By R.W Tagert Local Alexandrians, Mark Allen and John McCaslin, have recently purchased Tula’s Off Main, a contemporary American restaurant in Washington, VA (commonly referred to as Little Washington). I recently visited them at their restaurant to see if they had lost their minds…they haven’t. Both businessmen have homes in the area and absolutely love it out there, and they also bought the building. McCaslin was born in Alexandra at the old Alexandria Hospital, which was located at Duke and Washington Streets. Five years ago McCaslin bought a home in nearby Woodville and permanently moved out there last year. “You know, fifty years ago when I was a kid, Old Town was a little like this is out here,” he tells me, “there was a lot of space and green.” “Reminds me of my youth!” McCaslin graduated from Old Dominion University in 1980 with a degree in speech communication. In 1980 he began his journalism career in Kalispell, Montana (more green space), working as news director and anchor of radio station KOFI- AM. In 1982-84 he joined stations KJJR-AM and KBBZ-FM in Whitefish, Montana. He was also an award-winning correspondent for United Press International and was a stringer for NBC and ABC. In 1984, McCaslin returned home and joined the Washington Times as a White House correspondent. He was appointed assistant national editor, and became metropolitan editor when DC Mayor Marion Barry was the target of a federal investigation and indictment. In 1992 he began writing the popular column Inside the Beltway, which was later syndicated by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate and Chicago Tribune Media Services. He has contributed to a number of publications including Reader’s Digest and Tennis as well as traveled all over the world as a travel writer. McCaslin has been a regular guest on numerous…