Arts & Entertainment

Tastes of fall

Lots of restaurant events slated for coming months

Published

14 years ago

September 6, 2012

The cooler weather is arriving and the summer weekends on the beach in Rehoboth are coming to an end. It’s a great time to check out some new restaurants, chefs and foodie eventsl And don’t worry — you have six months to fit into your speedos again.

Masa 14 (1825 14^th Street NW) announced a new executive Chef, Adam Goldman, on Aug. 22. Goldman has served as sous chef at Masa 14 for the past two years and he’s the one who created the opening menu for the new rooftop deck at Masa 14. A new chef and a new roof deck make Masa 14 an excellent fall escape option.

On Aug. 28, Lime Fresh Mexican Grill opened in Columbia Heights. Lime Fresh is famous for its fresh blend of Mexican-inspired dishes fused with the food conscious culture of South Beach. I recommend trying out Lime Fresh as an alternative to the mediocre food and service at Tortilla Coast.

Jose Andres of Zaytinya (701 9^th Street NW) has a special two-week promotion celebrating the iconic ingredient of Mediterranean food — the grape — from Sept. 3-16. Zaytinya head chef Michael Costa will offer grape-inspired dishes during “The Grape Festival.”

On Thursday, Uptown Ethiopian Fusion Cuisine (1608 7^th Street NW) was scheduled to open in Shaw. This restaurant will feature traditional Ethiopian Food as well as fusions of other ethnic cuisine.

On Sept. 20, Jeff Black is debuting his new Old Black Salts and Black Pearl Oysters at the one-year anniversary of Pearl Dive Oyster Palace (1612 14^th Street NW). Tickets are $175 per person and include unlimited fresh seafood and an open bar. Guests will also be the first to try these two new exclusive oysters. Proceeds raised at this event will be donated to Food & Friends.

If that isn’t enough seafood, The Blue Crab Summit will be hosted at Johnny’s Half Shell (400 N. Capitol Street NW) on Sept. 21-22. For $60 per person, Chef Ann Cashion will prepare guests five large Maryland Blue Crabs in the East Texas tradition “Sartin Style.”

The Park Hyatt Washington and Blue Duck Tavern (1201 24^th Street NW) will host the Master’s of Food and Wine on Sept. 22. The Autumn Mushroom Chef’s Table Dinner will feature recently foraged chanterelle and field mushrooms prepared by Chef Archambault, Chef Melfi and Bryan Irwin.

On Sept. 23, celebrity chef Mike Isabella, of Bandolero and Graffiato, will be signing his first cookbook, “Mike Isabella’s Crazy Good Italian” at Graffiato.

Taste of D.C. 2012 is taking place on Pennsylvania Avenue Oct. 6-8. It features tastings and dishes from about 80 of D.C.’s best restaurants, eateries and food trucks. This will provide an excellent opportunity to try out some restaurants you have been meaning to try out all year.

Gay Chef and restaurateur Art Smith (currently competing on Bravo’s “Top Chef Masters”) is bringing you Election Night at Art & Soul (415 New Jersey Ave NW) on Nov. 6, and Swing State Cocktails from Oct. 1 until Jan. 31. On election night guests will be able to watch results roll in on large televisions and enjoy happy hour prices until a decision is made. Swing State Cocktails include drinks like The Colorado Orchid, The Cardinal Cooler (Virginia), The Cheese Head (Wisconsin) and The Patriot (New Hampshire).

In late fall, the Matchbox Food Group will be opening the region’s fourth Matchbox (1907 14th Street NW). Matchbox is known for its pizza and sliders. Matchbox Food Group will also be bringing Ted’s Bulletin to 14th Street in the upcoming year. Ted’s is famous for its homemade pop tarts and will add a delicious brunch option to 14th

Pearl Dive Oyster Palace celebrates its anniversary Sept. 20 with two new varities. (Blade photo by Jonathan Ellis)

and Swann Street.

A new personal favorite for the fall is Taco El Chilango (1119 V Street NW). You can enjoy tacos like Al Pastor (beef tongue, pinapple and onion) and Mixto (chicken and pork sausage) and they have habanero salsa. These tacos are so good you may see Anastasia Beaverhausen chowing down in the corner — don’t make eye contact, just know she’s there.

With many more restaurants and events slated for the weeks and months to come there will always be a new bite that needs to be tried, a foodie’s dream.

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Celebrity News

Madonna headlines World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam

Kylie Minogue made surprise appearance alongside gay icon

Published

55 minutes ago

August 2, 2026

Michael K. Lavers

Kylie Minogue with Madonna at the World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam on Aug. 2, 2026. (Photo courtesy of Cejlon Studio)

AMSTERDAM — Madonna on Sunday headlined the final night of the World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam.

The gay icon took the stage shortly before 2:30 a.m. local time (8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday) during Club Confessions, a set that MISTR, a telehealth platform that offers free access to PrEP, Doxy PEP, STI testing, and long-term HIV care, organized.

“Mother is here and this is gay heaven,” said Madonna when she took the stage inside Amsterdam’s AFAS Live concert hall that can hold up to 6,000 people.

Stuart Price, who produced Madonna’s 2005 “Confessions on a Dance Floor” album and “Confessions II,” which debuted on July 2, DJed the set.

