Waveborn shades will be joining us at the Sweetlife Festival in the TRASHed store. Waveborn provides extremely cool, quality sunglasses with a mission. With every pair of Waveborn glasses bought, the company donates eyeglasses to those in need. Four colors of their shades will be availible at the festival and they’ll also be raffling off one of each pair. Additionally, they’ll be handing out discount cards for 25% off your next purchase. Make sure you stop by the TRASHed store to check them out & enjoy the ride.
Here's what's fresh
waveborn
RJ cooper reveals his sweetlife festival menu
RJ Cooper, acclaimed chef of DC’s Rogue 24, gave us a sneak peak of his menu for the Sweetlife Festival VIP lounge. He said that his mindset when planning the menu was to provide food that people crave at festival, the kind of food that pairs best with good beer and great music. Chef RJ Cooper is also providing a variety of selections that will suit fans from vegetarians to diehard carnivores with ingredients sourced from high quality, local providers.
TACO’S
Whole Hog Carnitas
Rockfish
Mushroom-onion
Salsa: chocolate mole, salsa verde & salsa de arbol
HauteDawgs
Chef RJ Cooper plays off this festival staple with alternative ingredients such as tofu and pork. He has also commissioned the renowned local bakery Lyon to provide challah rolls that are dense & buttery- the perfect vessel to stand the test of toppings
SoulDawg with Kimchi & Kewpie-smoked siracha aioli
SouthernDawg with spicy south carolina yellow BBQ & Cider-mayo kewpie mayo based slaw
Schnauzer with grainy mustard, sauerkraut & German potato salad
PhatBoy with bacon, lettuce, tomato jam & kewpie mayo
GratefulDawg: veggie dog with chow chow. The dog will be topped with a traditional southern relish with peppers, onions, tomatillos, and ocra cooked down for a mouthwatering addition.
Ramen
According to Chef RJ Cooper, noone does ramen better than Toki Underground. Thus is working with Toki’s executive chef Erik Bruner-Yang for the ramen dishes
Vegetarian Ramen
Chichen Ramen
You cannot miss this epic menu by one of DC’s greatest chefs. He will also be curating some signature cocktails. Make sure you stop by the VIP area to get a taste.
sweetlife is…backstage access
We are super excited to see you all at Sweetlife Festival 2012 tomorrow! To make your day even sweeter, we are challenging you to a photo-off! Snap, share, win, get the most out of #sweetlife!
T-minus 12 hours!
Eagle Bank
Banks have gotten a bad rap recently, but Eagle Bank is trying to change that. They’re all about being a part of their community – working directly from the neighborhoods in which their customers live and work.
Their dedication to local banking is similar to our passion for locally sourced ingredients. It’s all about supporting your community!
The Sweetlife Festival is cutting out the plastic this year and credit cards won’t be accepted, so stop by an Eagle Bank ATM at the festival to keep the cash flowing.
bev eggleston
Bev Eggleston is not just a farmer. He is a leader in sustainability and a passionate advocate for conscious consumption. Eggleston believes that we all should be educated and informed about our food and how it is sourced. He constructed the first multispecies, farmer-owned, USDA certified humane slaughter facility in the country that he hopes will be a model for American farming. Bev Eggleston will be providing his high-quality meats at the Sweetlife Festival this year. We recently sat down with him to talk EcoFriendly Foods,eating local, and reaching the sweetlife.
What is EcoFriendly Foods?
Bev Eggleston started EcoFriendly Foods as an alternative to the industrial food norm. EcoFriendly markets and distributes product for a large group of farmers so they are able to focus on what they do best, cultivating the most high quality product. EcoFriendly is a meeting place and network of farmers that collaborately serve farmers markets and restaraunts and are soon to have an online presence. EcoFriendly’s keen business sense contributes to organizing and marketing quality family farmers so they are attractive and accessible to chefs. This not only brings better quality food to your plate but supports smaller family farms. Local sourcing is difficult to scale up, but this interdependence between independent farmers and the food distribution chain makes it a viable option. Additionally, by sharing resources and creating a network of farmers, food stays affordable. Turns out we can all eat local without blowing the bank.
AGree to change
Another way Eggleston is leading the agricultural revolution is through his participation in AGree, a new initiative designed to tackle long-term agricultural, food, and rural policy issues. In an effort to expand and generate valuable research in the field of agriculture, AGree has formed to act as a driver of lasting change. Bev Eggleston, along with other leaders in the field of food, including Stonyfield and Eric Olson of Feeding America, have joined AGree to promote dialogue and change within the agricultural sector. Becoming educated and informed about your food is a main tenent of the EcoFriendly Foods’ philosophy. By connecting consumers with food provided by small farmers, Eggleston is creating a transparency in the national diet. The issues surrounding food supply, health, and sourcing are compex and often difficult to resolve, but Eggleston and his team know that starting the movement and promoting conscious consumption choices are steps in the right direction and can result in a big impact.
Jason’s Deli
It was over 30 years ago that Joe Tortorice Jr. founded Jason’s Deli. Now located throughout 28 states, the sandwich-and-so-much-more shop is still committed to treating their employees as family and providing customers with fresh, premium foods. Jason’s is serious about natural foods, too – they were the first major restaurant chain to banish trans fats and high fructose corn syrup from their menu!
