Happy March, food family. I’ll be straight with you – this is a weird month for food days. Turkey Neck Soup Day? Cheese Doodle Day? MELBA TOAST DAY?
I chose sparingly this month on which food holidays to feature, but I’m confident you’ll want to know about these in advance. I have my eye on the all the seafood holidays (per usual).
March 9 – National Crabmeat Day
Where you can celebrate:
- Joe’s Seafood. One of our favorite downtown eateries, Joe’s offers classic crab cakes, king crab legs, and crab bisque, BUT ALSO has an entire section of the menu devoted solely to fresh stone crab.
- Pennsylvania 6. They are known for their raw bar, but also serve delectable crab croquettes, crab cocktail and seasonal crab selections if you’re up for the massive seafood platter with lobster and clams that come with it.
- Captain White’s Seafood City. I’m hesitant to even share this with you because I don’t want the secret to get out. The seafood market on Maine Avenue is quite literally overflowing with fresh crabs straight out of the sea, along with bluepoint oysters the size my face and every fish you can imagine. You can get them to go and fry up some soft shell crab for dinner, or get some king crab legs cooked and seasoned with old bay for immediate consumption. I’d do both.
- Johnny’s Half Shell. There’s always old faithful – Johnny’s. Go here for the classic Maryland-style crabcake and cole slaw. (Pssst – they also have $3 lobster sliders during happy hour).
March 17 – National Corned Beef & Cabbage Day
Where you can celebrate:
- Ri Ra. The ever-popular Irish hub in Georgetown serves a mouth-watering “Publican Reuben” with beer braised corned beef brisket and house pickled cabbage. I just passed out thinking about it.
- The Dubliner. It should be obvious from the name, but the Dubliner serves classic Irish dishes all day, every day, including the staple corned beef and cabbage meal. You can also get a killer Guinness burger and hearty shepherd’s pie.
- Irish Whiskey Public House. Not just good for happy hour. Also great for a corned beef & cabbage sandwich with melty swiss.
March 18 – National Oatmeal Cookie Day
Where you can celebrate:
- Teaism. Ohmigodohmigodohmigod. Teaism has the most heavenly salted oat cookies on the face of the earth. Whenever my team has a rough day in the office, I pop over to Teaism and buy a batch to cheer everyone up. They are straight up nirvana for your taste buds.
- Sticky Fingers. This vegan sweets shop in Columbia Heights will hook you up with a beautiful scoop of ice scream smashed between two of their oatmeal cookies.
- Baked & Wired. B&W is a hot contender for the best bakery in the DMV. If you can muster the strength to resist their famous cupcakes, try one of their sweet specialties: (1) the Neiman Marcus cookie with oatmeal and grated Hershey bars, (2) the Oatmeal Butterscotch cookie, or (3) the Little Bertha’s oatmeal cookies stuffed with cream cheese frosting!
- Captain Cookie & The Milkman. OK, fine, it’s technically an oatmeal raisin cookie, but the Captain knows what he’s doing over there in Foggy Bottom. Keep an eye out for the Captain Cookie food truck out and about around town!
March 31- National Oysters/Clams on the Half Shell Day
Oh man. If I could eat raw oysters for all three meals, I would. With the occasional grilled cheese thrown in. I’m fortunate enough to live within a few blocks of THREE of the best oyster places in town.
Where you can celebrate:
- Captain White’s Seafood City. This is going to make the cut in every seafood category. You haven’t really done DC seafood correctly until you’ve visited Captain White’s Seafood City and slurped down a dozen oysters for breakfast at 7:00 am on a Saturday.
- Hank’s Oyster Bar. Some day I’m going to write a poem called “Ode to Hank’s.” I am a fiercely loyal patron of this top tier oyster bar. My favorite way to enjoy my half shell delicacies is during the late night oyster happy hour 10:00pm-close.
- Pearl Dive Oyster Palace. A “palace” is exactly the vibe you get when you walk into Pearl Dive on 14th Street. They always have wide selection of oysters and a creative list of accompanying sauces and vinegars (though if you’re a real oyster-phile you shouldn’t be putting a damn thing on them prior to slurping).
- Betsy. This back alley hidden gem in Eastern Market has a beautiful oyster platter and a secret rooftop garden on which to enjoy them. With the weather we’ve been having, you’ll want to head to Betsy and enjoy those oysters outside with one of their specialty gin cocktails.
- Whaley’s. This chic SW Waterfront oyster haven takes pride in their service. The last time I went to get my shellfish fix, they had only one shucker on duty, so they brought us some complimentary prosecco to enjoy while we waited the extra 10 minutes for our perfectly shucked beauties.
- Le Diplomat. A little slice of France, oysters AND top neck clams?? What’s not to be obsessed with?
Thanks for visiting! Sorry March was a weird month for food holidays, but I think it only gets better from here. Check back next month for the April calendar!