JAC13

Kat, I would be so grateful if you shared this! Thank you so very much, and it DOES take a village! Please let me know if I can pass along any more information that would be helpful. Thanks again! Jaime

Hi All, After taking a couple years off, Lolly's Locks, a local nonprofit that provides high-quality wigs to cancer patients in need, is hoping to revive our Night of Food concept at this spring's gala on Thursday, May 3rd due to overwhelming demand. As in years past, we are hoping to assemble some of the DC area's most well-regarded chefs and restaurants to participate in our event by running stations that feature light bites of their food, or by providing such bites to be passed by our catering staff. It is our great hope that we are able to assemble 4-6 restaurants that might be able to come out and be a part of this year's festivities, which will be held at the Carnegie Institution for Science. The pertinent logistics for the evening include the following: Each chef is being asked to prepare 300-400 bites of food to either be served at a station run by the chef/restaurant, or to be passed by our catering staff; The event runs from 7:00 -11:00 pm on Thursday, May 3rd; We will be providing cocktail napkins, plates, and silver; Each chef/restaurant with a station will have his or her own 8 ft. table and access to power; All chefs will have access to the venue prep kitchen, but no live, open-flame cooking is permitted at any of the stations We ask that the stations remain up and running from 7:00 pm until at least 10:00 pm. All participating chefs/restaurants will be mentioned in all press releases surrounding the event, heavily promoted in social media postings, and will have their name/logo listed on our website and all other promotional materials surrounding the event Thank you so much for considering! Please feel free to pass along! Jaime Jaime Wright Executive Director, Lolly's Locks lollyslocks.org Phone: (240) 428-1984 Cell: (202) 550-8066 DC 2018 Flyer (1).pdf

Hi All, It has been a long since I posted on DonRockwell.com, but I have long been a reader of this great blog. My husband, Matt Wright, has been in the industry for years, and I either directly or indirectly know many of you. For those that don't know me, allow me to introduce myself: My name is Jaime Wright, and I am the founder and Executive Director of Lolly's Locks, a 501©(3) nonprofit organization committed to connecting cancer patients in need with high-quality wigs. Lolly's Locks was inspired by my mom, Lolly, who lost her 15-month battle with ovarian cancer in March 2012 at the age of 57. Before she lost her fight and in anticipation of losing her hair, she went to buy a wig and was shocked and appealed by how expensive it was and how little insurance covered. She vowed then, that when she recovered, she would start a charity to help other, less fortunate women purchase the kind of high-quality wigs that she felt so lucky to be able to afford "“ the kind of wigs that helped her feel more "normal" during that painful period. Unfortunately, she did not live to fulfill her promise, but my family founded Lolly's Locks to honor her wish of connecting cancer patients with high-quality wigs. I left my job as an attorney to run the organization full time two summers ago. I am proud to say that just over two years into its mission, Lolly's Locks has connected over 280 women in 42 states with wigs, and that number continues to grow daily. Lolly's Locks has also started to garner some real attention, enjoying both local news coverage and national press in the Huffington Post and MariaShriver.com. To that end, I am excited to announce that Lolly's Locks will be hosting its 3rd Annual Evening of Food, Fashion and Inspiration on March 26th at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. The event, which will be emceed by Cokie Roberts of NPR and ABC, will debut a "wig-centric" fashion show sponsored by Bloomingdale's. With our 400+ expected attendees, it promises to be a beautiful evening that will raise much-needed funds to ensure that we never have to turn away a worthy recipient. As in years past, we are hoping to assemble some of DC's most well-regarded chefs and restaurants to participate in our event by running stations that feature light bites of their food, or by providing such bites to be passed by our catering staff. Thus far, we have an impressive group of chefs assembled. Confirmed chefs include Chef Victor Albisu of Del Campo and Taco Bamba, and Chef Tiffany Macisaac. I have received a tentative yes from a few other of DC's finest, but I am concerned as I don't have firm commitments and we needed to go to print with our invite days ago. The pertinent logistics for the evening include the following: Each chef is being asked to prepare 300-400 bites of food to either be served at a station run by the chef/restaurant, or to be passed by our catering staff; The event runs from 6:30-9:30 pm on Thursday, March 26th; Official load-in begins at 3 pm, and we ask that all chefs or someone from their team arrive by no later than 5:15 pm to begin set-up of their stations or to drop off their food; We will be providing cocktail napkins, plates, and silver; Each chef/restaurant with a station will have his or her own 8 ft. table and access to power; All chefs will have access to the venue prep kitchen, but no live, open-flame cooking is permitted at any of the stations We ask that the stations remain up and running throughout the entirety of the events. All participating chefs/restaurants will be mentioned in all press releases surrounding the event, promoted in social media postings, and will have their name/logo listed on our website. If you or a chef you know would be able to be a part of this very special event, we would be so very grateful. I thank you for taking the time to read about Lolly's Locks and for your consideration. If you have any questions about the organization, please feel free to contact me, Executive Director, Jaime Wright, anytime. I can be reached by email at jaime@lollyslocks.org, or via phone at (240) 428-1984. THANKS AGAIN! Jaime

