BizBash
  • Production & Strategy
  • Catering & Design
  • Event Tech & Virtual
  • Venues & Destinations
  • Meetings & Trade Shows
  • Sports
  • Advertise
  • Events
Topics
  • Production & Strategy
  • Catering & Design
  • Event Tech & Virtual
  • Venues & Destinations
  • Meetings & Trade Shows
  • Sports
  • Advertise
  • Events
  • Industry Buzz
  • BizBash Lists
Resources
  • On-Demand
  • White Papers & E-Books
  • Podcast
  • Magazine
  • Events
  • Awards
  • Subscribe
User Tools
Follow BizBash
Instagram iconLinkedIn iconFacebook iconTwitter X icon Pinterest iconYouTube iconTikTok
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Get Featured
  • Press Releases
  • Newsletter Signup
  • Subscribe to Magazine
Follow BizBash
Instagram iconLinkedIn iconFacebook iconTwitter X icon Pinterest iconYouTube iconTikTok
  • Production & Strategy
  • Catering & Design
  • Event Tech & Virtual
  • Venues & Destinations
  • Meetings & Trade Shows
  • Sports
  • Advertise
  • Events
  • On-Demand
  • White Papers & E-Books
  • Podcast
  • Magazine
  • Events
  • Awards
  • Subscribe
  1. Catering & Design
  2. Food Trends

Banking on Bistros

Several high-profile local chefs are stepping into bistro-land, opening more affordable and casual dining spaces.

Monica BhideAnne E. Stewart
May 21, 2007
The latest trend in Washington dining seems to be a spate of new bistros. Here's a sampling:

Eamonns and PX
Chef Cathal Armstrong of Restaurant Eve owns Eamonns, a 20-seat fish-and-chips spot in Alexandria that opened in August. Waitstaff-free (guests order at a counter from a chalkboard menu), the rustic yet stylized venue is decorated in dark woods with simple crystal chandeliers hanging over the bench seating. Upstairs is PX, a speakeasy-themed social club also from Armstrong that opened in September. The hard-to-find space is signless, and reservations are a must; guests enter through a secret side door illuminated by one dim blue light. Inside, blue velvet couches adorn an intimate room for 30.

Central Michel Richard
Citronelle devotees can now head to Central Michel Richard, the chef/owner’s homage to American cuisine with a French twist, on Pennsylvania Avenue. Open since January, the 130-seat dining resto, designed by Tom Mulhearn of Group Goetz Architects, is open and airy, with light-wood furniture and large windows and mirrors lining the walls. Maroon and cream lampshades hang from the dining room ceiling, and a gold mesh curtain separates a 20-seat semiprivate room. Adjacent to the open kitchen, an additional 16-seat private room features a long, country-style table and full audiovisual capabilities. The 35-foot marble-topped bar offers ample seating, including a cozy window seat at one end. The restaurant’s two glass-walled wine rooms, which separate reds from whites, feature huge transparent images of the chef and the Statue of Liberty. Specialties include the 72-hour beef short ribs, a goat-cheese Caesar salad, and Richard’s signature dessert, a new take on the KitKat chocolate bar with hazelnut chocolate between crispy layers.

Brasserie Beck
Open as of April 25, the latest enterprise from chef Robert Wiedmaier (of Marcel’s) is a modern take on the Belgian brasserie. Designed by Yui Designs, Brasserie Beck is located on K Street, just steps away from the convention center, and features a glowing glass-and-steel solarium housing a large-scale open kitchen. The main dining room is dotted with giant mirrors and offers 165 seats and 50 in the bar, while a private dining room can seat as many as 100. Also on tap: several small private dining parlors for 30, coffee stations punctuating the bar area, and a fresh seafood station. Telling The Washington Post there are too many high-end restaurants in the District, Wiedmaier went out of his way to make meals at Beck’s affordable—dinner for two is said to cost less than $100, a fraction of what you’d pay at Marcel’s.

