So is the Trump sign gone for good? And can anything be done about the tarp? What about that bizarre court filing that the Trump administration submitted on Friday? Perhaps you never imagined that you’d have burning questions about such a drab topic as “the stay pending appeal related to the Kennedy Center signage,” or that anything could be revelatory about a “Department of Justice signature block”—but here we are. Below are answers to all your questions—and to questions you didn’t even know you had—about the current status of the legal battle over the Kennedy Center.

In brief, how did we get where we are?

Recall that in May, in response to a lawsuit brought by Ohio Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, US District Judge Christopher Cooper ordered the Kennedy Center to remove Trump’s name from the building’s facade. (If you do not recall this, you can read our previous explainer here.) The Kennedy Center seemed to be complying—until the evening before Cooper’s deadline, when the board voted to appeal the ruling. A flurry of court filings ensued, resulting in some will-they-won’t-they drama about whether the big “Donald J. Trump” sign would actually come down. Early in the morning on Saturday, it did—although the public can’t see it, because the facade is now obscured by a tarp. 

If the sign came down, isn’t the lawsuit over?

It sure isn’t. Cooper ruled that renaming the Kennedy Center after Trump was illegal, but the Trump administration has filed an appeal, asking the DC Circuit to overturn Cooper’s ruling. Simultaneously, the administration is asking for a stay pending appeal. That means, in essence, that they want the DC Circuit to allow them to put the Trump sign back up until the underlying appeal is decided.  

How does the tarp fit into the ongoing litigation?

Basically, it doesn’t. There is currently nothing before the court related to the tarp, but Beatty’s legal team has asked for information about it, such as why it’s there and when it might come down. “It certainly seems like an attempt to hide embarrassment on Donald Trump’s part,” says Nathaniel Zelinsky, an attorney representing Congresswoman Beatty. The Kennedy Center did not respond to a request for comment.

Can Beatty’s lawyers do something about the tarp?

“I’m not sure anything can be done about the tarp,” says Sean Marotta, an appellate lawyer who closely follows the DC Circuit. “Quite frankly, I’m not sure there’s a legal right to have them take it down.” The Kennedy Center’s founding statute has lots of language about what can’t be added to various public areas in the building, but it didn’t seem to occur to Congress to dictate what must be there, including the Kennedy name on the building. 

When will the court rule about whether the Trump sign can be reinstalled?

The stay pending appeal, which concerns whether the signage can be reinstalled while the underlying appeal moves through the court, should be resolved fairly quickly. The court asked for a briefing from both sides by June 29, and it can rule anytime thereafter. 

But the underlying appeal is likely to move more slowly. If it’s not expedited, the oral arguments would probably be heard next year. If expedited, it could be decided in six-ish months. 

Is the Trump administration likely to win that appeal?

Anything is possible, but so far, team Trump has not done much winning on the Kennedy Center in court. Furthermore, the text of the appeal that the Trump administration filed is…idiosyncratic.

Oh. What’s up with the text of the appeal? 

Well, the first six pages—three full pages of which include zero paragraph breaks—have an eccentric prose styling reminiscent of the President’s internet screeds. It describes how renaming the Kennedy Center for Donald Trump has enabled it to “function as a financially sound and physically beautiful enterprise, as opposed to a bankrupt eyesore that, for years, will [sic] look like nothing more than an abandoned hulk.” There are jabs at his enemies (Beatty, the plaintiff in the suit, was a “troublemaking appointment, from the beginning of her tenure!”), and odd digressions (tons of verbiage about the renovation of the Kennedy Center when that portion of the ruling is not even being appealed). 

That’s the President’s style. Is it possible that he wrote it himself?

Yes, it’s possible, and there’s been lots of speculation to that effect. “It’s not how lawyers write,” Marotta says of the first part of that filing. “And if you want to see how lawyers write, all you have to do is read the rest of the brief.” He reminds us, though, that we do not know who authored that part of the appeal. “Is there someone at the Department of Justice who is trying to train themselves to sound like a Donald Trump Truth Social post?” he asks. “Is it that they sent the draft to somebody in the White House who has trained themselves to write like a Truth Social post? Did they give it to the President, and he dictated it?” All we know for sure, he points out, “is that there are people at the Department of Justice who are willing to file a brief that has an introduction that sounds like that.”

Right, an actual attorney filed this document. Who was it? 

The sole signatory on this appeal is Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate. 

And what should we glean from that?

According to Marotta, a lot. For a filing in a high-profile case like this, one might expect a half dozen signatures. The fact that there’s only one—and it’s a political appointee, rather than a career attorney—sends a message that the filing might be problematic. This requires a little background to understand.

The Department of Justice is staffed with rank-and-file, nonpartisan lawyers called “line attorneys.” Typically, multiple line attorneys would draft and sign such a filing—but in this case, no line attorneys signed it. During the first Trump administration, a lot of filings ended up in the docket with just a political appointee on the signature block, and at the beginning of Trump’s second term, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memo essentially telling the department to fall in line. She wrote that “any attorney who because of their personal political views or judgments declines to sign a brief…will be subject to discipline and potentially termination, consistent with applicable law.” Despite this threat, not a single line attorney signed this Kennedy Center appeal.

