Proof server Annie Satsanapuckdee offers up the tarragon-flavored gin fizzes created by Central bartender Justin Guthrie.

There’s a holiday for just about everything these days. There’s Bunson Burner Day (March 31), National Hugging Day (January 21) and—fittingly— Make Up Your Own Holiday Day (March 26). Now there’s one to really say cheers to— World Cocktail Day. And raise your glass, because it’s today.

World Cocktail Day celebrates the first known instance of the use of the word “cocktail,” which was May 13, 1806 in the Balance, a New York newspaper. To celebrate the holiday, Penn Quarter wine bar Proof hosted a dinner last night that featured cocktails from some of the area’s most creative bartenders, including their own Sebastian Zutant, plus Derek Brown of Komi, and Gina Chersevani of EatBar. Read on for the best moments of the night.

Reason for the buzz: The dinner was a fundraiser for the Museum of the American Cocktail, which opens a permanent exhibit this July in New Orleans. 

A very happy hour: The evening kicked off with a cocktail hour that featured five specialty cocktails created just for the event. The drinks included Lady Randolph’s Revenge, a reinvented Manhattan, by John Hogan of Hudson, and the Zenzero Apertivo, a sparkling wine based drink with limoncello, ginger, and absinthe, by Chantal Tseng of the Tabard Inn.

Drink that could be the official cocktail of Ghostbusters: The Tarragon Gin Fizz by Central Michel Richard’s Justin Guthrie that was served during cocktail hour. The neon-green colored drink— Hendrick’s Gin infused with tarragon and lemon juice, then topped off with a tarragon soda that made it the color of Slimer—was far more delicious than the Green Ghost.

If you haven’t checked out the glitzy National Harbor in Prince George’s County, head over to the new riverfront complex this weekend. On Saturday, May 17 and Sunday, May 18, the inaugural Food & Wine Festival at National Harbor offers a lineup of lectures, demos, and tastings studded with local and national big-name chefs. (The Washingtonian is one of the event’s sponsors).

Michel Richard of Citronelle and Central is kicking off the festival on Saturday at noon with a demo from his glossy cookbook, Happy in the Kitchen. Stick around for a lecture on spices from Suvir Saran of Manhattan’s haute-Indian restaurant, Devi,  and a dessert demo from local pastry chef David Guas, formerly of Ceiba and Acadiana (mmm...dulce de leche cheesecake...we hope there are samples).
 

The Clover coffeemaker at Old Town’s Grape + Bean brews one cup at a time. It can be programmed according to type of coffee bean, cup size, and other variables. Photograph by Stacy Zarin-Goldberg.

David Gwathmey points with pride to the pine floors and original beams of his Alexandria coffee shop—the building dates from the 1800s. They were freed from layers of linoleum and wallpaper when he and his wife, Sheera Rosenfeld, opened Grape + Bean (118 S. Royal St.; 703-664-0214) in February.

The Old World atmosphere is balanced by Gwathmey’s other source of pride: a high-tech brewer called the Clover. The one-cup gizmo, which cost $11,000, is programmed according to cup size, brew time, and water temperature to maximize the flavor and clarity of every bean or blend.

“As with chocolate, breads, and other specialty products, people will pay a premium for more flavor,” says Gwathmey, who charges up to $3.75 for a Clover-brewed cup.

Gwathmey’s shop is creating a buzz among connoisseurs who can taste the difference between an herbal Ethiopian bean and a citrusy South American blend. But Gwathmey isn’t alone. In fact, two of the best sources for high-quality beans in the area are Alexandria neighbors of his:

Old Town Coffee Tea & Spice (215 S. Union St.; 703-683-0856), near the river, has been around almost 30 years. Teapots, cozies, French presses, and coffee paraphernalia pack shelves. Bean fiends gravitate to owner Frank Poland’s 20 or so varieties of coffee—plus more than 200 loose-leaf teas. Beans from Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, with the unusual flavor profiles of prized single-origin beans, are the pick of serious home brewers.

On March 14, 2006, Nisha Sidhu made her pitch to longtime friend Bharet Malhotra. She wanted to open a chocolate lounge—and wanted him to sign on as her business partner. Sidhu would bring the dessert skills—she had completed L’Academie de Cuisine’s pastry-arts program and worked as special-events pastry chef and chocolatier at 2941 in Falls Church—and Malhotra, a vice president of sales at a software company who has lived all over the world, would provide the business savvy.

More than two years later, their chocolate-focused lounge and restaurant, Co Co. Sala, opened last Friday in DC’s Penn Quarter. How does Malhotra remember the exact date when the chocolatey plan was hatched? He laughs: “It happened at my birthday brunch.”

•Chef Richard Sandoval, owner of Penn Quarter’s Latin/Asian Zengo and a dozen other restaurants nationwide, opened his second local spot this week at Tysons Corner Center. The Mexican La Sandia, which has a twin restaurant in Denver, offers more traditional flavors than Zengo, but the colorful dining room tries to bring some swank to the mall location. A festive opening party last weekend featured a mariachi band and a neverending parade of tasty margaritas, strawberry agua frescas, pork carnitas, and tiny fish tacos. At the end of the night, Sandoval and his business partner, celebrated tenor Placido Domingo, made an appearance.

Next weekend, some of the nation’s keenest beer aficionados will be in DC. The occasion? Savor: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience. Forty-eight breweries from across the country will take part in the controlled bacchanal celebrating the art and science of pairing good beer with good cuisine. Guests will be treated to a reception of 35 food tastings, each with a suggested beer pairing. Representatives from breweries will be on hand to give seminars and talk up their favorite pints.

Every brewery that comes will be bringing one or two craft beers, each to be paired with the appetizers (supplied by Federal City Caterers). Some of the most interesting pairing ideas include Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout with crostini of figs and prosciutto (Foothills Brewing Co., North Carolina), Liquid Sunshine Blonde Ale with steamed Thai turkey dumplings (Hoppy Brewing Co., California), and a Tartanic Scottish Ale with crème brûlée (Blackfoot River Brewing Co., Montana).

Only eight chefs remain on this season of Top Chef, yet it could be 800, considering the amount of ego still left in the house. As the show opens, Antonia muses about the gender equality, saying, “This is the first time four women have made it this far.” Immediately, we know a woman is going home tonight.

The chefs file into the Top Chef kitchen and don’t seem surprised to find Padma and Tom together, his bald pate shining somewhere near the vicinity of her armpit. “Aw, they know,” he mutters. Yes, even we the viewers know. If Tom is in the kitchen for the Quickfire Challenge, it can mean only one thing: Mise en place relay race! (It scares us that our brain cells store this type of information.)