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Best of Gay D.C. XIII: Dining

Winners from the Blade’s readers poll

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dining, gay news, Washington Blade

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

Barcelona, gay news, Washington Blade, dining

Barcelona (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

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

barcelonawinebar.com

Best Date Restaurant

Floriana

Runner-up: Le Diplomate

Floriana, gay news, Washington Blade

Floriana (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Best Wine Bar

Dito’s Bar at Floriana

Runner-up: Cork

Dito Sevilla, Dito's Bar, Floriana, gay news, Washington Blade

Dito’s Bar at Floriana (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

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

Curvy Mama Pies (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Curvy Mama Pies (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

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

Curvymamapies.com

Best Boozy Brunch

Level One

Level One, gay news, Washington Blade

Level One (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

1639 R St., N.W.

202-745-0025

levelonedc.com

Runner-up: Freddie’s Beach Bar

Best Chef

Jamie Leeds (Hank’s Oyster Bar)

Runner-up: Jose Andres (Jaleo, Oyamel, etc.)

Jamie Leeds  (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Jamie Leeds (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

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

hanksoysterbar.com

Best Late Night Restaurant

Amsterdam Falafel

Runner-up: Annie’s Paramount Steak House

Amsterdam Falafel (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Amsterdam Falafel (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

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

sohoteaandcoffee.com

Best Rehoboth Restaurant

Dos Locos

Runner-up: Purple Parrot

Dos Locos, Joe Zuber, Darryl Ciarlante, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, restaurant, gay news, Washington Blade

Drinks at Dos Locos (Photo courtesy Dos Locos)

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

doslocos.com

Best Caterer

Chef Patrick

patrickvanasevents.com

Runner-up: R&R Catering

Patrick Vanas, recipes, recipe, food, cooking, Thanksgiving, gay news, Washington Blade

Chef Patrick (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Best Pizza

Matchbox

Locations vary

matchboxfoodgroup.com

Runner-up: &Pizza

Spicy Meatball Pizza at Matchbox (Photo courtesy Matchbox Food Group)

Spicy Meatball Pizza at Matchbox (Photo courtesy Matchbox Food Group)

Best Burger

Duke’s Grocery

Runner-up: Shake Shack

Duke's Grocery (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Duke’s Grocery (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

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

dukesgrocery.com

Best Baltimore Restaurant

Woodberry Kitchen

Runner-up: City Café

Woodberry Kitchen (Photo courtesy of Woodberry Kitchen)

Woodberry Kitchen (Photo courtesy of Woodberry Kitchen)

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

woodberrykitchen.com

Best Food Truck

D.C. Empanadas

Runner-up: Red Hook Lobster

D.C. Empanadas at the Human Rights Campaign's 'Chefs for Equality' event on Sept. 24, 2014. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

D.C. Empanadas at the Human Rights Campaign’s ‘Chefs for Equality’ event on Sept. 24, 2014. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

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

dcempanadas.com

Best Cheap Eat

District Taco

Runner-up: Stoney’s

District Taco (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

District Taco (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

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

districttaco.com

Best Farmer’s Market

Eastern Market

Eastern Market (Photo by AgnosticPreachersKid; courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

Eastern Market (Photo by AgnosticPreachersKid; courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

225 7th St. S.E.

202-698-5253

easternmarket-dc.org

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

raysthetsteaks.com

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

districtdoughnut.com

 

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PHOTOS: Hagerstown Pride

LGBTQ community celebration held at Doubs Woods Park

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Chasity Vain performs at Hagerstown Pride 2025. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The 13th annual Hagerstown Pride Festival was held at Doubs Woods Park in Hagerstown, Md. on Saturday, June 21.

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

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Theater

‘Hunter S. Thompson’ an unlikely but rewarding choice for musical theater

‘Speaks volumes about how sad things land on our country’

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George Salazar in ‘The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical.’

‘The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical’
Through July 13
Signature Theatre
4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington, Va.
$47 to $98
Sigtheatre.org

The raucous world of the counterculture journalist may not seem the obvious choice for musical theater, but the positive buzz surrounding Signature Theatre’s production of Joe Iconis’s “The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical” suggests otherwise. 

