Afternoon Delight
Maybe I’m totally dating myself, but when I was a kid, I remember rocking out to “Afternoon Delight“, by the very 70’s ‘up with people’ type singers, Starland Vocal Band. So I’m walking around MacArthur Blvd. the other day looking for a place to eat, and I end up at someplace called the “Starland Cafe” (5125 MacArthur Blvd. NW), and I didn’t think anything of it cuz although “Starland” as a word is a bit dated, it’s not too obscure to not just be a coincidence. But I’m eating dinner there and they’ve got a Starland Vocal Band poster hanging on the wall, and that gets me curious, so I figure that they probably loved SVB so much they named a restaurant after them. But SVB only had one freaking song, so how could they muster that kinda loyalty? So I do a little research later on the internet and lo and behold, the place is actually owned by the main guy from SVB! How cool is that!
Ok, maybe it’s not all that cool, but the food was pretty decent, and if you want to reminisce about the time when it was popular to sing goofy songs with veiled references about having sex in the afternoon, this could be the place for you. I hear the time to go is Wednesdays, when they have half price burgers. And I bet, if you asked nicely enough, you could get the owner to sing you a few bars of Afternoon Delight. I bet he never gets tired of that song.
The song title (Afternoon Delight) refers to a menu item at Clyde’s in Georgetown … apparently the songwriter saw the name, and thought, “Afternon delight isn’t food, it’s …” well, you know, skyrockets in flight, yadda yadda.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afternoon_Delight_%28song%29
Starland has been a nice neighborhood hang out for a few years now. It occasionally has inspired food, and there’s a nice set of outdoor tables for when the weather cooperates and good small gigs by local musicians. Brooks Tegler is especially nice on a Sunday evening — and there’s even a little tiny room to dance, if you are so inclined.
They’re from DC! and…Taffy Danoff, Bill Danoff, and Jon Carroll still live in the area.
Oh, I almost forgot, Taffy & Bill wrote the West Virginia theme song for John Denver. wowzers.