Monday, June 13
The Environmental Film Festival is holding a reception and screening for the Tree of Life, a Terrence Malick-produced film starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. The even starts at 6 PM Co Co. Sala, where there'll be beer and wine as well as passed hors d'oeuvres, such as spicy adobo chicken, braised-artichoke-and-red-pepper cones with cilantro cream, and crispy Kalamata-olive-and-feta fritters with chipotle-chocolate dipping sauce. The screening starts at 7:30 at E Street Cinema, where there’ll be beverages and snacks for sale. Reservations are $50 and available through the Web site or by calling 202-342-2564.
Tuesday, June 14
Eatonville is celebrating Caribbean Heritage Month all week with island-themed specials and drinks (check the Web site for menu updates). Tonight, there’s a special three-course dinner prepared by visiting chef Oji Ashebre Jaja of Kingston, Jamaica. The evening begins at 6:30 with passed hors d’oeuvres and a Caribbean cocktail, followed by jerk-chicken salad over pan-seared polenta with cho-cho cabbage slaw; grilled salmon on coconut-and-sweet-potato mash with mango-pineapple relish; and orange-coconut bread pudding with sorrel reduction and coffee-rum cream. Dr. Claire Nelson, founder of the Institute of Caribbean Studies, and Doreen Thompson, founder of the Caribbean Food Alliance, will discuss stories, folklore, and the history surrounding food in the Caribbean. Tickets ($57.60 per person, including tax and gratuity) can be purchased online. Visit the event Web site for more information on the menu, chef, and guest speakers.
Thunder Burger & Bar in Georgetown is commemorating its one-year anniversary with half-price burgers, including game-based patties, with such meats as elk, boar, and bison (see the menu here). To wash it down, there’ll be 23 beers for $5 or less. Call 202-333-2888 for more details.
Wednesday, June 15
Belgian brews are the theme at Et Voila! today through Sunday during the restaurant’s first Belgian-beer festival. There are several ways to sample the beers, including a daily happy hour from 5 to 7 with $4 beers and complimentary tastings. During regular hours, there’ll be $15 flights of small-batch brews such as Straffe Hendrik Brugse Tripel Ale, Grimbergen Blonde Ale, and Kasteel Rouge; and beer-infused dishes such as Hoegaarden ice cream. The festival starts tonight with a five-course beer-and-food dinner ($65 per person) from 5 to 7 with such dishes as Grimbergen-poached halibut with basmati rice; grilled beef tenderloin served with Carolus bordelaise and potatoes au gratin made with Chimay cheese; and a beer float with Deus sorbet and Kasteel Red. Call 202-237-2300 for reservations, and check out the Web site for more details.
Thursday, June 16
Amy Riolo is leading a cooking class at Sur La Table in Arlington on foods of the Greek isles. The hands-on instruction from 6:30 to 8:30 covers techniques such as how to stuff calamari and properly roast fish. Recipes include basil-feta-and-watermelon kebabs; stuffed calamari; plaki-style roasted fish with orzo; and poached figs with yogurt pudding. Click here to register online ($79 per person) or call 800-243-0852.
Friday, June 17
The International Wine & Food Festival kicks off with an outdoor urban farm dinner at the International Trade Center’s Woodrow Wilson Plaza, starting with a reception at 6:30. Each of the participating chefs—Zentan’s Jaime Montes de Oca Jr., Todd Gray of Equinox and Watershed, the Trade Center’s Xavier Deshayes, and Amy Brandwein of Casa Nonna—will contribute a canapé and a course. Dishes include Brandwein’s sweet-pea arancini; blue-crab-and-potato croquettes with Dijon foam from Deshayes, and Gray’s Riesling-poached market chicken with morel agnolotti and charred asparagus. Click here for tickets ($120). Visit the festival’s Web site for a full menu and schedule of events.
Few things start off the weekend better than beer, bourbon, and barbecue, and you can find all three at National Harbor during a two-day festival. There are spaces available for tonight’s VIP “whole hog session” from 6 to 10. For $65, guests get a pulled-pork dinner with all the fixings, unlimited bourbon and beer tastings, access to a VIP tent that has samplings of bacon and more brews, and access to a rare-bourbon-tasting table. Click here for tickets and here to learn more about the festivities.
West End Cinema is screening Farmegeddon: The Unseen War on American Family Farms, and guests get more than a movie and popcorn. Starting at 6, chef Pedro Matamoros of Silver Spring’s 8407 Kitchen Bar is hosting a reception on the cinema’s patio with dishes such as local-duck terrine with crostini, rabbit-and-truffle rillettes, and smoked-salmon crostini with crème fraîche. After the movie premiere, which begins at 7, there’s a Q&A and panel discussion with filmmaker Kristin Canty and a number of panelists, including Liz Reitzig, an activist featured in the film, and Matt Rales, a former intern at Polyface Farm who raises rabbits in Potomac. For tickets ($33 per person), click here. Visit the film’s Web site for more information.
Saturday, June 18
Treat Dad to a barbecue cooking class for Father’s Day at Acadiana. From 1 to 3, guests will learn get tips for dishes such as grilled ricotta salata, cowboy steak, roasted pig, grilled veggies, and sauces. After the demonstration, there’s a sit-down lunch with unlimited beer and wine as well as gift bags with a jar of house-made barbecue sauce and other goodies. For reservations ($75), call Jillian Zins at 202-408-0201 or email her at jillian@passionfoodhospitality.com.
Catoctin Creek Distilling in Purcellville is hosting an all-day seminar and workshop that covers fundamentals of craft distilling. Owners Scott and Becky Harris will cover key topics such as mashing, fermentation, storage, bottling, and the business of running a distillery. Students will also join in a distillation of rye whiskey. During the session, which lasts from 10 to 4, a breakfast and light lunch will be provided, and there’s a tasting at Magnolia’s at the Mill after the seminar. For reservations for the 30-person class ($150 per person), click here. Visit the Web site for more information.
Sunday, June 19
Happy Father’s Day! Check out our listing of tasty brunch and dinner specials around Washington.
Vermilion chef Tony Chittum and the Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture are hosting an outdoor dinner at Woodlawn in Alexandria, a property once owned by George Washington that’s also home to the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Pope-Leighey House. Start off at 4 PM with Horton sparkling Viognier and canapés such as oyster crudo with pickled-rhubarb mignonette and crispy cannelloni of ricotta and wild nettles. Following a tour of the grounds, there’ll be a four-course dinner featuring produce from nearby farms as well as a selection of local wines. Dishes include summer-squash-and-chicory salad with warm ham vinaigrette and deviled eggs; a trio of house-made sausages; and rotisserie lamb with grilled flatbread (see a full menu with wine pairings here). For tickets ($150), click here.
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Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