As the titular, drug addled and gun-toting writer, Eric William Morris memorably moves toward his character’s suicide in 2005 at 67. He’s accompanied by an ensemble cast playing multiple roles including out actor George Salazar as Thompson’s sidekick Oscar “Zeta” Acosta, a bigger than life Mexican American attorney, author, and activist in the Chicano Movement who follows closely behind. 

Salazar performs a show-stopping number — “The Song of the Brown Buffalo,” a rowdy and unforgettable musical dive into a man’s psyche. 

“Playing the part of Oscar, I’m living my Dom daddy activist dreams. For years, I was cast as the best friend with a heart of gold. Quite differently, here, I’m tasked with embodying all the toxic masculinity of the late ‘60s, and a rampant homophobia, almost folded into the culture.”

He continues, “My sexuality aside, I like to think that Oscar would be thrilled by my interpretation of him in that song. 

“Our upbringings are similar. I’m mixed race – Filipino and Ecuadorian and we grew up similarly,” says Salazar, 39. “He didn’t fit in as white or Mexican American, and fell somewhere in the middle. Playing Oscar [who also at 39 in 1974 forever disappeared in Mexico], I pulled out a lot of experience about having to code switch before finally finding myself and being confident just doing my own thing.

“As we meet Oscar in the show we find exactly where’s he’s at. Take me or leave me, I couldn’t care less.”

In 2011, just three years after earning his BFA in musical theater from the University of Florida in Gainesville, Salazar fortuitously met Iconis at a bar in New York. The pair became fast friends and collaborators: “This is our third production,” says George. “So, when Joe comes to me with an idea, there hasn’t been a moment that I don’t trust him.”

In “Be More Chill,” one of Iconis’s earlier works, Salazar originated the role of Michael Mell, a part that he counts as one of the greatest joys of artistic life.

With the character, a loyal and caring friend who isn’t explicitly queer but appeals to queer audiences, Salazar developed a fervent following. And for an actor who didn’t come out to his father until he was 30, being in a place to support the community, especially younger queer people, has proved incredibly special. 

“When you hear Hunter and Oscar, you might think ‘dude musical,’ but I encourage all people to come see it.” Salazar continues, “Queer audiences should give the show a shot. As a musical, it’s entertaining, funny, serious, affecting, and beautiful. As a gay man stepping into this show, it’s so hetero and I wasn’t sure what to do. So, I took it upon myself that any of the multiple characters I play outside of Oscar, were going to be queer.

Queer friends have seen it and love it, says Salazar. His friend, Tony Award-winning director Sam Pinkleton (“Oh, Mary!”) saw Hunter S. Thompson at the La Jolla Playhouse during its run in California, and said it was the best musical he’d seen in a very long time. 

“Since the work’s inception almost 10 years ago, I was the first Oscar to read the script. In the interim, the characters’ relationships have grown but otherwise there have been no major changes. Still, it feels more impactful in different ways: It’s exciting to come here to do the show especially since Hunter S. Thompson was very political.”

Salazar, who lives in Los Angeles with his partner, a criminal justice reporter for The Guardian, is enjoying his time here in D.C. “In a time when there are so many bans – books, drag queens, and travel — all I see is division. This is an escape from that.”  

He describes the Hunter Thompson musical as Iconis’s masterpiece, adding that it’s the performance that he’s most proud of to date and that feels there a lot of maturity in the work. 

“In the play, Thompson talks to Nixon about being a crook and a liar,” says Salazar. “The work speaks volumes about how sad things land on our country: We seem to take them one step forward and two steps back; the performance is almost art as protest.”

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Photos

PHOTOS: Goodwin Living Pride Parade

Senior living and healthcare organization holds fifth annual march at Falls Church campus

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Goodwin Living Pride March 2025. (Photo courtesy of Goodwin Living)

The senior living and healthcare organization Goodwin Living held its fifth annual Pride Parade around its Bailey’s Crossroads campus in Falls Church, Va. with residents, friends and supporters on Thursday, June 12.

(Photos courtesy of Goodwin Living)

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