DC Guide to Cinco De Mayo

It’s that time of the year where everyone finds a reason to celebrate Mexican heritage and pride. Not to be confused with Mexican Independence Day, which occurs on September 16. Here are some events around town to get through this weekend!

---

Friday

Austin Grill, Cinco De Mayo

All participating Austin Grills in DC (we prefer Penn Quarter) are raffling off a Harley motorcycle and $500 with the Dos XX Girls. Huzzah!

PubCrawl.com’s Cinco De PubCrawl

Starting a 3 day bar crawl They’ve enlisted the help of some of the best bars in the city for this special event, and now you’ll have the opportunity to meet new friends, and enjoy great drink specials at each of them. You better be ready to drink. [Website]

---

Saturday

Derby De Mayo @ Public Bar

Ole’! Come shake your maracas at Public Bar for beer and Margarita specials while sipping on some mint julips and TV yelling! [Website]

Second Annual Running of the Chihuahuas

For a good cause, OnTap magazine teams up with dog lovers for a race at Kastles stadium down by the south west water front. After party at Cantina Marina! [Website]

El Centro DF

Rooftop brunch includes unlimited selection of brunch drinks: michilada, bloody maria and choice of seasonal aqua fresca tequila cocktails. Different flavors are featured weekly. My favs include pineapple, watermelon, and hibiscus. For Cinco de Mayo, the restaurant, by Richard Sandoval, is also featuring $5 margaritas all day, half price sangria after 5pm and a “Pants off Dance off” party on Friday and Saturday night, May 3-4.

---

Sunday

Town hall Tavern Fiesta

All-You-Can-Drink Margaritas & All-You-Can-Eat Tacos, noon-3pm for $12 at Town Hall Tavern. You had us at Hola! [Website]

Cinco De Block party in Arlington

Taking over favorite Arlington bars like Clarendon Grill, Mad Rose Tavern, and Mister Day’s! 8 Participating bars, Mariachi Marching Band, and giveaways. [Website]

Barcrawls.com is hosting a Cinco De Mayo Pub Crawl

Front Gage, Black Rooster, Public Bar and Bread and Brew, will feature $2 Mexican Drafts, $3 Mexican Bottles, $4 Margaritas and $5 Tequila Shots when you purchase a $10 ticket to the crawl. For $20, specials are included Friday, Saturday and Sunday for Derby de Mayo and Cinco de Mayo festivities. Nothing like chasing that Mint Julip, big hat hangover away with a Margarita! [Website]

DC Restaurant Week Suggestions

When I go out to a nice place, I expect to get the best experience through service and food. I really enjoy DC’s restaurant week because it allows you to try a new place that you would otherwise deem too expensive or never heard of before.

My first recommendation during is to find a restaurant you’ve been afraid to afford. Usually these types of places are steakhouses, seafood, Italian or fancy Indian restaurants. It is important to note that week is busy for restaurants, meaning that the staff will be busier than normal. We suggest Rasika is a good start not only because of the price, but because the quality of the meal is pretty consistent.

Your next critique should be estimating the size of portion. It is a safe bet that an Italian place like Dino won’t skip out on the portion so you may expect a fulfilling meal. On the other hand if you are going to Zaytinya, a tapas place, the portions are normally small. You probably will be paying the same price at both locations.

DC Restaurant Week is opportunity to check out a place you wouldn’t normally go to for lunch. I will be trying J&G Steakhouse at the W and the Prime Rib. Usually these these locations don’t fit within my budget, but with these prices I can’t miss up.

Here is our 5pt criterion scale (pricey, consistent quality, big portion, good menu selection) for a few restaurants we recommend.

Our DC Restaurant Week Suggestions

---

Rasika

Website | 633 D St NW, Washington, DC 20004 | Phone:(202) 637-1222

As I mentioned earlier you are eating a pricey meal that is consistently good in quality. The Palak Chaat appetizer is a favorite of many people and is on the dinner menu. Check out Cloture Club’s past review here!

