Happy St. Patrick’s Day week! We like to eat corned beef (from such spots as Corned Beef King and Balducci’s) all the time, but if you’re a once-a-year sort of salt-cured-meat consumer, here’s a list of local spots serving it up on the 17th. Oh, and if you’d rather cook, try this recipe for Restaurant Eve’s Irish sandwich.
Oyamel’s tequila and mezcal festival enters week two, and the focus over the next seven days will be on tequila, with gratis tastings at the bar today through Thursday (4 to 6 PM), and a number of prix-fixe dinners with special guests like Mark Drew from Herradura Tequila. Visit the event website or call 202-628-1005 for reservations.
Be sure to check out our roundup of National Cherry Blossom Festival eats and drinks around town. There are Old Fashioneds with rum-infused cherries at Art and Soul, cherry-chocolate bread pudding at Founding Farmers, and countless other cherry-themed treats.
As of now there are still three spots left at Ripple’s winemaker dinner tonight ($90 per person, inclusive). Chef Logan Cox will team up with Jean-Marc Espinasse from Domaine Rouge-Bleu for a five-course paired meal. Call 202-244-7995 to reserve.
Assaggi Mozzarella Bar in Bethesda hosts a six-course meal that accompanies pours from St. Pauls Winery of Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy, on Wednesday at 7 PM. The lineup includes baked razor clams with Sauvignon Blanc 2010, chestnut-speck risotto and Pinot Nero 2009, and duck with apple mousse paired with Lagrein 2009 ($100 per person, inclusive). Both chef-owner Domenico Cornacchia and winemaker Paolo Bressan will be on hand, so come hungry and with questions. Call 301-951-1988 to reserve a space.
Author Frances Mayes, the writer behind the series of Tuscan-based books such as Under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany, is signing copies of her latest work, The Tuscan Sun Cookbook, at the Williams-Sonoma Mazza Gallerie on Thursday at 6. According to the event page you’ll have to purchase the book from Williams-Sonoma to have it signed, but if you like the sound of fried zucchini blossoms, chicken under a brick, and folded fruit tart with mascarpone, it should be a worthy buy.
We got an early taste of Port City Brewing Company’s newest beer, the oyster-infused Revival Stout, and now you can too at a pre-release party at BlackJack on Saturday from 2 to 4. Tickets ($64.50) can be purchased online.
Still hungry for oysters? Say goodbye to your St. Patrick’s day hangover at 3 Bar & Grill in Arlington, which just started a Sunday afternoon local oyster and beer happy hour from 5 to 9 PM. Specials include $8 platters of a half dozen chilled bivalves or oysters Rockefeller, $7 oyster shooters, $3 Bud, Bud Light, and Millers, and more.
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.
