Les Dames d’Escoffier is delighted to announce “CELEBRATING FOOD! Cooking-Careers- Communications.” On Saturday, March 5, from 8:30 a.m. until 5:45 p.m. at the Universities at Shady Grove, Rockville, Maryland, the DC Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier International will present its tenth Salute to Women in Gastronomy. The $130 fee covers an extraordinary, fun, and educational day-long symposium offering 16 sessions, over 50 speakers, hands-on cooking classes, and a culinary Expo with products, samples, cookbooks, as well as breakfast, lunch, and finale of “Tantalizing Teas and Teacakes.”
Ellie Krieger will serve as keynote speaker with the theme Finding the “Sweet Spot”, Where Delicious and Healthy Meet: Small Changes to Get You There in Cooking and in Life”. Krieger is well known as the host of Food Network’s hit show “Healthy Appetite,” and is a James Beard Foundation and IACP award winner, a New York Times bestselling cookbook author, and a weekly columnist for The Washington Post. Other culinary luminaries will lead seminars, including award winning authors, Joan Nathan and Amy Riolo, food writer David Hagedorn, and Osteria Morini pastry chef Alex Levin, and Cathal Armstrong, Chef/Owner Restaurant Eve, to name a few.
Attendees will learn about tricks of the trade, translating chefs’ recipes, BBQ history, Video storytelling, and the magic of International Spice Blends. Find out about Mastering the 5th Taste through Soy Sauce, uncommon spices and in-depth views on local-sustainable food sourcing. Finally, attendees can participate in hands-on classes in yogurt, sushi, Philippine appetizers, and phyllo dough.
Celebrating Food! is sponsored by the Washington DC Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier International.
For more information and to register go to www.lesdamesdc.org For further information, please email info@celebratingfood.org or call (202) 973-2168. Find us on Facebook at Celebrating Food! by DC Les Dames or Twitter @LesDamesDC.
Les Dames d’Escoffier Washington, DC. Chapter is a non-profit 501(c)(3) invitational organization of women leaders in the food, beverage, hospitality, and related industries who use their talents and influence for community outreach and through grants, mentoring, scholarships, and educational programs, to help support women to succeed in these industries.
As authorities in the exploding Korean food movement, Deuki Hong and Matt Rodbard spent over two years traveling to Koreatowns all over the U.S. and abroad, researching and interviewing over 100 chefs and businesses. “Koreatown: A Cookbook” features nearly 100 recipes, essays and profiles of Korean food, drink, and culture, including a Kimchi White Chocolate Cookie recipe by chef Erik Bruner-Yang. For more information on the book, visit:www.koreatowncookbook.com.
13th Annual Blue Jeans Ball Raises Funds to Support the Capital Area Food Bank’s
Delivery of 37 Million Healthy Meals in 2016
Just Announced:
- Auction items from noted American food writer Mark Bittman, and award winning pastry chef Christina Tosi of Momofuku Milk Bar, plus trips to Brazil, the French Riviera and more!
- The Allen Chapel AME Church Gospel Choir will kick off the program with a live performance
- 40+ savory and sweet tasting stations to include:
o Cabot Creamery Cooperative
o Café du Parc
o Café DuPont
o City Perch Kitchen + Bar
o Congressional Seafood
o Del Campo
o Fig and Olive DC
o Ghibellina
o Lavagna
o Meat Crafters
o Oyamel Cocina Mexicana
o Penn Commons
o Pinch
o Pizzeria Paradiso
o Restaurant Eve
o Ristorante Tosca
o Sodexo
o Sonoma Restaurant & Wine Bar
o Sotto
o Stanton & Greene
o Stonyman Gourmet Farmer
o Sweet Pearlz Cheesecakes
o The Fourth Estate at the National Press Club
o The Melting Pot
o The Palm Restaurant
o Thrive DC
o Two Acre Farm
o Union Kitchen
o Vidalia/Bistro Bis/Woodward Table
o Zeke’s Coffee of DC
Who:
- Restaurant co-chairs: Chef Ruth Gresser of Pizzeria Paradiso, Chef Sherry Yard of City Perch Kitchen + Bar, and Chef Jeff Buben of Vidalia, Bistro Bis, and Woodward Table.
