less religious, less happy with their lives, and more satisfied with the general direction of the country. On average, they are younger than the general public. Their family incomes are lower, which may be related to their relative youth and the smaller size of their households. They are also more likely to perceive discrimination not just against themselves but also against other groups with a legacy of discrimination.

Go ahead and check out the full survey and read more details about the LGBT population yourself!

MadProfessah is in SF Bay Area

I'm up in Northern California this week.

Eye Candy: Zenith Harvey (reprise)

Zenith Harvey is another hot man of color I found at David Dust's blog. Zenith first appeared on MadProfessah.com as Eye Candy on April 22, 2013.

I think you can see why from these pictures!

Federer Beats Youzhny for 6th HalleTitle

Roger Federer won his 6th title in Halle, Germany by defeating Mikhail Youzhny for the 15th time 6-7(5) 6-3 6-4. It was Federer's first title of 2013, his first since winning the 2012 Cincinnati Masters over Novak Djokovic last August. It was the Swiss great's 77th ATP tour title and 904th career win. He lost his only other 2013 final appearance at the Rome Masters to Rafael Nadal in May. His career finals record is now 77-35.

It was Federer's first win in Halle since 2008, having lost in the final last year to Tommy Haas (who he beat this year in the semifinals) and to Lleyton Hewitt in 2010. He did not play in 2009 and 2011, despite having a lifetime contract to appear at the "German Wimbledon."

Federer is aiming for his 8th Wimbledon title (and is the 2012 defending champion), just one month after Nadal won his record 8th Roland Garros title.

WATCH: AFER Explains Prop 8 Case

The Gaytterdämmerung case of Hollingsworth v Perry could be released by the United States Supreme Court as early as tomorrow but will probably not come out until next Monday or Thursday June 27 at the latest. The organization behind the federal challenge to California's Proposition 8 is the American Foundation for Equal Rights, or AFER. 
With the final Decision Day in the Proposition 8 case coming soon, AFER has released a helpful and stirring video that explains how the case has reached this point, mentioning the two other Decision Days on the way (district court decision on August 4, 2010 by now-openly gay federal judge Vaughn Walker and the appellate court decision from the 9th Circuit on February 7, 2012). Both lower courts have deemed Proposition 8 an impermissible violation of the United States Constitution, so if the U.S. Supreme Court declines to issue a decision on the merits for any reason (and there are many) then Proposition 8 will be invalidated and marriages will resume in California shortly afterwards.

Obama Names 2 Gay Men As Ambassadors To Spain & Denmark

Rufus Gifford	James Costos

Two important fundraisers to the President's re-election campaign Rufus Gifford and James Costos, were named on Friday by the White House to be Ambassador to Denmark and Spain, respectively.

James Costos, Nominee for Ambassador to Spain, Department of State
James Costos is Vice President of Global Licensing and Retail for Home Box Office (HBO).  Before joining HBO in 2006, he was President and CEO of Eight Cylinders, Inc., an entertainment marketing and licensing agency.  Previously, from 2002 to 2004, he was head of Promotions and Consumer Products at Revolution Studios in California.  He began his career in New York as a fashion and retail executive.  From 2001 to 2002, he was Vice President of Retail for Hermes in New York, and from 1991 to 2001, he was Vice President of Retail Operations for Tod’s in New York.  Mr. Costos currently serves on the Board of Directors of The Humane Society of the United States.  He received a B.A. from the University of Massachusetts.

Rufus Gifford, Nominee for Ambassador to Denmark, Department of State
Rufus Gifford most recently served as Finance Chair of the Presidential Inaugural Committee.  He served as Finance Director for Obama for America from 2011 to 2012, and as Finance Director for the Democratic National Committee from 2009 to 2011.  From 2008 to 2009, he was the California Finance Director for the Presidential Inaugural Committee, after working as a political consultant in California from 2004 to 2008.  From 1998 to 2004, Mr. Gifford was Creative Executive for Davis Entertainment, an independent film company based in Los Angeles.  He is currently a Federal Club Member of the Human Rights Campaign and a Partner in Conservation for the World Wildlife Fund.  He received a B.A. from Brown University.

Both men are openly gay, and the countries to which they are nominated happen to have enacted marriage equality and are considered gay-friendly destinations. Gifford's nomination to Denmark had long been rumored but Costos' nomination was something of a surprise. The two nominations come barely a week after the Obama administration announced it was nominating openly gay Daniel Baer to be Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the fourth out gay person to hold Ambassadorial rank. David Huebner, the current Ambassador to New Zealand is a gay man from Los Angeles.