“What I take from that,” Marotta says, “is that the line attorneys saw the introduction and said, ‘I’m not putting my name on that.’” Generally speaking, line attorneys—who might spend a few decades at DOJ, under very different flavors of White Houses—understand that “within a range of normal positions, you just shift with the tide.” But in this case, Marotta thinks that either the political appointees knew the text was too odd to ask their people to sign, or that the line attorneys were asked to sign it and refused. (Shumate, the sole signatory, did not respond to a request for comment.)

There’s a particularly bizarre part of this appeal that pertains to fundraising. What is that?

Essentially, the appeal suggests that there is a fundraising entity (The Trump Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Foundation) whose bylaws state that if Trump’s name ever comes off of any part of the Kennedy Center (website, facade, letterhead, etc.), then the Kennedy Center is legally obligated to return all money raised by the foundation and will never receive money from them again in the future. The filing claims that hundreds of millions of dollars either have been or will be raised via this foundation, and that this fundraising is only possible if the Trump name is affiliated with the Kennedy Center, because donors appreciate “the concept of two Great Presidents, one Republican, one Democrat, working together as one — In many ways, a bipartisan relationship!”

And what is the Trump Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Foundation, exactly?

“We have no idea,” says Zelinsky. “This is the first time this has come up at all in the litigation.” Neither the Kennedy Center nor the attorney who signed the filing responded to our requests for clarification.

Zelinsky says that this foundation might be “totally made up,” but if it’s real—and the clawback clause in its bylaws really does exist—then the President is essentially using it to threaten the Kennedy Center financially. Zelinksy describes it as tantamount to telling the court “‘if you don’t give me what I want and allow me to violate the law, then I’ll cripple the institution I’m charged to protect.” He says his team is trying to get to the bottom of it, “but it’s incumbent on the government to explain itself.”

Will the strange content and offbeat writing style of this appeal affect how the judge sees it?

Almost definitely. For one, Marotta says, it tends to irritate judges when litigants make emotional appeals, rather than rational arguments grounded in the law. And second, he says, there’s a reputational risk to appearing to agree with something so eccentric. “I’m not saying they wouldn’t grant a stay if one were warranted,” he says of the judges involved, “but you have to imagine it makes them think again, because the headlines are going to be ‘appellate court grants stay in response to crazy Trumpian rant.’ ” He added that, “Judges read the newspaper, too.”

What can we expect to see next?

Sometime after June 29, the stay pending appeal will go to a three-judge panel from the DC Circuit. In the meantime, we’ll see if the tarp comes down.

Simultaneously, in the District Court, there’s still a pending motion regarding compliance with the May 29 court order—the one that ordered the sign removal and also halted the Kennedy Center’s planned closure. This motion asks the court to require the Kennedy Center to provide evidence that they’re trying to book performances for the period when the building was slated to be closed. Beatty’s legal team remains concerned that the Kennedy Center will effectively proceed with the closure—whether or not it’s officially closed—by failing to schedule any programming.

Wait, but now that the sign has come down, I’m ready to return to the Kennedy Center—are you telling me there’s nothing there to see?

Essentially, yes. Isn’t that ironic? You can read more about it here.

The post The Kennedy Center Legal Situation Keeps Getting Weirder first appeared on Washingtonian.

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I can’t stop listening to:

Kels, “Daddy’s Not the One.” The Atlanta-based indie soul singer plays Songbyrd tonight.

Take Washingtonian Today with you! I keep ridiculously long playlists on Apple Music and on Spotify of this year’s music recommendations. Here are 2025’s songs (Apple, Spotify), too.

Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:

What’s in the peace deal? The US and Iran virtually signed an agreement that establishes a framework to end the war President Trump began on February 28. The deal’s contents remain opaque, and how it addresses issues like Iran’s nuclear program, whether Iran will require ships in the Strait of Hormuz to pay fees for passage, and financial relief for Iran is still not clear. (NYT) Here’s a good list of unresolved questions about the text. (Axios) Republicans in the Senate have a lot of questions. (Politico) CIA Director John Ratcliffe reportedly told Trump that US intelligence raises “serious doubts about Iran’s willingness to make the nuclear concessions the U.S. is seeking.” (Axios) Early reviews are not great: The NYT editorial board writes that the deal shows Trump lost this war. (NYT) Its counterpart at the Wall Street Journal calls it a retreat. (WSJ)

The economic fallout: Consumers are unlikely to see relief anytime soon, as prices for food, gas, and flights that rose because of the war tend to retreat slowly. (AP) The shipping industry is wary about the reopening strait. (Politico) It could take weeks to remove mines from the vital waterway. (Reuters) Meanwhile: Israel’s leaders view the deal as a “catastrophe”—and it’s a big question whether PM Benjamin Netanyahu will back it. (Washington Post)

D’oh! J: California Governor Gavin Newsom said federal agents are investigating him and his wife. (NYT) The Justice Department’s leadership abandoned an investigation into Paramount’s planned acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery “before career staffers who were concerned about the acquisition had an opportunity to object.” (WSJ) DOJ dropped a case against the Indian billionaire Gautam Adani after word got out that Trump’s attorney Boris Epshteyn had joined his legal team. Epshteyn denies he was involved. (WSJ)

