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.