Former Director of the Office of Personnel Management, John Berry, the former highest ranked openly LGBT member of the Obama administration who was rumored earlier this year to be considered for a Cabinet position, is still expected to be nominated to become Ambassador to Australia, perhaps in the pride month of June!

Hat/tip to TowleRoad

Super-majority of Americans Support Marriage AND Federal benefits

Another poll confirms the existing super majority in favor of marriage equality nationwide, clocking in at 57%-40% supporting allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally. What is even more interesting is that the ABC/Washington Post poll also went on to ask whether same-sex couples should be given federal benefits and even larger group supported that: 63% to 34%. Of course, it is precisely this second question of providing federal benefits to legally married same-sex couples which is being considered by the United States Supreme Court in the Gaytterdämmerung case of United States v. Windsor. Currently law (the Defense of Marriage Act) prohibits the Obama administration to provide the benefits, so it, along with the ACLU and LGBT activists are arguing DOMA is unconstitutional. The American public agrees!

The poll has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points and was conducted June 5-9, 2013 of a representative nationwide sample of Americans.

One sad point in the poll is that even though Americans are moving strongly in favor of supporting equal marriage rights for same-sex couples, they are moving away from equal opportunity for racial and ethnic minorities in higher education. Only 22 percent of Americans in this same poll said that colleges should be allowed to consider race as a factor in college admissions.

 In a Gallup/CNN/USA Today survey in 2001, for instance, 87 percent said colleges should not be allowed to consider race as a factor in student admission decisions, vs. 76 percent in this poll.

Perhaps surprisingly, this survey, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates, finds little in the way of racial or ethnic differences on the question. Seventy-nine percent of whites oppose consideration of race in college admissions, as do 71 percent of nonwhites, including 78 percent of blacks and 68 percent of Hispanics. In the 2001 Gallup poll, opposition was similar to its level now among nonwhites, 74 percent, while higher among whites, 90 percent.

Even political liberals in this survey oppose the practice, by a 2-1 margin.

Other research has found varying views on efforts to assist disadvantaged groups in areas such as college admissions, hiring and promotions, depending on the nature of the effort. Previous ABC News polls, for example, have found greater support for programs that give assistance but not preference, or that are based on income rather than race.

Frankly, I think Americans do not really understand how college admissions works, and think that colleges will go around admitting "unqualified minority kids" instead of qualified white (and Asian) kids. The Supreme Court is currently considering a case from Texas, called Fisher v University of Texas where race is just a factor in admissions and may use that case to ban the practice in admission practices by public (and possibly private?) colleges and universities. There is a wide range of "qualified" students who can do well in college and just because racial and ethnic minority students may have lower test scores on average does not mean that they are less qualified to succeed in college. There is a lot of research which shows that standardized test scores are more strongly correlated with a student's family income than their graduation rate in college.

The bizarre case about Fisher is that in Texas they switched to a race-blind policy of just selecting the top fraction of all high-school students in Texas and that alone made the University of Texas pool more diverse. When, the Supreme Court did not disallow the use of race in admission in the Grutter case a few years ago Texas abandoned its race-neutral scheme and started using race. They did not substantially enhance the racial and ethnic diversity of the colleges and university. So, even if the Supreme Court strikes down the University of Texas's current admission scheme they can always go back to the pre-Grutter scheme.

Anyway, along with the two Gaytterdämmerung cases in  Windsor and Hollingsworth v Perry, how the Supreme Court rules in the two race-related cases of Fisher  and Shelby County v. Holder will be something I will be looking forward to, and there are only 4 more days on which that will happen: Monday June 17, Thursday June 20, Monday June 24 and Thursday June 27.

Hat/tip to LGBT Think Progress

2013 HALLE: Federer Into SF 6-0 6-0, 902nd ATP Tour Win

Roger Federer recorded only the 2nd double bagel win of his career, his 902nd ATP Tour win, over Mischa Zverev, in 39 minutes and 29 seconds to reach the semifinals of the Gerry Wever Open in Halle, Germany. He will face Tommy Haas, who beat the 5-time champion here last year in the final. Haas dropped the first set to Gael Monfils in a tiebreak but then came back to win the quatrerfinal 6-7(4) 6-3 6-3. On the other side of the draw #2 seed Richard Gasquet will face the winner of Mikhail Youzhny and Phillip Kohlschreiber.

