This Saturday, June 13, Washington DC’s first Kids’ Restaurant Week kicks off with a day of kids-cooking demos and other fun at historic Eastern Market. Kids’ Restaurant Week, June 13-21, is sponsored by Cookie and Gourmet, my two favorite magazines, and took place last year in New York and Chicago. This year, they bring the fun to the District’s youngest foodies with early 5-7pm seatings and special prix fixe menus for grown-ups and kids at more than a dozen DC restaurants. Grown-ups will pay $29 and kids under 12 pay their age. And these aren’t your usual casual/chain “safety” choices, but truly some of the city’s best, including several who emphasize local, organic and seasonal ingredients such as Art and Soul, Dino, Firefly and Zola. Visit the website for the complete list and to make reservations. A portion of proceeds go to two worthwhile local charities, Miriam’s Kitchen and the Eastern Market renovation fund. I wish we could try every restaurant but I don’t want to push my luck at keeping the boy on his best behavior too many nights in a row!
Several of the restaurants have posted their menus online, so you can take a look before deciding. A few of the highlights: alphabet tomato soup at Belga Cafe; pasta with wild boar sauce (or meatballs) at Dino; a pop tart filled with Pennsylvania mushrooms, brie and asparagus at Juniper; shrimp and mushroom fried rice at Mie N Yu; lamb meatball sliders at Zola; and at Firefly, kids can decorate their own cookie after dinner. Firefly has a creative kids’ menu available anytime, that includes a side of broccoli & dip and other healthy options, if you miss out on the official restaurant week.
The kick-off schedule for Saturday at Eastern Market (225 7th Street, SE):
- 10 a.m. – Kids’ Market Lesson: Bowers Cheese
- 11 a.m. – Chef Demo: Travis Timberlake of Art & Soul
- 11:30 a.m. – Kids’ Market Lesson: Agora Farms
- 12 p.m. – Chef Demo: Greg Lloyd of Zola
- 1 p.m. – Chef Demo: Danny Bortnick of Firefly (joined by his son Jonah)
Over at Metrocurean, you can find more kid-friendly food events and deals in her “Kids Week” series … and be sure to check out today’s post for some foodie parenting advice from yours truly!
1 response so far ↓
1 Donn Vavricka // Nov 23, 2010 at 10:29 am
Man, my grandmother was Italian and she made the most incredible meatballs I ever tasted, like you had died and gone to meatball heaven. Sadly, she didnt leave a single recipe for us so I’ve been trying to figure it out on my own… slowly working my through the meatball recipe here, I still cant figure out what her secret ingredient was though!!!