Astrid, that is exactly how I make them with one difference- I fill the dates a few hours (or even a night) in advance and then store them in the freezer until I am ready to bake them. I do this because I have found that the they need to be put in an extremely hot over to melt the right way, and if they aren't frozen first, all the filling runs out. Have you had this issue or am I nuts?

My family is hosting a joint graduation celebration for me and my fiance at Famoso in Chevy Chase. The room is very pretty in a sophisticated way, the food is solid if not amazing, and the manager (owner?) is wonderful to work with.Another plus- a parking lot for your guests. I know it is not exactly in Bethesda or the Palisades neighborhood, but I thought it may be close enough.

I grew up in Ft. Lauderdale, and though I don't go back as often as I would like, some are my favorites are below: Cafe Martarano: My family discovered this tiny hole-in-the-wall 15+ years ago and it has since expanded and turned into quite a scene, complete w/the chef spinning music, its own bottled sauces, and celebrity hangout. The scene-y-ness is really not my thing but if the down-home Italian food is half as good as I remember, it is so worth it. Anthony's Runway 84: old-school Italian; I have no idea if this is still any good but I remember it was a dining fixture some years ago. Chicken Kitchen: much smaller chicken chain that pollo tropical that I was addicted to when I lived down south LaSpada's subs: a few minutes outside downtown Ft. Lauderdale in Davie, this place makes the best subs I have ever had- blows Italian Store out of the water IMHO. Flakowitz Deli: This is just a little north of Ft . Lauderdale in Delray but ooooo so worth it- one of my all-time favorite delis of all time. Sundy House: amazing, romantic brunch spot also in Delray. La Bonne Crepe: on Las Olas, this is another favorite breakfast/brunch spot.

Zaytinya, despite the long waits and sometimes spotty service, has long been a favorite of mine. I find the food to be consistently good and I can always try something new. Tonight I found another reason to keep it in my rotation. Just to give some background: I have been recently diagnosed with food allergies (all nuts, soym stone fruits etc...) and I am finding it very difficult to navigate the menus of restaurants that I have been eating at for years. To make matters worse, many restaurants and the servers they employ are fairly clueless about these allergies and thus, have trouble steering me towards what I can and can't eat. While I completely understand this lack of knowledge (I was once a clueless non-allergic server myself), it has become very frustrating and unnerving to eat out. I had been told by someone not too long ago that Zaytinya was very allergy friendly so I asked if they had an allergy friendly menu. I was pleasantly surprised when the hostess not only told me they did but asked me what my allergies were since they actually had several menus geered toward people with all types of dietary restrictions. I was further impressed with my server (Joel), who seemed genuinely concerned about my safety and my ability to relax and enjoy my meal- he asked me several questions up front about what I could and couldn't have and was very willing to work with me and the kitchen to modify items on the regular menu if possible. He double checked with the kitchen on everything and asked about allergies to any foods that could possibly be questionable (sesame in tahini, for instance). Tonight was the first time in months that I have been able to truly enjoy my meal without a fear that some unsuspected dish would cause a reaction. Kudos to Zaytinya for going the extra mile and for another great meal.

