Almost 400 restaurants, people! Metropolitan Washington Restaurant Week runs August 24 through August 30, and this year’s lineup is massive, nearly 400 restaurants across DC, Maryland, and Virginia are participating. Here’s how it works: three-course lunch or brunch runs $25 to $35, and three-course dinner runs $40 to $65. That’s it.  A week to eat like it’s a special occasion, at a fraction of what it usually costs.Before you start booking, a few do’s to keep in mind:-Do: Read the menu before you go. Some restaurants run their regular menu for Restaurant Week, others build one exclusively for it. Know which one you’re walking into.-Do: Make a reservation. Showing up and hoping for a table during the busiest week of the season is not the move.-Do: Tip like it’s not Restaurant Week. Your server is working just as hard on a $35 menu as any other night.-Do: Be kind. To your server, your table, the kitchen running flat out all week. That’s the whole vibe, actually.Now, to help you plan, here’s my list of the newbies you’ll want to hit, and the oldies but goodies you don’t want to miss.Newbies to Check OutAgora BethesdaCanton DiscoCatahoulaEunoiaMalabarMaru SanNamak (new chef)OribuRosselliRye BunnySook DCTechno PalmsThe GraceUchiOldies But Incredibly GoodiesAlaraAmaAmazoniaAnjuBrasero AtlanticoBrescaCaruso’s GroceryCasamaraChikoChloeCork Wine BarCucina MoriniCut by Wolfgang PuckDaruDauphine’sDel MarDogonEl CieloFiola MareFish ShopIron GateIvy City SmokehouseJoonKappoKyojinLa Bonne VacheL’Avant-GardeLove, MakotoLucy BarMallardManduMarcusMoon RabbitRPM Italian For more restaurants, their menus and more information visit, The Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington.

Nycci has 24 years of industry tea, and she's spilling it here.

On WTOP, Nycci Nellis of TheListAreYouOnIt.com celebrated National Oyster Day by sharing the different varieties of oysters, highlighting specials at Tony & Joe's Seafood Place, Old Ebbitt Grill, Nobu DC, The Salt Line, and Hank's Oyster Bar, while explaining how oysters help improve water quality and support marine life. She also spotlighted restaurants giving back through conservation efforts.

Victor Albisu, the chef behind Taco Bamba, just did something no chef wants to do on this DC food podcast episode: he read his own restaurants' worst reviews out loud, live.Victor Albisu is the chef and owner behind Taco Bamba, the fast casual taco chain he grew from one Falls Church location into seventeen restaurants across the Mid-Atlantic and into Nashville. Nycci Nellis sat down with him back at Taco Bamba in City Ridge for this DC food podcast conversation that covers twenty years of DC restaurants, from his fine dining runs at Del Campo and Poca Madre to his new anti-steakhouse, Electric Bull, opening in his hometown of Vienna, Virginia. Victor also debuts Roasted, a brand new segment where he reads his own restaurants' harshest online reviews and responds live, no notes, no filter. Later in the show, Karen Harris, a working vocalist, vocal coach, and rock band frontwoman, joins from the patio at City Ridge to talk about curating the Friday night music series that brings local musicians to the development's happy hour crowd. This is a Washington DC restaurant insider conversation about fine dining, fast casual, failure, and why talent is the smallest part of the formula for success. If you care about the DC food scene, the hospitality industry, or just want to hear a chef read his own bad reviews, this one is for you.Listen to the full episode, or watch it all here.