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Washington DC & Baltimore Area

Tips for Dining, Eating, and Food Shopping in DC/Baltimore and Suburban Virginia

Birthday dinner at Old World artisan charcuterie

My birthday is coming up very soon, and I'm trying to decide which restaurant to go to. The ideal restaurant would serve food from small local sustainable farms, and employ a "nose-to-tail" philosophy with regards to meat. This means terrine, headcheese, liver pate, sweetbreads, oxtail, cheeks, charcuterie, etc. I'd prefer a cozy homey atmosphere than something modern or very formal (you can tell I don't eat out much!).

These are the restaurants I've looked at so far:

Equinox is out, unfortunately, due to fire.

Founding Farmers I've already been to and would prefer something else.

Blue Duck Tavern looks promising- they have marrow, cheeks, and choucroute, and they list the farms where they get their food.

Bistrot du Coin has pate, ravioli with confit and gizzards, cassoulet, tripe stew, bouchée à la reine (sweetbreads), and escargots, naturellement. I'm not sure I could eat the foie gras in good conscience, though (which begs the question of whether I could eat anything else in good conscience, not knowing the welfare of the animals.)

Vermilion has terrine and pork belly as appetizers, and source their food from local farms. But otherwise their menu doesn't grab my interest ("fluffernutter" as a dessert item grabs the wrong kind of interest!)

Firefly has organic chicken (and their livers). Menu seems blah otherwise.

Bar Pilar has suckling pig (!), liver pate, charcuterie. Menu seems a little meager? Is this really just a bar?

Dino. Here we go: pate on almost everything, tuscan scrapple, lots of wild boar, hand salted prosciutto, pigs raised on small farm, incredible cheese and fresh curds... everything on the menu gets me excited, including desserts, important for a birthday!

Old Europe is the kind of place I'd go to on a whim to feel wistful about my time traveling in Central Europe. I already incorporate a lot of sausage, sauerkraut and dumplings into my daily diet! (But not, sadly, sachertorte or sauerbraten. Hence why I'd want to eat here.)

Experiences? Suggestions or recommendations?

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