Why not celebrate beer and sausage even after Octoberfest? Join the AIWF at RIS for an event featuring charcuterie from two of the DC area's best producers and beer from AIWF's favorite local brewery, Bill Butcher's Port City Brewing Company. Guest Chef Nate Auchter will be in our kitchen for the evening preparing a delicious meal for this special event.

Port City's Optimal Wit will be poured during the cocktail hour, and we’ll sample some delicious sausages from Stanley Feder’s "Simply Sausage". Then we will dine on a three-course menu prepared with charcuterie and sausages from Stanley, and Mitch Berliner’s Meat Crafters. Each course will be paired with Port City’s great beer.

Celebrate Fall with some delicious food! Get your tickets before they're sold out.

Come enjoy an afternoon celebration of all things pumpkin!  On Saturday, October 29 from 1-3pm, you will have the chance to taste some seasonal specialties made from America’s most storied autumn squash.  In addition, RIS will provide perfect pumpkins and all the tools necessary to carve unique masterpieces to be proudly displayed candlelit on the patio through Halloween. Chef/Owner Ris Lacoste has a few tricks up her sleeve, but the treats will surely please:  pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup and spiced pumpkin cocktails are just the beginning.  All proceeds from donations will benefit DC Central Kitchen. Many thanks to our neighborhood Foggy Bottom Whole Foods, for generously donating the pumpkins! Open to all ages with a suggested donation of $20 per adult or $10 per child. RSVP to natalie@risdc.com.

Just a reminder about a great event at RIS this Sunday, October 23. As highlighted on Oprah’s website, Lisa Yockelson’s just released Baking Style, is a dazzling celebration of the art and craft of baking.
With 100 essays, more than 200 accompanying recipes and over 150 full-color images, Lisa Yockelson presents what has fascinated her during a lifetime of baking. On every page of this beautiful and thoughtfully written volume, she brings her commitment to exacting but simple recipes for transforming your baking strategies into delicious art. Baking Style is Lisa's latest and most personal baking cookbook, combining the genre of the culinary essay with recipes, their corresponding methods and illustrative images, revealing her uniquely intimate expression of the baking process.

Join Lisa for a lively presentation of how this book came to be and enjoy an afternoon of libations and taste sensations – recipes from Baking Style prepared by Pastry Chef Chris Kujala and Pastry Sous Chef Rory Kraus of the acclaimed DC restaurant – RIS.

The registration fee also includes a personally signed copy of Baking Style (normally $45 retail). There will be an opportunity for questions, answers, and discussion. Additional copies of the book (at a reduced price!) will be available for purchase and signing. (Great for holiday gift giving!) Read more of Lisa’s diary entries and recipes at www.bakingstylediary.com. Register at womenchefs.org.

RIS is excited to participate in Bisnow's Growth Expo and Dining Schmoozarama, tomorrow evening at Mellon Auditorium from 5:30-7:30pm. RIS and 25 of DC's top restaurants will be there, so expect some spectacular food. If you haven't done so by now, get your tickets here. We look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow!

October's Book of the Month at RIS is Lucky Peach, a new quarterly journal. It is a creation of David Chang, the chef behind the Momofuku restaurants in New York, writer Peter Meehan, and Zero Point Zero Production—producers of the Emmy Award–winning Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.

Lucky Peach has a funky, edgy take on food; this quarter's theme being ramen. We love Todd Kliman's article, in between all of the ramen photos, food witticisms and cartoon illustrations. Even the most ardent foodie will discover something new. It's definitely a must-read that you won't be able to put down. We can't wait for next quarter!

From the Bay, For the Bay Dine Out is a celebration of Maryland Seafood from Philadelphia to Northern Virginia.   RIS and participating restaurants across the mid-Atlantic will feature fresh Maryland seafood as well as provide their patrons an opportunity to support Chesapeake Bay watermen and the ecosystem.

For every Maryland seafood dinner sold during the promotion, participating restaurants will donate $1.00 to the Oyster Recovery Partnership, a non-profit organization that works to replenish the Chesapeake Bay’s native oyster population. Since 2000, the Oyster Recovery Partnership, along with its coalition of partners, has planted nearly 3 BILLION oysters in the Bay -- with each mature oyster able to filter 50 gallons of water per day—and restored nearly 1,500 acres of Bay bottom!

