Who isn’t peckish for a little snack by the end of the work day? The folks at Dino in Cleveland Park know how you feel—but of course, being an Italian restaurant, the words “little” and “snack” aren’t ones that are juxtaposed there very often. Their new happy hour, which has been underway for just under a month, showcases both Dino’s well-established talent for quelling the need for a nosh and its revamped cocktails list......

No doubt D.C. area residents have already been enjoying their share of after work, al fresco drinking and dining this summer. That’s what summer’s for, and it actually hasn’t been bikram-yoga-studio-hot in the District much this summer, save an odd week or two. [Yes, I know, I probably just jinxed it. Code Red Air Quality alert here we come.] There’s still a few weeks left of summer proper, however, and even longer for summer-like weather,......

>> The Senate might have to work all weekend, in advance of a possible vote on Sunday on whether to take up a $50 billion war funding bill that calls for a troop withdrawal from Iraq in 12 months, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) warned. Be prepared to hear all your Senate staffer friends complain about this at happy hour tonight. [The Hill] >> Foxhall Road will be closed to traffic between MacArthur Boulevard......

Anytime a new bar opens with more than 3 or 4 taps, my ears perk up. I start getting the urge to go check it out, to pay a visit and welcome the new neighbor on the block. Thus, when a Bar Louie opened this summer in the Verizon Center (downstairs from Lucky Strike) with a 20-tap list, I was immediately lured by the siren song of another taphouse in the area. Although the bar......

Now is the time of year when we all get to start complaining about how stupid standard time is and how walking out of our offices last night into pitch black darkness was weird and uncomfortable and made us confused about what time happy hour was supposed to start. That is all. 'Fat Gap' Between Whites and Blacks in D.C. High: We've certainly talked about the income gap between whites and blacks in our city......

>> Tonight is the annual 17th Street High Heel Race. The classic D.C. drag event kicks off officially at 9 p.m., but you'll want to take your position on 17th St. NW between Church and R well before that (we'd recommend 7 at the latest). If you're looking to make a queer night of it, don't forget about the Hug-In planned at the U Street Rite Aid at 7 p.m., and the pre-Hug-In Happy Hour......

Following up on Friday's entry about a gay couple who was kicked out of the Rite Aid at 13th and U Streets NW, the New Gay is organizing a hug-in set to take place at the store tomorrow night at 7 p.m., just before the annual 17th Street High Heel Race. If you plan to go, be sure to pledge your attendance via evite. The New Gay asks two things for everyone participating in......

Written by DCist Contributor Eric Denman On U street NW between 13th and 14th, nestled between Polly's and a nail salon, Axis is settling into a rhythm and starting to be a very solid contender in an increasingly crowded strip. The wine list, which averages $12 $8 by the glass, is respectable, but the real reason to come here is for the tap list. Although it doesn't boast a huge variety of obscure seasonals, the......

>> The Rock and Roll Hotel hosts Austin's electro-indie Octopus Project and Shout Out Out Out Out. $10, 8:30 p.m. >> Rustico in Alexandria is bringing back its delightfully insane Don't Hassel the Hof Brau party, which honors Munich's famous Hofbrau Oktoberfest beer as well as perennial German favorite and noted drunk entertainer, David Hasselhoff. Free Hofbrau mugs with every beer, and our own beer guy, Eric Denman, will be tending bar and sporting......

>> DAM! Fest kicks of with its first night of shows featuring a dozen different bands at three venues, including New York's A Place to Bury Strangers (don't miss our interview with the band) and Dirty on Purpose at the Rock and Roll Hotel, Vandaveer and Julie Ocean at the Red and The Black, and Foreign Islands at DC9, among many others. Check out our guide to the DAM! highlights. >> Two film festivals open......

