We are  thrilled to announce the return of our popular full-day symposium renamed as: 
                             Bringing It to The Table: Taste. Talk. Transform.

Our day-long symposium celebrates all areas of food, wine and hospitality, highlighting the talents and achievements of our members and experts in the industry. Sessions range from thought-provoking discussions about food, facilitated by industry leaders to fun cooking demos from well-known culinary experts.
                          NOW is the time to get involved!!
 Date: Saturday, September 30 - 9 am to 5 pm
Location: National Union Building – 918 F Street NW, an historic building with seven floors of meeting/event space and a full demonstration kitchen
Here's what you need to know: 

• We start at 9 am with a continental breakfast, then a keynote address by a notable woman in the industry (we have had Ellie Krieger, Sara Moulton, Carla Hall, and Pati Jinich in the past).
• The keynote is followed by four concurrent 40 minute breakout sessions, a break, and then four more concurrent sessions.
• Lunch is provided, typically salads, soups, sandwiches, and a dessert extravaganza featuring our pastry chef Dames. 
• The afternoon mirrors the morning with two 40-minute breakout sessions, featuring four options each to choose from.
• Operating concurrently with the programs, is a culinary “garage sale” which displays items donated by Dames to raise funds for scholarships donations include cookbooks, serving dishes, glassware, flatware, pitchers.
• The day concludes around 4 pm with a wine reception.

We need YOU - our chapter members - to get involved. The symposium requires the womanpower of everyone in the chapter. This event goes a long way in helping us achieve our mission of education and philanthropy.
Please select a committee where you can contribute your time and talent by contacting the chair at the email address provided. 

• Sponsorships: your own company can be highlighted by being a sponsor, or vendors you work with. Sponsors can be part of the day’s breakout sessions. We are also looking for a chair of the Sponsorship Committee. Contact Jill Collins at jill@jillcollinspr.com

• Catering: Caterers/chefs from our own membership to provide food for the  three parts of the day: breakfast, lunch and the closing wine reception. We have a budget – we will PAY for your catering prowess. This is an important need that we’d like to nail down ASAP, and it’s a great way to highlight your talent and business in front of our chapter and the public. Contact Jill Collins at jill@jillcollinspr.com

• Programming:  We need people with great ideas and contacts to pull together interesting and pertinent sessions, the backbone of the event. Sessions in the past have ranged from interactive dumpling-making to panels of food editors talking about how they plan coverage. We want topical issues along with lively conversation throughout the day. Volunteers will also help obtain titles, abstracts, biographical information, and equipment needs from the invited speakers, plus maintain communication with them to confirm logistics. Contact Tambra Raye Stevenson at tambra@iamwanda.org

• Day-Of Volunteers: Volunteers are needed for many positions, including registration, facility guides, session monitors, gift bag stuffing, session food distribution and more. Please contact Marie Steffany at msteff216@verizon.net, using the subject line "lesdamesdc volunteers." Note: Dame volunteers who wish to attend the sessions are afforded half-price tickets and may choose to work either morning or afternoon shifts.

Jill Collins and Tambra Raye Stevenson announced that our dynamic symposium has been christened: “Bringing It To The Table: Taste, Talk, Transform.” Special thanks to Lori Gardner for coming up with this creative name. The all-day conference will be held Saturday, September 30 at the National Union Building in downtown DC. Scroll down for more info, including lots of ways you can help.  Read all about it here....
​
Bringing It To The Table: Taste,Talk, Transform is set for Saturday, September 30 at the National Union Building, an historic landmark turned into an event space that’s perfect for our all-day symposium. Located at 918 F Street NW (close to Metro Center and Gallery Place, and a garage next door), the facility has plenty of room for a keynote speech, continental breakfast, and morning, lunch and afternoon sessions. Part of the day’s agenda will be cooking demos/classes conducted in the building’s full demo kitchen, which takes up an entire floor. 
Our symposiums have historically been an opportunity for the whole chapter to pitch in and get involved, so contact the chairs below and sign up now to help! Here’s what’s needed:

• Caterers/chefs from our own membership to provide food for the breakfast, lunch and wine reception. We have a budget – we will PAY for your catering prowess. This is an important need that we’d like to nail down ASAP, and it’s a great way to highlight your talent and business. Contact Jill Collins at jill@jillcollinspr.com
• Volunteers for the Program Committee, which will be designing the day’s programming. We need people with great ideas and contacts to pull together interesting and pertinent sessions, the backbone of the event. Sessions in the past have ranged from interactive dumpling-making to panels of food editors talking about how they plan coverage. We want topical issues along with lively conversation throughout the day. Volunteers will also help obtain titles, abstracts, biographical information, and equipment needs from the invited speakers, plus maintain communication with them to confirm logistics. Contact Tambra Raye Stevenson at tambra@iamwanda.org
• We are looking for a co-chair of the Volunteer Committee, who will be trained and assisted by Marie Steffany. The position is a wonderful way to become familiar with our membership or renew relationships. Volunteers are needed for many positions, including registration, facility guides, session monitors, gift bag stuffing, session food distribution and more. If you have questions or a particular spot you are eager to fill, please contact Marie at msteff216@verizon.net, using the subject line "lesdamesdc volunteers." Note: Dame volunteers who wish to attend the sessions are afforded half-price tickets and may choose to work either morning or afternoon shifts.
• Sponsorships; your own company can be highlighted by being a sponsor, or vendors you work with. Sponsors can be part of the day’s breakout sessions. We are also looking for a chair of the Sponsorship Committee. Contact Jill Collins at ​jill@jillcollinspr.com

Please take note that the Spring General Membership Meeting is scheduled via Zoom on Tuesday June 6 at 5:30 p.m. Look forward to ‘seeing’ you all there.