Federer has lost barely more than a handful of times on grass in his career, and is the defending champion at Wimbledon. however, he is looking for his first title of 2013.

Celebrity Friday: Mariah Carey Plays A Field Negro in The Butler

This photo of Mariah Carey playing a slave working in the fields in openly gay director Lee Daniels' latest movie, The Butler, is causing a stir on Twitter and other social media online. Carey and Daniels have worked together before, in the Oscar-winning (and controversial) Precious, for example, where again Mariah played against her  image as a diva, to good reviews. The Butler is about the story of Eugene Allen, who was a butler in the White House serving 8 presidents of the United States.

Actually, I am happy about the controversy because it alerted me to the existence of the film, which has a jaw-dropping cast including Oprah Winfrey, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Forest Whitaker, Terence Howard, John Cusack, Vanessa Redgrave, Robin Williams, Melissa Leo and many more. It also has a pretty strong trailer:


This looks like it might be a must-see next Fall!

WATCH: Obama Speak at 2013 LGBT Pride Reception

Watch the video of what happened at today's LGBT Pride reception at the White House. The transcript of the remarks by President Obama at the event are below:

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT

AT A RECEPTION FOR LGBT PRIDE MONTH

East Room

5:21 P.M. EDT

     THE PRESIDENT:  All right, I will not beat that act.  (Laughter.)  We could not be prouder of Zea and Luna for the introduction.  And welcome, all of you, to the White House for Pride Month.  (Applause.)

Zea and Luna are here with their moms, and also I think with Grandma and Grandpa -- correct?  And so feel free to congratulate them afterwards for their outstanding introduction.  

There are a few other folks who don't have the same star wattage that I want to acknowledge -- first of all, my Vice President, Joe Biden.  (Applause.)  We’ve got some outstanding members of Congress here, including a record number from the Congressional Equality Caucus.  (Applause.)  Eric Fanning, the Under Secretary of the Air Force, is here.  (Applause.)  Major General Patricia Rose and her wife, Retired Lieutenant Julie Roth, are here.  (Applause.)  We’ve got Fred Hochberg and Elaine Kaplan, two outstanding members of my team, who are here.  (Applause.)  And John Berry is here -- John is a former member of my team.  You may not recognize him because he looks so well rested now that he’s left the administration.  (Laughter.)      

And even though she couldn’t be here today, because she’s getting ready to finally take her seat on the bench and get to work, I want to congratulate Nitza Quinones Alejandro, who, just a few hours ago, was confirmed by the Senate, making her the first openly gay Hispanic federal judge in our country’s history. (Applause.)  

And what I'm especially excited about, in addition to Zea and Luna, we've got citizens from all across the country who wrote me letters over the last several years.  And in a letter from Kathleen, a young woman from Massachusetts, I saw someone who had experienced too much discrimination and hatred at such a young age, at the age of 24.  But I also read about someone who dreams of becoming a doctor so that she can help others, and who is determined to make a difference because, as she put it, she is “hopeful of a world filled with love.”

Love is what I saw in Valerie and Diane’s letter from North Dakota, who’ve been together for 37 years.  Their son, Madison, is here, 14.  They told me that when Madison was little -- he’s not little now, by the way.  (Laughter.)  He used to say that someday, he was going to become president and make it legal for his moms to get married.  And now, they added, “I don’t think we’re going to have to wait that long.”  (Applause.)

Madison, I agree with you that it’s time.  I agree that you should run for president.  (Laughter.)  And I agree that we’re not going to have to wait that long -- because from Minnesota to Maryland, from the United States Senate to the NBA, it’s clear we’re reaching a turning point.  (Applause.)  We’ve become not just more accepting; we've become more loving, as a country, and as a people.  Hearts and minds change with time.  Laws do, too.  Change like that isn’t something that starts here in Washington, but it’s something that has the power that Washington has a great deal of difficulty resisting over time. 

It’s something that comes from the courage of those who stood up, and sat in, and came out.  It’s something that comes from the compassion of family and friends and coworkers and teammates who show their love and support.  (Baby cries.)  Yes, it’s true.  (Laughter.)   

And it’s something that can be traced back to our Declaration of Independence -- the fundamental principle that all of us are created equal.  And as I said in my Inaugural Address, if we truly are created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.  (Applause.) 