The pub-style dining room at Eammons.
The pub-style dining room at Eammons.
Photo: Ken Wyner
The pub-style dining room at Eammons.
The pub-style dining room at Eammons.
Photo: Ken Wyner
The upstairs lounge at PX.
The upstairs lounge at PX.
Photo: Ken Wyner
Thedining room at Central.
Thedining room at Central.
Photo: BizBash
The entrance to Brasserie Beck.
The entrance to Brasserie Beck.
Photo: Michael Moran
The dining room at Brasserie Beck.
The dining room at Brasserie Beck.
Photo: Michael Moran
E77363
Photo: Michael Moran
The bar at Brasserie Beck.
The bar at Brasserie Beck.
Photo: Michael Moran
Latest in Food Trends
At a fundraiser for Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, caterer Blue Plate created a five-course dinner inspired by how a child with autism experiences the world. One course was called 'Things Aren’t Always As They Seem.' It was meant to surprise the guests, with cheese molded to resemble summer fruits, pumpernickel “dirt,” chocolate-covered “grasshoppers,” edible “pebbles,” and grilled bread.
Food Trends
Event Profs Share the Catering Moments They’ll Never Forget
2025 Industry Innovators Article Image Catering
Brands & Event Pros
Industry Innovators 2025: 10 F&B Professionals Who Are Rewriting the Rules of Event Catering
Out: meat carving stations. In: vegetable carving stations.
Food Trends
10 Food and Beverage Trends to Keep Top of Mind at Events in 2025
LaCroix’s Disco-Themed Pop-Up
Food Trends
15 Tasty Event Ideas From the 2024 New York City Wine & Food Festival
Related Stories
Celebrity chef Duff Goldman walked the runway with a model.
Food Trends
A Taste for Fashion
Neiman Marcus's sleek 'Vert et Noir ' table.
Food Trends
Cheese Is King at Culinary Preview
SHOWORKS created a fairy-filled forest for the BiZBashFla Creative Environment FunShop in Tampa.
Food Trends
FunShops Kick Off in Tampa With a Dream
Pirate decor dominated the Gasparilla Invasion Brunch at the Tampa Convention Center.
Food Trends
Guests Enjoy Pirate Festival in an Upscale Setting
More in Food Trends
Food Trends
Event Profs Share the Catering Moments They’ll Never Forget
Get inspired by these standout food and beverage ideas that show how food can surprise, delight, and even steal the show.
At a fundraiser for Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, caterer Blue Plate created a five-course dinner inspired by how a child with autism experiences the world. One course was called 'Things Aren’t Always As They Seem.' It was meant to surprise the guests, with cheese molded to resemble summer fruits, pumpernickel “dirt,” chocolate-covered “grasshoppers,” edible “pebbles,” and grilled bread.
Brands & Event Pros
Industry Innovators 2025: 10 F&B Professionals Who Are Rewriting the Rules of Event Catering
These catering and F&B professionals are changing the game through forward-thinking sustainability efforts, stunning presentations, clever business practices, and much more.
2025 Industry Innovators Article Image Catering
Food Trends
10 Food and Beverage Trends to Keep Top of Mind at Events in 2025
Event planners expect elevated mocktails, embedded sustainability, and family-style catering to take off this year.
Out: meat carving stations. In: vegetable carving stations.
Food Trends
15 Tasty Event Ideas From the 2024 New York City Wine & Food Festival
The four-day event featured 80 experiences across the city with presentations from more than 500 chefs and culinary influencers.
LaCroix’s Disco-Themed Pop-Up
Food Trends
How Planners Can Handle Hyperspecific Attendee Dietary Requests
Planners are used to addressing a variety of F&B needs, but some attendees’ expectations stretch the limits. Here’s some advice.
Katarzyna Pracuch V98 W 4p Cr Va Unsplash
Food Trends
See the F&B Trends on Display at the 2024 Summer Fancy Food Show
The Specialty Food Association’s 68th annual Fancy Food Show boasted thousands of exhibitors from food and beverage brands big and small, near and far, plus a buzzed-about keynote from Whole Foods CEO Jason Buechel.
The 68th iteration of the Summer Fancy Food Show spanned 330,000 square feet inside New York's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.
Most Popular
Experiential Marketing, Activations & Sponsorships
See Inside This High-Tech, Multisensory Experience from Don Julio
Event Design & Decor
How BET’s Stylish Anniversary Dinner Honored the Past—and Embraced the Future
Experiential Marketing, Activations & Sponsorships
This Event Turned Home Decor Into a Celebration of Latinas' Life Moments
Meetings
C2 Montreal 2025: How the Business Conference Puts Creativity in 'Motion'
Trends
What's New in Meetings and Trade Shows: MPI WEC Heads to St. Louis, New Trends Report Shows Corporate Events on the Rise, and More
Industry Insiders
Inside the Build: How Bellagio Fountain Club Delivers F1® Weekend’s Most Luxurious Hospitality Experience
Food Trends
Should You Add Carbon Labeling to Your Event Menus?
In the future, understanding the carbon impact of food choices could be as simple as counting calories—transforming consumer habits and event catering. Learn how HowGood is making that happen.
Carbon Labeling on Event Menus
Food Trends
Spring Event Inspo: 14 Flower-Filled Food Presentations We're Still Dreaming About
Check out some of our favorite ways events have incorporated flowers, foliage, and greenery into their dishes and F&B displays.
New York-based company Mary Giuliani Catering & Events draws on its founder's theater background to tell stories through food, like with this lush, floral-filled food display that incorporated a pretty spring-inspired tea set.
Food Trends
Après-Ski Vibes Only—Inside BizBash and Connect's Networking Event in New York City
BizBash and its parent company, Connect, were in the Big Apple last month for a wintry bash full of fun F&B moments.
The ski-themed event, dubbed Après Connect, brought together more than 200 event profs.
Food Trends
12 Creative Catering Trays We Love From Recent Events
From snowball cocktail glasses to mini milk crates, these trays helped their events leave a lasting impression.
In support of InterContinental Miami Make-A-Wish Ball 2023's “Le Sceptre Rose” theme, the hotel's culinary team crafted mini profiteroles topped with heart-shaped chocolates served in bubble bowls for guests to pair with welcome Champagne at the cocktail reception. See more: How This Renowned Miami Gala Engaged Attendees with a Spy-Themed Parisian Affair
Food Trends
What Will Guests Be Eating and Drinking in 2024?
Catering, beverage, and hospitality pros predict what the meeting and event industry will be serving up this year.
More plant-based food options like these tomato hors d’oeuvres from Pinch will appear on menus in 2024.
Food Trends
16 Seasonal Dishes and Drinks We're Drooling Over This Fall
Fall flavors go beyond just pumpkin spice (though there's plenty of that too!). Check out some fall menu highlights from restaurants and event caterers around the country.
Lona by Chef Richard Sandoval, a modern Mexican eatery in Tampa, is serving the Caramelized Pumpkin Crema this season. The eye-catching dish is made with pumpkin custard, caramelized pepitas, edible marigolds, and cinnamon ice cream.
Page 1 of 140
Next Page
BizBash
Follow BizBash
Instagram iconLinkedIn iconFacebook iconTwitter X icon Pinterest iconYouTube iconTikTok
  1. Privacy Policy
  2. CCPA: Do Not Sell My Personal Info
  3. Contact Us
  4. Site Map
© 2025 Connect Biz, LLC. All rights reserved.