Monday, September 13
It’s time to re-mind your manner at the Caucus Room with tonight’s “Dining Etiquette 101: Put Your Best Fork Forward”—a three-course dinner and proper-conduct crash course in one. During the meal, guests learn toasting and hosting techniques, napkin etiquette, and many other social graces from certified manners guru Alexandra Kovach. The event, which starts at 6:30, is $125 per person (inclusive of wine, tax, and gratuity). For reservations and information, call 202-393-1300.
Tuesday, September 14
Robert Meltzer, sous chef of Zola and Zola Wine & Kitchen, is teaching a nontraditional burger-and-fries cooking class. Participants will fashion patties from lamb, salmon, tuna, and turkey, and fry up potatoes in non-frites fashion before dining on the final product. The class begins at 6:30 and is $65 per person. Click here for reservations.
Wednesday, September 15
Againn, the British Isles gastropub in downtown DC, has our vote for some of the best cocktails in town. Tonight, an interactive cocktail class with mixologist J.P. Caceres covers classic and modern cocktails as well as the history and preparation of five popular drinks from across the world (including one DC signature drink). The event, which starts at 6:30, is $35 per person (including tax and gratuity), and you’ll get to taste all of Caceres’s inventions. Call 202-639-9830 for reservations.
For those who like to pair their cheese with more cheese, Palette at the Madison Hotel is hosting a tasting with American Cheeses: The Best Regional, Artisan, and Farmhouse Cheeses: Who Makes Them and Where to Find Them author Clark Wolf. The tasting is combined with a four-course artisanal-cheese dinner by chef Arnel Esposo with local produce and beverage pairings. $60; 6:30. For reservations, call 202-587-2653.
Thursday, September 16
Tonight at Occidental Grill & Seafood, Jeff “Beachbum” Berry will tell the tale of the international mixologist of mystery “Joe the Bartender,” creator of the Suffering Bastard and other strong sips. Far from suffering, Joe traveled the world from the 1930s through the 1960s, serving legions of foreign dignitaries and surviving imprisonment and exile. Click here for tickets ($45 in advance, $50 at the door), which include spy-inspired cocktails from Berry and nibbles from Occidental chef Rodney Scruggs. 7 to 8:30.
Oenophiles can pick up the basics of French wine with Charlie Adler, president of TasteDC and author of I Drink on the Job: A Refreshing Perspective on Wine. He’s leading a tasting of eight wines from well-known regions such as Bordeaux, Burgundy, and the Loire Valley. Cheese will be served in between sips. The event, held at the Hilton Washington Embassy Row from 7 to 9, is $65; click here for tickets.
Friday, September 17
Get your Greek on at the Sts. Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church (16th and Upshur sts., NW) festival, which runs through Sunday. Now in its 50th year, there’ll be an array of homemade Greek sweet and savory delicacies as well as Greek beers, wines, and coffees. Come for the spanakopita, stay for the music, dancing, and marketplace browsing. Friday and Saturday noon to 9:30, Sunday noon to 8. Call 202-829-2910 for more information. No cover charge.
Saturday, September 18
The annual H Street Festival is happening from noon to 6 today on the 800 to 1300 blocks, and there are lots of eating opportunities. Kids can grab free cotton candy and popcorn, while adults can nosh on festival food from across the world or check out H Street favorites such as Granville Moore’s and the Argonaut. Wandering through live concerts, fashion shows, a pie-eating contest, and a tattoo competition (just to name a few distractions) are bound to induce an appetite.
Cork Market & Tasting Room is holding the first of a four-part series on wine fundamentals today. Learn about different grape varieties, wine regions, and tasting basics. The class runs from 2 to 3:30 and costs $45 per person. For details and reservations, click here.
Sunday, September 19
Diane Hennessy King, an author and editor, is holding a how-to-write-a-cookbook class at Moorenko’s ice-cream shop in Silver Spring from 3 to 5. Participants should bring a book idea, a favorite recipe, and a notebook and can try Moorenko’s local, artisanal ice cream while scribbling away. $20 for Slow Food members, $23 for nonmembers. For more information and for reservations, click here.
Share Our Strength’s Great American Dine Out starts today. Through September 25, hundreds of area restaurants are donating a portion of their proceeds to Share Our Strength, an organization committed to alleviating childhood hunger in America. Click here to find participating restaurants.
Subscribe to Washingtonian
Follow Washingtonian on Twitter
Follow the Best Bites Bloggers on Twitter at twitter.com/bestbitesblog
More>> Best Bites Blog | Food & Dining | Restaurant Finder
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.
