Industry Takeover at Graffiato

                                   

The first Monday of every month, Mike Isabella turns over his kitchen at Graffiato to some of DC's greatest chefs and mixologists to help co-host Industry night.  From 10pm-1am, food lovers of DC pile into the restaurant to take part in an extraordinary night of complimentary late night snacks, and signature libations from guest mixologists.

Most recently, Monday, Industry Takeover night featured Scott Drewno, executive chef at Wolfgang Puck's The Source, Erik Bruner-Yang from Toki Underground, and Top Chef's Spike Mendelsohn from Good Stuff Eatery and We, The Pizza. It was a night to remember filled with delicious food, celebrity chefs, and lots of laughs.

The theme was Asian fusion complete with drinks by Colin Sugalski, head mixologist from Toki Underground, the famous Ramen hotspot on H street.  

The food was absolutely outstanding, and I was really impressed by the quality considering they were making everything in ample portions for the large amount of people. 

Scott and Erik served up a variety of Asian inspired dishes.  Everything from crispy duck lettuce wraps, sweet and spicy pork belly, tempura ribs, savory udon noodles with beef tongue, to Toki Underground's famous steamed dumplings, and some sort of fantastic orange chicken lollipops.  There was also seafood salad wrapped in a banana leaf, and a very spicy noodle pizza.

The food was abundant and just kept coming out, one dish after the other. The chefs mentioned that some of the dishes were staples at their restaurants, but that they also got creative and made new dishes just for Industry Takeover night.

Spike finished off the meal with creamy adult milkshakes from his restaurant Good Stuff Eatery.  

Colin Sugalski made a creative new cocktail with Swedish Herb bitters for the night to wash everything down.  It was a lovely combination of sweet and spicy and refreshing.

Industry Takeover is such a fun idea, and a fantastic way to try dishes from chefs all over DC, and best of all-it's free!  But if you do decide to go, I highly recommend getting there early and making a B line to the pizza bar for the best seat in the house.  You won't regret it.