The Weekly Feed: Open Bar for Doing Good Edition
RAMMY's All Around!
Sunday was the Restaurant Area of Metropolitan Washington's 25th annual RAMMY awards, the local dining scene's big gala event. 1,500 people packed the Marriott in Woodley Park, listened to speeches, clapped for the winners, danced like teenage hooligans, and probably drank more booze than they wanted to/were happy about the next day. But, why else would so many people get together in one place? Oh, the awards? Yeah, I'll get to them.
RAMW did up the room real nice, and—as one would expect—worked hard on the menu, all of which fit nicely with the events sponsors (surprise!). Chilean wines accompanied a salad of micro greens with baked oysters, pistachio crusted rack of lamb and barley, and cheesecake made with Icelandic skyr yogurt. The food was actually very good considering the volume at which it was prepared. All of the people at my table were satisfied—although most of them were press, and we all know journalists will eat anything.
You really want to know the winners, though, right? Well, the big winner of the night was Robert Egger of D.C. Central Kitchen, who won the Duke Zeibert Capital Achievement Award for his work with Washington's homeless community, and for making it possible for Washington's homeless community to work for themselves learning the trade of the food industry. His award was preceded by a tear jerking video tribute from Senator Hillary Clinton and other dignitaries praising Egger's work. Most touching, however, was the resounding applause he got from the dozen or so Central Kitchen staff in the room. Congratulations, Robert!
As far as the restaurant winners go, we'll give you the full list after the jump:
Image from James Calder.
2007 RAMMY Award Winners:
Fine Dining Restaurant: Cityzen
Informal Dining Restaurant: Tallula
Best New Restaurant: Rasika
Neighborhood Gathering Place: Sonoma Restaurant & Wine Bar
People's Favorite: Lebanese Taverna
Associate Member of the Year: Sustainable Iceland
Wine and Beverage Program: Restaurant Eve
Power Spot: Georgia Brown's
Hottest Bar Scene: Zaytinya
Manager of the Year: Ellen Kassoff Gray, Equinox
Restaurant Employee: David Voorhees, Waiter, 2941 Restaurant
Rising Culinary Star: Nathan Beauchamp, 1789
Pastry Chef: Huw Griffiths, Tabard Inn
Best Chef: Cathal Armstrong, Restaurant Eve.
We would have had this list to you earlier, but we've been busy eating every single meal at Lebanese Taverna. It's the people's choice after all, and DCist is nothing if not populist. Congratulations to all the winners!
You Won't Actually Have To Eat Brains
If you're itching to go to something a little more worthwhile than watching chefs win awards, mark you calendar for the evening of June 28th for the first annual Brainfood Grill-Off. The event will be hosted by Food Network star Marc Silverstein and will feature teams from Zaytinya, Café Atlantico, Zola, Jaleo, Butterfield 9, Matchbox, Equinox, Clyde's, Ruth's Chris, and Indigo landing. Think of the event as Iron Chef, but with outdoor grills.
Brainfood is a local youth development organization that uses food and cooking as tools to teach teenagers about healthy living and the proper way to use a mandoline. Plus, it gets kids off the streets in the afternoons and teaches them how to cook good food on a thin budget. In addition, just like all the cool kids, it has a blog!
The organization runs two after-school kitchens: one in Columbia Heights and another in Gallery Place, as well as a summer-long program that runs five days a week for six weeks. Graduating about 30 kids a year, Brainfood has a lot of room to expand, and attending the Grill-Off will help! Tickets for the event are only $75, and they include dinner, an open bar, and entertainment. Good food from good people is certainly worth that price, right? See you next Thursday!
Small Bites
More Beer Popsicles
Mmmmm, frozen beer. Despite the recent unpleasantness of Virginia's booze police, we have a (somewhat fuzzy) first hand account of Rustico's "hopsicles," courtesy of Counter Intelligence.
Where's Amy's Bathroom Rating?
DCFoodies go to Komi for the 18th time, and it's still awesome. Honestly, reading about the menu is practically killing me. Must. Eat. Now.
I Guess You See These Things When You Walk Around
DC Sidewalk Blog has a post up about the shenanigans Foggy Bottom's ANC commissioners are pulling on Tonic's second location. I'll give you three guesses on what about. Here's a clue: they're worried about G.W. students getting liquored up, as if that's not already happening.