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Announcement:

Cherry Challenge Winners Announced

The George Washington Birthday Celebration Committee is proud to announce the winners of their second annual Cherry Challenge. “Even though the snow forced us to cancel many of our other major events, this event was able to go on as scheduled, and provide a fun event for both the participating restaurants and their patrons,” said Sharon Sobel, committee vice-chair.

The Cherry Challenge took place during the week of February1-7, 2010 in twelve Alexandria restaurants, and featured cherry-inspired dishes created by the restaurant chefs.

Participating in this year’s contest were Brabo, Fontaine Caffe and Creperie, Indigo Landing, King Street Blues in Old Town, Layla’s Lebanese Restaurant, Murphy’s Grand Irish Pub, Rampart’s Tavern and Grill, Seagar’s (Hilton Old Town), Shooter McGee’s, St. Elmo’s Coffee Pub, Union Street Public House, and Tempo.

The Winners:

Starters Category: BBQ Cherry Wings from Ramparts Tavern and Grill

Entree Category: Duck a la Cherry from Murphy’s Irish Pub and Restaurant

Drinks Category: Cherry-Mint Mojito from Tempo Restaurant

Dessert Category: Black Forest Crepe from Fontaine Caffe and Creperie

Two of the restaurants are two-time winners. Murphy’s duck entre also took best entre last year, and Tempo also won last year in the drinks category, for their dirty cherry martini. Ramparts and Fontaine are new entrants this year.

Each person who ordered the dish or menu item was supplied with a ballot so that they could judge the menu item on taste, presentation and creativity. Scoring was done by rating both the number of ballots submitted, and how each dish rated in the palates of the citizens who ordered the items. This helped even the playing field when some restaurants didn’t get as much business during the Cherry Challenge week as they expected, due to the snow.

However, Tempo Restaurant had far and away more ballots submitted than any of the other restaurants, with at least 20 ballots submitted per item. They featured items in three of the categories available. Wendy Albert on her Cherry-Mint mojito said “I think that it will become a permanent cocktail in our restaurant as the Dirty Cherry Martini from last year did. People loved it!”

The winning restaurants will receive a handsome plaque and will be available to be featured in local media. Please contact Sharon Sobel (703-280-2628) to be put in touch.

The George Washington Birthday Celebration Committee is one of the very oldest community organizations in Alexandria. From the time of the Revolutionary War, the people of this City have celebrated the birthday of George Washington. Whether through marching in parades, reenacting historic events, musical performances, or dancing at the birthnight balls, our citizens consider an annual remembrance of the Father of Our Country to be important and worthwhile.

Over more than two hundred years, both military and civilian volunteers from many quarters of the community have always arranged these celebrations. In 1976, the present George Washington Birthday Celebration Committee was formed to organize and carry out the City’s annual celebration. Its members are appointed by the Alexandria City Council and include representatives from the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Disabled American Veterans, the Masonic Fraternity, the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce, the Alexandria Jaycees, the Federation of Civic Associations, the Gadsby’s Tavern Museum Society, the Friendship Veterans Fire Engine Association, the Daughters of the American Revolution, an Alexandria City High School Student, and the Citizens of Alexandria at large.