To Do: Fat Tuesday For Foodies

If you're looking beyond bars and beads come Mardi Gras this Tuesday, head to one of these restaurants where great food will be the focus of the festivities.

• Central Michel Richard: The James Beard award-winning restaurant hosts its second annual Mardi Gras celebration Tuesday from 5:30 to 11 p.m. with live jazz, traditional food and of course cocktails. Chef Cedric Maupillier will be cooking New Orleans fare like turtle soup, oysters Rockefeller, jambalaya, shrimp and crayfish etouffée, trout amandine, short rib po-boys, debris gravy, bread pudding and pecan pie. General manager Brian Zipin has created a list of vintage cocktails, priced at $11-$14. Sip on Hurricanes, Corpse Revivers and Abita beer.

• Mio: Chef Nicholas Stefanelli will serve a four-course Mardi Gras menu, priced at $48, featuring charbroiled Rappahannock River oysters, barbecue shrimp with potato pancakes, roasted pork with red beans and rice, and beignets with a coffee chicory milkshake. Mio will donate a portion of the proceeds to the Make It Right Foundation, which is rebuilding safe and sustainable homes in the lower Ninth Ward. Call Mio at 202.955.0075 for reservations.

• Acadiana: The Louisiana-inspired restaurant is celebrating Monday and Tuesday from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. A four-course menu for $40 will feature crawfish jambalaya and rabbit etouffée. Specialty drinks like Dark and Stormys, Category Fives, Pimms Cups and Bourbon Lemonade will be $5. The bar will serve Nola street fare including baskets of housemade cracklins ($2), Louisiana crawfish bread ($4), Cajun popcorn shrimp ($5) and frog legs ($10).