How Offal

In what could be described as either the rebirth of Fear Factor or Anthony Bourdain's dream come true, TasteDC.com -- that hard-hearted harbinger of haggis -- has organized the 1st Annual Unique and Unusual Food and Wine Festival. Scheduled for Wednesday, October 25 at the Women's National Democratic Club in Dupont Circle's Whittemore House, the festival will spotlight both rare ingredients and seldom seen animal parts that will make you moan with delight or squirm with disgust.

The TasteDC folks have lined up 13 area chefs to cook some interesting dishes, many of which are reminiscient of that Marlon Brando-Matthew Broderick movie, The Freshman. In the animals-you-don't-see-on-the-menu-everyday camp, Bryan Davis of Chef Bryan's Kitchen will prepare llama "sliders" and grilled crocodile tail, while James Phillips of the Fairmont Hotel's Juniper restaurant will try his hand at rattlesnake gumbo and wattleseed-crusted ostrich leg roast. So far, nothing you wouldn't see at Denver's Buckhorn Exchange -- or even at 2941, which often serves up game and other oddities.

But for those who enjoy glands, organs, and the like, Restaurant Kolumbia's Jamie Stachowski will prepare terrine de tête de veau (yes, veal face) and boudin rouge; Dan Wecker of the very excellent Elkridge Furnace Inn will make "nut-crusted sweetbreads" (in this context, we cannot safely assume that, by "nut-crusted," Wecker is referring to a mere crust of pistachios); and the Dupont Grille's Russel Cunningham will do "calf fries."

On the drinking front, Georgetown's Potomac Wines has helped TasteDC to pull together wines from Hungary, Georgia, Greece, Turkey, and Tasmania. For our part, we've had several decent pinot noirs from Tasmania and tasted some lovely Tojaki from Hungary, so these locales aren't as strange as they might initially sound. And recall that Georgia -- Edvard Shevardnadze's Georgia, not James Oglethorpe's Georgia -- is supposedly where wine-making first began.

Tickets to the dine-around festival cost $75 in advance or $90 at the door. Click here for more information or to buy tickets.

1st Annual Unique and Unusual Food and Wine Festival
The Whittemore House (Women's National Democratic Club)
1526 New Hampshire Avenue NW
Wednesday, October 25, 2006, 6:30-9 p.m.

Photo by flickr user illona and used under a Creative Commons license.