Night market: Start the week off by browsing through Zaytinya’s
Greek Easter night market,
which has its last day on
Monday from 6 to 10. You’ll find complimentary mezze, a special ouzo cocktail, and purchasable
products like Greek honey, olives, and oils.
French wine dinner: Head to 2941 on
Wednesday at 7 for a four-course dinner featuring old-vine
Pouilly Fuissé and Chassagne-Montrachet wines. Winemakers from both vineyards and
an importer answer questions and introduce the varietals, which are paired with dishes
from chef
Bertrand Chemel like lightly smoked and slow-cooked salmon with shaved potatoes and green garlic
($220 per person, all-inclusive).
Aquatic eating:
The National Aquarium in Washington hosts the first in a series of sustainable seafood dinners on
Wednesday at 6:30. You won’t be eating the cute little pufferfish from the exhibits; chef
Xavier Deshayes crafts a four-course meal and canapés around caviar and fish from the Atlantic Caviar
and Sturgeon Company. Tickets are $89 for the general public, and include a cocktail
hour and tour around the aquarium.
Organic wine dinner: Blue Duck Tavern’s
executive chef,
Sebastien Archambault, and chef de cuisine
John Melfi team up with winemaker Danielle Cyrot for a winemaker dinner on
Wednesday at 7:30. Hosted at the chef’s table, you’ll find four courses paired with wines from
Cyrot’s Cade Winery, an organically farmed Napa Valley vineyard. Reservations are
$175 per person.
Dine out for a cause: The national Dining Out for Life campaign returns
to Washington on
Thursday, with Food & Friends’ 17th annual fundraiser.
Make a reservation for lunch or dinner at one of the 40 restaurants participating through OpenTable, and anywhere between 25 and 110-percent of your bill will benefit
Food & Friends.
Free bagels!: Bruegger’s Bagels joins with the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals for a charitable fundraiser.
Download a coupon for three free bagels to be used on
Thursday at nearly every Bruegger’s location before 2 PM, and in exchange, bagel lovers are
encouraged to donate any amount to the children’s hospital effort.
Cookbook signing: Salt & Sundry at
Union Market hosts PBS television star
Pati Jinich as she signs copies of her new cookbook,
Pati’s Mexican Table. The signing starts at 1 on
Saturday, with copies of the book available at the shop.
Virginia wine festival: The annual Great Grapes Wine & Food Festival returns to
Reston on
Saturday and
Sunday from noon to 6. You’ll find vino from over 20 Virginia producers, live music, cooking
demos, and more. Tickets start at $27 for general admission.
Carpenter’s Cook Off: The 11th annual Carpenter’s Cook Off goes
down at the
Birchmere Music Hall on
Sunday, with over 20 restaurants like Hank’s Oyster Bar and Pork Barrel BBQ competing for best bites. Both ticket proceeds (starting at $50) and those from online
and live auctions benefit efforts for the homeless at Carpenter’s Shelter.
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.