>> Terrific local volunteer organizers Greater DC Cares are hosting a happy hour tonight at Mackey's with what looks to be free or deeply discounted beers provided by sponsor Samuel Adams. 6 to 8 p.m. Non-volunteers welcome to attend and learn more about the organization. >> The Lost Bayou Ramblers bring their Cajun dance music up from Louisiana for a free concert at 6 p.m. at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage. >> Black Cat,......

>> Don't miss our full preview and interview with Bonde do Role, playing tonight at the Black Cat with Plastic Little and local experimental audio/visual artist Edie Sedgwick. $10, 8 p.m. >> >> DC9's got The Daybreak Line and The Beanstalk Library, who we recently profiled in a Three Stars piece, and Athens, GA's The Winter Sounds. $8, 9:30 p.m. >> I have vivid memories of watching the significantly creepy 1960 TV version of......

Start making last minute happy hour plans immediately if your ride home includes the Red line. WMATA is reporting that there is no train service at either Bethesda or Medical Center due to a police situation. Shuttle bus service is up and running, but really, it's Thursday. Just go get a drink after work and wait for this crap to blow over. Super fun Red line delays should be expected in both directions. NBC4 is......

>> Heading over to check out semi-crazy ambient rockers Deerhunter play with Clockcleaner tonight at the Black Cat seems like an entirely reasonable thing to do. 9 p.m., $10. >> NYC's Beat the Devil host a CD release party at the Red and the Black with Brandon Butler and Revival. Doors 9 p.m. $8. >> The charity organization Bartending for Change hosts a benefit for Food For All at a happy hour from 6:30......

>> The Velvet Lounge hosts Three Stars alums and excellent understated rockers New Rock Church of Fire, with Mas y Mas and The Domesticated. 9 p.m. >> Home of those brilliant Saturday afternoon cheapo Miller High Life countdown specials, epic Jell-O wrestling contests and the surprising winner of any Best Vegan Brunch contest in the city, everyone probably has a different reason for their soft spot for Asylum. Whatever yours is, stop by tonight......

Written by Buy Indie's Vince Wadhwani It's easy to justify going to an independent clothing boutique to find a unique outfit. After all, who wants to walk into a bar wearing the same thing as everyone else? But when it comes to our housewares and hardware, the equation often becomes a lot less complicated. Though you may not find a pink toolbelt over at the Home Depot, you also won't find too many people fretting......

Last Saturday afternoon found a friend and I waiting in Dupont Circle for our buddy to show up so we could go together to an early evening party. As such summer appointments go, our friend was running rather late. Luckily, we were seated at the sleek-if-too-small bar at Dupont Grille, which is one of the few establishments in town in which the parched and parsimonious can hold a 5 O’Clock Meeting on a Saturday: happy......

>> Le Loup was kind enough to let us know that they're playing an unannounced show at Velvet Lounge tonight, with The Bang and Koshari. Catch them before they headline our next Unbuckled concert on July 11. 10 p.m. >> It's the second concert in the Ft. Reno series tonight, featuring a stellar local line-up that includes Unbuckled alumni The Hard Tomorrows, Let's French and The Mirror Script. Show starts around 7:15 p.m. >>......

Written by Vince Wadhwani When Vegetate and Queen of Sheba applied for liquor licenses in September 2005, Shiloh Baptist Church unexpectedly protested, causing both restaurants a lengthy delay which, in the case of Queen of Sheba, is still ongoing almost two years later. For Vegetate, however, the news is brighter, with legislation being passed earlier this year allowing them to serve wine, beer, and cocktails. Many restaurants may have folded up under the pressure of......

After facing the inevitable closing that many other violence-plagued clubs have been dealt, Southwest's H2O may be feeling relieved. According to the Post, the D.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Board has given the club two weeks to make improvements in security in the wake of a weekend fatal shooting in late May. As part of a plan to keep its liquor license, over the next two weeks H2O will add several layers of security, do away......

