D.C.-area nightlife, events and dining

Before you dash out of the office for Dewey, Rehoboth, Bethany or Ocean City, take a look at our beach guide for tips on all of the great things you can do when you’re not working on your tan. Before you get there, stop off at Hot Spot Cool Eats in Cambridge, which features 11 kinds of hot dogs.

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At Ocean City, you can take surf lessons from a legend, Bruce "Snake" Gabrielson, who got his start in Huntington Beach, Calif. ( Judy G. Rolfe/For the Washington Post) We go to the beach to be outdoors: to soak up the sun, splash in the waves or grill in the yard of a beach house. But there’s so much more to do by the ocean than lie on a towel and bake. You can learn to surf, ride a bike to a picnic near wild horses or paddle a kayak in search of bald eagles.

Ready to find out how? Our Beach Guide is full of tips on these activities, what to do when it rains, plus updates on weather and beach traffic, design ideas for your beach house and much more. And we’ll keep adding to it all summer long. Check it out before you hit Route 50, so this summer, you can catch a break.

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No car? Take the bus to the beach

A candle holder at Mike Isabella's Bandolero in Georgetown. (Alex Baldinger) When Mike Isabella opened Graffiato last June, no write-up of the Italian restaurant could begin without mention of his Top Chef-approved pepperoni sauce. Fast forward to last night and the opening of Isabella’s “modern Mexican” spinoff, Bandolero, and it looks like there might be a new saucy sherriff in town: Its name is queso fundido.

Often thought of as a starter, merely a cheesy bath in which to dunk tortilla chips while downing Dos Equis, Isabella’s queso fundido appears among Bandolero’s main courses, and for good reason. Served in a square glass bowl, a warm base of creamy, melted manchego is topped with tender ribbons of duck confit, savory maitake mushrooms and a sunny-side up egg, yolk cooked to just shy of firmness. At $14, it’s served with a large soup spoon, and when blended together into one unctuous spread and layered atop the soft flour tortillas it’s served with, it’s like folding the most velvety of fajitas.

Tom Hardy and Chris Pine star with Reese Witherspoon in “This Means War,” now out on DVD and Blu-ray. (Kimberley French, 20th Century Fox)Here’s the scoop on new releases:

Out this week

This Means War

Red Tails

The Secret World of Arrietty

The Woman in Black

What Washington is watching

1. The Vow

2. One for the Money

3. Underworld: Awakening

4. The Devil Inside

5. Haywire

(Source: Redbox, for the week ended May 20)

Will Smith is back in action in “Men in Black III.” (Wilson Webb - Columbia Pictures) This week’s new movie releases bring the return of Will Smith and the “Men in Black” franchise, as well as a 19th-century rom-com about the inventor of — what else? — the female vibrator. Here’s what the Post critics had to say:

“Men in Black III” (PG-13) “Until Agent J ‘time jumps’ into the past — a trick that entails him leaping off the Chrysler Building — the movie feels flat-footed and lazy, reprising old jokes and sight gags from the two earlier films. It simply takes too long for things to get going.” — Michael O’Sullivan

“Hysteria” (R) “The film — directed with a sure hand by Tanya Wexler from an amusing script by the husband-and-wife team Stephen and Jonah Lisa Dyer — is no documentary. It’s happy to get the big facts broadly right, as long as it’s allowed to have a little fun with the rest.” — Michael O’Sullivan

“Polisse” (Unrated) “Except for an ending that veers unexpectedly into melodrama, the movie for the most part takes a frank, deadpan tone that serves its complex themes well.” — Michael O’Sullivan

“I Wish” (Unrated) “The original Japanese title of ‘I Wish’ translates literally, and aptly, as ‘Miracle.’ The endearing new movie by writer-director Hirokazu Kore-eda (‘After Life,’ ‘Nobody Knows’) does deal in marvels, although not of the parting-the-Red-Sea variety. It’s about the wonders of everyday life, and of childhood imagination.” — Mark Jenkins

“Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview” (Unrated) “Somewhat less epic than its grandiose title sounds, ‘Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview’ offers intriguing insights into the mind of the late Apple chief executive and high-tech visionary.” — Michael O’Sullivan

Also opening: “Chernobyl Diaries”