🌸 A top local restaurant turns ten

Good morning, DC.

In today’s District Download:

Let’s get to it.

DC's Chinatown has shrunk from 3,000 Chinese residents in 2010 to just 350 today, with Full Kee Restaurant and Gao Ya Hair Salon recently closing to make way for a Marriott hotel as the neighborhood transforms into an increasingly hollow collection of neon signs above American chains. About ten AAPI-owned businesses remain, including De Zhi Co., a second-floor herbal shop where owner Liu Chan Quiang sells traditional remedies invented by his grandfather while watching immigrants leave one by one because "buildings and rent are so expensive." Tony Cheng, who jokingly calls himself the mayor of Chinatown after running his seafood restaurant since 1986 and catering a White House dinner for Jimmy Carter, lost his building to foreclosure last year but plans to keep fighting despite owing over $500,000 in back taxes at one point. Joy Luck House owner June Lin, who took over the restaurant in 2019, watches her September 2026 lease deadline approach while serving both authentic Guangzhou-style wonton noodle soup and westernized General Tso's chicken to survive in a neighborhood that "was small to begin with" but now looks "more and more rundown and desolate." These remaining businesses prove Chinatown is worth more than its name, even as rising costs, vanishing foot traffic, and developer pressure make simply staying open feel like an act of cultural preservation.

DC's Halloween scene this year includes everything from an immersive murder mystery dinner at Michelin-starred JÔNT to Chicken + Whiskey's no-cover "spookeasy" with live DJs on 14th Street, proving the city takes its costume-required festivities as seriously as it takes brunch. Tap99 in Navy Yard launched a "Spirits of RFK Stadium" pop-up featuring skeletal cheerleaders and cobweb-draped hallways that simultaneously honor DC's football past and acknowledge it was probably cursed all along, while McClellan's Retreat on Florida Avenue serves "Wicked"-inspired cocktails like "Glinda's Goblet" and "Elphaba's Elixir" for those who prefer their spooky season Broadway-adjacent. The Popal Group is hosting "Adam's (Morgan) Family" with signature cocktails at Lapis, Pascual, Lutèce, and Maison Bar à Vins, turning the neighborhood into a multi-venue costume contest with JELL-O shots. Le Diplomate keeps things classic with a complimentary hot cider cart and mini cinnamon sugar doughnuts from 2 to 6 p.m. on October 31, while Perry's drag brunch on November 2 lets you recover from all the revelry with queens in Halloween costumes and a buffet, because sometimes the best way to process elaborate dinner theater is mimosas and a wig.

Arlington's award-winning Spanish restaurant SER marked 10 years at 1110 N. Glebe Road with co-owners Javier Candon and Christiana Campos celebrating alongside 300 supporters while hinting at opening a second Arlington location following the closure of their DC sister restaurant Joselito Casa de Comidas. The restaurant has earned consistent recognition on Washingtonian's "100 Very Best Restaurants" list and landed on Eater DC's 2025 "38 Best Restaurants Around D.C." list, cementing its reputation for authentic regional Spanish cuisine that goes beyond tapas to showcase comfort foods from every corner of Spain. Candon, who describes their approach as "simple, easy and real," continues to emphasize community building and educational wine programming while treating customers "like we're doing a party in our own house," proving that a decade of tableside Iberico ham carving and cultural authenticity still resonates in Ballston.

Cowbell Seafood & Oyster opens Thursday in the former Rappahannock Oyster Bar space at Union Market, with chef Reid Shilling and Sara Quinteros bringing Chesapeake Bay Orchard Points alongside rotating oysters from Massachusetts to the Pacific Northwest and a no-filler Maryland crab cake that Shilling's been perfecting since childhood. The Baltimore native is also serving poached Baltimore Canyon lobster, dry-brined beer-battered chicken tenders, and New England clam chowder poured over fries because apparently that's a thing we need in our lives. The restaurant's name references the SNL "More Cowbell" sketch, and they're leaning hard into it with a loyalty club called the Chesapeake Bay Blue Oyster Cult that costs $25 to join but gets you invites to crab feasts, oyster-shucking demos, and a koozie that unlocks $3 PBR all day every day.

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Here’s what’s going on around DC this week:

Alethia Tanner Park | PumpkinPalooza | Free pumpkins, alpacas, Smurfs, and Hotel Transylvania | 4 PM

The Anthem | Aly & AJ | '00s pop-rock duo's Silver Deliverer Tour | 7 PM

Homme DC | City Animals: Emon Surakitkosoon | Monochromatic works inspired by rural Thai childhood | 2 PM

Folger Shakespeare Library | Julius X | Malcolm X meets Julius Caesar closing performances | 7:30 PM

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Wednesday

64 🌡 46 | 🌧️ 0% | 💨 6 mph

Thursday

62 🌡 43 | 🌧️ 10% | 💨 13 mph

The Atlantis | Haute & Freddy | 6:30 PM

9:30 Club | Quadeca | 6:30 PM

The Anthem | Aly & AJ with Amanda Shires | 7 PM

Birchmere Music Hall | Noah Reid | 7:30 PM

The Fillmore Silver Spring | Ski Mask The Slump God | 8 PM

Union Stage | Midnight Generation | 8 PM

Soundcheck | SOTA | 10 PM

The Atlantis | NoSo | 6:30 PM

9:30 Club | Indigo De Souza | 7 PM

Lincoln Theatre | Rodney Crowell with The Secret Sisters | 7 PM

The Barns at Wolf Trap | The War and Treaty with Thunderstorm Artis | 7:30 PM

Capital One Arena | Laufey with Suki Waterhouse | 7:30 PM

Birchmere Music Hall | Thomas Dolby | 7:30 PM

Warner Theatre | Brian Culbertson | 8 PM

Pearl Street Warehouse | KWN - K Wilson | 8 PM

The Caps shook off Sunday's ugly 4-0 deficit against Vancouver by dominating the Seattle Kraken 4-1 on Tuesday night, with Nic Dowd, Ryan Leonard, Jakob Chychrun, and Tom Wilson finding the net at Capital One Arena. Twenty-year-old rookie Leonard became the youngest Capitals player to score in consecutive games since Nicklas Backstrom in 2008, notching his fourth goal of the season just 25 seconds into the second period after taking a high stick to the nose on his first shift. The win improved Washington's record to 5-2 and capped a solid 3-1 homestand, with the power play clicking in four straight games and Tom Wilson extending his point streak to four games with an empty-netter. The Caps hit the road Friday to face Columbus while Alex Ovechkin remains two goals away from the historic 900-goal milestone, currently sitting at 898 career goals with one goal and three assists through seven games this season.

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Till next time,