New Information on the ICCA 19th Annual Summit Washington, DC; June 25 – 28, 2022

The full agenda will be sent out next week, which will include Top Chef Finalist and Chopped competitor, Joe Sasto, who be joining Simon Majumdar on stage during our 19th Annual Summit! Joe’s career included working for chefs including Michael Mina and Michael Tusk before taking the reins at some of the best restaurants in San Francisco and LA.  He has helped Quince and Cotogna earn three Michelin Stars and two at Lazy Bear. He will be demonstrating his unique style of cuisine on our kitchen stage on Sunday, June 26th.

The D.C. restaurants scene features diversity like like very few other cities in this country. From a variety of African cultures to the empire built by Jose Andres, you will experience a fantasy ride of culinary excellence. David Chang’s Momofuku and Milk Bar set the bar in many ways and bakers like legend Mark Furstenberg forged the way for many new comers who have made DC a destination for baking and pastry. Jack Rose, boasts the second largest collection of whiskeys, bourbons and scotches in the world and the experience there will prove it!

The opening session is starting on Saturday, June 25th at 2 pm, with a reception from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm, followed by our first night of dine arounds, where we will dine at some of the best restaurants in DC. Our Sunday, June 26th session will be from 9 am to 5:30 pm, with a reception, followed by our second night of dine arounds. On Monday, June 27th, we will go on our culinary road trips, followed by our annual dinner.

The itinerary will include Roger Shealy, who before he retired was the the Sr. Director of Production Design at Chick-fil-A and will present “How does Engineering help a Restaurant Chain & Menu Development” and will discuss his journey with the fastest growing chain in the industry. AMark Allen, the President & CEO of the International Foodservice Distributors Association (IFDA), a McLean, Virginia based trade association representing the $303 billion foodservice distribution industry and an update in the industry post-COVID.

Kyle Chamberlin with Datassential will also be speaking on ethnic trends including African, Asian, and South American cuisines, which are predominantly in the DC culinary scene. We will also have two experts from the DC lobbying firm Cornerstone Government Affairs talking about updates on the legislation of food in congress at this time plus the political atmosphere in our nation’s capital.

The next ICCA Summit will be taking you on a global culinary journey through the diverse landscape of Washington, DC with some of the hottest restaurants and biggest chefs in the city. Who wouldn’t want to spend an afternoon going to three José Andrés’ restaurants Zaytinya, Jaleo and China Chilcano for tastings and chefs roundtables to learn about their successful menu items. Zaytinya is a mezze menu of Turkish, Greek, and Lebanese cuisine; Jaleo is where Chef Andrés’ past comes to life in this small plate Tapas Restaurant and China Chilcano is an interesting mix of Peruvian based cuisine featuring influences of West Africa, China and Japan.

The trends continue to expose new ethnic cuisines in America as diversified cultures and the acceptance of the Millennials and Gen Z to bold flavors merge.  The DC market could be the epicenter of this explosion.  African cuisines in particular have made leaps over the years and research in DC will lead you to more than 50 Ethiopian restaurants alone.   During the Culinary Roadt Trips, you can chose to experience a tasting and discussion about the immense popularity of Ethiopian cuisine throughout the DC area as well as try the flavors of West Africa.  At Compass Rose, you will experience an array of street foods that span from Morocco to Russia and everywhere in between.  Owner Rose Previte brings to life her favorite street foods from her travels around the globe with NPR reporter and husband David Greene.

Regional Asian trends are still hot this year and we will experience some of the city’s best at Maketto, a Cambodian and Taiwanese spot by the same chef owner of renowned ramen bar, Toki Underground.  David Chang has made a grand entrance into Washington with the opening of Momofuku which features a menu unique to DC and of course this will include a sampling from Christina Tosi’s MilkBar.

We are excited to include Rose’s Luxury as part of our experience, continually making their way to the top of the country’s “It” restaurants, Rose’s serves “new American tapas” with impeccable service.  And to round out the trend of establishments with “rose” in the name, we will experience Jack Rose.  Owner and Collector Bill Thomas is an expert on scotches, bourbons, and ryes and the bar houses more than 1,800 different bottles, making it the largest retailer of whiskeys in the Western Hemisphere.  But that’s small potatoes compared to his personal collection of 4,000 bottles…

Our host hotel is the Park Hyatt, an amazing newly remodeled first-class hotel and members only pay $199 per night.  Here is your booking link: https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/group-booking/WASPH/G-FIC2

This is just a sampling of the agenda for the 19th Annual ICCA Summit Washington DC.  Best of all the ICCA board approved extending the free registration to all members who register by filling out the form below before February 28th: