Chef Edward Lee of Succotash kicks off his new dinner series on Thursday. The ongoing event in the restaurant’s private dining room explores different themes of Southern cuisine. First, it’s all about vegetables. The meatless meal features dishes like miso-blackened eggplant and mushroom “barbecue.” It’s $115 if you’d like wine and cocktail pairings, and $85 without.
If you’re feeling especially carnivorous during March Madness season, head to The Partisan for Meat Madness on Thursday. The restaurant adjoining Red Apron Butcher serves a “charcuterie bracket” with 32 different options and flavors. Each selection is $4, so eat as many as you can. If you make it through the full bracket, you’ll be entered to win a butcher’s box of meats.
Bloomingdale’s Big Bear Cafe turns into a foodie paradise on Friday as it hosts a pop-up for Coconut Club. The forthcoming restaurant from Chopped star Adam Greenberg will serve Hawaiian and other island-inspired foods in the Union Market neighborhood. Get a preview of dishes like fried rice with Spam and Hawaiian-style ramen. And, of course, no luau is complete without drinks. Cotton & Reed will be in the house serving tiki-style cocktails.
Drink with a dose of history on Friday at the Museum of American History’s event Innovative Lives: How Women Shaped the Alcohol Industry. From colonial brewing to Prohibition to modern-day, the seminar delves into women’s roles in the alcohol business. Female-driven Denizens Brewing Co., Stoudts Brewing Co., and Wigle Whiskey make up a panel and offer tastings after.
The luck of the Irish is on your side for eating and drinking this St. Patrick’s Day (Saturday). Start the morning off at The Dubliner , which pours $0.44 Guinness pints from 9 to 10 AM with live music all day. Also for early risers and drinkers, there’s a themed brunch at Brookland’s Finest with dishes like bangers and mash, corned beef sliders, and Bailey’s Irish Cream cheesecake. Later in the day, head to District Distilling, which will have two minty cocktails on the menu made with their new creme de menthe small-batch liquor.
Saturday’s cooking demo at the Museum of American History celebrates the 300th anniversary of New Orleans. Host chef Alon Shaya of the lauded Shaya in NOLA prepares modern Israeli cuisine from his book Shaya: An Odyssey of Food, My Journey Back to Israel. After the demo and talk he’ll stick around to sign copies of the book.
As part of the Environmental Film Festival come out and see Wasted! The Story of Food Waste screening on Saturday. Produced by Anthony Bourdain, the film looks at how food waste impacts our environment and what chefs are doing to combat it. Other food-related films on the chocolate industry and organic farming will screen throughout the festival.
And heading into the week…
It’s women-only behind the bar at Monday’s Speed Rack, an all-female bartending competition. Mixologists will go head-to-head in timed and judged competitions to find out who’s Miss Speed Rack of the Mid-Atlantic. The best part? It’s all for a good cause – the whole night raises money to fight breast cancer.
Forget the Cherry Blossom Festival–it’s Sherry Blossom Festival season at Estadio. Kick off the weeks-long event on Tuesday at an opening party complete with sherry flights, sherry cocktails, and huge porrons (boozy pitchers). The festivities continue through April 15, so head back to the restaurant for classes, tastings, and special dinners.
Mimi Montgomery joined Washingtonian in 2018. She’s written for The Washington Post, Garden & Gun, Outside Magazine, Washington City Paper, DCist, and PoPVille. Originally from North Carolina, she now lives in Del Ray.
