ZooFari at The National Zoo

Why have I been procrastinating on this post?  Well, let me be honest here.  This is the first time I've gone to an event and promised myself (or anyone else) that I would write about it and I was so not prepared.  I was mocked by the friend who went with me for not being able to eat, take pictures and figure out what I wanted to be taking pictures of at the same time.  I learned that wanting to take pictures of every single thing is unrealistic and incredibly frustrating, so just don't do it (unless you're a pro at this).  I also learned that not all pictures are going to turn out (forgive me, some of them are still going to be published here) and some that you really like are just excessive.  So I'm sure that you can find more thorough descriptions of this event online, but here is my take on it.

ZooFari is a food tasting event that is held at The National Zoo.  Proceeds from this annual event go to the zoo's conservation, research and education programs, as well as supporting animal care (a friend of mine who volunteers there says, "It feeds the animals, people!").  This event is said to be not only Friends of the National Zoo's (FoNZ) top fundraiser, but DC's foodie event of the year.  Which explains why there are so few pictures of animals in this post.  My cohort from the event will provide me with animal pictures (in a followup post) later this week, in case you're interested.  We also have plans to co-write a few zoo posts, so stay tuned for those.  In the meantime, here is the three hour event in pictures with the occasional thing I remembered:

The Queen Vic served sticky toffee pudding with whipped cream and (I believe) a strawberry rhubarb lemonade.  I'd already had a few samples of wine by this point, so I appreciated the refreshing and not overly tart swig of lemonade.  I also appreciate that the guy at The Queen Vic table had his face painted - everyone should have followed his lead!

In the Living Social Lion Lounge - Cookies that we never got to have, lions, tigers and...zydeco!

In the Living Social Lion Lounge (the Big Cats section) we were told we were not allowed to take our bag of animal cookies (see above) until we were on our way out.  But they were all gone by the time we got back!  Fortunately, we did have cupcakes from Hello Cupcake while we watched a zydeco band, Bialek's Music, and got to see some of the big cats (who were mighty pissed about the music).

Hello Cupcake with, that's right, cupcakes (the chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting was amazing)

Firehook Bakery & Coffee House with a variety of baked goods

We were happy to see that Firehook was there, since it's one of the few places I've actually been to in the DC Area (one of the locations is just a few blocks from the zoo, next to Wake Up Little Suzie).  And I'm always happy to see Whole Foods Market on the scene.

Whole Foods Market

The Travelling Bean

I stopped in my tracks when I saw that coffee was available (how many teensy cups of wine had I tried by then?) and got a perfect cappucino from The Travelling Bean, which was stationed right next to the Cheeky Monkey Sideshow.  The Cheeky Monkeys found a good volunteer in this woman...

Cheeky Monkey Sideshow - Bed of nails, bowling ball, plate and volunteer.

"Where do you want me to drop the bowling ball?  Not down here?"

Note the muscle man pose at the end.

My cohort wins a frisbie at one of the Living Social tables

Zoo Volunteer Mindy

While we were watching the lions get mouthy about the loud music, one of the zoo volunteers, Mindy, came up and told us a bit about them.  The lions we saw were all girls and only about a year old (they look pretty much full grown).  Mindy also showed us a couple of pelts that people can feel (since you can't pet the big cats yourself), some photos of the inhabitants and showed the guy standing next to her, above, some video of them.  But she's not allowed to be my favorite volunteer (my favorite works in the invertebrate house, of course).

The Sugar Cube (I admit it, I took this photo for the 'stache)

Python in the Silent Auction tent

 A lot of places had pulled pork sandwiches, but Lia's (above) and Rocklands Barbecue and Grilling Company (below) caught my attention.  The guy at Lia's explained the porchetta rolls on their table (and they were pretty amazing) in such a way that I didn't want to pass them up.  The folks at Rocklands had a whole roasted pig and a smoker next to their table.

Rocklands Barbecue and Grilling Company

Cava Mezze - they had a variety of dips out and they were divine

Rosa Mexicano

We were drawn to Rosa Mexicano table when we saw that massive mortar of guacamole.  The chips, guacamole and salsa were all fantastic.  I may have finally found a Mexican restaurant that will make me feel slightly less homesick for California.

Along with pulled pork, cold soups (gazpacho and vichyssoise) were widely available.  The vichyssoise at Ripple had dried sorrel mushrooms as a garnish and the woman working the table was kind enough to tell us all about the ingredients since it was momentarily not packed with people.  

Sugar snaps and fiddlehead ferns at Vermilion

We missed most of the fun at Vermilion's stand, but got a few shots of the sugar snap peas and fiddlehead ferns adorning their table.  Vermilion is a bar and restaurant in Old Town Alexandria, but they also offer The Farm Table two nights a week - "intimate dinner parties" prepared and served by Chef Tony Chittum with a focus on regionally grown goods.  

Mitzitam Native Foods Cafe (inside the National Museum of the American Indian)

Mitzitam Native Foods Cafe gets props for having great food (those potato dumplings with cotija cheese were dang good) and vegetarian options at their stand.

Excellent gazpacho with a strawberry garnish at Juniper

I made my cohort go to every single stand with me until we figured out where this gazpacho had come from.  And it was worth the hunt for me to find Juniper and get one of these for myself.

Mmm...beer

Widmer's had two beers available at a few different stands.  We went for the Summer Seasonal since we were unbearably hot, full and a bit tipsy by then.  What, you don't drink beer when you've had too much wine?

Love Motel for Insects by Brandon Ballengee

It was a long walk back to the Metro on full stomachs, so we paused not too far from the zoo entrance to take pictures of the light installation Love Motels for Insects by artist/scientist Brandon Ballengee.

A dirty martini and one or two strawberry margaritas at Medaterra by Woodley Park Metro

Okay, we made one more stop before getting on the train and parting ways.  ZooFari was definitely worth the money (which I didn't pay, thanks Bren!) - considering that I usually can't afford to eat at most of these restaurants.  There was such a huge variety of small bites to sample and great wines to try.  A truly lovely evening in DC.


A couple of places that aren't pictured, but well worth a mention:


Veritas:  The 2011 White Star and Viognier were both great.


Barrel Oak Winery: I can't remember which red we tried, but we both liked it and the folks working at this table were fun and informative.  I simply made the mistake of not writing down what we tried, then having that martini at the end.


Armand's Chicago Pizza:  Three options and all were good.  My cohort had the veggie and loved it, I let mine get cold and it was still good.


A few people have asked me why Georgetown Cupcake wasn't mentioned - by the time we got to their table there was not a single cupcake left.  And we'd already had awesomeness at Hello Cupcake, so we weren't particularly sad.


Also, here is a great ZooFari sum-up from Washington Life Magazine.


Next time:  Jessie (not me) will share her photos of the animals we got to see during ZooFari 2012.  Till then, check out this photo montage from Hollywood on the Potomac:

I just can't stop.


Shanthi, the National Zoo's Musical Elephant: