Friday we went to the 20th Oyster Riot at the Old Ebbitt Grill. Over 20 types of oysters were served and, over three days, 150,000 oysters were consumed by almost 2,700 people. That’s a lot of shucking! Here, a mermaid.
We snapped CTS’ Aleksey Kurochkin flanked by DWO Marketing’s Anna Batyan and Aylin Sevgiti, who were also dressed as mermaids to celebrate Oyster Riot. The 10 winners of the Old Ebbitt Grill International Wines for Oysters Competition were served with the oysters; they had won at a competition earlier this month.
The 2014 Gold Medal wines included grand champion Chandon Brut Classic, best European Carpène Malvolti Extra Dry Prosecco, best South African Warwick Estate Professor Black Sauvignon Blanc, and best South American Carmen Wave Left Series Sauvignon Blanc. Here, the Hamilton’s Debbie Raffel, Clyde’s Restaurant Group’s Christian Guidi and Old Ebbitt Grill’s Jeff Kruman.
The all-you-could-eat oysters came from all over the country, including Maine, Massachusetts, California and Washington. Folks washed them down with 3,500 bottles of wine and 27 kegs of beer. Here, dental hygienist Elisabeth Scholl, Bond Dealers of America’s Samantha DeZur, and Epstein Becker & Green’s Whitney Krebs. There was live music from Mudcat blues band.
The team: Clyde’s Restaurant Group corporate chef Brian Stickel, Clyde's of Gallery Place exec chef Brian Kosack, Old Ebbitt Grill exec chef Salvatore Ferro, Clyde's Tower Oaks Lodge in Rockville exec chef Jeff Eng and Old Ebbitt Grill sous chef Patrick Smith.
