More than 70 guests representing over 20 countries—including ambassadors and other VIPs— came together July 15 for a night of art and food to celebrate the opening of Embassy Row’s newest “in place to be.”
Czech artist Slávka Krátká helped christen Ven’s new art gallery at the Ven at Embassy Row boutique hotel. An architect by education and trade, Krátká’s paintings of buildings and towns have been exhibited in China, Italy, Germany, and now the United States.
“It was exciting to have Slávka here and talk about her transition to art,” said Satarra Leona of the DC-based gallery Arts in Color.
The hotel’s Fred & Stilla Restaurant, Dupont Circle’s most recent acclaimed gastronomical addition, also launched its first Ambassador Happy Hour series with Czech Ambassador Hynek Hynek Kmoníček.
The ambassador donned his chef’s apron and prepared fromage bites with Czech pilsner caramel —baked goat cheese truffle bites drizzled with a caramelized Czech pilsner lager beer foam—to the delight of assembled guests. Kmoníčekwill also contribute a Czech dish to the restaurant’s permanent menu of the restaurant.
Kmoníček is known among diplomatic circles for elegant private dinner parties he hosts for Washington ambassadors, as well as his sense of humor. He regaled guests with humorous anecdotes such as when he first made the dish and nearly “blew up the kitchen.”
Kmoníček said the Ven at Embassy Row is “the ideal location” for visiting delegations.
“The menu of Fred & Stilla is so international that it sounds like United Nations gathering,” he said. “I find it lovely that such a perfect product as Czech beer can actually be twisted into a special caramel and be served as a dish in the center of the US capital. it is the privilege to be the chef of beer, not just one of many ambassadors in this city.”
The hotel’s general manager, Jennifer Goodman, said the event demonstrates the best Washington has to offer.
“Tonight was about connecting after a long hiatus as well as connecting the many different cultures in our part of Washington that make our perch here unique,” she said. “I look forward to our many future events.”