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!!!

Marcus- I am with you on the coffee- it is fine but nothing special. I have recently discovered this place and I have a had a few really good meals there (mainly brunch). The standouts were truffled/parm. grits, which were incredible and lemon souffle pancakes- the flavor was spot-on and they would have been perfect if only they were as light as their name implies. I also like to stop in for a quick lunch- they have a great grilled salmon served on a bed of dates, walnuts, and cucumbers that is perfect for a healthy, filling week-day lunch. I have yet to try a pastry...

My boyfriend and I ate at Circle Bistro last night and it was overall a wonderful experience. We started with 2 appetizers to share- I had the scallops and he had the crab boudin. That scallops were delicious- they were served on a bed of sweet pea puree and tiny, crispy cubes of fingerling potatoes. They were a bit overcooked for my taste but I think it was really was just a personal preference thing. The boudin was very tasty- a faux sausage of scallop mousse and crab served on a ginger cream. Our only complaint was that the crab and scallop flavor overpowered the cream and it was a little hard to discern ginger. Our entrees were amazing. He got the halibut, which was simply prepared (served with aspargus and a soft-herb salad), perfectly cooked, and perfectly light. I got the potato-crusted fluke, which was the best piece of fish that I have put in my mouth in a long time!! Dessert was the chocolate bread pudding souffle (wow!) and some kind of a crumble (I think rhubard/apple) served w/housmade ginger ice cream, which was my favorite part. The service was also great. We left wondering why it took us so long to try this place- we will be back.

I always like Oya and find it to be a great go-to for a meal after a basketball game. However, the one thing that bothers me about the place is that the menus (both food and cocktails) never change. As far as I can tell, they have had the same menu since the first time I was there 2 years ago. I hope they will start making the changes they referred to on that card!

Just about a year ago my boyfriend and I received a $150 gift certificate to Indigo Landing. The card expires this week and since they are finally open after closing for the winter, we decided to try it again. We brought another couple along for the ride to see what they had done to the place over the winter hiatus. Since reopening they have an entirely new concept- unfortunately, it was all so incohesive that I couldn’t really tell you what it was (I could only tell you that it wasn’t the low-country cuisine that I expected). I guess I could liken it to an over-priced mid-ranged corporate restaurant that uses the deep-fryer and Sisco as a crutch. The place looks pretty much the same except it has a more casual feel due to brighter lighting (too bright for a dining room at dinner IMHO). The dining room was fairly empty all night- only 7 tables were sat for the entirety of our meal (granted it was Sunday evening). The servers def. had a more relaxed approach but they all seemed friendly and fairly attentive. We got a bunch of food as we wanted to give it a fair try and we had some money to burn… We started with the “fondita potato chips”, beer batter grouper fingers, fried lump crab meat (I don’t really know what we were thinking), crab sliders, and rock lobster bisque. Four of the five dishes sported the same inexplicable garnish of a fried plaintain. The fried group fingers were fine- just heavily breaded fish-sticks; the fried crab meat tasted just as weird as it sounded and was wayyy too tough; the fondita chips were plain old potato chips served with a ridiculously large bowl of what I think was tostitos jarred cheese dip (it actually coagulated after 10 minutes on the table); 2 people in my party liked the sliders but I found them to be wayyy too fishy; the bisque, although watery, had great flavor and was the table favorite. For our mains two of us got king crab legs and two got the prime rib. The prime rib was cooked well and fairly priced but was served with a strange “aoli”, which I am pretty sure was bottled ranch dressing. The crab claws were properly cooked for the most part but served with a too-salty rice pilaf. There was no dessert menu- our server just read us the list. This was fine except she did not mention that the bread pudding we got contained pineapple and coconut- something my boyfriend doesn’t eat and was unpleasantly surprised to find in his first bite. We also got a brownie sundae (it wasn’t the freshest brownie but it was fine) and the strawberry shortcake, which was served with a very fake strawberry sauce in an impossibly narrow wine glass, which made sharing it between 4 people quite difficult. Overall, we all left very full yet underwhelmed. The space is obviously georgeous and I was so hoping that they would finally get it right after closing to regroup. I guess I will just accept this place for what it is- a great place to sit outside and enjoy a burger on a beautiful warm day.

