District's Culinary Community Celebrates Its Own At 34th Annual RAMMY Awards

NORTHWEST -- Victory was indeed sweet (or savory as the case may be) on June 12th, for the winners of the 2016 RAMMY Awards.

Hosted each year by the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington, the black tie ceremony recognized some of the area's top foodservice industry professionals across 22 different award categories.

Standouts among the list of 2016 winners, include Marcel's for "Formal Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year", Le Diplomate for "Upscale Casual Restaurant of the Year", Maketto for "New Restaurant of the Year", 2 Birds 1 Stone for "Cocktail Program of the Year", and Fiola for "Service Program of the Year".

Executive Chef Scott Drewno from The Source by Wolfgang Puck took home the evening's most awaited award for "Chef of the Year", while close friend Chef Mike Isabella accepted the "Restaurateur of Year" honor on behalf of his eponymous restaurant group.

The selection process for most of this year's winners involved both the voting public and an anonymous panel of volunteer judges consisting of food journalists and industry professionals, with the former deciding the winners of the "Favorite Gathering Place of the Year", "Upscale Brunch", "Everyday Casual Brunch", and "Favorite Fast Bites" categories.

Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington's Executive Committee honored three additional members, with Republic National Distributing Company recognized with the "Joan Hisaoka Allied Member of the Year" award, Chef Robert Kinkead presented with the "Duke Zeibert Capital Achievement Award", and Occidental Grill & Seafood scooping up the hard-earned, annual "Honorary Milestone RAMMY Award" (the Pennsylvania Avenue eatery is now celebrating its 110th year).

While guests go to the RAMMYs for the awards ceremony, they decidedly stay for the ensuing after party which overtakes much of the Convention Center's cavernous floor space. Guests sipped and supped on treats inspired by cuisines from around the world, such as the wines from the popular Chilean Pavilion, before dancing the night away to a steady stream of beats presided over by DJ Neekola.

The resulting good time came, naturally, compliments of all of the chefs in attendance.