Good morning. The cherry blossoms have reached the Florets Extended stage of things. Rain and gusts possible this afternoon with a high around 73. It’ll rain tonight, too, with a low around 37. The Capitals host Philadelphia tonight, and you may peruse a March Madness schedule here. You can find me on Bluesky, I’m @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there’s a link to my email address at the bottom of this post.
I can’t stop listening to:
Dystaron, “Voyager.” Dystaron, whose members’ résumés include Frodus, Rah Bras, and Corn Rocket, are almost certainly DC’s heaviest synth band. I particularly that their website appears to be simply a static page with their logo, which is extremely metal and I hope they never change it. Dystaron play the Atlantis tonight, opening for Refused.
Here’s some administration news you might have blocked out:
• Immigration officials wearing masks arrested Georgetown University researcher Badar Khan Suri Monday and have put him into deportation proceedings, according to a lawsuit filed by his attorney. Suri doesn’t have a criminal record; the Trump administration claimed that he was “actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media.” (Politico) Right-wing news outlets have targeted Suri’s wife, Mapheze Saleh. The university says it was “not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity” and that it supports “our community members’ rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable.” (The Hoya)
• In Denver, ICE agents arrested Jeanette Vizguerra, who “became a national symbol of resistance in 2017 when she moved into a Denver church basement with her three youngest children to avoid deportation.” (Axios) “We finally got you,” agents reportedly told Vizguerra. (NYT)
• After three Germans were detained trying to enter the US, Germany warned citizens that a visa will not guarantee entry. (Reuters)
• The administration “is evaluating plans for the Pentagon to take control of a buffer zone along a sprawling stretch of the southern border and empower active-duty U.S. troops to temporarily hold migrants who cross into the United States illegally.” (Washington Post)
• President Trump plans to sign an order to eliminate the Department of Education today. (USA Today)
• US District Judge Beryl A. Howell denied a request to evict Elon Musk‘s DOGE project from the US Institute of Peace after DC cops helped DOGE staffers raid the facility. (Washington Post) A detailed account of DOGE’s takeover of the institute, whose building is not owned by the feds and whose workers are not federal employees. (Washington Post)
• Two friends who grew up in DC became targets of the Trump administration this week. To Permanent Washington, Michael Schaffer writes, the coincidence confirms a widespread feeling that “there’s a class war on against the people and professions that represent old Washington’s highest bipartisan ideals, but are viewed as self-dealing leeches by the MAGA base.” (Politico)
• Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner said he would step down. Musk has agitated for privatizing the railroad. (CNN) (I interviewed Gardner, who also plays bass for local indie-rock greats Lorelei, last year.)
• The administration’s release of records regarding JFK‘s assassination also included “Social Security numbers and other private information of more than 200 former congressional staffers.” (Washington Post)
• “I have a high aptitude for music,” Trump reportedly said during his recent tour of the Kennedy Center. “Can you believe that?” (Washington Post)
Hidden Eats, by Ike Allen
It would be wrong to describe Blue & White Carryout, an eye-catchingly ramshackle hutch of a restaurant which has been occupying the same prominent corner on US-1 in Alexandria since some time in the 1950s, as “hidden.” Fifty years ago, it wouldn’t have even been much to write home about. But with each passing year, it looks more and more gloriously incongruous— and seems to come closer to fully caving into the ground. It’s one of the strangest restaurant buildings around: a minuscule griddle with wooden plank counters and buckling clapboard siding that doesn’t so much create an indoor space as simply enclose a bit of Alexandria sidewalk to serve as the floor. The crunchy, subtly seasoned fried chicken here, tucked between two pieces of white bread and slathered with hot sauce, is hard to beat. And Blue & White’s prices are also from yesteryear— $4.75 for a fried chicken breast sandwich. $4 for a bacon-and-egg breakfast roll. $3.75 for a half smoke. Cash only, of course.
Recently on Washingtonian dot com:
• A profile of Ilia Malinin, George Mason student and figure-skating phenom.
• Spark Social House has opened. It’s an alcohol-free gay bar housed in the Gibson’s old space.
• Here are bars and restaurants where you can watch March Madness.
• My Little Chamomile, a new restaurant from the owner of Green Almond Pantry that will offer Turkish-Mediterranean homestyle cooking, will open in a Georgetown alley tonight.
Local news links:
• The House GOP’s appetite for fixing the hole it created in the District of Columbia’s budget isn’t clear, but Trump is said to support a fix and plans to work the phones on DC’s behalf. (Politico)
• RIP Bernard Gewirz, the local developer known as the “King of K Street.” (WBJ)
• About half of DC restaurants said they’d seen fewer diners and lower sales over the past year, and 44 percent said they may close this year. (WTOP)
• The office of interim US Attorney for DC Ed Martin has dropped an assault case against former Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio. (NBC News)
• Maria Manuela Goyanes will leave her post as Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company’s artistic director and direct a black-box space at Lincoln Center. (Washington Post) FLASHBACK: “Woolly Mammoth’s New Leader Wants to Run the Most Woke Theater in Washington.” (Washingtonian)
• DC’s attorney general has sued the delivery firm Gopuff, alleging that it misclassified employees as contractors. (WTOP)
• Han Lee, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, was sentenced to four years in prison for running brothels in Massachusetts and in Northern Virginia. (WUSA 9)
• Kari Lake attempted to confront US Senator Ruben Gallego, who beat her for his seat, at DC’s swanky Ned’s Club. (The Bulwark)
• A Maryland woman was sentenced to prison for stealing money to pay a debt to the state. (WUSA 9)
• “Arlington prosecutors have declined to pursue charges against a convenience store employee accused of slashing an alleged shoplifter with a knife.” (ARLnow)
• If you’ve ever wanted to own a DC Circulator bus, act now. (WUSA 9)
Thursday’s event picks:
• The Environmental Film Festival kicks off with the DC premiere of the documentary “The White House Effect.”
• Honor Stumpy (RIP) at a paddle boat race in its honor.
• The water taxi‘s cherry blossom tours begin.
See more picks from Briana Thomas, who writes our Things to Do newsletter.
Did you miss our 100 Very Best Restaurants List? It’s here.
Wow, that’s a lot. Let’s get through Thursday.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
