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D.C. Dining
	Sample at Zoofari May 18 (Published April 17, 2006) By MARTY PEARL

The real grownup eat-food-for-a-good-cause season is now in full swing. The first of our region's two biggest events, Share our Strength's Taste of the Nation, celebrated its 22nd anniversary April 11 in the Marriott Wardman Park' grand ballroom. Around 60 of the area's best restaurants fed the crowd an enormous amount of food, and the sacrifice that the beef and crustacean populations made was appreciated by all. I love lobster, and it appeared in many guises from straight up grilled tails to chunky bisques and floating in gazpachos. Oyster shooters were next to crab cakes the size of baseballs, and tables with all kinds of shrimp dishes were separated only by more tables covered by steaks and lamb chops and risotto (with more lobster in it) and pastas and pastries and ... you get the idea! About 60 different wines were available to wash everything down.

I have to admit to the debilitations of age. I used to be able to try one plate of everything at this kind of event, and after having made the first sweep of the hall go back for seconds of my favorite dishes. Now I find myself making polite apologies to some of my chef friends as I say "hello" on my way past their tables, while taking none of their offerings. When I stop at one table for a taste of the boeuf Bourguignonne, the chef offers me a dinner-sized portion. I mumble a modest protest but he tells me not to worry -- I will love it, and I do! But the problem is that if I eat a dozen bites of the beef, that means I will have less room at the end of the evening to sample a few great cherry tarts or some strawberry shortcake. Ah, decisions, decisions, decisions. The dilemma that is my life.

Anyway, this group of cooks and planners who have contrived to wreck my diet has now raised more than $204 million over the past couple of decades to help feed needy kids and to raise awareness of and try to end childhood hunger. I joke about some of these events, and the things that I eat at them, but when the time comes for the passing out of wings and halos, the people who are responsible for these wonderful labors will get free passes to the front of the line.

The next and biggest eat-em-up is Zoofari on the grounds of the National Zoo on May 18. This one is the annual fundraiser by the Friends of the National Zoo and features about 100 restaurants serving their best. I will really have to work hard to figure out which dishes to try and which to skip. I have heard that some normal people actually stop eating and listen to the music after sampling only a dozen or so offerings. I wonder how they do that.

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Another case of rounding up all the usual suspects was the third annual Blue Jeans Ball presented by the Capital Area Food Bank on April 2. The food bank provides nearly 400,000 area residents with nourishing meals and helps promote many service programs. Once again, the Marriott was filled with great chefs and restaurant staffs who donated their time and foods for the cause. This was (as the name implies) a bit more casual than most charity benefits, and there was more denim in attendance than you could shake a riding boot at, but the diamonds and emeralds brightened up a lot of faded jeans. The smiles on the faces of those serving the food and drink were matched by those doing the eating and drinking. It really makes me happy to be part of an industry that does so much good and helps so many people while providing so much pleasure.

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I know that after a while it starts to sound a little silly when I discuss events where we eat a lot of gourmet food and drink great wines for the purpose of alleviating hunger, but that's what has evolved in our society. I just report the news; I don't set the rules. For a change of pace, A Taste For Literacy convened in the National Science Foundation's atrium to serve food from a couple of dozen Arlington restaurants to help the Literacy Council of Northern Virginia raise money to tutor adults in basic reading, writing and speaking skills to enhance their lives. Remember friends, when I write about helping these good causes, there is probably not a more painless way imaginable to do your part if you want to help people. You pay for a good meal in friendly company and maybe bid on a couple of interesting auction prizes and the direct result is that an adult learns to read, or a child's hunger is ended, or a young mother-to-be learns more to provide for the health of the baby she is about to have. All in all, not a bad day's work.

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When it comes to eating for eating's sake without having an ulterior motive or helping folks, one of the best events in Washington every year is the National Cherry Blossom Festival's Grand Sushi and Sake Tasting. The organizers bring a score of Japan's top chefs over here to play with our local Japanese restaurateurs and the result is a room full of the tastiest seafood you can imagine. This year's meal filled up Explorers' Hall at National Geographic headquarters, and the star of the evening was a beautiful 200-pound tuna that was sliced and diced before the crowd in minutes and turned into the freshest sushi possible. Along with table after table of wonderful fish was some of the world's great sake made available by our good friend Christian Choi, director of Young Won Inc.

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This issue's trade show is the Virginia Wine and Food Society's tasting of premium Virginia Wines at Charlie Palmer Steak. About two dozen of the commonwealth's 107 wineries took part and displayed a nice range from good dinner wines to some fairly impressive bottles. There was a good deal of concern about the dry weather last month, but it seems to be too early to tell what the effects will be on the new grape crop. If you would like to learn more about America's oldest wine industry right across the river from us, watch this page in the near future as we will present some local tasting events for your pleasure.

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Now, one of the truly great seafood arguments is about crab. Chesapeake blues compared to Alaskan king, or West Coast Dungeness, or Japanese spiders or a whole batch of other kinds. As an ex-Floridian and still full-time Miami Hurricane rooter, my money is on Florida stone crab claws. One of America's truly great restaurants is Joe's Stone Crab on Miami Beach, and for those who are lucky enough to have been there, I think most will agree that the annual wait for opening day and then the wait for a table is worth the effort for a chance to consume a few jumbos. For those of us here between trips, I recommend the Florida State Society, of which I am a proud member. We met last week in the cafeteria at the Longworth Building, and Joe's air-freighted us their treasures. We dined on an endless buffet of stone crab claws (for the uninitiated, you eat just the claws that are taken from the crabs before they are returned to the waters to regenerate new ones), the famous mustard/mayo sauce, cornbread, beans, potato salad and their key lime pie that's almost as famous as the crab. I love my life.

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Executive Chef Nate Bearfield of Smith Point Restaurant is still happy to present a wine dinner for two to the reader who sends the most interesting comments or questions to me about the D.C. dining scene. E-mail me at chefmartydc@aol.com. There was no winner from the last issue. Let's do better this time.

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Write to Marty Pearl at ChefMartyDC@aol.com or at The Common Denominator, 3609 Georgia Ave. NW, Suite 100, Washington, D.C. 20010. Messages may be left on his voicemail at (202) 722-6397.

Copyright 2006 The Common Denominator