A Night Out: The Corcoran’s Artini Party

Guests line up for martinis.

What: The bash ended a monthlong challenge issued to area restaurants by the Corcoran’s 1869 Society: Create the most artistic martini possible.

Where: Corcoran Gallery of Art, 500 17th St., NW

When: Wednesday, April 30, 7 PM

Who: A horde of fashion-forward men and women, to the extreme that you never see in Washington sans drink in hand at a swanky event. Where are these people during the day?

Food: The refreshingly unpretentious—and totally worthy of seconds—buffet included mini-cheeseburgers, ramekins of mac and cheese, and cones of crunchy shoestring fries.

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Drink: We think we spotted a few glasses of wine, but we turned our heads the other way. Most of the crowd stuck to the unwritten ground rule and sampled “artinis” from three of the 15 restaurants that participated in the challenge: The Park at Fourteenth, whose Dolley Madison gin martini rocked our palate by tasting more lime than cranberry (it had both); Teatro Goldoni, whose espresso martini was good but a little watery; and iCi Urban Bistro, whose blood-orange D’iCi Tini drew the longest lines. See a couple of our artini reviews here and here.

Scene: Packed, in that you- sort-of-feel-hip-but-sort-of-wonder-why-you’re-waiting-in-a-20-person-line-for- a-martini way. Shout-outs go to:

• The color green. At least three women were sporting it with some serious style. If you were the blonde in the green strapless, the brunette in the one-shouldered green number, or the brunette wearing the green dress with little cap sleeves, we would like to know where you shop.

• The woman confident enough to wear the Jane-Jetson-sleeved top with an elephant-size bow on the front. Hideous, but we love you for it. Kind of.

• The girls who wiggled their way in to the front of a 20-minute line to grab an iCi martini. Love you, too!

• The guy who downed two martinis (granted, they were on the small side) in two gulps at the front of the line so he could walk away with a third. He waited his turn, so totally legit. And hilarious.

• The security guard upstairs who told us to see “Niagara,” the best painting there.

• Whoever made those mini-burgers. Yum! We may or may not have had three each.

• iCi Urban Bistro for most creatively named and best-tasting martini.

• The guy who offered to take our picture in line for said martini. Thanks, man! It came out great.

Ratings

Boldface names: 1 out of 5
Swankiness: 3 out of 5
Food and drink: 3 out of 5
Exclusivity: 2 out of 5
Total score: 9 out of 20

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Marissa Conrad