Les Halles in Penn Quarter served its final steak frites last night. According to the Going Out Gurus, the 15-year-old restaurant shuttered under the pressure of increased rents in the increasingly ritzy neighborhood, and not from a decline in customers. Hopefully some other local French restaurant will take up the Bastille Day Waiter's Race hosting duties -- any nominees for the job? Maybe Bistrot du Coin? And be sure to raise a glass of Beaujolais......

While celebrating Independence day on July 4 may mark the pinnacle of American patriotism, what else could be more party-worthy than honoring the storming of a prison by a mob of Parisiens - otherwise known as Bastille Day. Although we may be on the other side of the Atlantic, the D.C.-area has a plethora of fêtes and activities for celebrating tonight (or today). Les Halles Perhaps second to the D.C. Pride Weekend's "Drag Race," Les......

Editors Note: We enjoyed the tour diaries J. Tom Hnatow wrote for us as part of These United States' last tour, so we asked him if he wouldn't mind doing it again as the band embark on their first ever intercontinental tour of the UK and Europe. He graciously agreed. This is the fourth and final installment of this series. The Paris entry: Thursday October 25th After our marathon, 14-hour, pre-dawn-to-post-dusk trek from Bath to......

FRIDAY: >> Even though Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is an obvious choice for the movie-going crowd this weekend, the Avalon Theatre -- just north of the Potter madness at the Uptown -- is showing Talk to Me, the new biopic on the life of famed Washington, D.C., talk-show host and activist Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene Jr. 5:50 and 8:30 p.m. >> Unbuckled alumni The Vita Ruins celebrate the release of their......

Family Farmers Sprouting Roots in Georgetown DCist loves family farmers. The local farmers who tailor their crops and livestock to their land and its capabilities, take pride in producing quality food instead of blasé tons of McIngredients, and spit in the face of corporate agribusiness make us swoon. Accordingly, we're giddy about the news that the North Dakota Farmers Union has chosen Georgetown Harbor as the first location for Agraria, a farmer-owned and -sourced restaurant.......

It's 14 Juillet -- July 14th to you non-Francophones, the day when the French commemorate the storming of the Bastille with fireworks, dances, and (naturally, they're French) food. Though we may not have some of the culinary options our friends at Parisist enjoy, some of the District's French restaurants are getting into the act. One popular destination is the annual Waiters' Race at Les Halles, where waiters will run with full trays from the Pennsylvania......

DCist was alarmed to see Corduroy on the D.C. Department of Health's February Food Closure List. The closure of the popular restaurant took place on Feb. 24, with the restaurant re-opening later that same day. The only other establishment to be closed in February was New Star Market in Northeast, shut down for (among other things) operating without a license and evidence of rodents inside the establishment. Corduroy has been lauded by local foodies for......

There's word that a new pub is coming to Downtown, near Brasserie Les Halles on Pennsylvania Avenue near 12th Street NW. The pub, part of the Elephant & Castle chain, still doesn't appear on the franchise website, so no specific opening date is known. But if the description on the company website holds true, Elephant & Castle will feature "[h]eart-warming comfort foods from Britain" in "a blending of design elements reminiscent of Jolly Old England."......

It's that time of year again. Expect sidewalks on Pennsylvania and Connecticut avenues to be crowded as midnight approaches. Brasserie Les Halles and Bistrot du Coin will be celebrating Beaujolais Nouveau, that light red wine that only ages for a few weeks. As French law dictates, new wine cannot be served until the third Thursday in November. The result, of course, is a lot of drinking and many stained teeth at midnight Wednesday. Les Halles......