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Here’s where to down bloodies, dim sum, and more this Monday, September 4th

The $25 menus at lunch and brunch offer some of the best Restaurant Week bang for your buck. The promotion runs from Monday, August 28 through Sunday, September 3, and a few places are extending beyond that.

Belgium and France are well-known for bringing their culinary traditions of rich, heavy cooking to the rest of the world. But think beyond waffles, crepes, and croissants. The real hero here is steak frites, the European equivalent of the classic American meat-and-potatoes meal.

Though the typical tourist might envision Capitol Hill as a sea of government buildings, it’s also home to a strong constituency of reliable restaurants. The charming neighborhood, which includes hyperlocal pockets of Barracks Row, Eastern Market, and Hill East, is a top destination for stellar diners, homemade pastas, meaty subs, and everything in between.

Going out to dinner at D.C. restaurants can get expensive quickly, and buying marked-up wine can inflate a tab even more. While Washington does not have a robust BYOB culture, several restaurants allow customers to bring their own wine — sometimes even for free.

When D.C. residents think 'Belgium', it's hard not to also think 'Bart Vandaele. So naturally, the chef behind B Too and Belga Cafe is getting pumped for tomorrow's World Cup face-off between the U.S. and Belgium.

U STREET— New York Times readers who miss Sam Sifton's witticisms in the food section might want to head to furniture store Room & Board Tuesday. Sifton will be there promoting and signing his new cookbook, Thanksgiving: How To Cook It Well, and Tim Carman of The Washington Post will lead a discussion with the author. Admission's free, but you have to register; the event begins at 6 p.m. [EaterWire]...

Belga Café is Capitol Hill's newest hot spot–lots of Belgian beers, five kinds of mussels, and the best fries in town. Everybody Eats Well in Belgium is the title of Ruth Van Waerebeek-Gonzalez's cookbook about Belgian cooking, and judging from the full tables in Belga Café's sleek dining room, it's more than just a catchy title. Belga Café is the creation of Belgian-born Bart Vandaele, who came to the United States eight years ago as chef for the European Union ambassador; he most recently was executive chef for the Dutch ambassador.

Here’s where to down bloodies, dim sum, and more this Monday, September 4th

What makes a great neighborhood restaurant? In some ways, it’s easier to pin down what it’s not: a place with a fussy menu, a two-hour line, or really any pretense at all. We gravitate to the spots on this list for the comforting food, sure. But also for things that are easy to overlook in a fast-moving dining scene...

Official dining and drinking events are fairly light this week, what with Labor Day looming, but there’s plenty of summer food fun to be had. Consider stopping into Doi Moi’s opening night on Tuesday for one of the most anticipated debuts of the season (also newly opened: Ted’s Bulletin nearby and NoMa’s Timothy Dean Burger)...