 
DAMES AT THE BEACH!

Friday, March 31 - Sunday, April 2, 2023

Join us in Rehoboth Beach for a fun-filled weekend with our sister Dames as we explore one of the new regions in our expanded DC Chapter region. Delmarva, Charlottesville & West Virginia are now a part of our chapter, and we hope this will be the first of several group trips outside of the immediate DC area. The Development team is using this trip to create a template for exploring, recruiting and fundraising in these regions.

Rehoboth Beach is known as the getaway of choice for summer beach-goers from the Washington, DC area. It’s now become a year-round vacation destination and where women in the thriving hospitality industry there would make fantastic additions to our chapter!
The weekend agenda is below. Tickets for each event should be purchased quickly as spaces are limited.

Rehoboth Beach is about a 2.5 hour drive from the DC area without traffic.
Lodging is up to you, but we recommend Vrbo and Airbnb. We’ll be staying in the off-season so rooms should be affordable and available.  For questions, please contact Ellen Kassoff at equinoxrestaurant@gmail.com

Click here to buy your tickets!

Here’s our agenda for the weekend:
Friday, March 31 - WELCOME DINNER in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware - 7PM
We’ll dine in small groups in downtown Rehoboth Beach, 2.5 hours from DC.
Choose between:

• La Fable
• The Federal
• Heirloom
• Mariachi
• The Cultured Pearl
• Confucius

Each meal will be a pre fixe menu. Price is $75 per person for dinner (beverages and gratuity not included). All of the restaurants above are woman-owned & operated.
Friday, March 31 - NIGHTCAP - after dinner in Dewey Beach, Delaware For after dinner conversation and libations, we can venture to one of Dewey Beaches iconic bars - The Rusty Rudder. Price is $25 per person for two cocktails (includes gratuity).
Saturday, April 1 - MORNING - Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
Breakfast on your own - we suggest two woman-owned & operated restaurants: Egg Rehoboth or The Blue Hen.
Saturday, April 1 - AFTERNOON - 3 to 5 PM

• Visit to a local oyster farm: Arrowhead Point Oyster Farm. Weather permitting, we’ll go out on a small boat and tour the farm to harvest oysters and learn about oyster farming in the Rehoboth Bay. Price is $50.00/per person (limited to 8 people). Rain plan: We’ll have an indoor oyster-tasting and learn about the farm.

            OR

• Seacrets Distillery tour and tasting, time TBA. Follow the trail of grain through the process of distilling on a tour that includes displays of over $1 million of Prohibition-era antiques. The visit includes samples of three Searcrets Spirits of your choice in the Speakeasy Tasting Room. Price is $15 per person, Limit 15 people per tour.

Saturday, April 1 - EVENING DINNER - 7 PM at Rehoboth Beach & Country Club
Traditional Neapolitan Pizza made in a pizza oven imported from Italy at Rehoboth Beach & Country Club. Locally renowned Sommelier and Club Manager “C” Chereches will conduct a casual tasting of wines paired with the pizza. Price is $55 per person (gratuity not included)
Sunday, April 2 - MORNING BRUNCH - 10 AM
Casual group brunch at another iconic Dewey beach restaurant, The Starboard. Brunch price is $25 per person (excludes beverage and gratuity).
​

Join us for the next Reel Tasty!
​
NEW DATE
Members Only
February 28 at 7 pm
Reel Tasty: Haute Cuisine. Based on the true story of an unknown country cook who becomes the personal chef of French President Francois  Mitterand. He runs the country. She runs the kitchen. Together they serve with excellence. Available on Hoopla and Freevee. 

Hosted by Sheila Crye
Tuesday, February 28, 7-8:30 p.m.
Zoom Link:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84392534278

Dames Who Drink: Join us at the dazzling Next Whisky Bar at the Watergate, co-hosted by Annie Boutin-King, director of catering at the Watergate hotel, and Aviva Goldfarb, director of drinking of Les Dames. Dames can order off the menu, created by Executive Chef Tony DiGregario, formerly of Cafe Boulud and DBGB. Attendees will pay their own tabs. Change of date: Tuesday, February 7, 6 to 8 p.m. 2650 Virginia Ave. NW. Valet parking is available for $25, and some metered parking is available on Virginia Avenue.

Reel Tasty: Haute Cuisine. Based on the true story of an unknown country cook who becomes the personal chef of French President Francois Mitterand. He runs the country. She runs the kitchen. Together they serve with excellence. Available on Hoopla and Freevee. Discussion moderated by Sheryl Hoehner. Tuesday, February 21, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Meeting ID: 843 9253 4278 

Dames Who Read: Salmon: A Fish, the Earth, and the History of Their Common Fate, by Mark Kurlansky. Most of what we do on land ends up impacting the ocean, but never is that clearer than when we look at salmon. Centuries of our greatest assaults on nature, from overfishing to dams, from hatcheries to fish farms, from industrial pollution to the ravages of climate change, can be seen in their harrowing yet awe-inspiring life cycle. Mark Kurlansky lays bare our misdirected attempts to manipulate salmon for our own benefit. Now, the only way to save salmon is to save the planet, and the only way to save the planet may be to save the salmon. Eileen Dykes will moderate the discussion. Tuesday, March 21, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Zoom link to come.

Dames Who Dine Save the date: Thursday, March 23 at RIS. And get this: Last week, the James Beard Foundation announced the semifinalists for the 2023 James Beard Awards, and Ris Lacoste, owner of RIS, made the list for Outstanding Restaurant! The finalists will be announced on March 29, and the winners gala takes place on June 5 in Chicago. Details about the dinner to come.