Last Chance for A.V. Sad, we know. Get it before it becomes a half-empty office building. 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... more ›

As Mother Nature seems to have finally relinquished her icy stranglehold on our fair city, DCist figured it was high time to go in search of a restaurant that featured cuisine of a decidedly warm-weather bent. Away with the heavy stews and roasts; we were looking for spice, for fruit, for delicate seafood and tropical drinks. Luckily, Chef Howsoon Cham runs such an establishment. We settled in for some of his down-home Caribbean cooking at... more ›

FRIDAY: >> January at 9:30 Club tends to be a no man's land of lots of dark nights with the occassional local line-up thrown in for good measure. So we think it's great that Taint, DC9's weekly queer dance night for electro-indie goodness, and Black Cat's popular Bliss have ganged up to create INFAMY, a late-night dance fiesta featuring DJ Will Eastman and New York's DJ Bill Coleman, with special guest Daisy Spurs. Doors open... more ›

We of DCist Food are taking it easy (or at least easier) on the extra-rich, cream-laden, beautifully presented food over the next several days. It seems our epicurean slutiness has come to an end. Let's face it: a week of three-coursing it at D.C.'s best restaurants is a high-speed merge onto the fat-ass freeway. But reminiscing about the best and worst is calorie-free, so here's our chance (and yours) to give a rundown. more ›

"For whatever reason, we're the restaurant you all love to hate," remarks Chef Gillian Clark of her Brightwood restaurant, Colorado Kitchen. Some patrons have complained about slow service. Others are put off by the tone of the menu. "Are you starving?" it reads, "...you'd better have a salad and stop staring at the folks in the kitchen with that anxious look in your eye. You're making them nervous." PCists are skeptical of her more recent venture, DeSto -- as opposed to The Store -- and of a black chef's choice to embrace Aunt Jemima ("Her smiling face, while it makes some of us black folks cringe, is part of Americana. How could I leave her out? I have come to terms with Aunt Jemima and I've acknowledged my secret admiration of her.") more ›

There's a minor controversy today on eGullet in reference to Tom Sietsema's review of Pazo, which will appear in Sunday's Post Magazine. This time, the controversy isn't over the restaurant's rating (three stars), but over its location: 1425 Aliceanna St., Baltimore. more ›

Area foodies have been using OpenTable since 1998 to book tables at some of the area's best restaurants. The service allows diners to search for restaurants and reserve tables with a few simple mouse clicks, and also rewards members with points, redeemable for coupons at participating establishments. The service did have a few bugs, and lacked a few features that could have made searching all the easier. more ›

The results are in: The Post's 2004 Best Bets Readers' Choice Awards were decided today. And the winners are ... (drumroll, please): Pretty much all the same places that won last year! But that's OK -- by and large, DCist approves of the victors (though we'll never understand why Starbucks consistently comes in the top three of Best Coffee Shop; same with Borders for Best Bookstore. Isn't this supposed to be about D.C.'s best local and non-totally-massive-and-impersonal establishments?). more ›