Administration perambulation: World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s crypto concern, “is expected to soon be allowed to operate like a bank — a decision that would give U.S. companies a new route to steer money to the president.” (NOTUS) Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Health Secretary RFK Jr. have links to a company that sells kratom—and both have argued against restricting the addictive product. (NYT) Republicans in the Senate won’t include a voter-ID bill Trump wants passed when the chamber maneuvers to reauthorize a key provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. (Hill) Several lawmakers warned the administration not to move ahead with Trump’s planned Triumphal Arch project without consulting Congress. (NYT)

Take an eerie paddle, by Daniella Byck:

Kayaking is cool, but kayaking through the eerie remains of around 200 World War I-era shipwrecks? Now that’s just objectively cooler. An hour’s drive away from DC in Nanjemoy, Maryland, the Ghost Fleet in Mallows Bay—the largest ship graveyard in the Western Hemisphere—is certainly among the creepiest kayaking spots in the region. Some of the rusted wreckage juts from the water, offering a landing place for osprey, bald eagles, and herons. The remains of other ships are just under the surface, their presence a spooky shadow to glide past. There are no paddle rentals at the bay, so you’ll either need to bring your own equipment or sign up for a tour with Atlantic Kayak. The outfitter runs tours in tandem kayaks for two hours ($65 per person) or three hours ($85 per person), providing some more information about the history and ecosystem.

Recently on Washingtonian dot com:

• Moon Rabbit’s Susan Bae won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef at a ceremony last night.

• The Reflecting Pool’s new color may be helping to turn its water green.

• Jessica M. Goldstein‘s time-traveling new novel, “Retro,” examines why the promises of the tech industry can feel so seductive.

• More DC restaurants are abandoning reservations. Restaurateurs hope diners will embrace spontaneity.

• Chaia cofounder Suzanne Simon explains why the vegetarian taco restaurant introduced chicken to its menu.

Local news links:

• It’s primary day in DC. Voters will choose the Democratic nominee to replace Mayor Muriel Bowser. Kenyan McDuffie and Janeese Lewis George are the frontrunners. Voters will also choose a replacement for Eleanor Holmes Norton, DC’s non-voting delegate to Congress. (Washington Post) It’s the first time DC voters will experience ranked-choice voting. Here’s our guide to how that will work—and a reminder that it will likely be days before we know who won.

• A group of local cultural organizations sued over the Trump administration’s plans to build a “National Garden of American Heroes” statue garden at West Potomac Park. (Washington Post)

• A small earthquake shook Maryland yesterday. (WTOP)

• Trump announced DC’s July 4 celebration will be a rally that celebrates him. (Axios)

• The UFC thing on the White House lawn will come down by the end of next week. (DC News Now)

• The National Savings & Trust Company Building at 15th Street and New York Avenue, Northwest, may get a big reno that includes replacing its redbrick façade with a “floor-to-ceiling glass curtainwall.” (UrbanTurf)

• Netflix took space in the Woodie’s building. Its new DC digs will include an event space and a screening room. (WBJ)

• A Wingstop in Lorton fired an employee a customer said wrote a racial slur on her order. (Fox 5)

• A new law in Virginia will allow local and state police to enforce traffic laws on federal roadways, including the George Washington Memorial Parkway. Don’t expect speed cameras anytime soon, though. (FFXnow)

• Police in Prince George’s County say a driver struck a man on a scooter last night, killing him. (DC News Now)

• Here’s something new and fun to freak you out: Invasive Joro spiders, the “largest garden spider anybody’s ever seen,” should begin to appear in area gardens this summer. The beasts travel by way of wind, “ballooning” their way to new locales. Apparently they’re relatively harmless and eat spotted lanternflies, another invasive species. Anyway, have fun in the DC area this summer—I’m moving up plans to spend it somewhere spiders don’t fly. (WUSA9)

Tuesday’s event pick:

• The Smithsonian’s Arts and Industries building reopens today to host the new exhibition “Voices and Votes,” about democracy in the United States. The building will remain open through September 7.

See more picks from Briana Thomas, who writes our Things to Do newsletter.

The post Primary Day in DC, Lawsuit Targets Trump’s Planned Statue Garden, and Giant Invasive Spiders Are On Their Way to Town first appeared on Washingtonian.

“Although people sometimes get upset about having to wait in line due to the fact that it’s first-come, first-served, I feel like this gives you a chance to come eat more than if I had reservations and if it was sold out,” Delgado says.

In fact, restaurant lines are making a comeback as a new crop of hot spots opt to focus mostly, if not exclusively, on walk-ins. Perhaps the most prominent example is Eebee’s, the Shaw corner bar where peak weekend waits can stretch for hours. But others are also embracing walk-ins—from Ulivo, a casual Italian restaurant in Park View, to Rye Bunny, the hotly anticipated Adams Morgan restaurant from the owners of Tail Up Goat.

“I think it’s cyclical—DC loved the line for a really long time,” says Rye Bunny chef Jon Sybert. “I don’t think people were into that for a while, and now I think people are more excited about going out and doing things spontaneously a little bit.”

