Vapiano: Hopefully Better than the Name Sounds DCist swung by the opening dinner last night at Vapiano, now open at 1800 M Street NW. It's a European-based pizza, pasta, and salad bar that claims to be leading a new trend in the restaurant industry deemed “Fresh Casual" (which was strange, given the greeters at the dinner were dressed to the nines). What does that mean? Vapiano explains it as “somewhere between the nicest of fast... more ›

>> If you've ever thought about having a wedding of any kind, we'd recommend stopping by Olsson's Courthouse store tonight to listen to The New Yorker's Rebecca Mead, whose most recent work explores the sinister workings of the $160 billion wedding industry and has been the talk of the internets of late. Tomorrow we'll dig up information on the best ways to elope for anyone who was in attendance. Mead reads from One Perfect Day:... more ›

>> Celebrate the start of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month with a discussion of Japanese cinema and culture at the Freer Gallery. Film scholar Tom Vick presents film clips illustrating changes in family dynamics and Japanese society throughout the 20th Century. [Jefferson Dr. at 12th St. SW, $18, 7 p.m.] >> Catch the latest installment of Geek Comedy Tour 3K at Riot Act Comedy Club (aka HR-57). This collection of nerds waxes poet on... more ›

>> Celebrate Jazz Appreciation Month with the Omar Sosa Quartet, who will play tonight at the Lincoln Theater in an evening of Afro-Cuban jazz cosponsored by the Smithsonian. Tickets will be distributed on a first-come first-serve basis, starting one hour before the concert. [1215 U St., NW, Free, 8 p.m] more ›

MONDAY At Chapters, they’re mad for mystery writers on Mondays in March, and for alliteration at all other times. Today, they have a fine guest: Laura Lippman, who’ll be reading from her latest, What the Dead Know. 445 11th Street, NW, 1 p.m. TUESDAY Tom Bissell and his father, an ex-Marine who served in the Vietnam War, travel back to Vietnam on a journey that retraces both national and personal history. He’ll be in town... more ›

>> Mark this day, D.C. It took a full 37 days for us to use the "Marion Barry in trouble with the law again" keystroke in 2007. Federal prosecutors are asking that the Councilman's probation in his tax-evasion case be revoked. They say Barry has failed to meet the terms of his plea agreement by not paying back taxes and not filing again in 2005. After being convicted on federal charges of not paying taxes between 1999 and 2004, is it really that easy for 2005 to slip your mind? It's unclear how much jail time Barry could face and what that would mean for his position as Ward 8 Councilman. [Washington Post] more ›

It's that time of the year again, when people make resolutions they do not plan on keeping. Join DCist in resolving to see more art in 2007, but let's mean it. You could get started this week. >> Studio Gallery will have an invitational show featuring artists from the greater D.C. metropolitan area (January 3 to 28). This will include Suzanne Quinlan, whose work is shown at right. Open Wednesdays to Sundays, 2108 R St.... more ›

MONDAY Gary D. Cole built a career thriving at the apex of contradiction—CIA lawyer turned theatre artist, staunch conservative at Cal-Berkeley, a Bush campaign supporter who never let his politics get in the way of producing vital art. Those worlds collided after a Presidential appointment to the NEA was withdrawn because he once produced Poona The Fuckdog (a funny, smutty little play local theatre-goers may remember being produced by Cherry Red Productions). Cole retraces his... more ›

When it comes to issues of globalization, nobody rocks the field like Joseph Stiglitz, whose last book, Globalization and its Discontents, should be a must-read for everyone who thinks they can change the world with a papier-mâché puppet. Now he’s back to discuss the ways of Making Globalization Work. Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW, at 7 p.m. more ›

For citizens with a literary bent, this week’s major highlight is the Hyman S. and Freda Bernstein Jewish Literary Festival, running all week long, mainly at the Jewish Community Center at 1529 16th Street, NW. Highlights include Peter Beinart and Rebecca Goldstein, plenty of panel discussions, a poetry reading, and an appearance by Madeleine Albright, who makes some time while planning her forthcoming libel suit against ABC. A full schedule of this week’s Festival highlights follows below. more ›