From October 2 to 9, RIS will be featuring Maryland crabcakes in support of From the Bay, For the Bay. Come and dine for a good cause!

Join RIS and Women Chefs & Restaurateurs (WCR) as they present their annual World Fare: A Street Food Festival this fall. Stroll through the “World Fare” and enjoy fabulous street fare menu items while meeting the region’s top women chefs, sommeliers, farmers, bee keepers, cheese makers, food truck operators and more. Sample beer and wine and craft cocktails from the best women brewers, wine makers and mixologists from around the country. Check out the excitement from last year's event!

Emcee, Nycci Nellis from WTOP’s Foodie and the Beast and TheListAreYouOnIt.com and auctioneer, Carla Hall, Top Chef Finalist and co-host of ABC’s new show "The Chew" will help you vicariously travel the world with a Live Auction featuring a series of unique culinary experiences from WCR's vintage steamer trunk! A Silent Auction will feature additional culinary experiences displayed in vintage luggage and Door Prizes will also be given away. Get your tickets today!

To continue our September mushroom theme, Chef Ris will be speaking today on the Kojo Nnamdi Show today at noon. Take a mid-day break and listen! Then use your newfound wisdom to try a new mushroom recipe from guest and author Jack Czarnecki's A Cook's Book of Mushrooms. Pictured here are Saffron Milk Cap Mushrooms.

Who knew that DC had a rainy season? Although it may have presented its challenges, it also had some farm benefits, namely the abundance of mushrooms.

Read here for a mushroom perspective, from this month's Georgetowner. For all of you home chefs, there is a delicious recipe for our Chef Jed's Marinated Mushrooms. Try it this weekend!

The brisk chill in the air is a welcome to Fall, which starts this Friday, September 23. Chef Sarah says to look for pumpkins! There are plenty to be found at our local markets, but for a fun day trip with the kids, Wegmeyer Farms' Pumpkin Season opens this Saturday, September 24. They have over 30 varieties of pumpkins, and an educational hayride. Check out the location and details here.

Apples and pears are here as well.... Also, squash of all kinds - butternut, acorn, spaghetti and more! Try Chef Ris's Brown Sugar Squash Pie, as was featured in Fine Cooking. Happy Fall!

Come Celebrate with us! We are proud recipients of Slow Food DC’s Snail of Approval. To help guide people to food that is good, clean and fair, Slow Food DC is celebrating eateries and artisans who contribute to the quality, authenticity and sustainability of the food we eat and the beverages we drink in the Washington, DC metro area.

The First Annual Snail of Approval Awards Party is this Sunday, September 25, from 4-7pm on Poste Moderne Brassiere’s patio. (555 8th St NW.) Purchase tickets in advance, $30 for Slow Food DC members, $35 for non-members. Tickets include a sampling of local roasts and flavors and a glass of wine or beer. For more information on the Snail of Approval, visit www.slowfooddc.org

Today, we are happy to welcome Whole Foods to our Foggy Bottom neighborhood. Come visit us two times at the new Whole Foods (located at 2201 Eye Street NW) during their grand opening week, as we demo some of our summer offerings. Chef Ris will be making her Greek Feta and Tomato Salad at the store on Friday 9/9 from 6-8pm. Chef Sarah will be offering Gnudi on Sunday 9/11 from 3-5pm. Come on out and say hi!   

We're definitely a reading crowd here at RIS, and we love to share a good foodie book. This month, we're devouring The Food of a Younger Land. Now that the kids are back in school and you have a moment to yourself, this is an easy, enjoyable read about the culture of food. "A portrait of American food- before the national highway system, before chain restaurants, and before frozen food, when the nation's food was seasonal."

We already have another exciting selection for next month, but if you have a favorite, please pass it along!

RIS is closed today, Monday, September 5.... Meatloaf Monday has taken the day off, and we'll see you tomorrow for Paris Bistro Tuesday! We wish everyone a safe and wonderful holiday.

There's a beautiful post-storm sky today in DC that begs for a patio dinner at RIS. The best of the local farmers markets is being featured, with tomatoes, green beans, berries, and peaches. Today we have white peaches, in our White Peach Pie, with raspberry sauce and peach sour cream ice cream.

Chef Sarah tells us to keep an eye out for eggplant and squash, coming soon.