I had a great weekend taking in 5 really great DC destinations and events.

1) Tech Cocktail

Tech Cocktail is a meet up for tech folk to hang out and make connections in a fun venue. It was started by Eric Olson and Frank Gruber. I had the pleasure of meeting Eric. He told me the event was started in Chicago mainly because there was no event like it to have an excuse for the tech community gather. They also made the decision to let the event promote itself through blogs and word of mouth. That decision paid off well because the crowd there turned out to be a wonderful mix of designers, developers, strategists, and startup owners. Most I talked to were really on the cutting edge of new media. It was cool to see such a strong tech community turnout in DC.

2) Fogo De Chao

We had a birthday celebration for my friend, Eugene, at the infamous Fogo De Chao. This restaurant is a Brazilian style meat house. They give you a disc with a green and red side. When green us up you better make sure you are ready. A barrage of waiters carrying large swords with hunks of meat come at you ready to cut fresh pieces right onto your plate. I think I’m still digesting that dinner.

3) Artomatic

Artomatic is yearly event where hundreds of artists install their work in an old DC building. There are performances, too. The art was great. The few music acts I went to weren’t my cup of tea, but there was a great drama group.

4) Dupont Circle Farmers Market

I’m on a farmers market kick. I think buying locally is the way to go. Fortunately, the Dupont Circle Farmers Market has meats, cheeses, and produce galore. And, I ran into Giada De Laurentiis! You know how cooking shows always have the chef walk around checking out outdoor markets? Well I was walking behind Giada from Everyday Italian on the Food Network as she filmed her segment. I followed her around and tried to get some pictures, she probably thought I was pretty sketchy. Oh yea, I also bought at quart of lard from the pig guy! I’m gonna have some tasty veggies!

Oh yea, if you are freaked out by the lard, give this article a read first.

5) Taste of Arlington

Finally, Arlington has its annual Taste of Arlington celebration where all the local restaurants put up a stand and let you sample food. They have a great system where you buy a ticket book that lets you get 6 things at the food fair. I almost couldn’t finish all 6 because of how much food that was. It’s a great way to sample a lot of really different foods. The musical acts there were great, too. Bobby T and the Magic Voyagers, a great Jimi Hendrixish jam band and The Taylor Carson Band, a super fun acoustic rock group, were my favorites.

What a weekend for food this weekend.  My sister was in town which is always a great excuse go out on the town and try some DC restaurants. It turned out to be a weekend of grazing over tapas and cheering on our new favorite chef.

The big hit was Latino Dim Sum Brunch at Cafe Atlantico.  Oh my goodness!  One of the most ridiculously amazing meals I’ve had in a while.  The chef, Jose Andres, makes these crazy ‘molecular gastronomy’ dishes which combines chemistry and art with regular old cooking creating unbelievable flavor experiences for the mouth and eyes.  We got the tasting menu for around $35 and you get around 20 small dishes and is quite filling.  Even plain old guacamole is served with style being made from scratch by the waiter right beside your table.

Jose also does an even crazier 6 person dinner twice a night called Minibar.   This decadent meal will set you back $95.  I’ll have to save that one for a special occasion.

Later that night, Jose battled on Iron Chef (perfect timing).  The best part was he and his assistant Chef Katsuya (who cooked for use earlier that day) absolutely DEMOLISHED iron chef Flay.  It was quite possibly the best beat down I’ve ever seen on the show.  He showed some of his unique molecular gastronomy techniques with flavored foams, flavor syringes, and trapping smoke in large glass domes over the final dishes.  The man is a true flavor and food technician and I’m honored to have eaten his food.

Vanilla potato foam with American caviar

I’m so glad to see New York City looking out for their citizens and cutting out transfat from restaurant foods. Transfat is a terribly unhealthy substance used as a cheap substitute for natural saturated fat sources, and a large part of the cause for the unhealthy image saturated fats have gotten.
Some argue that banning transfat is going too far and is really paternalistic. I believe this move is more clearly warranted than antismoking bills due to the relatively undetectable nature of transfat. While smoking does harm the health of others around the smoker, at least they are aware and can make the choice to move. When restaurants sneak transfat substitutes into food, it hurts everyone in the restaurant (unfortunately there’s no ‘transfat free’ seating area in most restaurants) and it is difficult for the consumers to avoid the substance short of not eating out.

This is a case that I think it is good to have the government intervention. Free market competition is forcing restauranteurs to use the cheapest health harming substances to compete.
The consumer side of the market is unable to demand transfat free food through their eating choices and purchasing decisions because they are unable to discern who is using transfat substitutes. The government’s action here is good to provide protection of consumer health where the consumer market is not able to do so effectively.