YOU SAY IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY

We are so, so proud of Morgan Botwinick and the entire team at Whisk, who are celebrating their first year of business this week with giveaways and fun all day on Friday! When Morgan came to us two years ago, she had a pretty clear picture of what she wanted--a chic, from-scratch bakery with French technique and cool, new flavors; and it's been awesome watching it take shape right before our eyes!

Whisk is going to be celebrating all day long with discounts, giveaways, a sweet lil' selfie station for making your own Whisk memories, and a raffle to win a free 6" cake! Here's the schedule of goodness:

7-9: free 12oz drip coffee with any pastry purchase
9-11: 15% off seasonal pastries
11-1: 20% of sandwich meal deals
1-3: free slice of confetti cake with any purchase
3-5: buy 3 cookies, get the 4th free (macarons excluded)
5-7: two cake raffle tickets per purchase

THERE'S A FINE LINE BETWEEN JUICE AND SOUP

Around the same time that we started working with Morgan at Whisk, we were also working with Erin Powell of Ginger Juice. Ginger Juice has come a long way since then as well and is celebrating their first birthday this month on Saturday, October 29th from 8:00 to 5:00. Here's what you can expect to find:

FREE Ginger Shots to everyone who wishes GJ a Happy Anniversary!
4 AWESOME Raffle Prizes including: A FREE Juice + Food cleanse plus several prizes from friends and neighbors at Talley's, JAS Nutrition and Fitness Services, and Bar Method Richmond
ANNIVERSARY JUICE only available on Saturday: CHOCOLATE ALMOND MILK!

Ginger Juice also recently introduced a line of Cold-Press Soups because if it's good enough for juice, it's good enough for soup! It looks like they're starting with two varieties - a green soup, loaded with zucchini, spinach, parsley, celery, and cashews; and an autumnally orange soup with sweet potato, yellow onion, turmeric, and ginger.

RESTAURANT WEEK BINGO

Fall Restaurant Week kicks off next Monday. Over 30 area restaurants will offer 3-course prix fixe menus for $29.16 per person with with $4.16 of that going to support FeedMore's mission to provide food to the people in our area who need it most. To make things a bit more interesting, I've got a printable version of Restaurant Week Bingo RIGHT HERE. Play early, play often. Everyone wins!

FOR THE LOVE OF LOVECRAFT

Halloween's almost here, and it's time to get spooky. On Monday, 10/24, The Jackdaw will delight and fright guests at Kinsfolk with a pop-up dedicated to the man of astral mystery himself, HP Lovecraft. If you like your pop-ups weird and wonderful, you're going to love this menu:

IN THE WALLS OF ERYX 8
- BEETS, EDAMAME, GOLDEN MILK, RED KURI SQUASH, PURPLE HYACINTH
THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE 9
- TURNIP CAKES, MUSHROOM XO, CARROT, LAPCHEONG MARMALADE
MI-GO 11
- SHRIMP RANGOONS, CREAM CHEESE, PEACH MOSTARDA, FERMENTED CHILI SAUCE
DE VERMIS MYSTERIIS 12
- LONGANNISA SAUSAGE, BAKED AZUKI BEANS, CHARRED ONION, SORREL
CALL OF CTHULU 14
- SQUID INK CONGEE, LECHON KAWALI, SINIGANG ONION JAM, MUSTARD GREENS
BEYOND THE WALL OF SLEEP 8
- BLACK SESAME-CURRANT MACARONS, GINGER PANNA COTTA, MISO CARAMEL

EUREKA, BEREIKA!

Chef Tim Bereika will be cooking up a 6-course wine dinner inspired by the Pacific Northwest at Olio on Thursday, 10/27.

Email matt.fraker@oliointhefan.com to snag your $70 ticket. It's a steal, and if you don't believe me, check out this menu:

SLOPPY FIRSTS

If you dream of the kind of delicious mess between two slices of bread that you can bury your face in, set your Google calendar to BUSY on Sunday, 10/30 from 7:00 pm to 1:00 am. Mike Braune, Adam Hall, and Mike Hill will be dishing out sloppy sandwiches and no judgements at Lucy's all night long (all night!), but prepare accordingly: this dream-come-true is one night only.

BACK IN BABY'S ARMS

In full-circle news, Richmond Bizsense reported this week that the Dikos and Giavos families purchased the former Village Café space from the estate of Mary Mirakian. The building had been in Mirakian's family for over 100 years. The Village, which was owned and operated by Stavros and Stella Dikos, was the last restaurant to open in the space, and according to the article, the Giavos and Dikos family are considering restaurant operators for the downstairs space, with student-friendly apartments planned for the upstairs.

IF YOU DO NOTHING ELSE...

I try not to repeat myself too much here, but guys, if you miss Slow Fish, you'll be bummed; and I don't want that on my conscience. Kick off the Slow Fish weekend on Saturday, November 5th with an all-star dinner at Shagbark, featuring the culinary talent of Walter Bundy, J Frank, Andrew Manning, Patrick Phelan, Megan Fitzroy Phelan, Dale Reitzer, Caleb Shriver and Phillip Perrow and Brittany Anderson.

Then spend Sunday slurping and sipping along Leigh Street at the FREE Slow Fish Graze event. Here's what to look forward to there:

• Restaurant/Brewery/Oyster booths with food for sale
• Chef Demos
• Shucking Contest
• Kids activities
• Educational events
• Live Music

HBD, Whisk; Restaurant Week Bingo; and meal fit for HP Lovecraft