A new report from the Brookings Institution shows that the D.C. metro area has the most “walkable places” per capita of any American city -- one for every 264,000 people, beating out even New York City for walkability. Visiting Fellow Christopher B. Leinberger says that the Washington region could serve as the model for the direction the country’s other metro areas are heading over the next generation. The Associated Press already picked up on the......

>> Art Whino, the new 22,000 square foot exhibition and studio space at 717 N. Asaph St. in Old Town Alexandria, holds its grand opening tonight. The gallery's debut event will be soundtracked by DJ Stylo, and marks the start of two new exhibits: a solo show by artist Derrick Wolbaum and a group show of Pop-Surrealism work in the Permanent Gallery. The opening reception is tonight from 6 to 11 p.m, admission is free.......

As we noted yesterday, today is Patriot Day; so conceived to commemorate the 9-11 attacks—even though we Americans aren't the greatest at "commemorating," see: Veterans' Day, Memorial Day, etc. Just six years on, though, feelings are still raw and memories vibrant. Resiliency is a virtue of our citizenry however, and if nothing else, we can get a hearty laugh out of OBL's radical beard transformation, his decidedly porno 'stache, and threats of attack via the......

The day has finally arrived -- the official release of J.K. Rowling's final installment in her Harry Potter book series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is scheduled for midnight tonight (unless of course you received one of those magical early copies that have been floating around). For all you D.C. area Potter nerds out there (and as we already know, there are a whole lot of you) looking to celebrate tonight, here's some area......

MONDAY: Freelance journalist and award-winning author Kieran Doherty will be at Olsson's in Old Town Alexandria to discuss her latest book, Sea Venture: Shipwreck, Survival, and the Salvation of the First English Colony in the New World, which chronicles the ship that went on to rescue Jamestown, even after most of the crew almost died in a hurricane. 7 p.m. Chasing Che author Patrick Symmes decided to go chasing Fidel Castro's former classmates when he......

Summer is almost here, and that means it is almost time to roll up the carpets and send the Classical Music Agenda on vacation. So enjoy the music while you can. In particular, this is the last week to take in a performance of the best production from Washington National Opera this season, Janáček's Jenůfa. My review called this opera "essential viewing for anyone who cares about music drama." Performances remain only on Monday (May......

Dear Hillary Clinton and Dick Cheney: feel free to do embarrassing things in public today. D.C.'s celebrity (and we use that term loosely) photogs are probably following around real celebs -- well, at least Angelina Jolie. Yesterday the Examiner gave us the heads-up on a litany of famous-outside-the-Beltway folks traipsing around town this week. So if you're a little tired of running into Nicolas Cage filming National Treasure 2, keep your eyes peeled for these......

>> Artomatic continues with a bevy of daily events. Tonight Ellyn Weiss leads a "Colorfield Intermix Tour of Artomatic", showing visitors works influenced by the Colorfield painting tradition. Even if you're not well versed in art movements, it's a good chance to get an overview of this month-long art extravaganza. [2121 Crystal Drive, Arlington, Va., Free, 8:30 p.m.] >> Trumpeter and composer Chris Botti brings his pop and jazz standards to the Warner Theater.......

>> It's just gotta be a tough day for the MPD officer who had his gun, badge and wallet stolen out of his gym locker in Chantilly today. And you just know it's going to be an even tougher day for the idiot who stole them when he's finally caught, since he's been using the officer's credit cards all over Northern Virginia and even managed to get captured on a surveillance video. Duuude. And we......

Editor's Note: After a lengthy hiatus, DCist's Eating In feature makes its triumphant return. Now written by married Culinary Institute of America graduates Amanda and Ben Page, each Eating In post will feature simple yet impressive recipes that anyone can make at home. We'll focus recreating winning restaurant dishes and on putting together meals from local ingredients and interesting items that you can find around the area. You know, just as we explained when the......

And a good Friday to you, Washington. It's just about the weekend, a great time to continue that celebrating or mourning that you've had going on for the last few days, depending on what side of the political aisle you're on. Today will be a sunny day, with highs around 70. The temperature is slated to hit the same mark on Saturday, only it will be a partly cloudy day. Sunday will see highs in......

"Thanks Be to Cod" trumpets the front door of Eamonn's, a "Dublin chipper" on King Street in Old Town Alexandria. It's both a play on words and recognition of one of the most important foods in history, but I'm betting Cod would thank chef Cathal Armstrong and his team for serving what's probably the freshest and best tasting iteration of fish 'n' chips this side of Mizen Head. Eamonn's, named after Cathal and wife Michelle's......

A few weeks ago we were tipped off to what one reader declared was the greatest gyro of all time. Apparently, a pizzeria near the King Street metro station was turning out a monumental version of what was already one of our favorite sandwiches. Upon arriving at Quattro Formaggi in Old Town Alexandria, we proceeded to dine on what was a fine example indeed. But it got us to thinking – is this really the......

