Industry night: Brabo chef Harper McClure launches an “old-school industry night” on Monday in the Alexandria restaurant’s tasting room. Starting at 10, the chef becomes a deejay and spins house music from the past decade, and the bar serves $5 punches and glasses of wine, $3 beers, and $10 pots of mussels. The series will continue on the third Monday of every month.
TrummerFest: Trummer’s on Main starts Oktoberfest celebrations on Tuesday (through October 30), thanks to its Austrian owner. A no-reservations, pop-up tavern will run Tuesday through Thursday from 5:30 to 9, with a menu of dishes such as braised beef stew with cheese spaetzle, house-made beer sausage, and apple cake.
Harvest dinner: Equinox launches a series of seasonal dinners on Thursday. Guests gather at 7 for a reception on the patio with grilled oysters and sausages, followed by a family-style dinner with beer pairings and dishes like she-crab chowder and roast chicken with corn fritters. The event is $45 per person.
Barrrr party: Heavy Seas Alehouse in Arlington embraces Talk Like a Pirate Day on Friday with specials and deals starting at 11. Guests can score pirate-themed swag, eat pirate-inspired foods (apparently the scourge of the high seas favored turkey legs), and help Heavy Seas break a Guiness Book of World Records award for the largest number of casks tapped at the same time. A number of bars around the country will be tapping Loose Cannon IPA, a new cask ale, at 6 sharp.
Wiener world: The third annual Dachshund Dash goes down on Saturday from 1 to 4 at the Ronald Reagan Building, and wieners of both the dog and sausage varieties abound. The costumed-pup race will be shown on a jumbo screen, while two-legged participants can drink Oktoberfest beers, eat sausages, listen to live music, and more. Partial proceeds benefit the Washington Humane Society.
H Street Festival: One of the most rockin’ neighborhood parties happens on Saturday as the H Street Festival returns to the Atlas District. Entertainment comes in the form of live music, dancing, and both pie- and burrito-eating competitions, while you’ll find plenty of street eats from stands set up by local restaurants as well as specials inside.
Chee-heese: This isn’t your average cubed-cheese reception. Marvin hosts a Grilled Cheese Social on Saturday from 1 to 8. Stop by for specialty cocktails, tunes from DJ Jerome Baker, and, of course, sandwiches such as the Pit with mac and cheese and pulled barbecue chicken, or classic griddled cheddar, Swiss, and Jack. Admission is free.
Swanky roast: The Park Hyatt Master of Food & Wine event for fall is an appropriately swanky affair on Saturday at 6. Guests gather on Blue Duck Tavern’s outdoor patio for roast pig and whole fish, braised meats, seasonal salads, Boxwood wines, and local craft brews. Tickets are $165 per person, all-inclusive.
The Festicle: It’s here. Chef Spike Mendelsohn’s testacular event rolls into town on Sunday from 11 to 9 at the Bullpen. In the mix: a Top Chef-style lamb testicle cookoff, carnivalesque eats, live music, and more. Tickets are $15 to $25.
A musical evening: The FreshFarm Markets offer the big-ticket event of the week: a Sunday evening that combines a concert with famed composer Philip Glass and acclaimed violinist Tim Fain, and a small dinner after with the duo after at Proof (vegetarian, to honor Glass). Tickets are $500, or $125 for the concert only.
Seasonal rockstars: An all-star lineup of local chefs, including Woodberry Kitchen’s Spike Gjerde and Ian Boden of the award-winning Shack in Staunton, Virginia, join host toque RJ Cooper at Gypsy Soul on Sunday for the From Farm to Fork dinner. The meal—and seasonally inspired cocktails—begins at 6, with proceeds from ticket sales ($200 per person) benefiting the nonprofit Future Harvest CASA.
Find Anna Spiegel on Twitter at @annaspiegs.
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.