The predictability of reservations was attractive to restaurant operators during the unpredictability of the pandemic. Rose’s Luxury, for example, began offering reservations in March 2020. Meanwhile, Maru San’s Delgado has relied on diners booking and paying in advance at his fine-dining restaurant, Causa, because it allows him to know exactly how much food to order and how many employees to staff on any given night.

This new generation of no-reservation restaurants is trying to find some middle ground for diners who don’t have the luxury of waiting in an unpredictable line. Maru San sets aside four seats per night for a reservation-only tasting menu. (Granted, it’s booked through August.) Meanwhile, Rye Bunny has two tables available every night on OpenTable—but they come with a $25 fee that goes toward local nonprofits.

Colada Shop owner Daniella Senior also wants to put an emphasis on walk-ins at her forthcoming Latin-inspired bistro, Bar Nuestro, in Navy Yard, opening this summer, though she’ll offer some reservations.

“In an industry where we are constantly so challenged and saying people are going out less, well, maybe we made dining a little too complicated for people—it became too much of a planning scenario versus being able to walk in,” Senior says. “I want to be able to bring back being spontaneous and just showing up somewhere.”

This article appears in the June 2026 issue of Washingtonian.

The post Restaurant Walk-Ins Are Making a Comeback first appeared on Washingtonian.

Those thoughts slowly evolved into Retro, Goldstein’s fun and thoughtful new book about a struggling actress named Ash who takes a job at a high-tech time-travel company that sends wealthy clients back to different periods of history. Goldstein is interested in the fantasies that people construct around earlier eras—particularly when those people are privileged enough to imagine history as something charming rather than dangerous.

The novel’s other central figure is Ro Temple, a charismatic billionaire tech founder partially inspired by figures like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. But Goldstein wasn’t interested in creating a cartoon villain. “I thought a lot about movie stars—when they talk to you, it’s like you’re the only person in the room, and everything they say sounds true,” she says. “[Temple] is really sincere, actually. He believes in his own messaging.” That’s what makes the character unsettling, Goldstein says. Rather than accurately presenting his tech as risky and destabilizing, he sells something softer and more seductive: the promise that innovation can free people from discomfort, responsibility, or even reality itself.

Artificial intelligence is also a running creepy element of the book, though Goldstein notes that much of that aspect was written before the recent mainstream explosion of AI use. “I think about all these forces that are ramming AI down our throats, telling us our lives would be better if we had less human interaction rather than more, that want us to be isolated,” she says. “And in a way, part of the emotional experience writing Retro was about: Am I prepared to give in to those forces?”

Before writing Retro, Goldstein hadn’t thought much about time travel, but she now says wrestling with its “great big existential questions” was rewarding: “Time travel as a genre is fundamentally optimistic, because in every time-travel story, if you go to the past, you can alter the course of history. In our real lives, it feels like nothing we do makes any difference at all. We march and we protest and we organize and we donate and we vote, and it’s like: Is anything getting better? Is anything changing? But on a deeper level, we must believe that we do have the power to make meaningful change or we wouldn’t be telling time-travel stories the way that we do.”

This article appears in the June 2026 issue of Washingtonian.

The post Jessica M. Goldstein’s Novel Is a Modern Twist on Time Travel first appeared on Washingtonian.

“I always dreamed of being on this stage. I never believed I would,” said Bae, who was joined on stage by the modern Vietnamese restaurant’s chefs and co-owners Kevin Tien and Judy Beltrano. “Representation matters. Being invited into the room matters. But what matters even more is knowing you’ll be supported while you’re there.”

Bae, who is known for her boundary-pushing savory/sweet desserts—think green-curry sponge cake with avocado sorbet and fish sauce caramel—has been with Moon Rabbit since its original location opened at the Wharf in 2020. The restaurant moved to Penn Quarter in 2024, and was named the #3 restaurant in the city on Washingtonian’s 2026 100 Very Best Restaurants list. 

She was the only DC chef to take home an award tonight. Also nominated this year were Adams Morgan French spot Maison Bar a Vins (Best New Restaurant); Daru and Tapori’s Suresh Sundas (Best Chef Mid-Atlantic); Chai Pani’s Meherwan Irani and Molly Irani (Outstanding Restaurateur); Maxwell Park’s Brent Kroll (Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service); and Marshall, Virginia farm-to-table destination Field & Main (Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program).

Nancy Silverton, the LA-based chef behind Osteria Mozza in Georgetown, was honored with a lifetime achievement award.

The post Moon Rabbit’s Susan Bae Wins Beard Award for Best Pastry Chef in the Country first appeared on Washingtonian.

There’s a lot to celebrate this week. Learn about the Juneteenth holiday during a community day at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, visit a Smithsonian museum after hours to ring in Solstice Saturday, or watch the rainbow-filled Capital Pride Parade. Also, DC rapper Wale has a two-day homecoming concert at Nats Park.

