$7.50 Overflow Seating – Ask Tom Sietsema (almost) Anything. Sietsema Dishes on the DC Dining Scene with Food Maven Carla Hall

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Due to overwhelming demand we have added an overflow room to accommodate extra guests. A live video feed will be screened on our state of the art AV system. Tickets are $7.50. Seating is limited.

Storied Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema reflects on the past 25 years wining and dining his way through the DMV and beyond, in conversation with Chef and TV host Carla Hall.

Tom Sietsema was the food critic for The Washington Post, for almost 26 years.  He recently announced his retirement — no more dining out 10 meals a week.

Before his tenure at The Post, where he won various honors including a 2016 James Beard Award, Sietsema wrote for Microsoft (yep, as a critic), the San Francisco Chronicle, and publications nationwide. His byline has appeared in Gourmet, GQ, Travel and Leisure, and elsewhere.

Carla Hall first won over audiences when she competed on Bravo’s “Top Chef” and “Top Chef: All Stars” and shared her philosophy to always cook with love.  She is atrained chef who has worked in several professional restaurant kitchens in and around the Washington, D.C. area and believes food connects us all, a belief she strives to convey through her work, her cooking, and in her daily interactions with others.  

Carla spent 7 years co-hosting ABC’s Emmy award winning, popular lifestyle series “The Chew”, and is currently featured as the Host of “Chasing Flavors” on Max, and on the Food Network as a judge on competition shows such as “Harry Potter: The Wizards of Baking” and the “Summer, Holiday and Halloween Baking Championships”.  Her latest cookbook, Carla Hall’s Soul Food: Everyday and Celebration, was published in 2018, landing on annual “Best Cookbook” lists across the country and receiving an NAACP Image Awards nomination. Carla is also currently being honored by Les Dames d’Escoffier as Grande Dame, a lifetime achievement award and honorary title given to members in recognition of extraordinary contributions within the fields of food, beverage and hospitality. She has published a children’s book, Carla and the Christmas Cornbread (2021), a heartwarming tale loosely based on Hall’s childhood growing up in Nashville, TN and her second children’s book Carla and the Tin Can Cake will be available October 2025.

(Tom Sietsema photo credit: Deb Lindsey)