Hey Peeps! A Round-Up of Weekend Happenings, the Easter & Passover Edition

By Thomas Martin, Edible DC contributor

With only a few days until the weekend, the celebration of Easter and the start of Passover, we’ve made pulling together last-minute plans easy peasy. Luckily, the DMV has no shortage of possibilities. After you’ve dyed you own eggs using natural ingredients, plan a fun outing for farmily and friends. From Easter brunches and dinners to Passover tasting menus and seders, from special Easter cocktails to egg hunts for the young and not-so-young among us, DC is bursting with things to do this spring weekend.

Easter Brunches, Dinners, and Cocktail Specials

A Rake’s Progress
A Rake’s Progress will be celebrating the holiday with an Easter Feast on Sunday, April 21 from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm. Priced at $95 per person, the menu includes standout dishes such as sorghum-glazed ham, ember-grilled trout, mustard-crusted lamb and hot cross buns. Reservations can be made here and full details on the menu are here. Also, A Rake’s Bar’s Corey Polyoka has crafted a selection of new holiday cocktails. Try the Gingham, featuring Vitae Modern Gin, house made strawberry basil syrup, Verjus, honey and egg white, and a stenciled powder topping.

BLT Steak
BLT Steak will open for Easter Sunday from 3pm – 9pm to offer the steakhouse’s classic dinner menu, including raw bar selections, warm popovers and Certified Black Angus or USDA Prime steaks, in addition to a special blackboard menu, focused on seasonal ingredients and locally-grown items. Holiday specials include Japanese Wagyu Tartare ($26) with Beaver Creek quail yolk, cornichon and toast and Moulard Duck Breast Roulade ($42) with foie gras stuffing and rhubarb. For dessert, guests can enjoy items like Rhubarb with Strawberries, Fromage Blanc, Shortbread and Meringue ($10) or Pipe Dreams Ash Goat Cheese ($19) with rhubarb mostarda, apple, spiced nuts, and crackers. Make reservations by visiting BLT Steak’s website.

Bresca
Chef Ryan Ratino and his team at Michelin-starred Bresca invite you to celebrate Easter Sunday with a creative family-style seasonal menu featuring dishes such as Ocean Trout Crudo, Rohan Duck, and Veal Striploin. The three-course brunch is priced at $60 per person (exclusive of tax and gratuity).  Price for children between 6-12 years of age is $30 per child (exclusive of tax and gratuity). For reservations, please call 202-518-7926 or book directly on OpenTable.

Brothers and Sisters
On Sunday, April 21 Brothers And Sisters will be offering an all-day Easter Brunch menu including a carving station with steam buns highlighted by duck confit, whole cauliflower and lamb shoulder seasoned with cumin and Szechuan peppercorns. The full menu can be viewed here. 

Centrolina
On Easter Sunday, April 21st, Chef Brandwein will be serving a special menu with reservations available from 11am until 8pm. For reservations, visit OpenTable. The menu will include tuna crudo with calabrese chili, tempura fried soft shell crab, grilled lamb sausage with a white bean crema, and more.

DBGB Kitchen and Bar
DBGB DC is Chef Daniel Boulud’s upscale casual bistro, located in CityCenterDC. Executive Chef Nicholas Tang offers modern French-American fare, including locally-sourced seafood and poultry, house-made sausages and seasonal vegetables. In celebration of Easter, DBGB will offer their classic a la carte menu in addition to holiday specials for both brunch, 11am – 4pm, and dinner, 5pm – 10pm. Special menu additions include items such as Roasted Leg of Lamb ($34), Sorghum Glazed Ham ($29) and a Rhubarb Tart ($13). To view DBGB’s full Easter menu, guests can click here and can make reservations by visiting their website.

Gravitas
This Easter Sunday Gravitas will serve up a festive prix-fixe brunch menu, perfect for the whole family. Chef Matt Baker's brunch specials include a spread of spring dishes like herb-crusted lamb chips with red wine sauce and rhubarb torte. Available on April 21 from 11:30am-4:30pm. $50 per person, exclusive of tax and gratuity. ($25 for children twelve and under.)

Radiator
On Easter Sunday, Radiator’s popular all-you-can-eat brunch will be upgraded to a lavish holiday buffet perfect for families and kids of all ages. The elaborate spread from Executive Chef Jonathan Dearden will include an avocado toast bar, a local seafood-inspired raw bar, and a ribeye carving station. Priced at $42 for adults and $20 for children under 12, Radiator’s Easter Sunday Brunch Buffet will be served from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 21. Each adult will receive a complimentary welcome mimosa to toast the special occasion. Reservations for brunch are encouraged and may be made by calling 202.742.3150 or visiting www.radiatordc.com.