On Wilson- right across from Whole Foods and next to the latin grocery.

I spoke to one of the very enthusiastic owners yesterdayand he said they should be up and running in two weeks or so. He told me that they would be carrying some exotic flavors, a lot of sorbets, and very high-end coffee. I am very excited for this addition to the neighborhood!!

After weeks of hearing my parents rave about it, I tried Bobby's for the first time last night with my boyfriend and his grandmother. The owner's greeting was so warm and friendly, I knew immediately I was going to be a fan of this place. We started with the shrimp cocktail and the vegetarian split-pea soup. The soup was wondefully tasy, garnished with a bit of parm. cheese (I could have done without this personally) and some toasty croutons. Truthfully, I was surpised at how tasty and satisfying I found it because I grew up on my grandma's split pea, which was def. not vegetarian. All three of us also got crabcake platters and WOW. I can't understand how people can complain about the prices- the prices are in line with what most good restaurants charge for a crabcake platter and unlike most of those restaurants, here it was pure jumbo-lump crab- virtually no filler. While I usually shy away from fries, they were too good to pass up and I don't regret it for a moment- perfectly fresh and crispy and not greasy at all. They were out of the key-lime pie but we got a cheese-cake and brownie sundae for the table. Both were good but not great- the brownie was def. my favorite of the two because of the dark chocolate sauce, which was devine. I can't believe I am saying this but the cheesecake's crust almost had too much butter in it- after two bites I had had enough. The service rounded out the experience. The owner's friendliness set the tone for rest of the staff and the service was nothing like what I expected for a casual place where you place your order at the counter. The staff was so attentive- we never once got up for our own refills and they removed our plates the moment we finished. Overall, we all left very full and very impressed.

Nice touch maybe but big waste of paper and not so respectful of the 75+ people waiting in the cold (thankfully today was nicer than last week).

You must have been close- it is on Potomac right off of M- it is TINY but you couldn't have missed the huge line (unless, of course, they had already run out and shut down by the time you got there.)

It took me three attempts but I finally got to experience the much-hyped Georgetown Cupcake (the other two times I waited on line only to be sent away due to a cupcake shortage). The line today was MUCH longer than last week (I supposed due to the Post article) and by the time I got to the front they only had 6 or so flavors left. I got: 1 red velvet, 1 chocolate hazelnut, 1 chocolate cubed, 1 vanilla/vanilla, 1 chocolate/vanilla, and 1 keylime. After all the waiting and frustration, I have pretty much the same reaction as the rest of you: they were good but not worth the hour and a half that I spent on line. The frosting was the highlight for sure- perfect amount, texture, and sweetness but the cupcake itself could have been better- it was a little to dense for me. My favorite was probably the key lime as the zest in the icing was really delicious, although I believe the cupcake itself was simply vanilla-flavored. The chocolate cubed was my least favorite due to an oddly-textured ganache and a very dry cupcake. The lack of efficiency in the store was very frustrating- I had read that they individually wrapped every cupcake in paper but I didn't believe it until I saw it for myself. They actually take a peice of parchment, fold it SLOWLY in thirds and wrap it around each cupcake before they put it in a box, which they also painstakenly line with paper. When I asked her to just skip the paper and throw them in, she stopped to put on a pair of gloves right after I just saw her use hand sanitizer. Don't get me wrong- I appreciate the cleanliness but the cupcakes are protected by cupcake liners already and some sense of urgency would have been nice. Also, they 3 staff members were all falling over one another, which slowed them further. It seems to me that they can take some simple measures to get people in and out more quickly then they do: for instance, give up the cutesy wrapping, pre-line the boxes, and assign each employee to a single task.