This post is by new DCist contributor Matt Pelkey. It’s almost Friday and a drink or two may sound like a great way to decompress. But happy hour shouldn’t always be about forgetting a tough week, so tonight toast to local business and a thriving community instead. Mount Pleasant Main Street, one of ten DC Main Streets programs, is sponsoring a wine tasting this evening from 7 to 9 p.m. at Dos Gringos restaurant,... more ›

In D.C.'s own rendition of manifest destiny, our suburbs seem to be expanding with all the vigor of well-watered kudzu. It's how DCist imagines the old horror standard The Blob, if it were retold by John Cheever: the mucilaginous mass slowly gorges on pastoral countryside, dusty antique shops, and quaint Main Streets, leaving only Bed, Bath, and Beyond in its wake. While taking a look at the political implications of these population shifts, the Post... more ›

Last Saturday DCist checked out one of the newest Ethiopian restaurants to open in D.C., Queen of Sheba. You may remember from this September City Paper story that the restaurant found their efforts to obtain a liquor license thwarted by Shiloh Baptist Church, which operates a child care center next door to the new restaurant and is located directly across the street. The church has also moved to block the license of Vegetate, located a block away. In both cases the church contended that the restaurants were too close to the nearby Seaton Elementary school, however they are curiously silent about the liquor store they share the corner with -- or the nearby Giant Supermarket which sells beer and wine until 10 p.m. during the week. more ›

New development in the historic Shaw neighborhood has put two restaurateurs' liquor licenses on uncertain footing and sparked a conflict about the future of the neighborhood. The restaurants are located on Ninth Street between the new Convention Center and Rhode Island Avenue, just blocks from both the Mt. Vernon Square and Shaw Metro stations and steps from where this DCist lives. They also both happen to be located a stone's throw from Shiloh Baptist Church,... more ›