If you’re lucky enough to live nearby a Jason’s you’re probably familiar with their salads, sandwiches, paninis, and ice cream. If you aren’t, then Sweetlife Festival is your chance to get a taste (albeit a small one) of the restaurant! We’ve snagged their organic, stone-ground mustard for our condiment stands. It will, without a doubt, add that homemade feel to whatever you’re snacking on during the festival!
cult gaia
Cult Gaia is everything. It is an off kilter, whimsical brand that celebrates the exploration of fantasy, fun, and everyone’s inner rebellious charm. Colliding rebellion, romance, and everyones inner child, Cult Gaia is designed to woo you, and remind you that few things are as profound as nature, beauty, good times and comfort among like minds.
Cult Gaia makes a variety of high quality, beautiful crowns and turbands for the urbanite needing a break from city life. For nights of debauchery. For romance and rebellion, For fairtales and fables. for bad hair days. For nostalgia, for fun, for friends, for festivals, for birthdays, for dancing, for living the sweetlife. Cult Gaia will bring whimsy and fun to your life.
Cult Gaia will be joining us at the Sweetlife Festival with an exculsive sweetgreen crown in the VIP lounge. For beauty, grace, glory, good times and sould alike. CULT GAIA.
greeNEWit & AArrow Signs
Josh Notes, Jason Jannati and Matej Harangozo are busy dudes. Founders of greeNEWit and owners of AArrow Advertising, they’ve got a lot on their plate.
greeNEWit is an organization founded to help society build more sustainable communities and better economies through energy efficiency and conserving the use of natural resources. They’re committed to creating new solutions for life’s challenges by involving the community to support continued education, humanitarian advancement, and economic development. And they’re dedicated to young people, their communities, and their future. greeNEWit Chief Communication Officer Jason Jannati said, “I am very passionate about employing, developing and empowering youth to become future leaders in their communities.”
Josh, Jason, and Matej got involved with AArrow Advertising in order to promote their greeNEWit product line, but sign spinning has become a sort of performance art and the demand for AArrow signs is increasing. With the power of guerrilla marketing and their AArrow Advertising franchise, they are increasing awareness about the initiatives at greeNEWit and creating jobs for youth.
There were some AArrow sign spinners doing their thing at the 2011 Sweetlife Festival, and they’ll be back again this year.
Check out the video below to learn more about how greeNEWit got started and their dedication to a more energy efficient society.
SLF COUNTNTDOWN, SET TIMES & OTHER SWEET-ISMS
1 – SET TIMES announced! There are a ton of great bands you will not want to miss, remember, early bird gets the worm. Sweetlife Festival Official SET TIMES is finally here.
2- Have a sense of direction. Directions for how to get to Merriweather Post Pavilion can be found here. Still need a ride? Get a last minute Zipcar.
3 – We take paper, not plastic – green paper, that is. Don’t wait in line at the ATM. Come prepared with cash and keep rocking out!
4 – Stay hungry, not foolish. Being healthy and sourcing local ingredients is important to us; that’s why we’ve partnered with local restaurants, farmers and chefs, so your taste buds don’t get jealous. Visit sweetgreen’s Food Forest. Bon appetite!
5- Get connected, be social. We’re hooking you up with free wifi (sweetlifefree) for the entire day at the festival. Don’t forget to use #sweetlife on twitter and instagram. Follow us, win prizes!
6 – Sweet Style. We asked our friends at Refinery 29 to pick out 3 perfect Sweetlife outfits. Check them out here for last minute festival fashion tips!
7- Get TRASHed for a cause. Along with composting, using biodegradable materials and offsetting our carbon footprint, we encourage you to stop by the TRASHed store. Cycle, sing and win prizes – all for a good cause! #sweetlife
8- Make an IMPACT! We’re all about working together and creating change, that’s why we’ve partnered with DC Central Kitchen as our charitable partner. Take part in making our community a better place!
9 – Stuck at home? We’re bummed you couldn’t join us, but you can stream the action on sweetlifefestival.com and on Fuse.
dolcezza
Dolcezza is an artisanal gelato shop that serves up creamy, homemade flavors in three locations in DC as well as at farmers’ markets. The secret to their success is using the best availible ingredients: local fuits, herbs, egg, cheese, milk and cream. Most of their ingredients are grown locally by farmers who hand-pick their produce at peak ripeness before bringing it to market the next day. Dolcezza’s gelato is truly homemade through the entire process. Their flavors and ingredients change frequently to reflect whats in season and they make their batches fresh every morning in their Georgetown shop.
Some of their farmers include
Cinda Sebastian of Fresh Farm Market: cilantro, basil, opal basil, spearmint, peppermint, chocolate mint, sorrel, tarragon, lemon grass and lemon thyme
Melanie, Mark and Madeline of Keswick Creamery: ricotta and yogurt
Quaker Valley Orchards: blackberries, acorn squash, red watermelon, free-range eggs
Mark Toigo of Toigo Orchards: strawberries, cherries, peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots, melons, cantaloupes, apples, pears, pumpkins, quince, chestnuts, heirloom tomatoes, and honey.
Here at the sweetgreen office a trip to dolcezza for a coffee and gelato is a daily (more like twice daily) routine. Here are some of our favorite seasonal combinations we’re currently loving. Dolcezza will also be bringing their salted carmel, coconut milk, and lime cilantro gelato to the Sweetlife Festival to help you cool off between sets.
cappuccino & salted carmel
mexican coffee & valrhona chocolate amargo
sea salt & black sesame
