DC Restaurant Week

On Friday night, Marion and I went out with some friends for DC's Winter Restaurant Week to a highly-acclaimed trendy restaurant in Georgetown called "Farmers and Fishers." This is the sister restaurant of our favorite place, Founding Farmers, so expectations were running high. We were so pumped and had all researched the menu so that we would not make any ordering mistakes.

Mar and I arrived about 15 minutes early and decided to get some drinks before the rest of our party arrived. After reading 100+ Yelp reviews about how amazing the Creole Watermelon Punch was - I excitedly declared our order to the flannel-clad hipster bartender. "Um, watermelon is not in season." I'm sorry? I'm pretty sure you can get legit-looking Watermelon at any grocery store...but no, that would violate everything this restaurant stands for with its emphasis on fresh food that pays tribute to its regional origins. (Shit, I hope my membership to Slow Food International wasn't just revoked...) FML. Way to completely throw off my entire dining experience, dude. Frazzled, we decided to go with a pitcher of white wine sangria. "It's really bitter." Seriously? Do you serve any drinks that are actually available and that you would actually recommend? We decided to ignore his warning and go with the sangria. He brought out a pitcher and 2 glasses of ice, stirred it around a bit, and jetted off to the other side of the bar for the rest of the evening. This joker did not even pour it for us. Just as he warned, the sangria was quite tart - big emphasis on grapefruit and no trace of sugar or sweet liquor anywhere. We shrugged and drank our $24 pitcher anyways, as the rest of the group arrived and we moved to our table to start the 4-course marathon of food.

One and a half glasses (each) later, and in the middle of my butternut squash soup and Marion's homemade guacamole, Marion and I did the usual telepathic conversation with our eyes. "My stomach really hurts." and "Yah, there's no way I can eat another bite." We then excused ourselves to get some cold, fresh air - cringing that we had approximately 2.5 more courses to eat. After some pep-talking and realizing that the bartender either drugged us or the sangria was literally tearing us apart, we went back inside to finish what we had started. And by that, I mean we had our waiter box up our entrees and desserts and hopped in a cab, apologizing to our friends as we literally ran out of the restaurant. Luckily, a few Pepcid ACs and some quality time lying horizontally got us through the evening.

I love Restaurant Week because it means that group meals are organized, I usually end up trying new places, and it's normally pretty good bang for your buck ($35 for dinner, $20 for lunch). I hate Restaurant Week because it is too much food and you're usually confined to just a few options for each course. Sadly, I will not be returning to Farmers and Fishers anytime soon - whether it was the Sangria, the rude bartender, or just too much food in one sitting, I'll never know. But I've still got my Key Lime pie in the fridge if I ever regain an appetite.

Sorry there are no specific pictures - I was preoccupied with keeping it together and did not want a visual reminder of how terrible I felt. A happier post will follow!