hmmboy

I've been to the Black Olive several times and it is very good not great. (Drive 5 minutes to Charleston if you want great) Owned by relatives of the owner of the great Milos in NYC and Montreal, and similar but on a much smaller scale. The wine list is handled by the owner's son - nice guy and has no problem with BYOB.

My favorite butternut squash soup in the Tra Vigne Cookbook - it is labor intensive, but unbelievably yummy

Shucks - I adore the restaurant. I'm a newbie and would love to meet some DC foodies but I'll be in Charleston. Won't a Saturday date basically eliminate all restaurant professionals from the festivities? Don't suppose you'd reconsider and do Sunday the 23rd???

For restaurant fare I'm going with John W's burger at Firefly (with the killer truffle fries). For roadside it's got to be the great burger and handcut fries at Foster's Grill in Warrenton (there's an outpost in Vienna which is almost as good as the original).