GEORGETOWN

bistrot-lepic-top-stop.jpgFREE WINE. Yeah, that got your attention. And the two complimentary selections served up by the experts at Georgetown's Bistro Lepic each Tuesday will be sure to keep it. Until things get a leeeeeetle fuzzy.

The tastings take place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the wine bar, where there's also a 20 percent discount on all bottles of wine on Tuesday nights. Which will be handy when the freebies run out.

» Bistro Lepic and Wine Bar, 1736 Wisconsin Ave. NW; Tue. 6-8 p.m., free; 202-333-0111.

Photo by Carol Guzy/The Washington Post

Rendering courtesy Wallace, Roberts & Todd
AFTER NEARLY THIRTY YEARS of planning, the Georgetown Waterfront Park has finally met its fundraising goal of $9 million needed to go forward with construction.

The future park, located between 31st Street NW and Key Bridge and south of K Street NW, received $4.5 million from the Centennial Challenge, combined with $3.5 million from the District of Columbia and $1 million in private donations, according to National Park Service spokesman Bill Line.

Although plans for the park have been set for some time, Line said that the two-phase construction project will not be fully complete for another 18 months. Line said construction of the first phase of the park will be completed "in the vicinity of Labor Day"; the second phase is expected in January or February of 2010.

Continue Reading "Georgetown Waterfront Park Reaches Funding Target" »

Photo by Michelle Repiso/ExpressIT'S A NOTION sure to draw interest in our trafficky little city: the Metro Board on Thursday will reportedly hear a proposal to run a Metrorail line through Georgetown.

It's a brilliant idea. Georgetown's one of the spots within Metro's existing sphere that's most clearly ripe for mass transit, with its array of shops and scads of residents. It's such an obviously smart place to put a Metrorail station that I've encountered many a newcomer who's incredulous that there isn't one already.

It's smart. It's exciting. It's a long time coming.

It ain't gonna happen.

Here's the idea, as reported by WTOP's Adam Tuss:

Another rail line would be built from Rosslyn, across the Potomac River, through the top of the District, and then connect with other lines in the city. This way more rail cars could be sent through the downtown core, spreading out riders.

For Metro officials, the plan is a way to not only serve riders and residents keen to see subway service in Georgetown, but more importantly, as Tuss suggests, an effort to break up the crush of passengers that Metro packs through the downtown corridor each day — especially since, as WTOP reports, some parts of the system will start hitting capacity within the next 10 years.

Continue Reading "Metrorail to Georgetown? It's a Pipe Dream" »

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VIDEO GAMES as a social activity? Now they are.

Tuesday nights at the Rhino Bar, a simple pumphouse becomes a Guitar Hero paradise, filled with would-be rock stars itching to show their prowess in public. And really, what's the point of practicing fake-guitar ten hours a day if you're not going to show it off?

» Rhino Bar and Pumphouse, 3295 M St. NW; Tues., 10 p.m., free; (202) 333-3150

Screen grabPIZZERIA PARADISO IS APPARENTLY the place to be for themed dinners. On Monday, both the Georgetown and Dupont locations will be celebrating St. Patrick's Day with another $16 pizza-and-beer combo.

Choose from the "It's Not Easy Being Green" pizza, topped with garden fresh kale and artichoke, or the "Traditional Irish Pizza Pie," topped with homemade corned beef, cabbage and potato. Wash that down with Victory Brewing Company's Donneybrook Irish Stout at the Georgetown location and Murphy's Irish Stout at the Dupont location.

» Pizzeria Paradiso, 3282 M St. NW; 202-337-1245.
» 2029 P St. NW; 202-223-1245. (Dupont Circle)

Written by Express contributor Suemedha Sood

Photo by Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post
ALTHOUGH YOU MAY HAVE THOUGHT that cupcakes had jumped the shark, they continue to sell out at Georgetown's Baked and Wired. When they're good, who can resist them? They're like puppies and babies. Just. So. Cute.

And now there'll be a new spot to get your 'cake on: Georgetown Cupcakes. A sign at the shop indicates that it'll open for business on Thursday, just in time for Valentine's Day. Just the place to snag some sweets for your sweet.

» Georgetown Cupcake, 1209 Potomac St. NW, 202-333-8448.
» Baked and Wired, 1052 Thomas Jefferson St. NW, 202-333-2500.