- Emcee, Scott Thuman, ABC7/WJLA-TV and News Channel 8
- Live entertainment by DJ John Jazz and Miss H.E.R.
When: Sunday, March 13, 2016
5 pm: VIP reception
6 pm: tastings, cocktails and silent auction
8 pm: program & live auction.
Where: Marriott Marquis Hotel
901 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001
Hotel valet parking available for a fee
How: $200; the amount the CAFB uses to feed a family of four for almost two weeks
- Sponsorships are available to individuals or organizations at various levels
- Ticket and sponsorship details available at capitalareafoodbank.org/blue-jeans-ball/
Why: The Capital Area Food Bank is the largest organization in the Washington metro area working to solve hunger and its companion problems: chronic undernutrition, heart disease and obesity. By partnering with nearly 450 community organizations in DC, Maryland and Virginia, as well as delivering food directly in hard to reach areas, the CAFB is helping 540,000 people each year get access to good, healthy food. That’s 12 percent of our region’s mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, and grandparents. Visit: capitalareafoodbank.org, or find the CAFB at facebook.com/CapitalAreaFoodBank, and Twitter at @foodbankmetrodc.
What: The 13th annual Blue Jeans Ball, featuring tastings from outstanding area chefs, live music, live and silent auctions. Chefs Ruth Gresser, Sherry Yard and Jeff Buben will lead tastings by 40 of the area’s hottest restaurants and denim-clad guests to raise funds for the Washington metro area’s largest hunger relief organization, which helps 540,000 people each year get access to good, healthy food.
Attendees will taste dishes created in the spirit of wellness, just as the CAFB is committed to offering a menu of wellness to the neighbors it serves. New this year, chefs will be encouraged to showcase nutritious ingredients that the CAFB provides to the VA, DC and MD community: fruit and vegetables, beans, whole grains, protein rich meat, fish, nuts and dairy.
Who:
- Restaurant co-chairs: Chefs Ruth Gresser of Pizzeria Paradiso, Sherry Yard of City Perch Kitchen + Bar, and Jeff Buben of Vidalia/Bistro Bis/Woodward Table.
- Scott Thuman, ABC7/WJLA-TV and News Channel 8
- Live entertainment by DJ John Jazz and Miss H.E.R.
- Nancy Roman, CAFB President & CEO
- CAFB Board of Directors
When: Sunday, March 13, 2016
5 pm: VIP reception
6 pm: tastings, cocktails and silent auction
8 pm: program & live auction.
Where: Marriott Marquis Hotel
901 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001
How: $200 General Admission; $500 VIP Admission
- Sponsorships are available to individuals or organizations at various levels
- Ticket and sponsorship details available at capitalareafoodbank.org/blue-jeans-ball/
Why: The Capital Area Food Bank is the largest organization in the Washington metro area working to solve hunger and its companion problems: chronic undernutrition, heart disease and obesity. By partnering with nearly 450 community organizations in DC, Maryland and Virginia, as well as delivering food directly into hard to reach areas, the CAFB is helping 540,000 people each year get access to good, healthy food. That’s 12 percent of our region’s mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, and grandparents. Visit: capitalareafoodbank.org, or find the CAFB on Facebook atfacebook.com/CapitalAreaFoodBank, and Twitter at @foodbankmetrodc.
What: The popular Early Mountain Vineyards Oyster Festival will return this spring on Saturday, March 19th, with live music, Virginia wine, and seafood from the esteemed Rappahannock Oyster Company who will provide their famous oysters and other creative dishes featuring Virginia’s best seafood. The Rappahannock a la Carte Menu will include:
- 1/2 dozen raw oysters: $10
- 1 dozen raw oysters: $20
- Crab Cakes: $10
- Stuff’n Muffin: $10
Limited non-seafood selections from Early Mountain Vineyard’s market place menu will be available a la carte and picnic lunches are also welcome out on the back lawn.