That’s the principle that’s guided my administration over the past four and a half years.  We passed a hate crimes bill in Matthew Shepard’s name.  (Applause.)  We lifted the HIV entry ban, released the first national HIV/AIDS strategy.  We strengthened the Violence Against Women Act to protect LGBT victims.  (Applause.)  We told hospitals that accept Medicare and Medicaid that they have to treat LGBT patients just like everybody else.  (Applause.)  Starting next year, the Affordable Care Act will ban insurance companies from denying someone from coverage just for being LGBT.  We put in place new policies that treat transgender Americans with dignity and respect.  (Applause.)  And because no one should have to hide who they love to serve the country that they love, we ended "don't ask, don't tell" once and for all.  (Applause.)  

But part of the reason we're here is because we know we’re not done yet.  When Zea and Luna wrote me last December, they told me they would have voted for me if they could have -- thanks, guys.  (Laughter.)  They also laid out quite an agenda.  I hope Congress is listening to them. 

But I want them and all of you to know that I’m not giving up the fight to keep our kids safe from gun violence.  (Applause.)  I’m not giving up the fight for smarter and better schools.  I’ll continue to support marriage equality and states’ attempts to legalize it, including in my home state of Illinois. We're not giving up on that.  (Applause.) 

And as we saw earlier this year with the gun safety debate, sometimes this stuff takes time, and it’s frustrating.  You take two steps forward and sometimes there’s a step back.  But I deeply believe in something that Martin Luther King, Jr. said often, and that is that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.  Eventually, America gets it right. 

That doesn’t mean we can be patient.  We know from our own history that change happens because people push to make it happen.  We've got to do the hard work of educating others, showing empathy to others, changing hearts and minds.  And when we do that, then change occurs.  It doesn’t come always as quickly as we like, but progress comes. 

We’ve got to keep pushing.  We’ve got to make access to health care more available and affordable for folks living with HIV.  We’ve got to implement the protections in the Affordable Care Act.  We’ve got to keep making our classrooms and our neighborhoods safe for all of our young people. 

And I agree with Susan, a PFLAG mom from Ohio -- we’ve got to end LGBT discrimination in the places where we work.  Susan wrote me and said, “If I have a concern it is that there are so many LGBT men and women who contribute to the wealth and growth of our nation … but they still are not protected from harassment in the workplace.” 

And I share that concern.  In 34 states, you can be fired just because of who you are or who you love.  That’s wrong.  We’ve got to change it.  There’s a bipartisan bill moving forward in the Senate that would ban discrimination against all LGBT Americans in the workplace, now and forever.  We need to get that passed.  (Applause.)  I want to sign that bill.  We need to get it done now.  (Applause.)

And I think we can make that happen -- because after the last four and a half years, you can't tell me things can’t happen.  Look around.  We’ve got gay and lesbian soldiers, and sailors, and airmen, and Marines who are here today.  We’ve got married couples from places like New York and Washington State.  (Applause.)  You’ve got a couple of guys here on stage who I don't think anybody in their high schools thought would be the President and the Vice President of the United States.  (Laughter.)  So don't tell me that things can't happen when we put our minds to them.  (Laughter.) 

The genius of America is that America can change.  And people who love this country can change it.  That’s what we’re called to do.  And I hope that when we gather here next year, and the year after that, we’ll be able to say, with pride and confidence, that together we’ve made our fellow citizens a little more free.  We’ve made this country a little more equal.  We’ve made our world a little more full of love.

Thank you very much, everybody.  God bless you.  God bless America.  (Applause.)  Enjoy the party.  (Applause.)

                                                         END                              5:33 P.M. EDT

Latina Lesbian Confirmed To Federal Judgeship in PA!

By a voice vote, the United States Senate has unanimously confirmed the first (out!) lesbian of Hispanic heritage to a federal judgeship. Nitza Quiñones Alejandro will become a federal district court judge for the Eastern District of Pensuylvania when she is sworn in.

She is the sixth openly LGBT judge to be confirmed by the United States Senate during the administration of President Barack Obama. The previous five Obama-nominated federal judges confirmed by the Senate are:

J. Paul OetkenAli NathanMichael FitzgeraldPamela Ki Mai ChenMichael McShane

Prior to the Obama administration there was one openly LGBT federal judge confirmed by the Senate, Deborah Batts, nominated by President Clinton in the 1990s. Federal judges generally serve for life. All of the seven openly LGBT federal judges have served as district court judges, the lowest level in the federal judicial system.

