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All Hallow's Eats on BYT

By Danielle October 26, 2010 | 9:00 am
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Halloween is not known for being the most gourmand of holidays, and who can blame it? It worships all things sugar laden comes and has the gluttonous, let's-celebrate-pillage-and-native decimation celebratory feast of Thanksgiving hot on its high heels. But this is DC; we celebrate anything and everything, and our burgeoning foodie culture won't let any holiday pass without festive food and drink. Herewith, your horrifically delicious dining options this week with some hell-raising cocktails thrown in the mix:  scarier than a GOP victory and more frightening than a ban on food trucks!


TRICKS

  • Helix Lounge is hosting a free jack o' lantern competition. They provide the prescooped pumpkins and tools (insert penis joke here) and it's up to you to make the best and sexiest Jack you can.

When -Wednesday, October 27th, 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

  • Jackson 20 and the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria are hosting a Doggie Happy Hour Costume Competition, with prizes going to the best owner/dog couple, the most glamorous canine, the overall “top dog,” and the best pound puppy. There's a $10 registration fee and Halloween-themed cocktails to make you forget the fact that you and your dog are dressed up as Smokey and the Bandit.

When - Thursday, October 28th, 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM

  • NOTLZ: Night of the Living Zoo won't feature any flesh-eating zombies (sadly), but this offers the next best thing. Fire eaters, palm readers, and animal noises combine with live music and Magic Hat beers at a cash bar ($4 for drink tickets).

When - Friday, October 29th, 8:00 PM - midnight

  • Woodraw Wilson House Speakeasy Costume Ball (Metrocurean has the details) A chance to dress up, get a sneak peak at President Wilson’s wine cellar, a rarely seen gem of Prohibition-era history, fully stocked with vintage wines, drink rum cocktails (including a specialy one designed by Phil Greene of The Museum of American Cocktail) and have a very adult, very festive start to the weekend.

When: Thursday, October 28th from 7 to 9 PM

Corpse Reviver #2 Cocktail

  • 1 oz gin
  • 1 oz Cointreau
  • 1 oz Lillet Blanc
  • 1 oz lemon juice
  • 1-3 drops absinthe or pastis

Shake all ingredients together with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish by dropping in a stemless cherry.

TREATS


  • Poste is having a special Ghost Roast at Poste, celebrating the season with Heirloom Pumpkin Soup, roasted capretto (that's goat), pumpkin cocktails, beer and wine. The roast with pairings is $48 (not including tax and tip). Reservations are required and space is limited!

When - October 30th and 31st, 6:30 PM

  • Co Co. Sala is pulling out all the sweet stops with their special Somethin’ Pumpkin Bar, caramel apples and Pumpkin Seed Brittle Bark. Make those Twihards in your life go bat-shit crazy with Vampire’s Kiss Kupcakes. Show off at your party with their customized edible plaques decorated with pumpkins, bats and ghosts galore or lower your inhibitions with their Trick or Treat Tinis and Spooky Sips cocktails.

When - all week

Eyeball Tini

  • 3 oz Vodka
  • 1 tbsp dry Vermouth
  • 1 tbsp olive juice
  • 2 radishes
  • 2 Pimento stuffed olives

Fill bar shaker with ice. Pour in Vermouth and shake well. Drain Vermouth from shaker, keeping ice in shaker. Pour Vodka and Olive juice into iced shaker. Shake very well. Strain Vodka mix into martini glass.
With a small paring knife, carefully cut out a center in the radish for one olive. Use a zester to remove small strips of the radishes red flesh, alternating so that strips of white and red flesh are visible. Insert one pimento stuffed olive into radish. Pop eyeball into the Vodka martini and enjoy.

  • Masa 14 will be ghosting (ha, get it) a costume party on Saturday, October 30th. Come dressed up for dinner (are you going to be a Sexy Nurse, a Sexy Cop or Sexy Cat?) and enjoy spooky food and drink while forgetting your troubles (and your name) at their Tequila Lounge. Dress the best and you may win a $100 gift certificate!

