In case it slipped your notice, D.C.’s Winter Restaurant Week officially started this past Monday. If, like everyone else, you’ve been too preoccupied trying to survive Storm Jonas, we’ve compiled some of the best deals available from area restaurants.
An added bonus, due to the delayed start to the week, the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington has officially extended the promotion to run until Wednesday, Feb. 3. So you’ve still got time — and more than 250 restaurants to choose from, offering at minimum three course meals for $22 over lunch or $35 over dinner.
In addition, this year’s program also introduces a partnership with the UberEats app, through which a handful of restaurants — among them DBGB, Rosa Mexicano and Riggsby — are offering an exclusive entree, priced between $12 and $15, to be delivered select weekdays over lunch.
A few establishments deserve special recognition this year. Foremost among these is the Beacon Bar & Grill near Scott Circle, which is working to ensure a festive environment by throwing in a glass of wine with lunch — or unlimited champagne by the glass with dinner. And they will also have half-priced bottles of wine, too.
Sushi Taro on 17th Street offers a $35 four-course dinner menu that on its own is enough — cold soba and sashimi to start, angus beef sukiyaki or grilled black cod as a warm second, and three sushi options for a main course, plus mochi ice cream. But for a few dollars more you can add grilled yellowtail or an additional sushi roll — and $52 total also grants you a three-drink sake/beer pairing.
On Capitol Hill, Cafe Berlin‘s lunch menu provides a choice between potato pancakes or Bavarian potato soup as a starter, braised brisket, a fish burger, or “Kalbsleber” (pan fried calves liver) for an entree and a house made cake or tart for dessert.
Finally, in addition to plenty of pasta and antipasti options at lunch and a hearty four-course dinner, Mike Isabella’s Graffiato across from the Verizon Center is the rare restaurant to offer a Restaurant Week Brunch menu, with three courses at $22. Pick from various egg and pasta dishes, a few salad and veggie antipasti, and “sweets,” including Nutella Waffle and French Toast.
Winter Restaurant Week runs through Wednesday, Feb. 3. For a full list and to book reservations — and chances to win getaway and restaurant prizes — visit RWDMV.com.
"Not enough queer stories have been told in mainstream media -- especially queer stories with happy endings, especially queer stories, in red states, with happy endings," says D.C.-based novelist Susie Dumond, explaining the core motivation behind her newly published debut novel.
Set in the "thriving" queer community of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Queerly Beloved focuses on a weddings-obsessed, semi-closeted baker/bartender and the challenges she faces as a result of falling in love with a charming female newcomer to town.
Tonight, June 14, at 7 p.m., Kramers presents "In Conversation with Susie Dumond," in which the author will read from and take questions about the book, which was hailed by Publishers Weekly as a "funny and moving debut rom-com seamless blend of serious issues, humor, and love."
Next month, the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington will present its 40th annual RAMMY Awards in a ceremony at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.
But ingeniously, several finalists have decided to help spur greater interest in the top beverage categories by showcasing what makes them stand out in their crowded fields, all as part of a special promotion running from Monday, June 27, to Friday, July 1.
If an establishment were to win solely based on its offerings as part of this special "Sip, Swig, and Sample" promotion, the 2022 Wine Program of the Year Award would go to Northside Social (www.northsidesocialva.com). All week long at both Northside's Clarendon and Falls Church locations, you can opt for a flight of rosé for $25 -- and all of it offered as a benefit for The Trevor Project.
After the muted and makeshift celebrations of the past two years, Pride month is busting out all over in 2022. And one of D.C.'s newest LGBTQ-owned venues is working to establish itself as a hub of Pride-related activity.
Over the next couple of weeks, Crazy Aunt Helen's will host a variety of shows offering a veritable smorgasbord of LGBTQ-identified drag performers, comedians, and nascent playwrights and local actors.
The latter comes courtesy of a new play reading series that launched last month from D.C.'s queer-focused Rainbow Theatre Project.
The series, featuring casts of assembled local actors giving rehearsed, dramatic readings of stage works in development, continues with a reading of Faux Flowers, Anthony Green's tale, set in present-day D.C., of "trauma turned to murder during an Easter dinner," presented with a brief post-reading discussion with the playwright and cast. (6/15, $15)
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