Admission includes entry to the festival, an Early Mountain wine tasting and a stemless wine glass as a take-home gift. Guests can also order from Early Mountain’s extensive list of Virginia wines – both from their vineyard as well as others that have been hand-selected from the state – available by the glass and bottle.
The Oyster Festival will take place throughout the vineyard grounds. Tickets are required of all visitors that day. All ages are welcome for a family-friendly fun day. Event will take place rain or shine.
When: Saturday, March 19th, 12pm-5pm
Tickets: Advance: $15.00
EMV Wine Club Members: $12.00
At the Door*: $20.00
Under 21: Complimentary admission
Online tickets are available at store.earlymountain.com/events or by calling us at 540.948.9005.
Advance ticket sales end Friday, March 18th at 11:59 p.m.
Where: Early Mountain Vineyards
6109 Wolftown Hood Road
Madison, Virginia 22727
Date: Saturday, March 19 2-4:00pmLocation: The Mayflower Hotel;1127 Connecticut Ave NW (between L and Desales St.)Cost per participant: $35
Tasting vendor: Dolce Vineyard
Reserve your space by emailing edgar@
themayflowerhotel.com or calling 202-347-2233 (please include the number of total guests in your party. Payment will be collected day of class).
Participants will also take home a Mayflower-branded apron.
Maryland’s largest hoedown returns to the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium on April 1st & 2nd . The Annual Beer, Bourbon & BBQ Festival is produced by local Trigger Agency as a benefit to the Spirit of Hope Children’s Foundation.
This year marks the 10th Anniversary production which started very humbly in Timonium, MD and has grown to a National Tour reaching hundreds of thousands of guests from New York to Florida.
The all-you-care-to-taste extravaganza starts with a Friday Night Whole Hog Session from 6:00pm – 10:00pm. This session will offer a dinner plate of BBQ with all the fixins’ as well as unlimited sampling of bourbon and beer. Saturday sessions run from noon to 6pm. An exclusive VIP only tasting will be held Noon until 2pm and then General Admission will follow from 2pm through 6pm.
A souvenir glass is included with every ticket purchase and offers guests unlimited tastings of 60 of the best craft beers and 75-80 top-notch bourbons. In addition, delicious samples of barbeque from the South’s best Pit Masters will be available throughout the day. The event will offer live music, arts, crafts, memorabilia exhibits and a cigar tent outside for the enthusiast. Full Schedules and Menus are posted on the website.
“This show has spawned many knock-offs all over the Country – but if the truth be known – we started here at The Fairgrounds ten years ago in one of the smaller buildings. We even had to postpone the first launch of the show because the Ravens were in the playoffs. To see where we’ve grown and to share it with all the fans is quite an honor.” explains the Festival Founder, Greg Nivens – a Baltimore resident. “We are looking forward to a great 10th Anniversary celebration!”
Guests can expect some fun exciting features this year:
- The Shrine of Swine is Back – but the whole hogs are always intriguing and new. Each hog is totally different and even tastes different.
- New Gaming Area – this includes Corn Hole, Tricycle Racing and Large Format Games
- All VIP Guests receive a FREE tote bag.
- Great Live Music is back with some new faces – Drymill Road, the 1974 Band, Super Bueno and GO-GO Gadget, round out the line-up.
- Fun crowd competitions will be featured on the Main Stage including the Stein Holding Competition, The Drink Like a Lady Contest, Baltimore’s Best Beer Belly, and Two Rounds of Bacon Eating.
General admission to the festival is $39 in advance / $45 on –site and includes admission into the event and a souvenir glass. VIP Saturday admission is SOLD OUT. The special Friday Night session is $49 per person. Designated Driver admission is also available for $29 and includes admission to the event. Kids 12 and under are free. For more information on purchasing tickets for the Beer, Bourbon & BBQ Festival, please visitwww.BeerAndBourbon.com or call 800-830-3976. There are thousands of free parking spaces on site, or take the light rail. Please drink responsibly and bring a designated driver.
