Farmers’ Market at the White House, Scion & Adour at the St. Regis Hotel

And the Destination DC adventures continue!

After enjoying lunch at the Mandarin Oriental, we walked over to the White House and then the nearby farmers’ market.

The FRESHFARM Market by the White House is open on Thursdays from 3:00 – 7:00 pm until late October. It’s also the same farmers’ market where Michelle Obama shops! (I kept my eyes peeled for her, but no luck.)

At the market, we met Ann Harvey Yonkers, Co-Executive Director of FRESHFARM Markets. Ann was very friendly and introduced us to a number of the vendors at the farmers’ market.

Highlights from the market: cheese from Keswick Creamery.

I pretty much sampled every single kind of cheese they offered, and then ended up taking home a block of the Lesher, a British-style cheese in the Cheddar family. It’s creamy, tangy, and really stinky— my favorite!

And Crispin/Mutsu apples from Bigg Riggs Farm.

These apples were just so delicious–fresh, crispy, and sweet. I ended up buying a couple of them to take home with me, and I have since referred to them as my “special” apples.

The story behind Bigg Riggs Farm is really interesting as told by Calvin Riggleman (Bigg Rigg himself):

The idea for Bigg Riggs was born in the sandy deserts of Iraq in 2003, on my first deployment with the United States Marine Corps. While talking with my fellow comrades (Craig Erlanger, Walt Faschi, Alan Reifenberg, Kyle Conley, and Dan Gorman) about my life in Hampshire County, West Virginia we began discussing the farm my family has owned for five generations. Actually, my family has been farming within a few miles of here for 8 generations. Being that their lives were much different from mine, they became very interested in the life I live and encouraged me to share this homestyle feeling with the world. After discussing the fact that we were only able to offer the fruit seasonally to hometown buyers, the other marines suggested capturing that same taste in a jar.

We ended up talking to Calvin for quite awhile at the market. He’s a really nice, down-to-earth guy. Definitely ask to meet him if you visit!

After the farmers’ market, we headed back to the hotel, quickly changed into nicer clothing, and met some friends at Scion for drinks and appetizers.

Hi, Gretchen!

We didn’t have much time to spend at Scion before the next event on our schedule, but I still managed to drink a couple of pumpkin beers and chow down on fried pickles.

We ordered all of the appetizers on the happy hour menu to share among the table.

I quickly became best friends with the fried pickles, which, somehow, I didn’t snap a photo of. I guess I was too busy shoving them into my mouth.

Time flies when you’re having fun because all of a sudden it was 7:15 PM, and we needed to get to our next event. Leslie, Gina, and I quickly paid our bill, said goodbye to our friends, and jumped in a cab to Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University to hear a lecture by Ferran Adria and Jose Andres.

During the lecture, Ferran Adria did the majority of the speaking (through an interpreter). He shared stories and insights about his career and talked about his new cookbook, The Family Meal: Home Cooking with Ferran Adrià. It was really neat to see these famous chefs in person.

After the lecture, we headed to the St. Regis Washington DC for a late dinner.

At Adour, we enjoyed a 5-course vegetarian tasting menu with wine pairings.

First course: Chilled Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho with compressed watermelon and basil.

Second course: Rainbow Beet Salad with goat cheese cream and candied walnuts.

Third Course: Parsley Risotto with Chanterelle mushrooms.

Fourth Course: Signature Cookpot with Mediterranean Vegetables.

Fifth Course: Classic Vacherin with lemon verbena ice cream and raspberry sorbet.

Plus macaroons and dark chocolate.

Overall, I really enjoyed the vegetarian tasting menu at Adour. The portions were perfectly sized—not too big, not too small—so I enjoyed all five courses without overdoing it.

The tasting menu uses the very best in-season ingredients, so everything was fresh and flavorful. I enjoyed the majority of the courses, especially the Parsley Risotto. (Who knew parsley was so delicious?! I always thought of it as just a garnish.) However, I wasn’t that impressed with the Signature Cookpot. It was kind of bland and boring. Even still, it was a delicious meal, and I’m glad that I had the chance to try it.

Tagged as: Adour, Destination DC, FARMFRESH Markets, Scion, St. Regis Hotel, vegetarian tasting menu, Washington DC Adventures, Washington DC Hotels, Washington DC Restaurants