Going Out Gurus answered your questions in this week's "Got Plans?" discussion. Check out the highlights below and go to goingoutguide.com to join in next week's chat, Thursday at 1 p.m. Activity for visiting young artist: My 19-year-old niece will be visiting at the end of the month. She's a budding artist, and she's particularly into anime-type art and computer graphics. Any exhibits or galleries around town she might be interested in?
Lavanya Ramanathan: You're in luck. There are two excellent options: "Party Crashers" at Artisphere in Arlington is a show by great pop artists with work inspired by comic books. A year-round purveyor of low-brow, anime-inspired, skateboard-culture-inspired work is Art Whino, a gallery loaded with work that your niece should dig.
Drinks downtown before dinner? Heading to Tosca tonight to take advantage of Restaurant Week. We have an 8:30 reservation, so we were planning on grabbing a few drinks beforehand somewhere else. Since we'll be splurging on dinner, any suggestions for walkable drinks close by? I can only think of Gordon Biersch, and I don't think heavy beers before a nice Italian dinner is the way to go.
Fritz Hahn: Most of the places that I would recommend for cocktails in the Penn Quarter area are doing Restaurant Week, which means the bars will be more crowded than usual. One exception: Proof, which has one of the city's top drink menus. Always inventive stuff on there. (Don't miss the new hot drinks, which are served in thermoses for two.)
Oh, and the mojitos at Cuba Libre are much, much better than you'd think, given the Epcotesque decor. Pre-show meal in Bethesda? Gurus, I was looking to make a pre-show reservation in Bethesda and had narrowed down to Assaggi and Grapeseed. Both looked couple-y, but Tom Sietsema's opinions seemed to deviate from everyone else's. So I thought I would try a higher authority. Which is more suited to an after-work, pre-jazz show, wind-down, glass-of-wine sort of meal?
Alex Baldinger: I haven't been to Assaggi, but I really enjoy the environment at Grapeseed, especially if wine is among your top priorities. And I share Tom's enthusiasm for the chicken livers.