Mayor Vince Gray dined at Hank’s Oyster Bar in Dupont Circle yesterday, reports Borderstan, expressing support for the popular neighborhood restaurant mired in a particularly nasty regulatory fight over its outdoor space.

Is there anything more satisfying than knocking off work a few minutes early and heading to your local pub of choice to soak in a couple rays while downing an ice cold beverage? (Answer: no.) Now you can add the Red Palace to your outdoor drinking itinerary: the H Street bar/concert venue/burlesque joint opened an outdoor space yesterday.

Looks like Vinoteca will have to add a few more bottles of chianti to its wine list now that its backyard bocce court and patio have opened. In strong contrast to the wine bar’s contemporary, dark-wood interior, Vinoteca’s patio area resembles an open-air Old World villa. “We were going for an old European town square feeling,” says owner Paul Carlson. Although the patio’s aesthetic isn’t completely traditional, it appears Carlson spared very little expense…