Arts & Entertainment
Best of Gay D.C. XIII: Dining
Winners from the Blade’s readers poll
To see the winners of the Washington Blade’s Best of Gay D.C. readers poll in other categories, click here.
Best new restaurant
Barcelona
Runner-up: Rose’s Luxury
In the heart of the booming 14th Street N.W. corridor near Logan Circle is Barcelona, an always-bustling spot that has one of the largest outdoor seating areas in the neighborhood and a classy-yet-low-key vibe on the block between Q and R streets. Part of a chain, the restaurant, under the direction of Executive Chef John Critchley, features mostly tapas but has a few entrees as well. Many are Spanish-inspired (e.g. spiced beef empanadas or potato tortilla) but not all. It opened October 2013. (JD)
Barcelona Wine Bar & Restaurant
1622 14th St., N.W.
202-588-5500
Best Date Restaurant
Floriana
Runner-up: Le Diplomate
Best Wine Bar
Dito’s Bar at Floriana
Runner-up: Cork
The perfect date night is planned for you at Floriana. Authentic Italian food, like butternut squash ravioli and lasagna, can transport any date from D.C. to Italy. Stop by Dito’s Bar for a drink to complete the romantic evening. All you have to do is show up. (MC)
Floriana
1602 17th St., N.W.
202-667-5937
Best Dessert
Curvy Mama Pies
Runner-up: Cake Love
Never grab a grocery store pie for the party again. Curvy Mama Pies’ online ordering service can have your pies ready in 48 hours. Try old favorites like “The Best Apple Pie Ever” and pumpkin pie or step outside the pie box and try “Aztec Chocolate Chess” or “Sweet Potato Bourbon.” (MC)
Curvy Mama Pies
Bethesda, Md.
301-717-3010
Best Boozy Brunch
Level One
1639 R St., N.W.
202-745-0025
Runner-up: Freddie’s Beach Bar
Best Chef
Jamie Leeds (Hank’s Oyster Bar)
Runner-up: Jose Andres (Jaleo, Oyamel, etc.)
Long-time out restaurateur Jamie Leeds adds another accolade to her long list. In Washington since 2002, she opened the first Hank’s Oyster Bar in 2005 and now has locations in Capitol Hill and Old Town Alexandria in addition to its Q Street location just off 17th Street, N.W. If you’re into oysters, competitor Pearl Dive Oyster Palace on 14th, is undeniably great, but Hank’s always has a bounty of nirvana-inducing selections from a bewilderingly far-flung group of locales that are always mind bogglingly fresh. D.C. oyster heaven doesn’t get any better than this. (JD)
Hank’s Oyster Bar
1624 Q St., N.W.
Washington
202-462-HANK
1026 King St.
Alexandria, Va.
703-739-HANK
633 Pennsylvania Ave., S.E.
Washington
202-733-9171
Best Late Night Restaurant
Amsterdam Falafel
Runner-up: Annie’s Paramount Steak House
Don’t let your standards slip just because it’s after hours. Fresh falafels are made to order here with 21 sauces and toppings to choose from. Customize the fries as well with dressings and sauces like Dutch mayo or homemade peanut sauce. (MC)
Amsterdam Falafel
1830 14th St., N.W.
202-232-6200
Best Coffee Shop
Soho Tea and Coffee
Runner-up: The Coffee Bar
Ditch the Starbucks and try a specialty coffee at Soho Tea and Coffee. Drinks with fun names like Hello Gorgeous Macchiato and Betty Boop, white or dark chocolate mixed with coffee, make this not your typical coffee shop. (MC)
2150 P St., N.W.
202-463-7646
Best Rehoboth Restaurant
Dos Locos
Runner-up: Purple Parrot
Whether you’re looking to watch a game with friends at the bar while downing the renowned margaritas or in need of a family-friendly place for dinner, the gay-owned Dos Locos delivers. There are seasonal specials (don’t miss the pumpkin margarita), tequila tasting dinners, inventive entrees (we love the duck quesadilla) and unbeatable specials (like the $20 pitchers of sangria on Saturdays). (KN)
Dos Locos
208 Rehoboth Ave.
302-227-3353
Best Caterer
Chef Patrick
Runner-up: R&R Catering
Best Pizza
Matchbox
Locations vary
Runner-up: &Pizza
Best Burger
Duke’s Grocery
Runner-up: Shake Shack
Inspired by East London corner cafes, Duke’s Grocery provides a casual environment. The menu changes daily based on which ingredients, sourced from local purveyors, are fresh and seasonal. The burgers, like all other dishes, are made from scratch. (SMH)
Duke’s Grocery
1513 17th St., N.W.