MONDAYEver wondered what it’s like to spend every day in the company of toothless, semi-retarded, supine bunny rabbits? You know, the sort that are fuzzy, cuddly and sometimes cute, but dumb as a box of rocks? Go see Helen Thomas discuss her new book Watchdogs of Democracy?: The Waning Washington Press Corps and How It Has Failed the Public. Olsson's Books & Records, 418 7th St. NW., 7 p.m. TUESDAY The popularity of the CSI... more ›

Following up their popular May event, Sarah Goforth, Mary Hanson and the folks at the National Science Foundation will be holding their monthly Café Scientifique out in Ballston at The Front Page. Neuroscientist Kathie Olsen will be expounding under the evening's heading of Your Phantasmagorical Brain!. more ›

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TUESDAY: Unfortunately, the new book My Father's Houses: Memoir of a Family is not Steve Roberts' attempt to capitalize on all the buzz surrounding HBO's new polygamy series Big Love by coming out with shocking revelations. Instead, Roberts recounts the story of his own life as a young man growing up in New Jersey, attending Harvard, and courting and marrying Cokie Boggs. Just when we though Steve Roberts might have actually written something interesting. At... more ›

MONDAY What a weekend of basketball! It’s going to be hard to come down from over the next few days, so step off gradually. Go check out Tom Graham and Rachel Graham Cody as they discuss Getting Open: The Unknown Story of Bill Garrett and the Integration of College Basketball. It’ll help to augment your game IQ, which may be feeling a little shattered after all your Big 10 picks got spanked. Barnes & Noble,... more ›

MONDAY >> Ray Suarez will discuss his book, The Old Neighborhood: What We Lost in the Great Suburban Migration. However, he’s doing his discussion at the Fairfax County Government Center, so you can bet there will be plenty of people there saying, “But…what about our awesome fleet of school buses?” 12000 Government Center Parkway, Fairfax, Virginia, at 7:30 p.m. TUESDAY >> Hey, faithful readers. Have you been enjoying the awesomely bad spectacle that is CBS’s... more ›

In a city whose residents love to talk about how they've lifted themselves up by their bootstraps, it's no wonder there are so many shoe stores. And while archaeologists digging up the remains of D.C. one day will likely conjecture that we exclusively wore shoes from Comfort One, that’s no reason to conform. DCist checked out some local footwear purveyors in search of a loafer-less life. more ›

>> Drugs Are Nice, according to Lisa Crystal Carver, who pens the trials and travails of being a member of the band Suckdog and the attendant forays into 90's alt culture that she experienced and distilled into this "post-punk memoir." We're guessing that what's even nicer is the $8 cover for the discussion at the Warehouse Next Door tonight. 8:30 p.m. more ›

DCist has been sent some unsubstantiated celebrity sightings from this weekend. We put our fact checkers hot on the confirmation trail, but really, celebrity sightings are more intriguing gossip than serious journalistic news, so we've decided to go straight to you, our eyes and ears on the ground. So dish already. Here are the details as we know them right now: On Saturday, the D.C. Office of Motion Picture and Television Development hosted an open... more ›

I have been wanting to eat some good sushi that isn't too expensive. Do you have any suggestions? more ›

The Bush-Cheney campaign's national headquarters in Arlington, a location that is not broadcast to the general public, was raided by a number of AIDS/HIV activists, WTOP reports. Fourteen protesters found their way inside the headquarters, located in a non-descript office building at 2107 Wilson Blvd. in Arlington's Court House area. Seven others chained themselves to the doors of the building. Twenty-one in all were arrested for trespassing. For more on the Bush-Cheney not-so-secret below-the-radar headquarters,... more ›

Linda Greenlaw, whose bestselling Lobster Chronicles renewed yuppy fascination with all things Maine, will be in town tomorrow promoting her new book, All Fishermen Are Liars. Greenlaw will be at Olsson's at 2111 Wilson Blvd. in Arlington at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, August 11. The book is a collection of fishing tales ostensibly told at Dry Dock Restaurant and Tavern in Portland, Maine. more ›