Union Market

by Anton Zuiker on July 28, 2025

Last week I was back in Washington, D.C. for a couple of work meetings. Malia was busy in her part of the district (near American University) so I decided to pick a hotel in the Union Market area in order to explore the shopping and dining and entertainment options nearby.

One hot afternoon I stopped into the cool—air temp and music vibe—Byrdland Records, where I purchased the new album by Wet Leg (check out that retro website). Then I grabbed a late lunch in the Union Market and a delicious, sweet Sticky Rice mango-and-coconut-infused Berliner Weisse at Crooked Run Fermentation. The next day, Anna also had arrived in the city and she joined me back at the market and brewery before she hopped the Metro to join Malia for the night.

I also caught live music both nights, first to see the Detroit band Chirp at Songbyrd, with the local jam-band Dead Fish (really liked their energy and riffs) and the next night the Toronto-based Ducks Ltd. in the sold-out upstairs club DC9.

After my morning meeting in Bethesda, Anna and Malia and I were driving to Cleveland to join up with the rest of the family. We stopped outside of Pittsburgh at the Boyd & Blair distillery so I could snag an order of the professional 151 vodka that I’ll use to make another batch of Amaro Cucciolo, following this recipe that appeared in the Washington Post in 2013; I’ve been trying since then to get the high-proof vodka from Boyd & Blair, but this is the first time I could get to the distillery.

In Cleveland, fun times with family, including a few hours on Lake Erie on Michael’s boat, the kids bouncing behind on the tube. I jumped in and floated in the cold water, but sweated through the hot evenings in the upstairs bedroom. To escape the heat, and the noisy house, I spent a part of one work day at the nice Icon Cowork space in Lakewood. Another morning, I met my friend Joe for coffee at Five Points Coffee & Tea back in the West Park neighborhood that is home to the Shaughnessy family.

Home again, but more travel beckons.

Next post: Marfa 2025

Go to HOME