202-733-5623
Best Baltimore Restaurant
Woodberry Kitchen
Runner-up: City Café
Woodberry Kitchen is celebrating seven years in business and it’s still impossible to get a table without a reservation. Woodberry was an early proponent of the now-ubiquitous trend of farm-to-table cuisine. Chef Spike Gjerde is a James Beard semi-finalist as is the bar program. Woodberry supports sustainable agriculture, using ingredients from the Chesapeake region in its New American dishes. The success helped spawn a hot new spot, Parts & Labor, a butcher shop and restaurant, but there’s nothing like the original. Just make a reservation. (KN)
Woodberry Kitchen
2010 Clipper Park Road, #126
410-464-8000
Best Food Truck
D.C. Empanadas
Runner-up: Red Hook Lobster
D.C.’s only mobile gourmet empanada truck takes great care to provide hand-made delicacies using only local ingredients. A wide variety of beef, pork, chicken and vegetarian options rotate daily. Check Twitter @DCEmpanadas for the truck’s location. (SMH)
D.C. Empanadas
703-400-5363
Best Cheap Eat
District Taco
Runner-up: Stoney’s
What originated as a food truck in 2009 now serves the community in four locations in and around D.C. The Yucatan-style tacos are simple, healthful and made from quality ingredients and served in environmentally friendly packaging. (SMH)
District Taco
703-560-0369
Best Farmer’s Market
Eastern Market
225 7th St. S.E.
202-698-5253
Runner-up: Dupont Circle FRESHFARM Market
Best Steak
Ray’s The Steaks
Runner-up: Ruth’s Chris Steak House
Satisfy that steak craving at Ray’s The Steaks. A New York strip, filet mignon or one of their butcher cuts is guaranteed to hit the spot. Their beef is all aged in house and cuts butchered daily for the ultimate tasting experience. (MC)
Ray’s The Steaks
2300 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, Va.
703-841-7297
Best Donut
Winner: District Doughnut
Runner-up: Krispy Kreme
Caramel apple streusel, maple butter pecan, apple cider and the list goes on for the donut flavors you can try here. The flavor schedule changes daily so be sure to come back again and again to indulge in something new. (MC)
District Doughnut
749 8th St., S.E.
202-350-0799
Theater
Round House explores serious issues related to privilege
‘A Jumping-Off Point’ is absorbing, timely, and funny
‘A Jumping-Off Point’
Through May 5
Round House Theatre
4545 East-West Highway, Bethesda, Md.
$46-$83
Roundhousetheatre.org
In Inda Craig-Galván’s new play “A Jumping-Off Point,” protagonist Leslie Wallace, a rising Black dramatist, believes strongly in writing about what you know. Clearly, Craig-Galván, a real-life successful Black playwright and television writer, adheres to the same maxim. Whether further details from the play are drawn from her life, is up for speculation.
Absorbing, timely, and often funny, the current Round House Theatre offering explores some serious issues surrounding privilege and who gets to write about what. Nimbly staged and acted by a pitch perfect cast, the play moves swiftly across what feels like familiar territory without being the least bit predictable.
After a tense wait, Leslie (Nikkole Salter) learns she’s been hired to be showrunner and head writer for a new HBO MAX prestige series. What ought to be a heady time for the ambitious young woman quickly goes sour when a white man bearing accusations shows up at her door.
The uninvited visitor is Andrew (Danny Gavigan), a fellow student from Leslie’s graduate playwriting program. The pair were never friends. In fact, he pressed all of her buttons without even trying. She views him as a lazy, advantaged guy destined to fail up, and finds his choosing to dramatize the African American Mississippi Delta experience especially annoying.
Since grad school, Leslie has had a play successfully produced in New York and now she’s on the cusp of making it big in Los Angeles while Andrew is bagging groceries at Ralph’s. (In fact, we’ll discover that he’s a held a series of wide-ranging temporary jobs, picking up a lot of information from each, a habit that will serve him later on, but I digress.)
Their conversation is awkward as Andrew’s demeanor shifts back and forth from stiltedly polite to borderline threatening. Eventually, he makes his point: Andrew claims that Leslie’s current success is entirely built on her having plagiarized his script.
This increasingly uncomfortable set-to is interrupted by Leslie’s wisecracking best friend and roommate Miriam who has a knack for making things worse before making them better. Deliciously played by Cristina Pitter (whose program bio describes them as “a queer multi-spirit Afro-indigenous artist, abolitionist, and alchemist”), Miriam is the perfect third character in Craig-Galván’s deftly balanced three-hander.
Cast members’ performances are layered. Salter’s Leslie is all charm, practicality, and controlled ambition, and Gavigan’s Andrew is an organic amalgam of vulnerable, goofy, and menacing. He’s terrific.
The 90-minute dramedy isn’t without some improbable narrative turns, but fortunately they lead to some interesting places where provoking questions are representation, entitlement, what constitutes plagiarism, etc. It’s all discussion-worthy topics, here pleasingly tempered with humor.