>> For those of you who prefer your music pantomimed, tonight's Air Guitar Competition at the 9:30 Club. should be right up your alley. Just because the guitars are made of air, doesn't mean they don't rock! And who knows? The winner of tonight's competition may very well end up in the winner's circle at the Air Guitar World Championship in Finland. You can say you saw them before they sold out to the......

This week for Eating In we thought we’d venture a little out of the city, but not too far and still metro accessible, to the ever-expanding area of Chevy Chase. Right off Wisconsin Ave. is Lia's, the little sister to the Chef Geoff’s restaurants. Chef Geoff Tracy's inspiration for Lia’s came from an internship he completed at Galileo’s, combined with a trip to Italy — and decided to open a restaurant that is focused on......

“Before there was Harlem, there was U Street,” and before there was national Prohibition, there was the Sheppard Act. Passed by a Congress intent on making the District of Columbia a beacon of temperance for the saloon-soaked nation, the Sheppard Act closed Washington’s four breweries and nearly three hundred licensed liquor establishments on November 1, 1917—two years before it outlawed the sale of alcohol in the rest of the country. Congressman Morris Sheppard successfully had......

The descent into a holiday weekend always takes so long. Does anyone else wish it was Friday yet? I'm betting that many of you are taking tomorrow off, so today is your Friday. That said, is it happy hour yet? Samer Farha thinks so. His photo of Legacy's Hedonism Ale is a clarion call through the haze of the pre-Memorial Day rush on the Hill, the silence of a 3/4 empty government agency, or......

In the summer of 2003, Chef Ed Hanson opened a pizzeria on the western edge of a neighborhood that had just renamed itself Penn Quarter. Four years later, Ella’s Wood Fired Pizza, named for Hanson’s young daughter, remains a rarity in downtown Washington: it is an independently owned--and not the least bit pretentious--place to enjoy a drink and a bite to eat. Located at 901 F Street, Ella’s features neither a unifying decorative theme (Matchbox)......

>> As we mentioned earlier in Reader, Meet Author, Vanity Fair editor Cullen Murphy will be at Politics and Prose tonight to read from and sign copies of Are We Rome? As long as we can ruled by Simon Woods, I'm all for saying, yes, please, let's be Rome. 7 p.m. >> Tickets are still available for tonight's performance of Leoš Janáček's Jenůfa at Washington National Opera. Our critic called this production WNO's "best......

Moments after I settled into my patio seat during my first visit to Jack’s Restaurant and Bar, which opened in January at 1527 17th Street, NW (the old Peppers/Le Pigalle Space) a cameraman from the local NBC station began to set up his wares on the sidewalk, just a few feet in front of me. Immediately I commiserated with Brad and Angelina. Can’t a man enjoy a heavily-poured whiskey in the evening sun without being......

>> Help the merchants displaced after the Eastern Market fire at happy hour tonight by imbibing at one of more than 20 D.C. bars that have signed up to donate a portion of their proceeds to begin the rebuilding. Started as the Facebook.com group "Rescue Eastern Market" by Clay Johnson on the day of the fire, you can find the full list and a handy map of participating taverns and cafes at Rescue Eastern......

>> Kicking off unofficial "Actors with Books" day in D.C., Don Cheadle and John Prendergast, a senior advisor to the International Crisis Group and co-founder of the ENOUGH Campaign, visit Borders to discuss their collaboration Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond. [1801 K St, NW Free, 6 p.m.] >> On a lighter note, Bruce Dern sits down a Theater Lab tonight to talk about his long career......

>> Celebrate Jazz Appreciation Month with the Omar Sosa Quartet, who will play tonight at the Lincoln Theater in an evening of Afro-Cuban jazz cosponsored by the Smithsonian. Tickets will be distributed on a first-come first-serve basis, starting one hour before the concert. [1215 U St., NW, Free, 8 p.m] >> For those not content to just sit back and enjoy D.C.'s bevy of musical acts, Clarendon Ballroom offers swing dancing accompanied by a......