From our friends at Shaw Main Streets...
Food and Cocktails from 20 Shaw Restaurants and Bars featured at A Taste of Shaw at Howard Theatre, April 25th
Annual gala showcases Shaw’s booming dining and drinking scene, with proceeds supporting neighborhood revitalization
Shaw Main Streets will host its annual Taste of Shaw Gala on Tuesday April 25, 2017, from 7 PM to 9 PM. The annual event celebrates the neighborhood’s diverse businesses and residents, and is a fundraiser for initiatives that enhance and promote commerce within the Shaw neighborhood. DC’s beloved Howard Theatre will be the backdrop for live music and libations and delicious bites from some of DC’s best bars and restaurants. Proceeds from the event support Shaw Main Streets’ economic revitalization and historic preservation activities in the Shaw neighborhood of DC, which have helped bring about the transformation of central Shaw since 2003. This year’s hashtag, #LoveShaw, represents the camaraderie of Shaw’s business owners and the citywide support and accolades the neighborhood continues to receive. From Michelin stars to Rammy nominations and stellar reviews, Shaw’s bars and restaurants continue to help raise the Shaw neighborhood’s profile locally and nationally.
A hospitality renaissance led by top chefs and mixologists has been under way in recent years, bringing fresh concepts and perspectives in cuisine and beverage, as well as a host of new talent, making Shaw the city’s top dining and imbibing destination. Recent openings such as the neighborhood craft cocktail bar Service Bar DC (a new take on the local watering hole from veteran bartenders Chad Spangler and Glendon Hartley) the Chinese-French concept Kyirisan from husband and wife team Tim and Joey Ma, and neighborhood anchors such as The Passenger, DC’s favorite industry bar, and Convivial, which was one of 2015’s opening highlights; will be among the many participants in the annual Shaw Main Streets Gala. Shaw Main Streets invites the entire region to explore some of the best of the neighborhood has to offer at one venue, on one special evening.
Guests can expect a festive atmosphere, open beer and wine bar, and unlimited cuisine and cocktails from a Taste of Shaw’s stellar host committee of chefs, restaurateurs, and mixologists. Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen will receive the 2017 Shaw Champion Award, chosen by the Board of Directors of Shaw Main Streets for his consistent support of economic revitalization in Shaw and SMS' efforts to create the thriving community that Shaw is today. Appearances by Mayor Bowser and other public officials are also slated.
The 2017 Taste of Shaw host committee includes the following bars and restaurants:
• The Brixton
• Buttercream Bakeshop
• Cava
• Convivial
• Dacha
• Dino’s Grotto
• The Tavern at Henley Park
• Eat the Rich
• El Rey
• Etete
• French Quarter Brasserie
• Haikan
• Half Smoke
• Kyirisian
• La Jambe
• The Passenger
• Service Bar
• Seylou
• Southern Efficiency
• Tiger Fork
Advance tickets are $80 and can be ordered online at www.smsgala17.eventbrite.com. On the day of the event, tickets will be $100. Tickets include unlimited food and cocktail tastings, beer and wine, and complimentary valet parking.
About Shaw Main Streets:
Shaw Main Streets was established in 2003 to encourage and support economic revitalization and historic preservation along the 7th and 9th Streets, NW commercial corridors. The organization has attracted and supported over 300 new businesses to the central Shaw commercial district, resulting in the creation of thousands of new permanent jobs. Nearly $3 Billion in commercial and residential development have been facilitated by Shaw Main Streets’ efforts. Shaw Main Streets won the 2016 Great American Main Street Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s National Main Street Center. Shaw Main Streets has developed two mobile apps promoting neighborhood businesses, DineinShaw and ShopinShaw, available for both the Android and iPhone platforms. Shaw Main Streets is a designated DC Main Streets program and is funded in part by the Department of Small and Local Business Development, Muriel E. Bowser, Mayor. For more information, please visit www.shawmainstreets.org.