Best Things to Do This Week and Weekend

June 15–21

1. 1. Wale and Smino concert. DC rapper Wale released the widely praised album Everything Is a Lot in November. This weekend the lyricist has a two-day music fest to perform tracks from the project alongside musicians Smino and Alex Vaughn (Sat-Sun, general admission sold out, $536 VIP tickets,  Nationals Park).
   2.  Fête de la Musique. Georgetown will host more than 30 live acts and concerts during Fête de la Musique across several outdoor locations and two stages at the French Embassy. The ode to the French holiday includes Latin dance on the waterfront, country and blues tunes at Old Stone House Museum, and lots more family-friendly entertainment (June 20, free, Georgetown).
   3. Juneteenth Community Day. The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture is going all out for the holiday to celebrate Opal Lee’s 100th birthday. All ages are invited to participate in a line dancing workshop, cooking class, art-making, and story time for kids (Fri, free, but registration required, Smithsonian African American History and Culture Museum).
   4. Home Rule Music Festival. This celebration of DC’s musical roots kicks off at the Parks at Walter Reed on Saturday. The free outdoor concert plans to transport festival goers into the cosmos with jazz, soul, go-go, and funk rhythms from artists such as Chuck Brown Band, Melanie Charles, Trouble Funk, and SunRa Arkestra featuring Marshall Allen (Sat, free, Takoma Park).
   5. Solstice Saturday. Ring in the first day of summer at Solstice Saturday with live jazz, curator talks, arts and crafts, and more after-hours fun at several Smithsonian museums (Fri-Sat, free, various participating locations).
   6. Capital Pride Parade. Capital Pride Alliance’s annual parade struts through DC streets in honor of the city’s LGBTQ+ history and community. Wave a rainbow flag as marchers, performers, and decorated floats parade through parts of Logan Circle, Shaw, Downtown DC, and Penn Quarter beginning at 3 PM (Sat, free, various DC locations).

Want More Things to Do?

Arts and culture:

• Journey through deep space at Starstruck, a new virtual reality stargazing experience designed with real astronomical data (ongoing, $29, Penn Quarter).
• Look at more than 40 mixed-media works by photographer Bonnie Lautenberg that blend film with art history (through August 9, free, Northwest DC).
• View large-scale bronze sculptures of a panda, tiger, giraffe, and other endangered animals at City Center DC’s new installation A Wild Race Against Time (through November 1, free, Downtown).
• The Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building reopens for a limited time to present the Voices and Votes exhibit (Tues through September 7, free, Southwest DC).
• Watch a late-night movie screening of The Matrix atop Hedy’s Rooftop Pool (Wed, $30, Downtown).
• Catch a screening of pioneering Black African film Black Girl at AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center (Wed, $10, Silver Spring).
• Poet and hip-hop educator Tony Keith Jr. returns to Planet Word to discuss his latest book Knucklehead (Sat, free, Downtown).
• National Gallery of Art is showing classic musical Singin’ in the Rain (Sun, free, registration encouraged, National Gallery of Art).

Community and heritage:

• Greet the amateur sailors who are racing around the world (Wed through June 22, free, Wharf).
• Attend a concert by the Washington Revels Jubilee Voices at Shiloh Baptist Church in commemoration of Black history in Alexandria (Fri, free, Alexandria).
• Shop a marketplace of Black-owned businesses, listen to live music, and more at Juneteenth for the City (Fri, free, Anacostia).
• The Soulversations Juneteenth Block Party is a food, music, and art experience (Fri, free, Union Market).
• 17th Street Block Party returns this Pride Month for restaurant deals, family-friendly activities, and drag performances (Sat, free, Dupont Circle).

Theater and shows:

• Snarky comic Daniel Tosh does standup at Warner Theatre (Thurs-Fri, $39+, Downtown).
• Get tickets to comedian Dominick Pupa’s This Is Not a Pride Show But It’s June and I’m Gay standup show at The Comedy Loft (Thurs, $35, Dupont Circle).

Music and concerts:

• Gospel music star Tye Tribbett celebrates the 20th anniversary of his breakout project Victory with a live concert (Fri, $226+, MGM National Harbor).
• Everyday People bash is a groovy option for a day party at The Bullpen (Sat $36, Navy Yard).
• Local go-go and soul bands Back Alley and Junkyard Band perform live at BlackRock Center for the Arts (Sat, free, Germantown).
• Glitter, deejay tunes, dancing, and live drag performances are part of this open-air fest with indie queer artists at Metrobar (Sat, $9.58, Brentwood).
• DJs and artists Rico Nasty, Yaeji, The Dare, and more bring Venus energy to Berhta (Sat, $60, Northeast DC).
• Rapper Leikeli47, DJ Harrison, pop singer Lisa Lisa, and others perform at this year’s outdoor Capital Pride Concert (Sun, free, VIP $230+, Downtown).

Bites and beverages:

• Come dressed in a throwback ’00s outfit to dance to Y2K hits and enjoy cocktails and bites in celebration of Mr. Henry’s 60th anniversary (Thurs, $30, Downtown).

Exercise and wellness:

• Seniors can participate in a mobility and aerobics workout (Sat, free, Anacostia).
• Choose from cardio boxing, R&B pilates, or Trap yoga at Franklin Park’s outdoor fitness session (Sat, free, Downtown).
• Kids ages three to six years old can go on a short bike ride through Capitol Hill (Sat, free, Eastern Market).

If you enjoyed these events, please don’t forget to share this post with a friend on social media, and sign up for our newsletter for more things to do.

The post 30 Things to Do in the DC Area This Week and Weekend first appeared on Washingtonian.