There are still a number of pending nominations of openly LGBT individuals for federal judgeships. To date, no openly LGBT person has been confirmed for a federal appellate court. That is one level below the United States Supreme Court but Obama has nominated Todd Hughes and Edward Dumont to appellate position. Dumont withdrew his nomination after it was stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee in the previous Congress.

Lets hope the lavender ceiling will be broken soon and we'll have an openly LGBT appellate court judge confirmed by the U.S. Senate soon.

Queer Quote: Michigan House Speaker (R) "Struggling" With LGBT Equality

Jase Bolger (R) is Speaker of the Michigan State House of Representatives

What is it with Republicans and not understanding the basic ideas behind the words "equal treatment under the law" and "civil rights"? The latest GOP politician to stick his foot in his mouth by expressing his honest beliefs about these issues is one of the most powerful politicians in the great State of Michigan, Jase Bolger, the Republican Speaker of the State House of Representatives.

Michigan has a law prohibiting discrimination in employment by private entities called the Elliott-Larsen act. It includes the following section:

"The opportunity to obtain employment, housing and other real estate, and the full and equal utilization of public accommodations, public service, and educational facilities without discrimination because of religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, familial status, or marital status as prohibited by this act, is recognized and declared to be a civil right."

That's a pretty expansive list (many states don't include height and weight in their civil rights laws). Note it doesn't just cover employment but lots of other important areas like education and public accomwodations as well. There are discussions going on in the Michigan legislature to expand the categories to include sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. You can read below what Speaker Bolger said about this topic on the record to Michigan Live, it is pretty shocking, and it is today's Queer Quote:

“I want to respect gay individuals. I don’t want to send a message as a society that we are intolerant. I think that we need to respect people who are different from us, whether they’re different because they believe differently, whether they’re different because they have different skin color, or whether they’re different because they’re straight or gay. The other side of that equation is I also want to respect people’s religious beliefs. And that’s where the struggle really comes in. I want to respect gay people, I want to respect people who have deeply held religious beliefs.  

 “And so legally – as a lawmaker now – you go back and you look at Elliott-Larsen. And it gets very difficult to try to balance those two. And that encapsulates the struggle. The struggle is how do we respect individuals on both sides of this question. I want to respect the individual rights of someone who’s gay. And I also, in doing that, don’t want to force somebody to ignore or violate their religious beliefs."

"Struggling"? What's the struggle? Why are there "two sides" to this debate? One side says "I want to be able to continue  treat those people badly because of who they are" and the other side says, "everyone should be given the opportunity to contribute to the best of their abilities without fear of discrimination based on who they are (or who they love)." And you think there are two sides to this debate? One of these sides is intolerant and the other is not. Mr. Bolger, I'll let you figure out which is which! #WTF!

If someone says it violates their religious beliefs to allow women to have equal access to public accommodations (e.g. driving, or even working in some professions) is the state supposed to kowtow to that belief? What if they say God told them that white people are the chosen few and all the dark people are there to be subservient to others? (Sound familiar?) Religion has been  used to justify some horrific things, which is why our democracy is based upon the principles of separation of church and state.

What part of civil in the term "civil rights" makes this concept difficult to understand (especially for Republicans)? I know most of them are white, but there are lots and lots of white people who understand this idea, so it seems to be something which attracts people to Republicanism makes them not understand the Golden Rule of treating other people how you would want to be treated. What makes this even more annoying for non-religious people like myself is that "religion" is already a protected category and some religious people purport to use their religion to deny rights to other people that they already enjoy. That's just straight up hypocrisy in my book, and it must be called out and condemned. It should also be noted that there are plenty of religious people who will say that their religious views make it imperative that everyone be treated equally (i.e. "We are all God's children") but since we are talking about public policy and the text of actual legislation, to me religious belief should not even be a topic of discussion in this arena.

Hopefully, Michigan will move forward with updating their civil rights act to include protections for LGBT people. After all, Michigan is a blue state, and the 2014 elections are coming up. Jus' sayin'!

Hat/tip to Towleroad.

