Since DCist’s resident gastronaut Kanishka Gangopadhyay is off to St. Louis this week for work-related business, he delegated the weekly task of food commentary and critique to someone with an un-trained, un-sophisticated palette. After all, he wouldn’t want someone one-upping him, would he?

Much like last week, Capitol Hill seems to have cornered the market for food-related news.

Barracks Row Dine Around: Barracks Row, the newly-renovated and ever-so-hip stretch of Eighth Street SE, is celebrating its first annual “Taste of Barracks Row Dine Around” this Saturday. Featuring 12 local restaurants, participants in the dine around will get to enjoy the area’s “growing restaurant niche” by sampling appetizers, entrees, desserts, and drinks. Among the participating restaurants are the Latino Banana Cafe and Las Placitas, Irish pub Finn Mac Cool’s, Italian-inspired Trattoria Alberto, and eight others. Much to DCist’s dismay, Belga Cafe, the Euro-fusion eatery whose opening last November attracted rave reviews, seems to be one of the lone holdouts. Sampling goes from 4:30-6:30 p.m., and tickets, available at three local stores or by calling (202) 544-3188, cost $35 in advance or $40 the day of.