File photo of Baked and Wired's cupcakes by Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post


Photo by Amy Argetsinger/The Washington PostA MAKESHIFT MEMORIAL to a former love interest of President John F. Kennedy has gone up at the spot along the C&O Canal towpath where she was mysteriously shot and killed in 1964. As The Post's Reliable Source reports this morning, a jogger came across the white wooden cross on Sunday.

The memorial includes a photocopy of an image of Mary Pinchot Meyer and the words "cherries in the snow." Meyer's death sparked numerous conspiracy theories — her ex-husband was a top CIA official — and plenty of intrigue over the years.

In accordance with National Park Service policies, such makeshift memorials are usually disposed of.

» "Resurrecting Memories of JFK's Slain Mistress" [Reliable Source/WaPo]

Photo by Amy Argetsinger/The Washington Post

Photo by Dusty LockhartA FEAST FEATURING seven types of seafood may seem excessive. Yet in the final days before Christmas, the Feast of the Seven Fishes is exactly what's featured at several area restaurants in celebration of the holiday, Italian-style.

All across the Old Country, eschewing meat before Christmas Day means savoring dishes such as anchovy lasagna in Piedmont, cod ravioli in Parma and fried eel in Naples.

Though eel and anchovy may not be centerpieces on local holiday menus, D.C. chefs offer opportunities to embrace tradition for the faithful and the excuse for non-Catholics to indulge in the day's catch.

All month long, chef Enzo Fabbraro at D'Acqua is preparing dishes from his Italian childhood, an eight-course tasting menu — seven fish dishes and a dessert — for $75, including ostrica al tartufo (pan- fried oysters and black truffles with a prosecco-flavored sauvignon), strozzapreti (seafood ragout in a lobster-cream reduction) and black-fin tuna salad with cannallini bean and red onion.

Continue Reading "Eating Around: Fishing for Christmas Cheer" »

Washington Post file photo by Michael WilliamsonJUST BECAUSE THE PUSH for D.C. voting rights stalled on Capitol Hill earlier this year doesn't mean that the issue has died. On Sunday, voting rights activists will commemorate the 234th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party on the Georgetown waterfront as part of an effort to remind D.C. residents that despite paying some of the highest federal taxes per capita in the nation, they lack a full and equal vote in the halls of Congress. Activists will be dressed in Colonial-era costumes to re-enact the iconic event that helped pave the way to the American Revolution.

D.C. Vote, which is sponsoring Sunday's tea party, has been pushing a plan to install two giant billboards featuring a running tally of how much D.C. residents pay in federal taxes. Under the plan, which was the subject of a D.C. Council hearing last week, the billboards would be built at the Wilson Building on Pennsylvania Avenue downtown and at the Nationals' new ballpark.

Sunday's tea party re-enactment, which features D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, starts at 1:30 p.m. at the Georgetown Waterfront Park at the foot of Wisconsin Avenue.

EARLIER:
» "D.C. Vote Bill Fails in Senate" [Free Ride/Express]
» "D.C. Council Debates Tax Payout Signs" [DCist]

Washington Post file photo by Michael Williamson

Photo by Toby Canham/Getty ImagesWHOA BELLY: Where to start? First off, Christina Aguilera — who played coy about her pregnancy even when it was blatantly obvious — has clearly decided to drop any pretenses about the bun in her oven with this month's Marie Claire cover. Take a look: Yowsah. Demi Moore's 1991 Vanity Fair belly baring was iconic, even Britney Spears' desperate PR ploy in Harper's Bazaar came across more tastefully than anticipated, but Christina's? We can't help thinking "preggo porn." Eek.

In the Marie Claire interview, Aguilera goes on to say she believes she got pregnant while in D.C. for a tour stop. The Post's Reliable Source did some calendar work and calculates that the deed occurred at the Georgetown Ritz. Now Ritz-Carlton officials are considering making a, uh, "baby-making package." [Allie Is Wired; Yahoo! News; Reliable Source/WaPo]

» WHAT IS THE WORLD COMING TO? First Brad Pitt is saying x-nay on nude scenes and now Pam Anderson is talking retirement. [People]

» A LOVE NEST? Sure they say Posh dropped $50,000 on this treehouse for her kids, but we're thinking she and Becks might be able to think of another use for it. [Luxist]

» DON'T MESS WITH JULIA ROBERTS: The actress turns the tables on the paparazzi. [TMZ]

Photo by Toby Canham/Getty Images