Happy Monday, DC!

Take a pause from your new year diet plan to indulge in Winter Restaurant Week specials. Also, there’s a ton of Lunar New Year celebrations happening around town, and a new LEGO exhibition all ages can enjoy.

Best Things to Do This Week and Weekend

January 27–February 2

1. 1. Metropolitan Washington Winter Restaurant Week. Here’s a good way to add some variety to this week’s meal plan: Winter Restaurant Week is back. Dine at more than 350 local eateries, restaurants, and bars for lunch, brunch, and dinner at a discount price. Some new participating restaurants to check out include Adams Morgan’s Tail Up Goat, American restaurant A. Kitchen + Bar, and Arrels inside the recently opened Arlo Washington DC hotel (Mon-Sun, prices vary, multiple DC-area locations).
   2. DC Chinese Lunar New Year Parade. The Year of the Snake festivities continue around town this week with one of DC’s biggest seasonal events. The Chinese Lunar New Year Parade will strut through Chinatown to spotlight cultural and community performers, treats from local eateries, and a finale firecracker show in the heart of H Street (Sun, free, Downtown).
   3. “The Art of the Brick” exhibit. View colorful and intricate LEGO sculptures at The Art of the Brick Washington DC. The traveling exhibition at the Rhode Island Center showcases 130 LEGO-crafted creations that reimagine masterpieces like Michelangelo’s “David,” Van Gogh’s “Starry Night,” and Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa.” For families, there’s a creation zone where youngsters can build their own piece (opens January 30, $25, Brentwood).
   4. Job play. Signature Theatre presents the DC premiere of Max Wolf Friedlich’s psychological thriller Job. The shocking play follows a woman’s downward spiral with a therapist after her workplace meltdown goes viral (Tues through March 16, $40+, Arlington).
   5. Lunar New Year Family Celebration. The Smithsonian American Art Museum is throwing a Lunar New Year jamboree featuring six live performances and traditional Chinese and Korean art demonstrations. The entire family can see musical and dance productions from groups like Washington CYC Lion Dance Team, K-Pop dance clubs from American University and George Washington University, and a Simba Dojang martial arts demo (Sat, free, registration encouraged).
   6. Song of the North at Strathmore. Multimedia artist Hamid Rahmanian creates a moving stage adaptation of an 11th-century Persian epic poem. The ancient tale of a knight who falls in love with an enemy princess comes to life with a cast that includes nine performers and nearly 500 puppets (Fri, $28+, Bethesda).

Want More Things to Do?

Arts and culture:

• Cozy up with hot cocoa and marshmallows, and then join a guided paint session at Palette 22 (Mon, $65, Arlington).
• Model and actress Brooke Shields dives into her new memoir with Dr. Sharon Malone at Sixth & I (Mon, $12+ for virtual, $50 for ticket and book, Penn Quarter, virtual).
• Award-winning author Ruth Franklin discusses her new innovative biography about the The Many Lives of Anne Frank (Wed, free, Northwest DC).
• Filmmaker Kristen Lovell and photographer Samantha Box discuss the combination of photography and advocacy at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (Wed, $25, Downtown).
• Browse new cars at The Washington, DC Auto Show (Fri through February 9, $15+, Walter E. Washington Convention Center).
• Coauthors Tre’vell Anderson and Jarrett Hill of the book Historically Black Phrases host a hilarious game show at MLK Memorial Library (Sat, free with registration, MLK Library).

Community and heritage:

• Feast on fortune cookies while watching a performance from Hung Ci Lion Dance Troupe (Tues, free, Rosslyn).
• There’s family fun, food, and dance at Eden Center’s Tet celebration (Wed, free, Falls Church).
• Watch a fashion and an array of traditional Asian dance performances at Tysons Corner Center (Sat, free, Tysons).
• Take a free yoga class, and then munch on Lunar New Year happy hour specials at Upside on Moore (Sat, free, Rosslyn).
• Walk in the footsteps of the father of Black history Carter G. Woodson through Logan Circle and Shaw with actor Darius Wallace (Sat, free, registration required, Logan Circle).

Theater and shows:

• National Ballet of China presents a two-act dance performance to Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker score (Wed-Sun, $30+, Kennedy Center).
• Sit in on Shakespeare-themed staged readings, panel discussions, and workshops at The Reading Room Festival (Thurs-Sun, $150 for pass, Capitol Hill).
• Rising star comic Jack Tucker does standup at the Kennedy Center (Thurs, $20+, Kennedy Center).
• Opera conductor Gianandrea Noseda brings Samuel Barber’s passionate production Vanessa to life in concert (Thurs, Sat, $15+, Kennedy Center).
• Broadway Center Stage: Schmigadoon! musical follows the story of two doctors on a road trip to save their failing relationship (Fri through February 9, $59+, Kennedy Center).
• The Come From Away musical tells the true story of airplane passengers stranded on Newfoundland after the 9/11 attacks (Fri-Sun, $63+, Tysons).

Music and concerts:

• Baltimore Symphony Orchestra performs the world premiere of Elevators (Tues, $14+, Bethesda).
• The Anderson Brothers play a jazzy concert packed with Duke Ellington hits (Wed, free, tickets available onsite first-come first-serve, Kennedy Center).
• British musical trio Jamie xx plays live at the Anthem (Thurs, $50+, Wharf).
• Tickets are selling fast to see Iranian pop vocalist Marjan Farsad at Miracle Theatre (Thurs, $45, Eastern Market).
• Violinist Paul Huang performs symphonic tunes at Takoma Park SDA Church (Sat, $35+, Takoma Park).
• Commemorate Black History Month at the annual MLK tribute concert Living the Dream … Singing the Dream (Sun, $28+, Kennedy Center).

Bites and beverages:

• Dine on ceviche, chicken dumplings, raw oysters, and other Lunar New Year specials in between glimpses of a ceremonial lion dance at Tiger Fork (Sat, free entry, food extra, Shaw).

Things to do with kids:

• Go ice skating with the family at Water Park’s Winter Wonderland (through February 21, $35, Arlington).
• Kiddos can meet live animals, make Lunar New Year crafts, and hike at Long Branch Nature Center (Sat, $9, Arlington).
• Families can participate in a scavenger hunt, make lanterns, and color zodiac animals at the Smithsonian (Sat, free, registration required, Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art).
• There’s martial arts, crafts, music, and more Year of the Snake fun at Falls Church Communikids (Sat-Sun, free, but rsvp required, Falls Church).

If you enjoyed these events, please don’t forget to share this post with a friend on social media, and sign up for our newsletter for more things to do.