Last night I tried to recreate Komi's amazing mascarpone stuffed dates. It seemed simple enough- pipe the cheese slow-cook the dates on a low temp and then drizzle w/high-quality olive oil and sea salt. In practice, however, it was a disaster: the cheese just turned to liquid in the over and oozed right out of the date before I could ever get to olive oil and salt part. Has anyone had any success this with this concept or any ideas as to how I might be able to have better luck next time?? Thanks in advance!!

While I normally roast it (salt, pepper, whole heads of garlic, red pepper flakes), Barefoot Contessa has a great recipe for cauliflower au gratin that I love when I want to splurge.

The butternut squash soup at The Oval Room last weekend was insanely good- velvety w/cubes of sqash and asian pear and coffee (oil??). It was an amazing combination of flavors. The server assured me that the soup contained no cream whatsoever but he also assured me that I when I tasted it I wouldn't believe it- he was right on.

I had the pleasure of attending the soft opening last week and despite some to-be-expected kinks, I really enjoyed myself. Just to clarify, I think actually open to anyone at this point- I simply called and made a reservation. They were doing a prix-fixed menu of three courses for $20. My table started w/bison marrow and then all of us got a beet salad, salmon on some kind of summer succotash, and dessert of a layered white cake with housemade (supposedly) strawberry jam. Everything was impressive, esp. for the second night of service. The service was surprisingly good this early on and our server seemed really excited to be there. The food, kinks and all, was also very good and I am excited to go back for the full menu. The only issue I had was the atmosphere, which felt a little cold and austere for me, esp. for a neighborhood restaurant. I am not sure if that is because everything wasn't quite in place yet but I think they could tweak that just a bit. Overall, I think this will be a great addition to downtown Bethesda.

Actually, I was just there last night for a quick dinner w/my mom. You are right on the location- it is in the old Centro spot and it looks fairly similar inside. I am remiss to say that we didn't do the mozzerella tasting. They serve their bread w/fresh whipped ricotta, which I thought was a great touch. There was a decent sized menu with a lot of pasta and seafood options- they also had a couple of great looking salads. We ended up both opting for fish- I went for a grilled whole boneless dorade (very good if a tiny bit overcooked) that was served with grilled veggies and my mom had a grilled chilean seabass that was a special. While I didn't get to try her fish, she seemed happy w/it and it looked like it was cooked well. The only real miss of the night was dessert- some sort of chocolate custard which tasted good but was very off in texture. All in all, it was a perfect and light Italian meal and I would def. go back- and try the cheese!!

We had dinner at Guajillo on Wed. night- my chicken w/mole sauce was great as usual and the chocolate flan is one of the best desserts I have had an a longgg time anywhere in the city!!!

We went to the Crystal City location tonight after staying away for a year+ due to service and consistency issues- what a pleasant surprise!! The menu was updated and creative, the food was spot-on, and the service was great! To commemorate their 15 year anniversary, they brought us an amuse of white asparagus gazpacho, which was delicious. The standout tapas were the sauteed cauliflower w/olives and dates (this was so good that I plan to recreate it at home), piquillo peppers stuffed w/goat cheese, and a seared cod dish that was served with white grapes and a light white wine sauce. My boyfriend had a squid served w/some an ink sauce (he said it was delicious and I believe him since I never got a taste) and the baked canelones stuffed with pork and foie gras, which had great flavor but it was hard to discern any foie gras. Dessert was good but not great-I had a molten chocolate cake flavored with some kind of tea. It was prepared beautifully but I found the tea flavor to be too much with the rich chocolate. My boyfriend had the apple charlotte, which had nice flavor but was on the mushy side and needed to be warmer. All in all, it was an extremely pleasant night at a restaurant that we had all but written off and is now back on our rotation!

We did it a few months back and I want to say 3 hours or so (my memory is a bit foggy after the cocktails and the pairings). I did the regular menu but as I don't eat pork, they subsituted one of the courses for a veg. course (olive oil flan) and it was one of the stand-outs of the night for me. Have a wonderful time!!!