• Pricey: 4


• Quality: 4


• Portions: 3


• Menu Selection: 3

---

Acadiana

Website | 901 New York Ave NW, Washington, DC 20001 | Phone:(202) 408-8848

To satisfy the craving of some Louisiana seafood gumbo, or New Orleans BBQ shrimp, Acadiana is your choice. Restaurant Week offers a great menu. Seriously try the Louisiana seafood gumbo. We highly recommended!

• Pricey: 4


• Quality: 4


• Portions: 4


• Menu Selection: 5

---

Capital Grille

Website | 601 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20004 | Phone:(202) 737-6200

For steak done right, you can’t beat Capital Grille. It normally out of our price range but affordable this week. The rib eye is a great choice among steak aficionados because it has the most fat compared to the other cuts, which is why it’s such a tender, juicy, and flavorful piece of beef.

• Pricey: 5


• Quality: 4


• Portions: 3


• Menu Selection: 4

---

Jaleo

Website | 480 7th St NW, Washington, DC 20004 | Phone:(202) 628-7949

Everything is amazing! We suggest the Gambas al ajillo. A favorite of ours and many friends.

• Pricey: 3


• Quality: 4


• Portions: 4


• Menu Selection: 4

---

Zengo

Website | 781 7th St NW, Washington, DC 20001 | Phone:(202) 393-2929

The portions are small, but the flavor lacks up for it. Choose any of the tacos and you won’t be disappointed.

• Pricey: 4


• Quality: 4


• Portions: 3


• Menu Selection: 4

---

RIS

Website | 2275 L St NW, Washington, DC 20037 | Phone:(202) 730-2500

While we like RIS, the menu options are few. We suggest the Classic New England Fried scallops.

• Pricey: 4


• Quality: 4


• Portions: 4


• Menu Selection: 3

The post DC Restaurant Week Suggestions appeared first on ClotureClub.com.

Our Review of Jason Statham Parker Movie

January is the month typically slated for “meh” movies and Parker does not break the mold. I had a chance to attend a screening this week, and although it had some moments, nothing was memorable. A few flashy action scenes, a bunch of violence, a predictable plot, and a couple of nice shots of Jennifer Lopez.

Jason Statham follows a character template in his movies, and once again he hits it right on the money. Parker is an impossible to kill thief who is very good at what he does, and makes it look easy. After successfully pulling off a heist, his crew (including Michael Chiklis, Wendell Pierce) tries to persuade him to invest in another heist – one that will make them all rich. But when Parker opts not to, they leave him for dead in a ditch. Now, Parker comes back with revenge on his mind, not for the money, but the principle of it all.

Surprisingly though, the other “names” in the movie were J.Lo and Nick Nolte. They were very underused. Although it is typical of most of Statham’s movies, I felt like there was no point to having them rather than generic actors. J.Lo is billed as a leading role, but wasn’t even introduced until the plot was well under way. Nolte appears in only a few scenes. Chiklis actually fits his character well, mostly due to my image of him in The Shield, but as the main villain, he is not featured in most of the movie. The acting of the movie was actually a semi-positive for the movie since they played their roles as well as can be expected since there isn’t much to work with.

That being said, there are a couple well-directed scenes in the movie, such as the opening, which starts with a big Ohio faire with kids, rides, games pageant and overall jolliness. Once the heist begins, Parker’s character shows off his smooth persona as he calms a security officer out of a panic attack and preventing things from escalating. Unfortunately, this is one of the only well-shot scenes. I knew going into the movie that Parker would be typical Statham movie, and did not hold high expectations. And although I found the plot predictable and entertaining, it did not measure up to some of his previous movies.

This article was written by guest contributor, Bobby Mehta. You can follow him on twitter @BobbyKuleen. If you would like to become a guest contributor, contact us today!

---

Parker Movie Trailer

The post Our Review of Jason Statham Parker Movie appeared first on ClotureClub.com.