Cashion's: Now with 6-course tasting menu. Photograph Courtesy of Cashion's via Facebook.

Fans of Cashion’s Eat Place can go for something new on the menu starting this weekend: a six-course tasting from chef John Manolatos, offered for the whole table on Friday and Saturday evenings. The lineup is made up of the toque’s favorite dishes—think fried oysters, tagliatelle with black truffles and bacon, and beef strip loin sauced in mushrooms and Madeira. The Adams Morgan spot has always been a favorite for relaxed yet romantic dining, so if you’re looking to kick things up a notch (the menu is $85 per person; $105 with wine pairings), this should do the trick.

Unum hopes to unite Georgetowners over a menu of diversely inspired dishes. Photographs by Erik Uecke.

Washington is filled with restaurants whose names reflect their home in the nation’s capital—1789, Lincoln, Policy—and as of next week there’ll be another: Unum, primed to open in the old Mendocino Grille space in Georgetown.         

Chocolates from Georgetown's Fleurir are always a good gift. Valentine's Day is no exception. Photograph by Erik Uecke.

Don’t be that Valentine. You know, the one who rushes to the pharmacy at 5:30 on February 14, desperately hoping there’s a heart-shaped box of something left on the shelves. It’s not a good look. Instead, head (early) to one of these chocolate shops around town, and pick up some sweets as special as your special someone.

Garden & Gun’s February/March cover story is “Best Southern Bars” and there are some local locales among its top 50. “The draws are obvious” at 14th Street beer destination Churchkey, listed in the category of Draft Houses. And G&G considers Ripple to be among the Southeast’s best snack bars, singling out chef Logan Cox’s “locally sourced dishes” like “glazed shoat belly and blood-sausage-stuffed squid.” It should surprise nobody that recherché-concoctions destination Px made the cut, though closely associated barkeep/owner Todd Thrasher was not mentioned by name.

Other regional mentions: Greenwood, Virginia’s Pollak Vineyards—which got singled out for its views of, well, vineyards—and the Purser’s Pub in St. Michaels, Maryland. There, the magazine recommends “an ice-cold ‘up’ martini (vodka, please)”. That's maybe not the best drink to order at Px, however.

Zentan's Singapore slaw is among the dishes on the restaurant's Chinese New Year menu, available through Saturday. Photograph by Scott Suchman.

Today marks the beginning of the two-week celebration of the Chinese New Year, and you know it’ll be a good Year of the Dragon when Warren Buffett kicks it all off with a televised ukulele serenade. High rollers will want to head to the Source, where chef Scott Drewno concocts a delicious-sounding five-course menu ($125 per person; $175 with wine pairings). The lineup of wok-fired lobster dumplings, smoked Peking duck, house-made fortune cookies, and more is available through Friday, February 3, which will also be the best evening to reserve: megastar chef-owner Wolfgang Puck will be in the house. Call 202-637-6100 if you want to rub elbows with the grandaddy of Cal cuisine (reservations are for tasting menu only on the 3rd; the à-la-carte menu is offered as well on other dates).

Slightly less pricey but also chic is Zentan’s four-course menu ($47.10 per person), which is served in the sleek Donovan House dining room through Saturday. Chefs Susur Lee and Jaime Montes de Oca are presenting a menu that includes a choice of dishes such as Lee’s elaborate 19-ingredient Singapore slaw, crispy red snapper with black bean sauce, and stir-fried “longevity” noodles. More in the mood for a New Year steal? Stop by Ping Pong Dim Sum through February 6, where giveaways and discounts are on offer (see here) including free glasses of Champagne for the ladies on Tuesday; comped cocktails for dragon boomers; and dim sum giveaways during happy hour. There is also an extensive two-course set menu for two ($70, including two cocktails). And you’ll find a similarly priced feast over at Asia Nine, with four courses for $35.

Host Todd Purdum poses with Alice Waters, Dee Dee Myers (the hostess), and Joan Nathan. Photograph by Kevin Allen.

Truffled risotto fritters. War Shore oysters with pickled ramps and fish peppers. Morsels of marinated hamachi with blood orange and brown-butter zabaglione. Guests were greeted with one gorgeous canapé after another last night at the home of Vanity Fair editor and correspondent Todd Purdum and his wife, political analyst Dee Dee Myers.

New H Street eatery Boundary Road is set to open in the coming weeks. Photographs by Jeff Martin.

“You go to great food towns—New York, Chicago, San Francisco—they have great top-tier restaurants, as do we. But the thing about those other towns is that the middle range is great, too. That’s a market that’s a little underdeveloped in DC. That’s what we’re really going after.”

That’s Brad Walker, chef-owner of about-to-open H Street eatery Boundary Road. Three years in the works, the restaurant/bar is a collaboration with corporate-consulting refugee Karlos Leopold, who is also general manager. The two men first met while working at Ragtime in Arlington; Walker went on to cook at Cashion’s and Proof, and Leopold tended bar at various spots around town. In fact, Leopold was behind the stick at the bar atop the Reef in Adam’s Morgan when he and Walker first talked about the idea.