Tasty July 4th Food Offerings
By Katie Bascuas
Celebrate July Fourth with creative picnic dinners and inventive desserts from some of the area’s best restaurants, bakeries, butcheries and wine shops. Here are a few of our picks:
• Buzz Bakery
At the newly opened location of Buzz Bakery in Ballston, pastry chef Tiffany MacIsaac is mixing up America’s traditional dessert – pie – and creating Fourth of July pie cupcakes.
These “pies” are made of hollowed-out yellow cake with either a cherry or blueberry filling and topped with buttercream frosting. Pie cupcakes are available by pre-order for $22 (for a half dozen) and will be ready for pick up on July 3.
• Cork Market and Tasting Room
Cork Market is offering two artisanal July Fourth picnic basket meals handmade by chef Kristin Hutter.
The All-American Sandwich Picnic features a choice of two sandwiches, including chicken salad; sopressata with roasted peppers and tapenade on focaccia; smoked ham with Nancy’s camembert and pickled onions; grilled vegetables with goat cheese and pesto; and the turkey BLTA with herb aioli. The $25 ($35 with wine) basket also includes potato chips, honey-mint fruit salad and either dark chocolate chip or lemon ricotta cookies for dessert.
For a more old-fashioned picnic, the Red, White and Chicken basket ($40; $55 with wine) includes a choice of herb marinated buttermilk fried chicken or Peruvian grilled chicken; faro salad with wild mushrooms, spring onions and preserved lemons or Mediterranean cous cous salad; asparagus with dried apricots and aged goat cheese salad or corn, tomato, avocado, cilantro and lime salad; and a rustic fruit crostada or assorted Cork cookies.
Picnic basket orders must be placed 24 hours in advance and can be picked up at Cork.
• Poste Moderne Brasserie
The July Fourth picnic at Poste will include a choice of root beer glazed pork spare ribs with bok choy kimchi and black-eyed pea and Virginia peanut salad; a housemade frankfurter with sauerkraut; or a gruyere burger. Both the burger and hot dog come with potato salad, coleslaw and freshly grilled corn on the cob.
To finish, a seasonal market cobbler with crème fraiche ice cream or a slice of heirloom watermelon with sea salt will be offered.
Reservations are required for the picnic dinner, which costs $27 for adults and $14 for kids and will be available in the restaurant’s courtyard from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• PS 7's
Chef Peter Smith, winner of this year’s “People’s Choice Half Smoke” honor, is cooking up some of his house-made half-beef, half-pork hot dogs, topped with white veal chili and served on a Parker House bun, for takeout orders on Saturday, July 2.
PS 7's is also offering a takeout menu for July Fourth. Menu options Include:
6 pack of hot dogs $9
6 pack with house made Parker House Buns $14
6 pack with house made Parker House Buns an d White Veal Chili $20
4 pack of Chicken Basil Brats $9
¼ lb Bread and Butter Pickle Relish $2
¼ lb Jardiniére $3.75
½ lb White Veal Chili $6.50
All items are available individually or as a complete package and must be pre-ordered by the end of the day June 30. To order, call 202-742-8550.
• Red Apron and Planet Wine
The butchery and wine shop are pairing up to create two Fourth of July packs available for pre-order through Planet Wine. The Brews & BBQ Pack includes a choice of two six-packs from local favorite Port City (four options are available), 12 handmade Red Apron hot dogs, 12 New England style hot dog buns and one jar of chef Nate Anda’s mustard. The Fireworks & Picnic Pack includes a choice of two Red Apron rillettes, pates or artisanal cheeses; a baguette; a bottle of wine; and sparklers.
Both packs cost $45 and need to be ordered by Wednesday, June 29 to be picked up on July 3 at Planet Wine.
• Sou’Wester
For a sit-down feast, head to Sou’Wester on the Fourth. The Mandarin Oriental restaurant's special menu includes chilled iceberg wedge salad; shrimp cocktail; devilled eggs; housemade flat bread with pimento cheese; a seafood broil with Bouchot mussels, North Carolina shrimp, Chincoteague clams, housemade sausage, baby corn and red potatoes; Southern fried chicken; Kanagy Farms grilled shoat; a Sou’wester “hubcap” burger; BBQ pork rib potato salad; parmesan french fries, shells and cheese, corn on the cob; watermelon and heirloom tomato salad; and a selection of summer desserts.
The special menu runs $60 per customer ($30 per child up to 10 years old) and is available from 5:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
• The Butcher's Block
Fourth of July revelers can pre-order custom-made picnics from Robert Wiedmaier’s Butcher’s Block. Picnic dinners can include anything from the store such as olives, cheese, salami, caperberries, pate, crackers, potato chips, housemade brownies and cookies, San Pellegrino, sparkling and still water, wine, beer and an assortment of sandwiches, including roast beef, turkey, goat cheese, chicken salad, prosciutto and brie and ham and Swiss.
• 701 Restaurant
Executive chef Ed Witt is offering a special July Fourth menu at 701. Menu items include bison chili with aged cheddar and cornbread croutons; chilled tomato soup with avocado and grilled shrimp; smoked Wagyu brisket served with asher blue and bacon potato salad and corn on the cob; as well as crab cake with summer vegetable slaw and chili sauce. For dessert: a red, white and blue parfait made with white chocolate cream, raspberry gel and local blueberries.
The special menu will be served from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., and items are priced from $9 to $26.
Katie Bascuas has lived in D.C. for the past year and a half, and when she isn’t working or traveling, she loves exploring new restaurants, farmers markets and bars in the city. A graduate of the University of Missouri’s School o f Journalism, Katie also enjoys writing about food and is excited to be contributing to Metrocurean.