Construction crews spent weeks painting the more-than-2,000-foot-long pool “American Flag Blue” at Donald Trump’s request, ahead of the country’s 250th birthday. Although the shallow Reflecting Pool has long been plagued by algae growth, a pool renovation expert told Washingtonian that the color of the paint could be exacerbating the problem.

On Wednesday, a day after the basin was refilled, workers were seen cleaning out clumps of algae—which have transformed the pool’s signature reflection to a mossy green. The algae resurfaced by Friday morning.

“Due to deploying the advanced nanobubbler technology, the algae is dead and being vacuumed up as we speak. We thank President Trump for fixing the Reflecting Pool for good,” an Interior Department spokesperson told Washingtonian in a statement.

Katie Martin, an Interior Department spokesperson, told CNN the growth was a result of “residual algae” from the supply lines that had been dormant during construction. 

“We are removing the algae, and the nanobubblers will maintain the pool and keep it algae free. President Donald J. Trump is an expert builder who has fixed the Reflecting Pool for good unlike the failed and extremely costly attempt by Obama and Biden,” Martin said in a statement to CNN. 

The algae growth follows renovations that Trump initially said would cost $1.5 to $2 million, but wound up totaling over $14 million, according to contract records. The administration awarded Atlantic Industrial Coatings a $14.2 million contract to paint the pool. 

Steve Goodale, a Canadian swimming pool specialist who goes by “Swimming Pool Steve,” said the darker blue of the renovated pool may worsen the pool’s existing algae problem absent other mitigation efforts, because the darker color will absorb more sunlight and increase the water temperature, making the pool ripe for more algae blooms. 

“If we change nothing else except the color, and we go from a lighter color to a darker color, absolutely you’re going to have more prolific algae growth,” Goodale said. “It’s a foregone conclusion.” 

Goodale said a more “robust, capable” filtration system would help with the algae growth, and the pool simply needs more ozone to combat the increased plant growth. He said it is common for algae growth to occur when pools are newly renovated because refilling the pool creates shallow “stagnant water” where algae is ripe to grow. He said residual algae in the pipes is not likely the cause of the current growth. 

“I don’t think that it’s residual or anything like that,” Goodale said. “There probably was contamination of pipes and things like that, but that algae was coming back whether those pipes were spotless clean or not.” 

Trump, when announcing the renovations, had described the pool as “filthy.”  

“It never worked, a great concept that never worked because it always leaked,” Trump said in the Oval Office announcing the reopening of the pool. 

Algae has proved to be a recurring nuisance for the Reflecting Pool, last renovated in 2012 when President Barack Obama’s administration installed an ozone filtration system meant to combat algae growth. That $34 million renovation also resulted in subsequent algae growth, which caused the National Park Service to drain the pool.

June 16, 2026: This story has been updated since its original posting.

The post Reflecting Pool’s “American Flag Blue” Turns Green Due to Algae first appeared on Washingtonian.

“It was a scary thing. It took us a long time to think about doing this,” says co-founder Suzanne Simon. “But the addition of chicken does not make our menu any less vegan- or vegetarian-friendly than it currently is—which is 98 percent. But what it does do is it invites more people to the table.”

Simon—who is herself a vegetarian—notes that when she and her business partner Bettina Stern launched Chaia in 2013, the Obamas were in the White House promoting healthy eating, plant-based proteins were becoming mainstream, and author Michael Pollan was in the zeitgeist talking vegetable-centric diets.

But the business has changed. Operating costs are up. Competition has increased. Protein is in. And younger diners aren’t so interested in food identity labels like “vegetarian” or “vegan” so much as they are eating in a way that makes them feel good.

“If everyone is loving their protein and there actually is a way for us to introduce something that people want within what what we believe in, why wouldn’t we do that?,” Simon says.

The taco itself was created in collaboration with former Cranes and Arrels chef Pepe Moncayo. Simon says she stumbled upon a taco pop-up that Moncayo was doing at Cranes before it closed. She was impressed by the tacos and ended up reaching out to Moncayo to pitch him on a collab.

The resulting taco is comprised of braised shredded chicken, roasted achiote-spiced carrots, pickled cucumber, lime, and a creamy-green aji verde sauce made of tahini, scallions, cilantro, and garlic. Simon says they use “slow-grown, heritage-breed” birds from Joyce Farms in North Carolina. She adds that you can also opt to drop the meat and still get a taco that holds up on its own merits.

Chaia is tracking how the taco does over an eight-week period to determine whether it stays on the menu permanently. Simon says it’s too soon to say whether they will add more proteins in the future.

So far, there have been a few haters who’ve written in saying, “I’m vegan and I can’t believe you’re now serving meat.” But overall, Simon says the response has been far more positive.

“It’s so easy for it to just be about chicken, and it’s not. It’s like really about business and making decisions and following what consumers want,” Simon says.  “Sometimes restaurants fail because they have a hard time changing or they’re scared to try something new. And this is part of that for us. We need to evolve too.”

The post Why a Vegetarian Taco Shop Is Now Adding Chicken first appeared on Washingtonian.

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I can’t stop listening to:

Shadow Riot, “Cristina.” This very cool DC group plays Rhizome tonight with Neptune and Icky Bits.

Take Washingtonian Today with you! I keep ridiculously long playlists on Apple Music and on Spotify of this year’s music recommendations. Here are 2025’s songs (Apple, Spotify), too.

Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:

War is over-ish: The US and Iran have agreed on a framework that would end the war President Trump started three and a half months ago. Trump said Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and the US would lift its naval blockade of Iranian ports, but details about what’s in the memorandum of understanding are still scant. (WSJ) An open strait and accessible ports were the status quo before the war. So what have we gained? Trump suggested he could “make the United States ‘the guardian of the Middle East’ in return for 20 percent of the region’s revenues”—an idea Gulf states may want a say in. And an agreement on Iran’s nuclear programs remains TBD. (NYT) Iran says it has agreed not to make or acquire nukes. But its leaders have made “similar pledges repeatedly for decades.” (Washington Post) Here’s Iran’s understanding of the deal, which includes an end to all financial sanctions and the release of $25 billion in frozen assets. (Reuters)

What about Israel? The agreement calls for Israel to stop its assault on the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel’s attack on suburbs south of Beirut nearly scuttled yesterday’s announcement. (AP) Trump told Axios Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu has “no fucking judgement.” (Axios) Israel has yet to comment on the proposed deal. (Reuters) Early signs are that it’s not landing well. (Washington Post)

Trump’s fightin’ birthday party: Bad weather mostly held off last night and a UFC cage match went forward on the White House South Lawn. Justin Gaethje beat Ilia Topuria, and Ciryl Gane knocked out Alex Pereira. (Washington Post) Trump sat ringside with his wife, Melania Trump. The crowd included Mark Zuckerberg, Kid Rock, and Roger Clemens. (NYT)

The Kennedy Center, once again: Trump’s name came off the Kennedy Center over the weekend as it’s Trump-aligned board’s last-ditch efforts to preserve it failed. (AP) The arts complex has covered the newly Trump-free portion of its façade with tarps. They don’t look especially temporary. (CNN)  The celebrations about Trump’s name being removed miss the point, Sylvie McNamara writes: The center could easily spin into oblivion unless the board addresses its planned closure, which a judge has halted. (Washingtonian) The center has established a new endowment in Trump’s name that will focus on renovating the building. (CBS News) On Thursday, the Washington National Opera sued the center, saying it has held on to $17 million in gifts to the opera. (Washington Post) Here, from Rebecca Ritzel, is some background on the divorce between the two institutions. (Washingtonian)

Administration perambulation: Trump “actively weighed” suspending the right of habeas corpus for immigrants—a push, led by Trump aide Stephen Miller, that even alarmed some of the President’s maximalist fans, Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman report in their new book. (NYT) Trump aides are worried Haberman and Swan got tapes from Situation Room meetings—which would mean some people in the room were recording other people in the room. (Axios) FBI Director Kash Patel has filed six defamation suits against media companies. He’s prevailed in none of them so far. (NYT) Charlie Javice, who was convicted of fraud after exaggerating the success of her startup Frank in its sale to JPMorgan Chase, is seeking a pardon from the White House, which may issue 250 pardons to commemorate the US’s birthday this summer. (WSJ) US Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has been hospitalized. (NYT)

The Best Thing I Ate Last Week, by Ann Limpert:

At the five-year-old Z&Z Manoushe in Rockville—packed on a Sunday morning—the specialty (basically, the only thing on the menu) is bubbly, blistery Palestinian flatbreads. If you’re in a pizza mood, go for the version with a burnished three-cheese blend, beef sausage, aleppo pepper, and honey. But my favorite these days is the “Lebanese Bride,” a lighter, summer-friendly manoushe with labne, cucumbers and tomatoes, lots of za’atar (the place is owned by a spice purveyor), and that perfectly chewy crust. (1111 Nelson St., Rockville.)

Recently on Washingtonian dot com:

• Reports from outside the Kennedy Center as Trump’s name came down.

• These are the new DC-area restaurants our food team is excited about this month.

• Wheelhouse, a nautical themed-restaurant from the team behind Millie’s and Surfside, has opened in Chevy Chase DC.

• Get wild at these area restaurants that are obsessed with foraging.

• A first look at the new education center at George Washington’s Mount Vernon.

• New brunch spots!

• Last month’s most expensive residential real estate transactions.

• Photos from our World Cup kickoff party with FanDuel at Barbouzard.

Local news links:

• The Washington Post’s opinion section Ripple deleted two articles it republished by Scott Greer, who “years ago expressed racist and antisemitic views for an online white-supremacist publication.” The publication, Radix, was founded by white supremacist Richard Spencer; Greer wrote there under a pseudonym. (Playbook)

• The Department of Justice sued Virginia over its new ban on federal agents wearing masks. (Washington Post)

• You have until 2 AM tomorrow morning to comment on Trump’s proposed arch near Arlington Cemetery. (Axios D.C.)