FOOD REVIEW: Vidalia (Washington, DC)

shrimp and grits
(anson mill’s grits, vidalia onion, spinach, tasso ham, tomato, shellfish emulsion)

jumbo lump crab cake
(english peas, apricots, pancetta, scallions, sweet pepper butter)

seared hudson valley foie gras 
(lemon marmalade, candied pecans, parsnip butter, brioche, apricot ice cream)

shenandoah lamb loin
(surry lamb sausage, ramp spaetzle, king trumpet mushroom, strawberry jam, vadouvan jus)

georgia pecan pie 
(bourbon ice cream, praline lace crumble, caramel)

interior of Vidalia

My plan to sample the food at the best restaurants in the Washington, D.C. area continues with a stop at Vidalia. (I have previously been to Fiola, Blue Duck Tavern, Corduroy, Zaitinya, Proof and Rasika, among others.) At Vidalia, we had the five course tasting menu. In order, I had the foie gras, crab cake, shrimp and grits, lamb loin and the pecan pie for dessert. The chef and owner at Vidalia is Jeffrey Beuben, a James Beard award-winning chef (1999), who describes his restaurant as "regional American infused with a heaping serving of Southern influence."

The food was uniformly excellent with one standout for me: the shrimp and grits. I am most decidedly not a fan of grits (they seem too plain to me usually and the texture usually brings flashbacks of negative experiences with cream-of-wheat breakfasts!). However, I was convinced by the excellent waitron to try the shrimp and grits since it is one of their most popular dishes. From Yelp I had read good comments about the lump crab cakes so I ordered that as well. The shrimp and grits at Vidalia were an absolute revelation to me, one of the best things I have eaten while living and working in DC for nearly two years. The grits absolutely melted in your mouth and combined with the substantial heartiness of the shrimp and the delicious sauce (called "shellfish emulsion" on the menu) it was one of those rare dishes that make you laugh out loud it is so good. If you eat at Vidalia you must order them!

You'll notice I didn't place the crab cake on the standout list despite the Yelp plaudits (so much for crowdsourcing). The crab cake itself was fine, although with almost too much texture (i.e. a bit rough in the mouth) but this was almost certainly because it was chock-full of crab. If you're a fan of too much crab in a crab cake, this is the one for you. No, the biggest problem I had with the crab cake were the peas. They were simply not done well enough, and to me the hard peas combined with the rough crab put me off slightly, (I understand this was probably a deliberate choice by the chef--some people like very firm vegetables, so do I, but these were a little too close to the nearly raw side for me). I must say that the sauce combined with the apricots were amazing, and really the best part of the dish.

The second favorite thing I had was the lamb loin, which was a splurge for me because I only eat red meat rarely these days. However, it was cooked exactly right (medium rare) and had immense flavor. The mushrooms were really well balanced with the meat and the little green ramp spaetzle were simply delightful. Absolutely an excellent dish, but not a rare transcendent experience like the shrimp 'n' grits were for me.

The foie gras and pecan pie were simply mistakes (on my part). The best dessert on the menu is the lemon chess pie, and I knew my error as soon as saw my neighbor's dessert. I picked the pecan pie because I generally like it and wanted to see what the chef would do with it. Sadly, it was just average, which after a meal that was decidedly not seemed like a bad way to end things. The foie gras was me being adventurous and that dish has a LOT going on. The apricot ice cream was yummy and an interesting counterpoint to the warm, very viscous foie gras but it reminded me a bit too much of eating marrow. Some people like marrow, and if you do, you should definitely try the dish but I should have probably ordered one of the salads to start with instead.

One unexpected pleasure of the dining experience was that they had a lovely cherry soda, called Cheerwine, also suggested by the lovely waitron when I asked about a no-alcoholic beverage. It was delicious and a great choice for teetotalers like myself who don't want to just drink water or ice tea with dinner.

Overall, Vidalia was an excellent dining experience, in the top echelon of the meals I have had. It was not better than my first meal at Fiola (but since my second meal at Fiola was a disaster, it's seems unfair to assign the top spot to until I have visited Vidalia a second time as well, something I hope to do soon) but on average I would say it was better than Corduroy, but at a higher price point than that restaurant. Really, at this level of dining it is almost attempting to split hairs to distinguish between them.

You will have a memorable meal no matter which of these restaurants you choose, I certainly still dream about those shrimp and grits at Vidalia!

Name: Vidalia.

Location: 1900 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20036.

Contact: 202-659-1990.

Visit: May 1, 2013.

AMBIANCE: A.

SERVICE: A+.

VALUE: A-.

FOOD: A+. 

OVERALL: A+/A (4.083/4.0)