Passover Specials

Centrolina
From April 19th until April 27th, stop in and enjoy the Passover tasting menu, with the option to order a la carte as well. The menu is $55 per person and features wood-roasted artichoke, spinach & egg drop soup, matzoah lasagnette, roasted salmon with beets, and a chocolate macaron torta. More information and reservations here.

Equinox - SOLD OUT!

On Friday, April 19th, Equinox will host their Annual Community Passover Seder featuring a three-course prix-fixe menu of dishes created to honor the holiday; a plant-based menu will also be served. Tickets available here.

instagram post by @beautifulPaper sponsored by @incredibleegg

Easter Egg Hunts & More

Washington Parks & People Spring Easter Egg Hunt
Join Washington Parks & People and KonsiderDis Radio for our Annual Easter Egg Hunt on April 27th from 12-4pm at the Marvin Gaye Greening Center. We'll have a farm wide egg hunt, a petting zoo provided by Media Luna Farms, a DJ, food, fresh organic produce to be harvested, face painting, farm tours, games, a moon bounce, and much more! Tickets available here.

The LINE DC’s Easter Egg Hunt
Take part in the LINE DC’s Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, April 20 and Sunday, April 21, from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. From the hotel’s front steps to the front desk, keep an eye out for pink & yellow pastel mugs from The Cup We All Race 4, and golden eggs from the team at Brothers And Sisters. From Spring treats and cookies for kids to gift certificates for the grown-ups, Easter treasures will be hidden throughout the property.

Wild Sesame Powered by Getaway Weekend
The Little Sesame team will host a weekend getaway to the Shenandoah Valley (Wild Sesame!), bringing along a caravan of adventurous eaters to escape the city and explore the outdoors. The travelers will stay at Getaway cabins and get active with Outdoor Voices, who will curate immersive programming like a foraging and cocktail making class with a local herbalist, group yoga class and an outdoor cooking class. Newly-launched, modern kitchenware company, Great Jones, will feature their colorful cookware throughout the culinary portions of the event. Attendees will enjoy Getaway House’s campgrounds equipped with luxe cabins nestled in nature, as well as large family-style meals cooked over an open fire by Little Sesame’s chefs. Tickets and more info here.

True Colors: Creating Natural Easter Egg Dyes from Food Waste

By Madeline Crozier; Photography by Heather Schrock; Layout by Caryn Scheving

In food as in nature, color abounds. Natural dyes, made from food scraps that would otherwise go composted or unused, suddenly inspire creative opportunities that reduce food waste. They can replace synthetic chemical colorings in foods like frostings, icings and batters. They can also dye fiber such as yarn or fabric for clothing and pillowcases. And they can add color to DIY projects from paper crafts to home-made paints to Easter eggs.

Creating natural food dyes requires a willingness to experiment with ingredients to see what colors emerge. Here are some common food scraps and the colors they evoke. Visit EdibleIndy.com for a “How To” guide when dyeing at home including safety tips and our favorite books on natural dyes.

Lemons (Yellow)

Chopped lemon peels produce a soft lemonade-yellow color. When using natural dyes to color frostings or icings, add the dye little by little to achieve the desired shade. A small amount of flavor often remains from the original food, so taste as you go.

Onions (Orange)

Onion skins contain their own tannins, no fixative is required to dye fabric (see web story for details). There’s no need to treat the fabric ahead of time. Yellow onion skins produce a yellow-orange color, while red onion skins produce a pale orange with pink undertones.

Beets (Red/Pink)

Save beet trimmings, peelings and tops to produce a rich, reddish-pink dye. The color produced from beets often fades over time in fabrics but serves well in short-term uses such as coloring Easter eggs, frostings or batters.

Red Cabbage (Purple)

When boiled into dye, red cabbage leaves create a deep purple shade. Dye made from red cabbage leaves is generally difficult to fix to fabric, but the fixative will help for short-term projects (see web story for details). This dye is ideal for coloring frostings or batters.

Avocados (Peach/Light Pink)

Instead of tossing out avocado skins and seeds, store them in the freezer. Five or six avocados will create enough dye for smaller projects, but more scraps will encourage deeper color tones. Boiling the avocado skins and seeds draws out colors from warm peach to light pink.

Blueberries (Blue/Purple)

If you’ve picked more blueberries than you can eat, they can make a light blue or purplish dye, depending on the concentration of fruit. Experimentation is key.

Spinach (Green)

Wilted spinach can span a range of shades from deep green to soft celery. Increasing the amount of spinach deepens the color. Natural ingredients from artichokes to herb leaves to grass can create green tones. To develop your own natural green dye, experiment with different combinations.