Edible DC Magazine Announces Winners for Awards

Hundreds gather at District Winery to celebrate EdibleDC Award winners and finalists

Edible DC team announced the winners for the inaugural Edible DC Magazine Awards, sponsored by Caviar on Monday evening, Oct. 16. Nominations were submitted in August, and an Edible DC Awards panel of judges met in early September to select the top three finalists in each of the fifteen original categories for this year’s awards. Each award category had two overall winners, a Judge’s Choice Award selection and a People’s Choice Award based on the amount of support a nominee gathered from on-line community voting. The awards were given at a ceremony at the newly opened District Winery followed by a gala celebration.

“We worked on the concept of awards program to recognize our area’s progressive food movement-whether that’s a school garden program, an innovator in food access or a unique chef and farmer partnership. Frankly, we were overwhelmed by the number of nominations. The response overall has been simply tremendous and I think the food community has really appreciated the spotlight shining on the often unsung heroes of our local food movement,” said Edible DC’s Susan Able.

EdibleDC Magazine finalist gather at District Winery on Monday, October 16th for the inaugural EdibleDC Awards. (Photo by Jai Williams, @jaithephotog)

“Caviar is proud to be the title sponsor for this incredible event and present the Farmer x Chef Collaboration Award. We believe in creating true mutual partnerships with restaurants, listening to one another to collectively deliver the best experience to diners. Similarly, farmers and chefs must form trusting relationships with each other, and this connection is where every delightful Caviar meal begins,” said Patrick Beard, General Manager of Caviar D.C.

The awards ceremony was held at DC’s first winery, the recently opened District Winery in Yards Park. The venue overlooks the Anacostia River and is restaurant and event space on three floors. Over four hundred guests attended the event. Food was served from The Oval Room, Sally’s Middle Name, Coton & Rye, Whaley’s, Dino’s Grotto, Chaia, Seyou and Eat and Smile Catering. Drinks were provided by Waredaca Brewery, Green Hat Gin, Republic Restoratives, Lost Rhino Brewing. Desserts were from Trickling Springs and Rare Sweets Bakery.

Bill Young, a Senior Project Manager at HapstakDemetriou, the architecture and design firm who designed District Winery, presented the award for Best Use of Local Seasonal Ingredients.

He told the audience, "To be locally sourced, is to be sustainable. The word 'sustainable' is not just a buzz word anymore, at least not in the architecture world. It is now actually code or law. At District Winery, we had to design the space with limitations set forth by the new DC Green construction code. Everything we specified on the job had to be reviewed and approved by the DC Green Commission. We had to be sustainable. The finalists listed here didn’t have to be sustainable. They want to be sustainable. It's important we recognize and appreciate that." 

The 2017 Edible DC Awards award winners and finalists in each category are:

Best School Garden, brought to you by Larry Allen Homes

• Potomac Crescent Waldorf School (Judges Pick)
• Capital City Public Charter School (People’s Choice)
• Janney Elementary (Runner Up)

Best Chef Garden 

• Garrison Chef Rob Weland (Judges Pick)
• Urbana Chef Ethan McKee (People’s Choice)
• Evening Star Cafe Chef Keith Cabot (Runner Up)

Best Community Garden 

• Capital Area Food Bank’s Urban Demonstration Garden (Both Judges Pick & People’s Choice)
• Marion Street Garden – City Blossoms (Runner Up)
• UDC East Capitol Community Garden (Runner Up)

Best Home Cook Garden, brought to you by American Plant

• Vivian and Hajj Turner (Judges Pick)
• Angie Bryan (People’s Choice)
• Elaine Broadbent (Runner Up)

Leadership Award 

• Sydney Daigle, Director, Prince George’s County Food Equity Council (Judges Pick)
• Lindsay Smith, Regional Food Systems Value Chain Coordinator, Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (People’s Choice)
• Dena Leibman, Executive Director, Future Harvest CASA (Runner Up)

Best Local Farmer

• Up Top Acres (Judges Pick)
• Mountain View Farm (People’s Choice)
• P.A. Bowen Farmstead (Runner Up)

Best Local Brewery

• Lost Rhino Brewing Company (Judges Pick)
• Atlas Brew Works (People’s Choice)
• Waredaca Brewing Company (Runner Up)

Best Local Distillery

• New Columbia Distillery Garden (Both Judges Pick & People’s Choice)
• Republic Restoratives (Runner Up)
• KO Distilling (Runner Up)

Best Local Winery, brought to you by Potomac Construction Services

• Early Mountain Vineyards (Both Judges Pick & People’s Choice)
• The Vineyards at Dodon (Runner Up)
• Black Ankle (Runner Up)

Best Food Access Program 

• DC Greens Prescription Rx (Both Judges Pick & People’s Choice)
• Arcadia Center for Sustainable Agriculture’s Mobile Market (Runner Up)
• Joyful Food Markets (Runner Up)

Best Food Education Program 

• BrainFood DC (Judges Pick)
• FRESHFARM Foodprints (People’s Choice)
• Arcadia’s Veteran Farmer Program (Runner Up)

Best Farmers Market, brought to you by sweetgreen

• Takoma Park Farmers Market (Both Judges Pick & People’s Choice)
• Columbia Heights Farmer Market (Runner Up)
• Fairlington Farm Market (Runner Up)

Best Chef x Farmer Collaboration, brought to you by Caviar

• Chef Tarver King x Patowmack Farm (Judges Pick)
• Chef Rob Weland x One Acre Farm (People’s Choice)
• Chef Kyle Bailey x Spring House Farm + Old Line Fish Co. (Runner Up)

Best Use of Surplus Food, brought to you by MOM’s Organic Market

• Nourish Now (Judges Pick)
• Community Food Rescue a program of Manna Food Center (People’s Choice)
• Together We Bake (Runner Up)

Best Use of Local/Seasonal Ingredients, brought to you by HapstakDemetriou+

• Eat & Smile Catering (Judges Pick)
• Chaia, Farm to Taco (People’s Choice)
• Dino’s Grotto (Runner Up)

The EdibleDC staff recognizes the distinguished judges who brought expertise in many fields from gardening, farming, food policy, food and spirits. The judges included:

• Jay Youmans, Master of Wine & Certified Wine Educator, Educational Director and Owner of the Capital Wine School
• Sam Fromartz, Journalist, author and co-founder/Editor-in-Chief of Food & Environment Reporting Network
• JuJu Harris, Organic Gardner, food educator and author
• Mary Cheh, Ward 3 Councilmember, District of Columbia
• Kim Rush Lynch, Agriculture Marketing Specialist, Prince George's County
• Al Goldberg, Founder and CEO, Mess Hall
• Laine Cidlowski, Executive Director, DC Food Policy Council
• Nycci Nellis, CEO/Publisher of The List Are You on It, Co-host, WTOP's Foodie and the Beast
• Gina DeMatteis, Marketing Director, American Plant

Edible DC Magazine is a quarterly print and digital publication dedicated to telling the story of the food and drink culture of the DMV. Launched in 2014, Edible DC has continued to push the boundaries on what sourcing local and seasonal looks like for Washingtonians. Edible DC has won numerous industry awards including three Eddy Awards for Best Feature, our social media program and our Instagram account which has grown to 47,000+ followers with over 78,000+ photos tagged by readers with #edibledc. 

Caviar is Square’s food ordering service that offers an easy way to get delivery or pickup from the best restaurants in town. Customers can order ahead on the web, or instantly from Caviar’s free mobile app for iOS and Android. Caviar provides customers with quick, reliable delivery service no matter where they are in Washington, DC.