Tablesmacking Soul in D.C.

    

    

Capitol at Night

 

I just got back from a fabulous week in Washington D.C.  The Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) http://digitalwpc.com/ is my favorite event of the year for a few reasons:  it lays the groundwork for the next fiscal year for Microsoft’s partner initiatives (which are near and dear to my heart as I love partners), I get to see so many colleagues/friends that I don’t see very often and its always been on or around my birthday week.        

I realized that I’ve been working on this event since it changed from Fusion to WPC, nine years ago.  How time flies….    

That first year (2003), I was working for SharePoint team partner product manager Zoltan Deak and we introduced the concept of a “partner theater” to what was then being called the “Microsoft Office System” for both Microsoft TechEd & WPC that year.  It was the first time Microsoft gave partners a forum to speak on the expo hall show floor.  Having a degree in Theatre, I can’t help but bring a kiss of the theatrical to everything I touch.  The concept of a “theater” for partners remains strong today and has been adopted by many others.  We innovate this concept every year and a huge Partner Theater was added by the WPC event itself on the Expo hall floor.     

Every conference/tradeshow we plan always comes with a myriad of parties and dinners that we plan in parallel.  D.C. holds its own with celebrity chef choices, including  Charlie Palmer, Richard Blais, Eric Ziebold, Michel Richard and many more…. Eclectic eats in Adams Morgan, Utopia (artsy and great pasta), and one of the best hole-in-the-wall live music venues – Madam’s Organ touts “Sorry, Were Open” in red neon, bringing in a crowd you are forced to dance with cheek to cheek and give late night confessions.  My favorite place to have a nice dinner – Mie n Yu is in vibrant and collegiate Georgetown.  Our last night, we happened upon Kinkead’s in Foggy Bottom and the service was stellar and my scallop dish was crazy good.  For my birthday dinner we went to Napoleon, a lovely french bistro, where the moules and frites were fantastic and champagne cocktails divine.   

For the official partner dinner planned by my team, we chose Art & Soul, celebrated two-time James Beard-Award winning Chef Art Smith’s modern/Southern locavore restaurant located in the Liaison Hotel on Capitol Hill. Art & Soul has a lovely patio and a chic modern private room that can hold up to 60 comfortably.  The ambience and the staff were superb – the food, well, some might say — was soulful.   

The “arugula” ended up being spinach – regardless the salad with watermelon pickles, goat cheese, almonds and a blackberry ale vinaigrette was outstanding.  Other than the lettuce deviation, the food was “tablesmacking” good.  The ribeye and creamed spinach were cooked to perfection. The meal was brought to a sweet end with a board of mini-cupcakes – the perfect small bite accompanied by espresso drinks to give guests the strength to go onto all the rest of the events of the evening.    

Other venues that I liked we’re P.O.V. @ the W Hotel – you can’t beat the view, Microsoft global partner Neudesic threw a classy cocktail party up there.  The IW team & U.S. Partner team had a receptions at the Newseum which was quite lovely and had amazing passed hors d’oeuvres (lobster rolls & steamed veggie potstickers).  KnowledgeLake, Fujitsu and Global 360 hosted a fun happy hour at Buddha Bar DC - this just opened in May venue stood up to its Parisian & NYC MePa flagship spaces.    

People ask me all the time – how do you find your party venues and restaurants… **I recommend…    

1. Have passion for amazing food & to love to travel
2. Watch Top Chef and the Food Network
3. Use Zagat & OpenTable, they are great resource tools
4. Join Yelp.com – Opinions from the people
5. Ask a local or look for local food blogs

  **Hire us to help you – we know what to look for and how to turn what you envision into a reality    

 Let my team help you bring your brand to life!     

 Happy Summer & Cheers!    

 Heather    

 Owner & Head Maven   

 Creative Maven     

    

    

    

Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference City History and Future     

2011 – Los Angeles, CA     

2010 – Washington D.C.    

2009 – New Orleans, LA     

2008 – Houston, TX     

2007 – Denver, CO     

2006 – Boston, MA     

2005 – Minneapolis, MN     

2004 – Toronto, Ontario     

2003 – New Orleans, LA     

1996 – 2002 – Fusion

DC, Balti-Mo & Philly Dish

I keep getting requests from people to catalog my travels and favorites….so here I go.

Had a great trip to the East Coast last week Washington DC, Baltimore and Philly.

Went to many many hotels, venues and restaurants over the course of the week.  Was in DC,  Mon-Wed, drove to Baltimore, then Philadelphia Wed-Fri and ended up driving all the way to NYC to avoid the blizzard that was doomed to hit the DC and Philly areas.  Never driven in that neck of the wood before, was great – bring your toll money!  And I LOVED driving in Manhattan. Hooked up with our newest Maven, Laura Rogers who is local to Washington DC- welcome to the team Laura!!

Me in front of one of the hotels we checked out.

Laura and I had dinner with the larger site visit team at Founding Farmers – 1924 Pennsylvania Ave NW, (between N 19th St & N 20th St) Washington, DC 20006, (202) 822-8783, www.wearefoundingfarmers.com

Food was great – organic, tasty, fresh.  We had:  La Quercia Prosciutto, Fig & Mascarpone Flatbread, House-Made Roasted Butternut Squash and Mascarpone Raviolis.  I would have highly recommended this place but the service was bad (and I usually give a ton of leeway on that) but they were really slow and unorganized, it was like it was their first night with a large crowd.  However, Red Velvet cake just about made up for it.  Personally I’d go back for the food, event planner-wize I’d definitely chat with the manager before bringing in a group, especially an executive one.

I had the chance to go on two nighttime monument tours.  Our group seemed to be the only folks out and about.  It was great bonding time and fun – us Seattlites and Californians loved seeing the snow.  I’ve been to DC two other times but never in the Winter.  All of the monuments were gorgeous and the first night it snowed and was magical.

 

Baltimore was a quick trip, I popped into the Baltimore Waterfront Marriott 700 Aliceanna Street – http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/bwiwf-baltimore-marriott-waterfront/ to do a quick check out of the meeting space.  Really nice hotel and I can’t believe how much Baltimore has changed.  Fells Point has been transformed.  I’m looking forward to going back to check that area out.

Philadelphia was great.  I saw 6 venues and 6 restaurants in one day all before about 1pm so I could miss the snow.  Whew!  Stephen Starr http://starr-restaurant.com/ has a corner on the market in Philly and rightly so – his restaurants and venues are all top-notch for both food and ambience.  I LOVE them.  I ended up having dinner at my favorite place in town a Starr Restaurant – Alma de Cuba, 1623 Walnut Street (Rittenhouse Square)  http://www.almadecubarestaurant.com/.  My first trip to Philly, my client and I went back twice in once week to this place.  The food is incredible and its got a sexy Caribbean feel.  My waiter Michael was fantastic and made two great suggestions.  I knew I was going to have the Vaca Frita, but he suggested a crab salad and this insanely good Banana Chocolate dessert extravaganza, he hit the mark on both. 

They also have ceviche sampler that is fantastic.   I highly recommend Alma.  Great food, ambience and service. 

My impromptu trip NYC was lovely.  Took a nice walk  in the city and a quick visit with friends before catching my flight to SFO.  New Yorkers already know that the NoHo Star & Temple Bar are great, but I did not and a dear friend works there.  I had a nice relaxing evening sitting at the bar and this small plate was to die for:  tuna, seaweed salad with a wasabi aioli - a total tablesmacker.

All in all a great trip. 

Cheers!