Maryland’s largest hoedown returns to the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium on April 1st & 2nd . The Annual Beer, Bourbon & BBQ Festival is produced by local Trigger Agency as a benefit to the Spirit of Hope Children’s Foundation.
This year marks the 10th Anniversary production which started very humbly in Timonium, MD and has grown to a National Tour reaching hundreds of thousands of guests from New York to Florida.
The all-you-care-to-taste extravaganza starts with a Friday Night Whole Hog Session from 6:00pm – 10:00pm. This session will offer a dinner plate of BBQ with all the fixins’ as well as unlimited sampling of bourbon and beer. Saturday sessions run from noon to 6pm. An exclusive VIP only tasting will be held Noon until 2pm and then General Admission will follow from 2pm through 6pm.
A souvenir glass is included with every ticket purchase and offers guests unlimited tastings of 60 of the best craft beers and 75-80 top-notch bourbons. In addition, delicious samples of barbeque from the South’s best Pit Masters will be available throughout the day. The event will offer live music, arts, crafts, memorabilia exhibits and a cigar tent outside for the enthusiast. Full Schedules and Menus are posted on the website.
“This show has spawned many knock-offs all over the Country – but if the truth be known – we started here at The Fairgrounds ten years ago in one of the smaller buildings. We even had to postpone the first launch of the show because the Ravens were in the playoffs. To see where we’ve grown and to share it with all the fans is quite an honor.” explains the Festival Founder, Greg Nivens – a Baltimore resident. “We are looking forward to a great 10th Anniversary celebration!”
Guests can expect some fun exciting features this year:
- The Shrine of Swine is Back – but the whole hogs are always intriguing and new. Each hog is totally different and even tastes different.
- New Gaming Area – this includes Corn Hole, Tricycle Racing and Large Format Games
- All VIP Guests receive a FREE tote bag.
- Great Live Music is back with some new faces – Drymill Road, the 1974 Band, Super Bueno and GO-GO Gadget, round out the line-up.
- Fun crowd competitions will be featured on the Main Stage including the Stein Holding Competition, The Drink Like a Lady Contest, Baltimore’s Best Beer Belly, and Two Rounds of Bacon Eating.
General admission to the festival is $39 in advance / $45 on –site and includes admission into the event and a souvenir glass. VIP Saturday admission is SOLD OUT. The special Friday Night session is $49 per person. Designated Driver admission is also available for $29 and includes admission to the event. Kids 12 and under are free. For more information on purchasing tickets for the Beer, Bourbon & BBQ Festival, please visitwww.BeerAndBourbon.com or call 800-830-3976. There are thousands of free parking spaces on site, or take the light rail. Please drink responsibly and bring a designated driver.
The event will bring wine experts and industry leaders from around the country to discuss, taste, and celebrate Virginia’s wine and food culture. Panels, tastings and discussions will be held throughout this day-long event, featuring remarks by keynote speaker Jon Bonné, one of the leading American voices writing about wine today.
Bonné will be joined by some of the nation’s foremost and influential wine professionals, including:
- Andy Chabot, Sommelier and Director of Food & Beverage, Blackberry Farm (Walland, Tenn.)
- Belinda Chang, Director of Wine & Service, Maple & Ash (Chicago, Ill.)
- Julie Dalton, Sommelier, Wit & Wisdom Tavern (Baltimore, Md.)
- Fred Dexheimer, Master Sommelier (MS), Creator of Rx Wine Lab, POPUP Wine Bar (Durham, N.C.)
- Anthony Giglio, Wine writer and personality (New York, N.Y.)
- Helen Johannesen, Director of Operations and Wine Director, ANIMAL and Son of a Gun! (Los Angeles, Calif.)
- Jennifer Knowles, Sommelier and Wine & Beverage Director, The Jefferson Hotel and Plume Restaurant (Washington, D.C.)
- Richard Leahy, Wine consultant and author (Charlottesville, Va.)
- David Lynch, Contributing Editor, Bon Appetit and Owner & Wine Director, St. Vincent (San Francisco, Calif.)
