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Next Black Tie Affair Goes NOLA

It’s still days before the glitterati cram into the Washington Hilton for the annual running of the bullpucky known as “Nerd Prom,” but we’re already looking forward to the next stop of the black-tie brigade: the Mardi Gras-themed Radio & Television Congressional Correspondents’ Dinner.

(Courtesy RTCA)
(Courtesy RTCA)
Radio & Television Correspondents’ Association

That entailed a few things. First, shifting things from the Convention Center to the National Building Museum. The “wrap-around balconies remind me of the French Quarter,” he said. (Just watch out for the man-eating aquatic features.)

Second: hiring a cheflebrity — “Suffice to say, it’s one of the top chefs in the country,” Wallace stated, adding that the name will be revealed April  29 — to plot an authentically N’awlins dining experience. And finally, recruiting four distinct Crescent City bands, as well as “tribes” of dancing Indians, as entertainment. All this, and carving out time to crown a king and queen of the evening.

While he declined to describe what attendees should expect to find on their dinner plates, Wallace absolutely gushed about the liquid refreshments.

“We will have buckets of Abitas on the tables for the dinner!” he said, adding that D.C.’s own Chocolate City Beer will keep the afterparty crowd in their cups with frosty pours of Cornerstone Copper Ale and First Coast Bohemian Pils.

A prospective hurricane stand — at press time, Wallace was still working to include Pat O’Briens in the festivities — remained in flux.

But another New Orleans institution was locked in to handle dessert duties. “Cafe du Monde will be coming up to make their beignets for the dinner,” Wallace told HOH. “Looks like they’ll also have their chicory coffee.”

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