Press

Washington, DC – Friday, September 11, 2009 – Georgia Brown’s, known for its Low-Country cuisine and as the Soul of Washington, DC, will celebrate its sixteenth birthday on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 with a Sweet 16 Birthday Dinner. The evening will feature a menu inspired by Chef Jim Foss’ Savory Southern Seafood Dinner recently featured at the James Beard House in New York.

Opened in 1993 in the heart of Downtown and one block from the White House, Georgia Brown's offers a tailored side of the South, with gracious service and Southern Hospitality, and represents today, what it wanted to be sixteen years ago according to the Washington Post, "sophisticated, prosperous, effortlessly interracial." It is a place where Sunday Brunches are spiced up with live jazz, power lunches are for talking politics, and the evening meal is savored.

"Restaurants are theatre, they're show-business," states Paul J. Cohn, Co-Founder and Senior Executive Officer of Capital Restaurant Concepts, the parent company behind Georgia Brown’s, "and I knew it [Georgia Brown's] would work; that it would emanate a rhythm, an energy, you could feel. We couldn’t be more proud of realizing that vision, and of being here sixteen years later to put on a new performance every day and night."

The performance will begin with champagne and Black Eyed Susans to sip while savoring passed hors d’oeuvres from the Chef. Dinner is to follow with 4 courses and wine. Live entertainment will be provided throughout the evening by Niki Gonzalez & Trio Balanca.

Chef Jim Foss will take center stage with an Introduction of Fried Green Tomatoes with Blue Crab and Maryland Goat Cheese, a favorite hors d’oeuvre at the recent James Beard House Dinner. Crispy Black Eyed Pea Cakes with Confit of Carolina Trout and Shoe Peg Corn Custard, and Murrels Inlet Oysters with Watermelon and Moonshine Mignonette and Pickled Watermelon Rind will join in the Act while cocktails are served. Guests will be seated for dinner, with Act I comprised of She Crab bisque with Orange Crab Roe, Vanilla bean foam and a savory brioche crab BLT as the first course, and a salad of Dandelion and DuPont Circle Greens with a Black Walnut Crusted Soft-shell Crab, Pickled Duck egg with a Shorghum, Pork Belly and brown butter Vinaigrette to conclude Act II. A Chef’s signature and Georgia Brown’s favorite will take the stage in the third act: Shrimp & Grits served James Beard style with Shrimp Nage, Spicy Sausage Oil, Baby Leeks and Eastern Shore Tomatoes. The show will draw to a close with a Grand Finale of Baba au bourbon, with Georgia Peach Conserve, Pecan and grey salt brittle and Green Tomato & Cinnamon Ice Cream.

"We are truly honored to be able to celebrate this occasion with all of our guests who have made this "standing ovation" possible, remarks Cohn.

Georgia Brown’s Sweet 16 Birthday Dinner is a performance sure to be celebrated and savored down to every last bite, and a show that promises to be "Sold Out."

Tickets are available online only at www.georgiabrowns.com, and are $65 per person, exclusive of additional beverages, tax and gratuity. Cocktails will be served at 6:30 p.m., dinner will be served at 7:30 p.m., and include a commemorative menu.

Chef Jim Foss
James Foss, affectionately known to family and friends as "Jimmy", comes to Georgia Brown’s after years spent pursuing his passion for cooking and creating in the kitchens of The Hershey Hotel and The Barcley Hotel in Philadelphia, and with Keystone Hospitality. A graduate of Johnson & Wales University, Foss specialized in Culinary and Pastry Arts, and come to Washington, DC in 1996, joining the Capital Restaurant Concepts family. After venturing off on his own in 2007, Foss returns to Capital Restaurants as Executive Chef of Georgia Brown’s.

Capital Restaurant Concepts
Capital Restaurant Concepts (Capital Restaurants) owns and operates Georgia Brown’s, along with 8 other restaurants, made of 5 other concepts, in the Washington, DC area. Restaurants include J.Paul’s, Paolo’s, Old Glory BBQ, Neyla and Third Edition. Capital Restaurants embraces entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, whose "restaurants are theatre" that "create lifetime guests."