Kylie Minogue made a surprise appearance. She and Madonna performed a new remix of “Love Sensation” from “Confessions II.”

(Washington Blade video by Michael K. Lavers)

“Throughout my career, I’ve always supported efforts to fight HIV and AIDS, and that fight begins with education and access,” said Madonna in a MISTR press release. “With MISTR, (CEO) Tristan (Schukraft) is expanding access to HIV prevention and sexual healthcare for everyone. Through this work, he’s helping preserve and strengthen LGBTQ+ spaces while investing in the communities and culture that have long sustained us.”

Minogue in an Instagram post thanked Madonna, Price, Schukraft, and MISTR.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kylie Minogue (@kylieminogue)

Madonna appeared at The Abbey in West Hollywood, Calif., in April. Madonna in June celebrated Pride month with a pop-up performance in New York’s Times Square.

Jake Resnicow and Insomniac produced the World Pride Music Festival that also featured Bebe Rexha and Paris Hilton, among others.

“Pride has always been about bringing our community together,” said Resnicow. “At a moment when too many people are being told to hide or make themselves smaller, gathering openly, joyfully, and without apology matters more than ever. I couldn’t be prouder of what this festival brought to life in Amsterdam — one dance floor, completely free.”

Theater

Reggie White relishing first season as artistic director of Woolly Mammoth

First five shows a reminder that ‘pressure is a privilege’

Published

10 hours ago

August 2, 2026

Patrick Folliard

Reggie D. White (Photo by Ambe J. Williams)

Madly talented and preternaturally energetic, Reggie D. White, 38, is about to launch his first season as artistic director of D.C.’s boundary-pushing Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.

White brings a lot to the job. As actor, playwright, and director, his varied resume includes a 2019 Broadway acting debut in Matthew López’s Tony Award–winning play “The Inheritance,” his semi-autobiographic play “Fremont Ave.” that opened to acclaim last season at Arena Stage, and a number of exciting regional directing credits.

A longtime admirer of Woolly, the out theater-maker was selected from a pool of candidates before receiving the offer last November and starting work in January. His season of five world premieres kicks off with gay playwright Steve Yockey’s “Venus” (Sept. 9-Oct. 4), a darkly funny study of modern relationships told through two lesbians looking back on their first encounter.

White was introduced to Woolly Mammoth as a pre-law student at Cal State Hayward in the San Francisco Bay Area, long before he foresaw a life in the arts. “As part of a random theater history course, I was assigned to write a paper on a counterculture company called Woolly Mammoth,” he recalls “Strange name. I was like what the hell is that?”

Nineteen-year-old White was intrigued. Research acquainted him with Howard Shalwitz who co-founded Woolly in 1980, and the company’s commitment to living playwrights and new work. He also learned how theater could be used as a tool for difficult conversations and shape the way people thought about social issues by employing imagination and rigor.

“Never in a million years did young me envision that one day I’d be Woolly’s third artistic director in its 46-year history,” says White. “It’s kind of serendipitously insane.”

WASHINGTON BLADE: Was there a moment when the enormity of the job hit you?

REGGIE D. WHITE: After I’d signed my contract and finished all the paperwork, I got my keys and sat in the theater by myself in the dark and thought about what an incredible honor it is to be trusted with what happens in this beautiful space [in D.C.’s Penn Quarter]. I might have cried. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to remember it’s real.

BLADE: Are you curating the upcoming 2026–2027 season?

WHITE: Yes, I am. It’s very rare that an incoming artistic director gets to program their first season, but I was lucky in terms of time. After being hired late last year, I asked Woolly’s managing director Kimberly E. Douglas, if she thought it would be crazy if I programmed the season. She warned me it would be hard.

I invoked tennis legend Billie Jean King’s maxim “pressure is a privilege” and got to work.

These plays [dubbed White’s “first five”] represent both the kind of theater that Woolly can do really well and speak directly to my voice as curator and how I want to contribute to the larger theatrical conversation in the DMV.

Getting here has meant a lot of late nights. But I knew the juice would be worth the squeeze.

BLADE: As a queer artistic director, what makes you unique?

WHITE: When I was playing in “Inheritance” on Broadway, after a performance, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sotomayer came backstage to meet the cast. She spoke about how her lens on the world as a Puerto Rican woman shapes her decisions. Similarly, because I’m a queer Black man I see through a lens that shapes my work.

I know I’m not the only queer artistic director in town. For me, it influences how I make editorial decisions. Out of this season’s five plays there are explicitly queer characters in four [“Venus,” “Chanukkah Spectacular,” “Ten Grand,” and “Love I Awethu Further”] and I’m directing two [“Venus,” “Ten Grand”].

BLADE: Will we see familiar faces?

WHITE: Every show this season will feature a Woolly Mammoth company member in its cast. Our company also includes designers and directors who we’ll include. I’m invested in continuing to provide a showcase for their work.

BLADE: How do you think queer audiences will receive the season?

WHITE: Very well, I think. For queer people who’ve had to navigate the world subversively and solve problems in unique ways, I think it will be especially interesting. I find theater a potent place for questions.

Like all artistic directors. I’ll show up for the job in my own way. I’m just excited that I’ve been invited to bring the fullness of myself to the role.