We have good news if you are one of the poor saps who has to sit through the rehearsal on the night before the wedding … if you make it through, you will eat well afterwards.


Beacon Bar & Grill, Washington, DC
Photo © Esther Dyson (via Flickr™)

My parents came in town last weekend for my birthday and — as a happy side effect — we met with the people from Beacon Bar and Grill to talk about the rehearsal dinner.

We showed up for our scheduled appointment on Saturday, but it turns out that the person we were talking too was in the hospital the day before with second degree burns on her foot. (‘Twas a kitchen accident with boiling water … youch!)

With no one to entertain us, a very nice, and equally nervous, front of house manager showed us the private rooms — forgot to bring the camera, sorry — but we had to come back the following day to talk actually turkey. (ha … a pun! i kill me!)

When we came back on Sunday, the lady — Linda Davis — was very intelligent, gracious and “with-it” … and turned out she wasn’t even faking the injury (she had bandaged feet stuffed inside her as-comfy-as-i-can-be-right-now slippers). We loved her, loved the space, and even loved the menu possibilities.

Right now we are looking at four menu items: Seared Rockfish with lentil salad, Oven Roasted Chicken with grilled vegetables, Cajun Penne Pasta with chicken and sausage, and finally a Grilled New York Strip steak. Molton Chocolate Cake or Yankee Apple Crisp for desert.

Now, as someone who was a vegetarian for neigh-on eight years, I am a little nervous about doing a dinner without a veggie option. While the wedding reception will be veggie friendly, I can’t come up with a single person coming to the rehearsal (family and bridal party) who has even mildly vegetarian tendencies. That being said, the said the could handle dietary restrictions so long as they had advanced notice.

ps. Anybody know Esther Dyson? I had already scammed one of her pics from flickr before I realized she was famous. All that techie genius, and she still takes good pictures of our rehearsal dinner locale.