Girl Meets Food

The Asian Festival is a free, two-day cultural event promoting Asian countries and cultures.  Come experience unique music, cultural performances, food, fashion, and handicrafts!

The Asian Festival is the largest of its kind in the Mid-Atlantic region, featuring more than 35 authentic Asian food vendors, many of the specialty dishes of which you cannot find on menus.

Traditional Asian performances on three separate stages, and more than 150 multicultural retail stores!

Each year, one Asian country as the ‘Show-casing’ country and this year, it is the Phillipines.  The Philippine Village showcases the diverse culture and rich heritage of this nation’s peoples and 7,107 islands.

Learn about age-old traditions and exciting places that have defined the Philippines and her peoples. Food from various regions of the Philippines, traditional folk art performances, handmade crafts, and interactive displays and indigenous games for children will highlight the uniqueness of the Philippines.

The best way to enjoy The Asian Festival is to Park & Ride at the Off-site parking lot, only 2 miles away. Free shuttle bus service runs from 9:30 a.m. -10:30 p.m. Off-site parking is located at the Reston Association, 1930 Isaac Newton Square Reston, VA 20190-5093.

The Asian Festival
11452 Baron Cameron Ave
Reston, VA 20194
Saturday, July 31, 2010 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Sunday, August 1, 2010 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

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DC Summer Restaurant Week is from Monday, August 16, to Sunday, August 22, offering a three-course lunch for $20.10, and a three-course dinner at $35.10 per person.

But you don’t have to wait.  Here are some restaurants offering prix fixe menus before, during or after DC Summer Restaurant Week.  Check back for updates and additions!

The Fourth Estate Restaurant serves stylish American food in the historic National Press Club, using locally grown produce and meats for a menu that elevates taste above trendiness. They will be extending the special Restaurant Week menu an extra week, from August 23-29, 2010.  They also have a three-course prix pixe menu for $30 per person Thursday through Saturday. The Fourth Estate Restaurant, 529 14th St NW, 13th Floor.  202.662.7638

Nage Bistro will offer its special Restaurant Week menu throughout the entire month of August.  Start with a wild mushroom Baklava with pecans, blueberry compote, thyme, and goat cheese foam.  A choice of entrées includes grilled swordfish with seasoned bread crumbs, watermelon, and fennel; and Cajun meatloaf with rapini, potatoes, sundried tomatoes, and rosemary jus.  Nage Bistro, 1600 Rhode Island Avenue, NW.  202.448.8005.

In addition to offering a three-course Restaurant Week menu of innovative Japanese charcoal-grilled meats, fish and vegetables, Kushi Izakaya & Sushi will offer an expertly crafted sake pairing featuring three varieties of sake for $20.  The sake pairing is available during lunch and dinner throughout Restaurant Week.  Kushi Izakaya & Sushi, 465 K Street, NW.  202.682.3123

Restaurant 3 will extend their Restaurant Week menu for an extra week, from August 23-29, 2010, with a menu of comfort food full of soulful Southern flavor.  Restaurant 3, 2950 Clarendon Blvd., Arlington, VA.  703-524-4440.

Café Saint-Ex will offer an indulgent three-course Restaurant Week menu during lunch only which will extend for an extra week, from August 23-29, 2010.  Cafe Saint-Ex serves up American Bistro style cuisine that comfort, while prepared with the finest quality ingredients.  Café Saint-Ex, 1847 14th Street NW. 202.265.7839

Rasika has a three-course prix fixe menu that start with tikka kaliya, seekh kebabs, clam caldine or sev puri; entrées such as chicken makhani, lamb roganjosh and tandoori salmon; and gulab jamun for dessert.  $30 per person Monday to Friday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., Saturday from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. 633 D Street, NW, with validated valet parking for $7.  202.637.1222

The Oval Room’s three-course prix fixe menu that showcases appetizers such as roasted baby beets with walnuts and goat cheese; and crudo of rockfish with sweet chili, mango and cilantro. Featured entrées include shellfish broth and herb oil; and roasted beef striploin with Swiss chard. Dessert options include almond brown butter cake; or chocolate-red beet cake with and pistachio ice cream. $35 per person from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. nightly. The Oval Room, 800 Connecticut Avenue, NW.  202.463.8700.

Bibiana Osteria-Enoteca’s three-course pre-fixe menu starts with tonno with salad confit yellow fin tuna; or zuppa with chilled fennel soup. Entrée options are paccheri with large rigatoni with raisins, pine nuts and pecorino; and sheep’s milk ricotta ravioli with lemon and spinach. For the sweet, try panna cotta with a liquid black cherry bottom; tiramisu; and crema pasticcera with fried Nutella pastry cream. $30 per person from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Bibiana Osteria-Enoteca, 1100 New York Ave. NW.  (202) 216-9550.

701 Restaurant’s three-course pre-theater menu features grilled pineapple salad with jalapeño, hearts of palm and lime. Entrées such as roasted cod with lentils, haricot verts, and ver jus emulsion; petite prime New York steak; and goat cheese cavatelli with artichokes and oyster mushrooms. For dessert, try fresh berries with orange compari sorbet; or strawberry gelée with frozen yogurt.  $30 per person from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 5:00 to 9:30 p.m. on Sunday. 701 Restaurant, 701 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.  202.393.0701.

Bacon, bacon, booze, brunch.  Those are my priorities.  What are yours?

If your mind is already on the weekend, read on for some exciting morning noshing, including bacon flights, Turkish eggs Benedict, and a half-smoked Bloody Mary.

Eola offers Sunday brunch from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with fresh ingredients plucked straight out of the Dupont Farmers’ Market.  Wake up to French toast, eggs and hash, homemade cinnamon rolls, market veggies, Cheddar grits,or  biscuits and jam.

But the most important part of Eola’s brunch in my opinion, is the bacon flight.  Did you hear me?  A.  Bacon.  Flight.

Choose from a variety of house-cured and smoked bacon including Duroc-Hampshire, Farmer’s Cross, Ossabaw, and Tamworth breeds, for $12. See the brunch menu here.  Eola, 2020 P. Street NW. 202.466.4441

The Source by Wolfgang Puck starts brunch a day early on Saturdays from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., with traditional brunch and Asian-inspired dishes.  Order a dim sum platter with spicy Thai-style chicken salad or market-fresh berry French toast with sausage.  There’s also a three-course prix-fixe lunch for $28. See the brunch menu here. Don’t forget The Source’s creative take on the Bloody Mary!  Shanghai Mary with Szechuan chili paste; and the classic District Mary with a miniature half-smoke garnish.  The Source, 575 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.  202.637.6100.

Agora is serving up a Mediterranean brunch on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.  Get a healthy start with labneh, strained yogurt with fruits and nuts; or a beet salad with lemon mashed potatoes, garlic, and orange; or charcoal-smoked eggplant, green and red peppers.  A Turkish twist on the old includes Pastirma Eggs Benedict with poached eggs and cured loin of beef; or scrambled eggs with spicy Turkish sausage. Agora, 1527 17th Street NW.  202.332.6767