Food

Here’s What You’ll Eat and Drink at a $3,500 Dinner

The Grill Room hosts a tasting of some of the world’s rarest wines.

Taste some of the world’s rarest wines at a $3,500 dinner. Photograph courtesy of the Capella Hotel.

And here we thought the Capella’s $22 barrel-aged Manhattan was a splurge. The Grill Room within the swanky Georgetown hotel plans to pour some of the rarest wines in the world during a dinner on March 15, available to the first 20 guests who make reservations. The price tag for the event: $3,500 per person, which includes the wine tasting and five-course meal, overnight accommodations at the Capella, private airport transportation, and more.

The “once-in-a lifetime wine tasting,” led by master sommelier Emmanuel Kemiji, features 20 rare bottles, such as a 2005 Château Lafite Rothschild, a Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 (listed on eBay at the low price of $5,000), and a 2005 Château Petrus. Chef Jakob Esko has planned a five-course menu with additional pairings and luxurious dishes like slow-cooked duck with foie gras and diver-scallop carpaccio with watermelon caviar. Should you still have room, the reservation includes a meal the next morning; we like the sound of capping off a $3,500 stay with some of Jamie Stachowski’s meats for the “sausage and rye” brunch.

Those with a little extra pocket change and a taste for rare wines can call Elisabeth Thomas at 202-617-2400, or e-mail elisabeth.thomas@capellahotels.com to reserve a space.

Food Editor

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.