- Jack Mason, MS, Wine Director, Marta (New York, N.Y.)
- Frank Morgan, Founder, Drink What You Like (Chesapeake, Va.)
- Kathy Morgan, MS, Beverage Consultant (Washington, D.C.)
- Andy Myers, MS, Wine Director, Think Food Group (Washington, D.C.)
- Erik Segelbaum: Advanced Sommelier and Regional Wine Director, STARR Restaurants (Washington, D.C.)
- Chris Tanghe, MS, Wine Portfolio Manager & Educator, Vinum Wine & Spirits Importing & Distributing (Seattle, Wash.)
- Neal Wavra, Founder & Sommelier, FABLE Hospitality and Riverstead (Marshall, Va.)
- Andy Wedge, Sommelier, Husk Nashville (Nashville, Tenn.)
- Jay Youmans, MS, Educational Director, Capital Wine School (Washington, D.C.)
These esteemed wine professionals will join some of the most talented Virginia winemakers to discuss the regional and vintage differentiations that are continuing to raise the profile of the Virginia wine industry. Experts will address an audience filled with restaurateurs, sommeliers, media, wine-shop owners, winemakers and other industry professionals.
The past few years have been an exciting time for Virginia wines, which have recently established a track record for being an outstanding example of the caliber of wines the East Coast can produce. In addition to being the nation’s fifth largest wine producer, Virginia has been recognized regularly as one of the country’s most promising emerging wine regions. The climate and soil of Virginia places its wines stylistically between the West Coast wine region and European neighbors to the east. Virginia wines tend to be fruit forward like West Coast wines, but also embody higher acidity and balance, similar to European wines.
Virginia Wine Summit attendees will enjoy a lunch celebrating the food and wine of Virginia, courtesy of the Salamander Resort & Spa, as well as remarks from keynote speaker Jon Bonné and panel discussions throughout the day.
The Virginia Wine Summit will be held on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 at the Salamander Resort & Spa in Middelburg. Tickets to the day-long event, priced at $225, are open to the public and include entry to the lunch and post-summit reception. To register for the event and for more information on panel topics, please visit www.virginiawinesummit.com.
Over the past month and a half, Washington City Paper readers have nominated their favorites in almost 300 categories ranging from “Best Restaurant When Someone Else Pays” to “Best Go-Go Band” to favorite “Marijuana Cultivation Supplier.” The results of this year’s poll will be revealed in the April 7th issue of the paper, with winners feted the night before at the annual Best of D.C. Celebration, taking place this year at the DC Armory (2001 E Capitol Street SE).
“The Best of D.C. issue is always one of our most popular issues,” says group publisher Eric Norwood. “We’re excited to toast all the winners at the celebration on April 6th and invite the public to join us!”
The 4th annual Best of D.C. Celebration will feature tastings from more than 50 restaurants, cocktails by the region’s best mixologists, live music on multiple stages and more! VIP ($100) and General Admission ($65) tickets for the cocktail affair are available for purchase online at http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/events/bestofdc. The VIP ticket includes an extra hour of tastings and entertainment (6pm entry), a VIP swag bag, access to the VIP lounge, and more. Ticket prices will go up on March 28th.
A portion of the proceeds from the Best of D.C. Celebration will go to benefit two worthwhile local organizations: Brainfood (http://brain-food.org/), which “uses food as a tool to build life skills with youth in a fun and creative setting,” and Words Beats & Life Inc. (http://www.wblinc.org/), which “harnesses the power of hip-hop to transform the lives of youth.” Sponsors for the 2016 Best of D.C. Celebration include presenting sponsor Events DC, as well as St. John’s Community Services, Palm, Schöfferhofer, Violet Boutique, DC Sustainable Energy Utility, DC Shorts, Anytime K9, and L’Alliance Française.
About the Washington City Paper Best Of D.C. Reader’s Poll
The first Washington City Paper Best Of issue hit newsstands in the mid-1980s, and was brought back as an annual feature in 2008. Write-in nominations for this year’s reader’s poll closed March 1st.
