🌸 DC's Best New Restaurant? Wagyu Momos Made the Case

Good morning, DC. Spotify Wrapped dropped yesterday, and DC stayed loyal to Taylor Swift for the fifth straight year—even after she skipped the entire region on her Eras Tour. Today: that devotion, plus DC's best new restaurant (wagyu momos involved), and the game that lets you design the Metro WMATA never built.

In today’s District Download:

Let’s get to it.

Taylor Swift topped DC's Spotify Wrapped for the fifth consecutive year—even after she skipped the entire region on her Eras Tour, forcing area Swifties to trek to Philadelphia. Bad Bunny actually dethroned Swift globally this year, but Washington refused to follow suit. The singer's 2025 included her 12th album, an engagement to Travis Kelce, and a Songwriters Hall of Fame nomination. DC's most-streamed song wasn't a Swift track, though—Kendrick Lamar and SZA's "Luther" took that spot. Kendrick's Drake diss track "Not Like Us" also cracked the top songs, because this city apparently loves both love songs and beef.

Subway Builder is a new browser game that lets you design your own transit system under realistic financial constraints. The free game includes maps for 26 US cities, and local players are already using DC's to build connections Metro never made. One U Street resident designed his dream line to Foggy Bottom. A Dupont Circle player added an Adams Morgan stop and expanded service to Southeast. You can play sandbox mode for unlimited creativity or normal mode with a $3 billion budget, generating revenue from simulated commuters to fund expansion. The developer uses European construction costs because American prices would make the game "almost unplayable"—which says plenty about that Georgetown Metro stop. WMATA just won Transit Agency of the Year and has rebounded to second-highest ridership in the country, so the timing feels appropriate: celebrate what they built by designing what they didn't.

Eater DC announced its 2025 awards this week, and H Street's Tapori claimed Best New Restaurant. The Nepali and Indian street food spot comes from chef Suresh Sundas and beverage director Dante Datta, who met while working at Rasika and first tested the concept at Daru down the street. The menu includes wagyu beef momos in chicken broth with freeze-dried black Parmesan, podi masala dosas fermented overnight using a grinder imported from India, and martinis engineered with achaar brine. Other winners include Bar Betsie in Union Market (Best New Bar), Press Club in Dupont (Best Night Out), and Fish Shop at the Wharf (Design of the Year).

The Hung Tao Choy Mei Leadership Institute has spent 30 years teaching martial arts, African drumming, and traditional Chinese Lion and Dragon Dance to DC youth—part training, part intervention, keeping young people out of the system. The organization just celebrated its anniversary with an exhibit at Dupont Underground (now closed), but continues year-round. Among their collection: a parade dragon named "Ali" after Ben and Virginia Ali of Ben's Chili Bowl, who've partnered with the organization for years. They also run the "Here I Stand" award at the Historic Lincoln Theatre, honoring artist activists like Dick Gregory, Rita Moreno, and Spike Lee.

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

Arena Stage | Step Afrika!'s Magical Musical Holiday Step Show | High-energy stepping showcase with hip-hop holiday beats, interactive | 7 PM

Del Ray Artisans Gallery | Fine Art & Fine Craft Holiday Market | 30th annual showcase of local painters, sculptors, ceramicists | 6 PM

Georgetown | Georgetown Jingle | 15 pop-up choral, jazz, R&B performances across 11 outdoor locations | 1 PM

The Wharf | Holiday Boat Parade & Party | 60+ illuminated boats, fireworks, Santa photos, carol karaoke | 5 PM

Heurich House Museum | Christmas Markt | 45+ small-scale makers, German snacks, mulled wine in the Castle Garden | 12 PM

Alexandria Waterfront | Holiday Boat Parade of Lights | 50+ lit boats cruise a mile of Potomac shoreline | 5:30 PM

Get your name in front of thousands of DMV area locals 3x/week.

Friday

30 🌡 25 | 🌧️ 35% | 💨 5 mph

Saturday

40 🌡 28 | 🌧️ 10% | 💨 5 mph

Sunday

41 🌡 28 | 🌧️ 35% | 💨 4 mph

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The Atlantis | Luvcat with Tor Miller | 7:30 PM

Birchmere Music Hall | Chris Botti | 7:30 PM

Black Cat | Model/Actriz | 8 PM

The Barns at Wolf Trap | Johnnyswim | 8 PM

Union Stage | Monaleo | 8 PM

The Theater at MGM National Harbor | Air Supply | 8 PM

EagleBank Arena | Christian Nodal | 8 PM

The Anthem | Portugal. The Man with La Luz | 8 PM

Capital One Arena | Burna Boy | 8:30 PM

Echostage | Meduza | 10 PM

The Atlantis | Billie Marten with Nuria Graham | 5:30 PM

9:30 Club | The Budos Band | 7 PM

Birchmere Music Hall | Chris Botti | 7:30 PM

Union Stage | Monaleo | 8 PM

The Fillmore Silver Spring | The Academy Is... with Little Image | 8 PM

Music Center at Strathmore | Lea Salonga | 8 PM

The Barns at Wolf Trap | Johnnyswim | 8 PM

Lincoln Theatre | Ingrid Michaelson | 8 PM

The Howard Theatre | Elena Rose | 8 PM

Soundcheck | Ian Asher | 10 PM

Hylton Performing Arts Center | Dailey & Vincent | 4 PM

The Anthem | Third Eye Blind with The Format | 7 PM

Birchmere Music Hall | Peter White Christmas | 7:30 PM

The Fillmore Silver Spring | Monaleo | 8 PM

Pearl Street Warehouse | Rhea Raj | 8 PM

Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts | Chris Isaak | 8 PM

Ed Cooley's Hoyas are 6-2 after knocking off Kentucky at Rupp Arena and beating Maryland by 10 in College Park—a sentence that would've gotten you laughed out of any DC sports bar in August. GW routed American 107-67 in the annual Beltway battle while piling up an equally surprising 7-2 record, though two brutal one-possession losses in the Cayman Islands took some shine off. Maryland's reeling after those back-to-back tournament blowouts against Gonzaga and Alabama, but hosts #3 Michigan on December 13 in a game that'll reveal whether the Terps are tournament contenders or pretenders. Conference play kicks off this month for all three squads—Big East for the Hoyas, Big Ten for Maryland, A-10 for GW—so the real tests are just beginning.

Till next time,