Grape Festival at Zaytinya last through Sunday, Nov. 27.

Last Chance Weekend: Zaytinya Grape Festival

My “taste” of the Grape Festival at Zaytinya begins with a heavy dose of larger-than-life celebrity chef José Andrés himself, who mans the entrance to a private area that has been cordoned off to showcase the special dishes and cocktails centered on the grape. 

Of course, wine, in abundance, flows. 

Andrés smiles broadly and greets me with a hearty, “¡Hola, guapa!” (“Welcome, dear!”). I normally don’t like it when anyone under the age of 92 calls me dear. But on this night, I’m late, and I appreciate his warm, Spanish bievenida.

Then poof! A bacchanalia appears and is placed in my hand. A balcones rumble infusion mixed with lemon juice, house-made grape syrup, and a dash of Peychaud’s Bitters, I feel at ease and less frazzled.  Somewhere Bacchus, the Greek god of good times, smiles upon me.

And lest I mix cultural great figures, I soon feel like Cleopatra. I miss all the grape-inspired dishes. Fabulous foodies who cover the metro-DC area food scene—eat your heart out. 

Zaytinya’s attentive staff quickly assembles my own private tasting, bringing it out in discrete trays. Dolmades qualify as one of the food of the gods in my book, and the butternut dolmades meet my exacting standards as grape leaves contained a delicious butternut squash, rice, pine nuts, and tarragon mixture served with lemon yogurt.

I equally love the garides me ouzo, shrimp flamed (!) in ouzo, served with roasted grapes, green olives, and dill and the barbounia tilihita se klimatofila—grilled, de-boned whole red mullet wrapped in grape leaves, sultans and roasted garlic. In both cases, the tenderly cooked fish melt in my mouth.

But the topper is the lamb chops agourides, grilled lamb rack chops in a white wine reduction sauce, roasted grapes, and honey cap mushrooms.

Now I just have to figure out how to convince every restaurant in town to fan me with peacock feathered fans the moment I sashay through the door, my entrance worthy of Cleopatra.

The Grape Festival devoted to “the little fruit that changed the world” runs through Sunday, November 27th.

Location

701 9th Street NW

Washington D.C.

zaytinya.com

202/638-0800

Hours

Sunday-Monday, 11:30 a.m.–10 p.m.

Tuesday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m.–11:30 p.m.

Fri-Sat 11:30–12am

Valet parking; limited street parking. Galley Place-Chinatown Metro (green/yellow/red lines), National Portrait Gallery exit on 9th and G streets NW.

Viviana Hurtado is a contributing editor for Washington Flyer. She writes the popular Wise Latina Club (wiselatinaclub.com) blog and is a contributor to Huffington Post and NPR’s “Tell Me More.”