Washington chefs fell to 1-2 in Iron Chef America competitions, as Bobby Flay defeated the uni-monikered Morou in Battle Frozen Peas last night on the Food Network show -- two months after Galileo's Roberto Donna avenged his own loss to Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto. Morou -- the former Signatures chef who had earned the right to take on an Iron Chef when he topped former 1789 chef Ris Lacoste and Tosca's Cesare Lanfranconi in the......

While thousands of tourists clamor daily to visit any of the District's many museums and memorials, Northern Virginia sits across the river, unwanted and unloved. Well, they're trying to change that. Hoping to lure some the District's tourists and their many dollars over to their side of the Potomac River, tourism officials in Northern Virginia have launched a creative, if somewhat childish promotional program, writes the Examiner. The Northern Virginia Visitors Consortium has started handing......

From its Potomac River perch, the recently shuttered Potowmack Landing restaurant on Daingerfield Island just north of Old Town Alexandria featured some of the area's best views of Washington. Unfortunately, the uninspired fare meant that it often made more sense to pack a picnic and enjoy your lunch and the beautiful scenery from a grassy patch outside the place than to actually eat there. On April 10, the food will finally match the views......

Written by DCist Contributor Alexa Steinberg. Past the girls with their Longchamp bags and sunglasses in January, down the entire traverse of King Street in Old Town Alexandria, is the Torpedo Factory, where the Multiple Exposures Gallery, on the third floor, is showcasing their 20th anniversary photography exhibition. While having 83 gallery spaces in one building, as the Torpedo Factory does, is incredible, one cannot help but wish there was more space to showcase good......

By new DCist Food and Drink Contributor Erin Zimmer As legend has it, when a Waldorf-Astoria guest back in the 1940s forcefully requested the hotel's secret red velvet cake recipe, the hotel gave it to her—along with a hefty bill for the prized information. The miffed guest, whose lawyer supposedly advised her that she had to pay, apparently took revenge by spreading the recipe everywhere she could. Whether the Waldorf-Astoria tale is real or no......

The Pat McGee Band headlined the Z104 music festival in Old Town Alexandria on Saturday, capping off a day of performances by Adam Day, the Bicycle Thieves (soon to play Unbuckled), and Low Millions. A Virginia native now settled in Bristol, Rhode Island, Pat McGee has been traveling all over the country to support the small label rerelease of Save Me. The band, which has been touring up and down the East Coast for 10......

One of our favorite scenes in the movie "Barcelona" is toward the beginning when Ted Boynton takes his Navy officer cousin Fred on a night-time driving tour of Barcelona and says the city's Avenida Diagonal is like Chicago's Michigan Avenue. Then when approaching Las Ramblas (at left), changes his mind, saying that it is more like Chicago's celebrated retail corridor. Fred nods off and then gets riled up over anti-NATO sentiment in Spain. We think......

>> Itching to display your own art? Artdc.org is seeking entrants for a group art show in Takoma Park scheduled to begin May 21. For the exhibit, titled "What Does It Mean to Emerge?," Artdc organizers will show the best artists within a 150-mile radius of the D.C. area. Entrants must be registered at artdc.org with a completed profile including username, interests and webpage, if available. The exhibit organizers are also seeking musicians and master......

Julius Caesar's March surprise left him dead and legendary. One wonders if Caesar Cardini, creator of the "Caesar's salad", was surprised when his creation became legendary as well. Like Steak Tartare, Caesar salad used to be prepared tableside with fresh ingredients while a patron overlooked its genesis. But in most of its current incarnations, the salad is hastily prepared in the kitchen with pre-made dressings and little attention to detail. Limp lettuce leaves arrive at......

Don't forget to check out DCist's Arts Agenda and Weekly Music Picks for additional entertainment events, including gallery crawls and gypsy punk band Gogol Bardello Saturday at the Black Cat. FRIDAY: >> Everyone is buzzing about The Music/Kasabian show at the 9:30 Club tonight, but if you miss it, you can head to DC9 afterwards for the official Kasabian afterparty -- just show your handstamp from the 9:30 Club and you can get in free......

Food critics can come from any number of places. The Post's Tom Sietsema is a graduate of the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown. Frequent Iron Chef America judge Jeffrey Steingarten was formerly a lawyer. Frank Bruni, now food critic for The New York Times, covered politics in D.C. for many years. So is it any surprise that one of the area's most idiosyncratic food reviewers is, by day, a professor of economics? Tyler Cowen,......

(From DCist contributor Amadie Hart) Clarendon, a historic shopping hub in Arlington County that was devastated by the construction associated with the construction of Metro's Orange Line in the 1970s, has undergone a wholesale transformation in the last decade. Small storefront retail and ethnic restaurants have been giving way to larger, chain developments. In recent years, stores such as Crate and Barrel, The Pottery Barn, the Container Store, and Williams Sonoma, and restaurants such as......