• DC’s Office of Campaign Finance fined Janeese Lewis George‘s mayoral campaign after finding it “improperly coordinated with labor unions.” The campaign disputed the findings. The office’s report “appears hastily assembled, with multiple typos, inconsistent formatting and what appears to be at least one unintended inclusion of raw notes.” (Washington Post)

• Keep an eye on this one: Dominion Energy’s sale to NextEra Energy is drawing criticism from lawmakers and consumer advocates over who, exactly, will benefit from the deal. (Axios Richmond)

• Another person was killed by a falling tree during Thursday’s storms. (DC News Now)

• Police in Alexandria say a hit and run led to a stabbing early Saturday. Police arrested a suspect after tracking his license plate. (ALXnow)

• Georgetown Cupcake replaced the window through which someone threw a keg last month. (DC News Now)

• The Reflecting Pool is beset by algae and looks green yet again, despite Trump’s zillion-dollar paint job. The Interior Department says the algae is “residual” and that it’s working on the problem. (Politico)

Correction: This post originally said the Post’s opinion section published Greer’s posts. They were published by Ripple, an opinion section that a Post spokesperson says operates independently from the Post’s opinion section. 

The post A Name Change Won’t Solve the Kennedy Center’s Problems, Washington Post Deletes Articles by Guy Who Wrote for Richard Spencer Publication, Reflecting Pool Is Green Again first appeared on Washingtonian.

In March, José Andrés turned the Bazaar, his theatrical destination restaurant in the Waldorf Astoria, into this more carnivorous concept. It serves large-format cuts like rib-eye “chuletón” and Spanish-style whole suckling pig and comes with the same over-the-top sensibility as its predecessor—plus the same soaring ceilings in the Old Post Office building.

The Boulevard

Antonis Karagounis, an area club entrepreneur known for loungey spots such as Decades and the Mayflower Club, recently opened a Clarendon rooftop bar. The food is fusion—lamb-slider bao buns and the like—while cocktails such as the Breakfast Fizz (rum mixed with Froot Loops–infused coconut milk) lean gimmicky.

Chao Ban

A counter-service spot in Tysons Galleria from one of DC’s best chefs? It’s an intriguing concept—and an accessible way for diners to try Moon Rabbit chef Kevin Tien’s highly personal Vietnamese American cooking. Sample five-spice chicken wings, beef pho, and Nashville-hot chicken bánh mì after shopping at the Sunglass Hut next door.

Hijos del Maíz

It may be a tiny trailer with barely enough room for two employees, but Hijos del Maíz has already made waves with its Mexican snacks, tacos, and tostadas made with house-milled masa. Salvadoran-born, Washington-raised, Oaxaca-trained chef Saul Zelaya opened the Rockville taco trailer earlier this year and is hoping to expand to a brick-and-mortar soon.

Marv’s Dogs

The traditional Chicago dog—snappy all-beef frank, pickle, sliced tomatoes, sport peppers—has a cult following, and Diane Gross and Khalid Pitts, who own Cork Wine Bar, are adherents. They’ve now opened Marv’s Dogs, serving the Midwestern-style franks along with milkshakes, on a stretch of Wisconsin Avenue between Tenleytown and Friendship Heights.

Ox & Olive

Bresca and Jônt chef/owner Ryan Ratino calls his new Georgetown restaurant a “temple of beef.” It takes over the tucked-away alley space formerly occupied by Reverie and offers well-marbled rib eyes, steak-tartare “éclairs,” thyme-scented martinis, and crisp wedge salads in a candlelit setting.

PopUp Bagels

Some New Yorkers scoff at this viral chain, but the truth is any new arrival to the Manhattan bagel scene that can draw long lines is doing something right. The first DC outpost opened in April, and lines quickly formed in Georgetown for its “rip and dip” bagels, served hot and unsliced with cream cheese or butter on the side.

The Riggsby

Chef Michael Schlow is launching a comeback of his late retro-American restaurant, which closed in 2019 and will now be housed at Dupont Circle’s Royal Sonesta hotel. Look for dishes like chopped salad, schnitzel alla Holstein, and Swedish meatballs with mushroom sauce.

Rosselli

Ashok Bajaj’s substantial restaurant kingdom—which includes Indian spots the Bombay Club and Rasika—has had one modern-Italian restaurant, Modena, for years. That dining room closed in 2025, and this replacement marries a swanky redone dining room with crudos, fresh pastas, and secondi such as osso buco.

Rye Bunny

This much-anticipated “fine casual” spot from the team behind the shuttered Tail Up Goat recently opened in the same cozy Adams Morgan space. The restaurant’s homey, folk-Americana decor, its distinctive counter service, and its unpretentious seasonal American and Italian menu all feel like something new for DC. You may have to wait in line to order, but the time passes faster when you’re sipping an Audrey’s Martini.

Uchi

The stylish, Austin-born sushi spot Uchi has expanded across the Southwest in the past several years and just landed in down-town DC. James Beard Award–winning chef Tyson Cole tapped Rob Drennan, previously of Rose’s Luxury and Pineapple & Pearls, to lead the kitchen locally, serving dishes like yellowtail with Thai-chili ponzu and oranges and a vegan mushroom-shallot carpaccio.

Wheelhouse

The upper Connecticut Avenue space recently taken over by Bo Blair (also behind Millie’s, Surfside, and Jetties) has had a high turnover rate—its last tenant was Wine and Organic market. But this retro nautical-themed family restaurant hopes to be the “neighborhood anchor” that Chevy Chase DC needs.

This article appears in the June 2026 issue of Washingtonian.

The post 12 New Restaurants in the DC Area We’re Excited About This Month first appeared on Washingtonian.