New York-based director Jade King Carroll skillfully helms the production. Scenes transition smoothly in large part due to a top-notch design team. Scenic designer Meghan Raham’s revolving set seamlessly goes from Leslie’s attractive apartment to smart cafes to an HBO writers’ room with the requisite long table and essential white board. Adding to the graceful storytelling are sound and lighting design by Michael Keck and Amith Chandrashaker, respectively.
The passage of time and circumstances are perceptively reflected in costume designer Moyenda Kulemeka’s sartorial choices: heels rise higher, baseball caps are doffed and jackets donned.
“A Jumping-Off Point” is the centerpiece of the third National Capital New Play Festival, an annual event celebrating new work by some of the country’s leading playwrights and newer voices.
Nightlife
Ed Bailey brings Secret Garden to Project GLOW festival
An LGBTQ-inclusive dance space at RFK this weekend
When does a garden GLOW? When it’s run by famed local gay DJ Ed Bailey.
This weekend, music festival Project GLOW at RFK Festival Grounds will feature Bailey’s brainchild the Secret Garden, a unique space just for the LGBTQ community that he launched in 2023.
While Project GLOW, running April 27-28, is a stage for massive electronic DJ sets in a large outdoor space, Secret Garden is more intimate, though no less adrenaline-forward. He’s bringing the nightclub to the festival. The garden is a dance area that complements the larger stages, but also stands on its own as a draw for festival-goers. Its focus is on DJs that have a presence and following in the LGBTQ audience world.
“The Secret Garden is a showcase for what LGBTQ nightlife, and nightclubs in general, are all about,” he says. “True club DJs playing club music for people that want to dance in a fun environment that is high energy and low stress. It’s the cool party inside the bigger party.”
Project GLOW launched in 2022. Bailey connected with the operators after the first event, and they discussed Bailey curating his own space for 2023. “They were very clear that they wanted me to lean into the vibrant LGBTQ nightlife of D.C. and allow that community to be very visibly a part of this area.”
Last year, club icon Kevin Aviance headlined the Secret Garden. The GLOW festival organizers loved the its energy from last year, and so asked Bailey to bring it back again, with an entire year to plan.
This year, Bailey says, he is “bringing in more D.C. nightlife legends.” Among those are DJ Sedrick, “a DJ and entertainer legend. He was a pivotal part of Tracks nightclub and is such a dynamic force of entertainment,” says Bailey. “I am excited for a whole new audience to be able to experience his very special brand of DJing!”
Also, this year brings in Illustrious Blacks, a worldwide DJ duo with roots in D.C.; and “house music legends” DJs Derrick Carter and DJ Spen.
Bailey is focusing on D.C.’s local talent, with a lineup including Diyanna Monet, Strikestone!, Dvonne, Baronhawk Poitier, THABLACKGOD, Get Face, Franxx, Baby Weight, and Flower Factory DJs KS, Joann Fabrixx, and PWRPUFF.
Secret Garden also brings in performers who meld music with dance, theater, and audience interactions for a multi-sensory experience.
Bailey is an owner of Trade and Number Nine, and was previously an owner of Town Danceboutique. Over the last 35 years, Bailey owned and operated more than 10 bars and clubs in D.C. He has an impressive resume, too. Since starting in 1987, he’s DJ’d across the world for parties and nightclubs large and intimate. He says that he opened “in concert for Kylie Minogue, DJed with Junior Vasquez, played giant 10,000-person events, and small underground parties.” He’s also held residencies at clubs in Atlanta, Miami, and here in D.C. at Tracks, Nation, and Town.
With Secret Garden, Bailey and GLOW aim to bring queer performers into the space not just for LGBTQ audiences, but for the entire music community to meet, learn about, and enjoy. While they might enjoy fandom among queer nightlife, this Garden is a platform for them to meet the entirety of GLOW festival goers.
Weekend-long Project GLOW brings in headliners and artists from EDM and electronic music, with big names like ILLENIUM, Zedd, and Rezz. In all, more than 50 artists will take the three stages at the third edition of Project GLOW, presented by Insomniac (Electric Daisy Carnival) and Club Glow (Echostage, Soundcheck).
Out & About
Washington Improv Theatre hosts ‘The Queeries’
Event to celebrate queer DMV talent and pop culture camp
The Washington Improv Theatre, along with the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs and the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington DC, will team up to host “The Queeries!” on Friday, April 26 at 9:30 p.m. at Studio Theatre.
The event will celebrate Queer DMV talent and pop culture camp. With a mixture of audience-submitted nominations and blatantly undemocratically declared winners, “The Queeries!” mimics LGBTQ life itself: unfair, but far more fun than the alternative.
The event will be co-hosted by Birdie and Butchie, who have invited some of their favorite bent winos, D.C. “D-listers,” former Senate staffers, and other stars to sashay down the lavender carpet for the selfie-strewn party of the year.
Tickets are just $15 and can be purchased on WITV’s website.
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