Food

This Week’s Food Events: Oktoberfest, National Taco Day, Drinking at Whole Foods

Plus: Get your tickets now for Chefs for Equality and Capital Food Fight.

Virtue Feed & Grain celebrates Oktoberfest. Photograph by Kyle Gustafson.

Beer in an alley: It’s not as sketchy as it sounds. Virtue Feed & Grain is throwing down in the adjoining alley for Oktoberfest on Saturday from 11:30 to 9. Come for Sam Adams beer, stay for house-made sausages, sauerkraut, potato salad, oysters, and live music.

Oktoberfest traditions: Capitol City Brewing Company
celebrates its 13th annual
Oktoberfest at the
Shirlington Village location on Saturday from
noon to 7. Fifty-plus breweries are handing out four-ounce samples, and
there’ll be plenty of German food and music. Admission is free, but
you’ll probably want to join in the festivities—$25 gets you a tasting
glass and ten tickets, with additional tickets sold for $1 each.

Another restaurant week: National Harbor holds its Restaurant Week October 8 through 21, with three-course lunches for $20.12 and dinners for $35.12.

National Taco Day: Lime Fresh Mexican Grill is celebrating on Thursday with a deal: two original tacos, chips, and a soft drink for $5 at its Clarendon, Pentagon Row, and DC locations. Stay tuned for more deals.

Drink in Whole Foods: We got the exciting news two weeks ago that several DC and Virginia Whole Foods are launching in-store bars, and a number are having their grand-opening parties this week. Tenleytown starts celebrating on Thursday with happy hour giveaways from 4 to 7 and $3 mimosas on Saturday; Arlington is running a raffle on Thursday and giving away free beer mugs, as well as offering $1 off beers and wine. Check in with the locations for more details.

Get your tickets now:

Food Fight: There are still tickets left for the ninth annual Capital Food Fight on Monday, October 8, at the Ronald Reagan Building. You’ll find bites from tons of participating restaurants, and food-world celebs including Anthony Bourdain, Padma Lakshmi, and Andrew Zimmern take the stage to mediate and judge local battling chefs. Tickets ($200) benefit the DC Central Kitchen.

Chefs for Equality: On the eve of Maryland’s decision about the fate of marriage equality, the Human Rights Campaign and Washington Post columnist David Hagedorn have teamed up for a star-chef-studded fundraiser at the Ritz-Carlton Washington DC on Wednesday, October 24. In addition to the lineup of participating chefs and mixologists, there are “personal chef” tables for parties of eight, where duos such as Michel Richard and Bryan Voltaggio will cook a five-course meal for guests. Tickets start at $300, or $50 for an after-party at Graffiato. Proceeds benefit the Human Rights Campaign Political Action Committee’s fight for marriage equality in Maryland.

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.