Let's Split It

This is a pretty easy sell: pay less, eat more. The City Paper's "Let's Split It" deal is an ongoing promotion in which you can buy a $50 dining gift certificate for $25. The selection of restaurants varies, but current and past participators have included Mie n Yu, Vinoteca, Ceiba, Acadiana, TenPenh, and DC Coast--all easy spots to spend $50. But supplies are limited, so be sure to get on their restaurant raters list or check their website regularly. I'd also like to point out that in light of the global financial meltdown and upcoming holiday season, a two-for-one deal is a wonderful solution for generously treating local friends and family.

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Dress Your Mussels in Butter

The lettering on the outside makes it easy to order: "Eat Bertha's Mussels," it reads. And there's really no reason to come to Bertha's except to try their delicious mussels and variety of sauces, especially those involving butter. There's garlic butter and capers, butter and lemon, butter and basil, butter and spinach and tarragon. There are also other choices, like sour cream, but mussels are a perfect excuse for eating lots and lots of butter. Bertha's also has a number of other tasty seafood items, such as a catch-of-the-day, crabcakes, chowders, shrimp and escargot. If you're not a seafood fan, you really shouldn't come to Bertha's, but it does have decent burgers and a happening bar with live music. It's a bit of a maze to navigate from bar to restaurant, since the restaurant is situated in what seems to be once someone's house, as are many things in Baltimore, and the inside is rather dark for its lack of many windows. But there's a whole lot to look at: random fishing equipment, items fished from the harbor, a whole ceiling lit up green with beer bottles. Inside, the fish is frying, the fiddle is playing, the atmosphere is alive.

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Restaurants • Baltimore

We're On Holiday Break

So please don't take offense at our encroaching lack of Radars. We'll be out of the office till January 5, doing the things we do best: poaching, loafing and loving. In tandem. We wish our loyal NFT fanatics a Merry Vacation and hope for the best in the new, mysterious year to come--a year in which Barack Obama will be knighted, Slovakia will adopt the Euro as its national currency and a new constitution will be instituted in the Falkland Islands. But before we light out, a friendly reminder that we are seriously poor and hungry. If you choose to stimulate the economy by buying our products from the NFT Shop, all we have to say to that is amen.

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Parties, Name-Checking

9:30 has seen the likes of Bob Dylan, Beastie Boys and Radiohead. Just in the past year I've seen the Faint, the Bravery, and danced my ass off at the infamous Blisspop parties. But the end-all-be-all of dance party is coming to 9:30 this Friday: the Blisspop.com Holiday Party Extravaganza. Six of the swellest DJs on the East Coast (including Tittsworth, Nadastrom, Bob Jong Ill) are set to rock the turntables. The event is sponsored by UpfrontDC.com and BrightestYoungThings.com and features the best house and electronica in a relaxed, super hip environment. Peeps come to dance and get funky. The focus is on the music and 9:30 continues to stick to its 30 year tradition of showcasing the best and most affordable musical performances in the region. The event kicks off at 11 pm and goes till the weeeeee hours. Tickets are $15 in advance at www.930.com.

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Nightlife • Logan Circle / U Street

Thairiffic

Beyond the 19th Street scaffolding lies some pretty nice restaurants--and Mai Thai is one of them. Mai Thai is quite swanky, but it is shockingly affordable. And also shockingly empty for a Saturday night--perhaps due to the outside "Big Dig"? But what was the highlight of the night? Why, a Mai Thai, of course! Complete with mini umbrella. Luckily, the actual drink didn't put the restaurant’s name to shame. The biggest downside? Despite how delicious the food and drinks were (and believe me; they were delicious), watching a bunch of fat rats run amok in the construction mess outside while I was eating kind of ruined my appetite. But the awesome chocolate mints I grabbed on my way out the door did help sweeten the rat deal a bit. And the couple Mai Thais I drank made the situation quite humorous.

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Restaurants • Dupont Circle / Adams Morgan