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Restaurant Week Starts August 6
There are a few good things about Washington in August. First, it's so damned hot and soupy that there are about 100 times fewer tourists. Second, Congress leaves town and tons of governmental types take vacation, so town slows down considerably, leaving rush hour slightly less enraging. Third, it's when the summer version of D.C.'s Restaurant Week gets cooking!

This summer's iteration of the biannual event will take place from August 6 to 12, and more restaurants are participating than ever before. Granted, some of these restaurants are the Austin Grill, Georgia Brown's, and America, but it's a pretty healthy list nonetheless. Hopefully you have already been making those reservations though, as some of the hottest places (ahem, Kinkead's and Vidalia) are already close to booked up.

We can get into the perennial discussion of whether restaurateurs view restaurant week as a chance to impress new customers or as an excuse for boring dishes and lackadaisical service, but we'll point you to some of our past roundups for more takes on the dining holiday. We'll also leave you with a take from inside the house, for the few of you who care about the servers. We'll be on the lookout for ridiculous upcharges on the menus and will update you next week. Also, for those of you in Bethesda, you're in the throes of your very own Restaurant Week right now.

Baltimore Restaurant Week Opening to be a Blowout
O.K., so we might get a little carried away with our good-natured taunting of neighbor to the north, Baltimore. They do have a really nice airport and are the setting for Hairspray (it's great, go see it). At any rate, they are going all out for the kick off of their Restaurant Week, which starts Sunday. Cakelove's Warren Brown, former White House Pastry Chef Ann Amernick (also of Palena), and dozens of local chefs will launch the week at the Chefs and Wine Experience all day Sunday afternoon at the Tremont Grand in downtown Charm City. $55 will get you tickets to the event with plenty of food and wine tastings. You can even get there by train! D.C. should follow their lead and host a similar party to kick off our restaurant week. They could feature D.C.-only foods like Blue Crabs with Old Tidal Basin seasoning.

Photo from our own Tom Lee.

Maestro Leaving Tysons for New York
You've likely read this already, but it bears repeating. Maestro's Fabio Trabocchi (2006 Beard Award for Best Mid-Atlantic Chef, 2005 Chef-of-the-Year RAMMY, and 2002 Food & Wine Best New Chef) is leaving the Elysium of Tysons Corner to get down and dirty in New York City. What a dick! Actually, we can't harbor any animosity to the man who has given Washington such great food over the last several years. We do expect him to give us a D.C. discount when we come to his new place, Fiamma Osteria in SoHo. Get the low down from DCist Erin, who also blogs over at Serious Eats.

As for Tysons? Sucks to be them. Unless you can get into what will surely be an overflowing Colvin Run Tavern, you're destined for Penang and Cheesecake Factory. Given that Baltimore has stepped up, we're crowning Tysons the new Baltimore. Booooo Tysons! We hope they put that train above ground!