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Resolve to Feast the Rest of January

Those ribs aren't going to eat themselves! (Douglas Graham/CQ Roll Call File Photo)
Those ribs aren't going to eat themselves! (Douglas Graham/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

We’re now a few weeks into the New Year. So we’ll go ahead and assume any nonsensical diet plans or ill-conceived commitments to calorie counting have been wisely tossed aside.  

If not, prepare to have your mettle tested by a three-pronged attack from myriad tastemakers.  

Winter Restaurant Week The opening salvo in the full-fledged assault on our collective well-being is Winter Restaurant Week. The biannual promotion (the next round’s in August) is slated to run from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 and provides prix fixe dining options at venues spread across the D.C.-Metro area. Those who’ve never indulged can look forward to three course- lunches ($20.15) and dinners ($35.15) typically composed of signature dishes, seasonal specials and complementary beverages. Participating restaurants surrounding the congressional campus include: Ambar (Dinner), Art and Soul (Lunch, Dinner), Béarnaise (L,D), Belga Café (L,D), Bistro Bis (L,D), Bistro Cacao (L,D), Café Berlin (L,D), Charlie Palmer Steak (L,D), Lavagna (D), The Monocle (L,D,), Ocopa (L, D), Smith Commons (D), Sonoma (D) and Zest Bistro (L,D).  

Throughout the week, those who share photos of their eating adventures with the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington’s Instragram feed (one must follow @RAMWdc and use the hashtag #DMVRW to participate) will be eligible to win prizes ranging from restaurant gift certificates to tickets to the 33rd annual RAMMY Awards and Gala.  

Sips & Suppers Those hoping to hobnob with fellow gourmands may want to consider getting involved in the burgeoning Sips & Suppers movement.  

The food-driven fundraiser is the brainchild of socially conscious gastronomes Alice Waters, Joan Nathan and José Andrés; the trio recruited fellow toques and epicureans to come together during President Barack Obama’s first inauguration weekend for a series of celebratory dinners. The number of gatherings — and the charitable donations contributed to co-beneficiaries DC Central Kitchen and Martha’s Table — has swelled over the past few years.  

In addition to the star-studded dinners (last we checked, there were still a few tickets left at $600 per person for meals orchestrated by Capitol Hill denizens Jamie Leeds and Erik Bruner-Yang) and a glitzy, all-inclusive bash ($95 per person; $200 for VIP) at the Newseum, S&S  is expected to bring the party to Congress for the first time on Jan. 26.  

The inaugural reception, which is being sponsored by Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., is scheduled to take place in Rayburn B-369 from 5 to 8 p.m.; an event organizer said Andrés, Waters and Nathan are all expected to attend.  

Members of the congressional Out of Poverty and House Hunger caucuses have all been invited to the Rayburn mixer, as have lawmakers boasting Campus Kitchen spin-offs in their home districts. Anyone else who wants in on the action should contact Rebecca Brand (Becky.Brand@qorvismsl.com ).  

Meat Week 2015 What better way to gird one’s loins for the binge-eating holiday that is the Super Bowl than to spend the preceding seven nights stuffing one’s face with slow-smoked, sauce-dripping, mouthwatering Southern barbecue?  

Such is the philosophy behind the sixth annual DC Meat Week , a leisurely slog through the urban jungle in search of enticing animal parts.  

The unapologetically carnivorous enterprise is expected to wend its way from smoke-belching pit to fiery grill beginning on Jan. 25, and should conclude the gut-busting trek on Feb. 1. Along the way, attendees — there’s no cover charge or registration required to join in; just show up wearing your hungry pants — are invited to take the measure of eateries ranging from mainstays such as Urban Bar-B-Que (been on the tour since the get-go) to relative newcomers (howdy, Fat Pete’s!).  

Organizers have also set up a marathon Saturday that kicks off  (11 a.m.) with brunch at Acre 121 and rolls right into a bacchanal (7 p.m.) hosted by Denizens Brewing Co. and catered by BBQ Bus.  

Assuming you are still able to move, and happen to have an appetite left, feel free to help Meat Weekers bid farewell to their favorite 192-odd hours of the year by crawling over to Mr. P’s on Feb. 1 for one last, molasses-covered hurrah.  


The 114th: CQ Roll Call’s Guide to the New Congress


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