When - October 30th


  • Urbana Restaurant and Wine Bar is presenting their 26th annual "Yelloween" with partner champagne house Veuve Clicquot. Expect a night of champagne specials, all-night happy hour (food and drink), tarot card readers and a costume competition featuring champagne and dinner prizes. There's no fee to attend, but if you want to up the ante you can pay $20 and experience it Veuve-style: a complimentary glass of Veuve Clicquot, party favors, Yelloween mask designed by Alexis Mabille.

When - October 28th, 4:00 PM

  • Want to know how to make a perfect caramel apple? Want to throw some red red wine into the mix? Join pastry chef Kate Baltren of BRABO by Robert Wiedmaier as she leads a red wine/caramel apple-dipping demo in the restaurant’s adjoining wine and food shop, The Butcher’s Block. If you're not feeling up to it (laziness is a virtue, despite what some may say) the Butcher’s Block will have house-made versions of both varieties available for sale at $6 a piece.

When - October 30th, 3:00 PM

Death in the Afternoon

  • 3 oz of brut champagne or sparkling wine
  • 1-1/2 oz Absinthe

Pour absinthe into a chilled champagne flute. Add chilled champagne until the absinthe attains the proper opalescent milkiness.

  • Can't find brains to slurp? Yeah me neither, so I'm going to Passenger for their El Zombie, a potent mix of of Mezcal and rum, certain to light your soul and pants on fire. Also on hand will be the El Bastardo Sufriente, Mezcalaritas and Flaming Escorpión Bowls with a Mariachi band to entertain you. Come in costume and if you win your entire bar tab could be free! $10 gets you in the door and some devilish pork tacos to boot.

When - October 30th 7:00 PM - close

  • Café Dupont and Bar Dupont are pulling out all the stops this Halloween. Starting at 2:15 p.m.,you  will have 30 minutes to carve your best jack-o-lantern, with the winner receiving a gift certificate and unending adulation.  Enjoy Halloween-themed specialty drinks, including Bloody Marys with a twist.  Come in costume and receive one complimentary drink and happy hour pricing throughout the day, while kids eating in the restaurant or bar will receive a sweet treat. There will be an outside grill set up on the patio for passer-byers to purchase something to snack on and free hot cider on the sidewalk for trick-or-treaters at sundown.

When - October 31st


  • 2941 is bringing back their "Eye Scream", a frozen ocular delight to tempt those among you who are more adventurous, and freak out those who are more squeamish. Valrhona white chocolate, pistachio mousse and raspberry-lychee coulis are presented on a bed of dry ice to resemble a pair of smoking eyeballs. $15 (or as a $10.00 supplement on any Prix Fix menu).

When - during dinner service only.

  • Columbia Firehouse kicks ass with a Halloween party in its Atrium, featuring Foggy Punch, Candy Corntini (!!) and He’Brew Freakotoberfest Blood Red Lager. Come dressed for a costume contest, and a haunted dance floor may or may not be involved. Sunday brings less salacious goods with a family-friendly day with kid approved ghost stories starting at noon and make your own trick or treat bags. Come by for a Halloween themed brunch (Halloween and brunch? Oh God yes) with made to order Bloody Marys for parents and Brain Yogurt Parfait for kids. As a sweet end to the spooky holiday, young diners can also decorate their own Halloween cupcakes for dessert.

When - October 30th and 31st.

  • Remember when your mom would set out bowls of cold spaghetti and tell you they were brains? Or that peeled grapes were eyes? If that particularly fucked with your head you should consider taking a friend and stopping by Bar Pilar for their Offal Happy hour, offering daily specials on gourmet dishes like chicken liver pate, sautéed lamb liver and more animal parts than you can shake a stick at. Wash it down with Mexican Kidney Punch (made with Jose Cuervo Especial Neat and House Made Spicy Sangrita) and the Lemon Livernator with George Dickle Tennessee Whisky No.12, Muddled Fresh Lemon Verbena, and Cane Sugar Simple Syrup.  It's not exactly Halloween themed, but if Anthony Bourdain episodes leave you gagging this could be the recipe for a truly terriftying dining experience!

When - 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. Monday through Friday

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Previously in BYT Guides:

God loves a cheerful giver.

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God loves a cheerful giver.-- 2 Corinthians 9:7

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