Happy Monday, friends! How was everyone’s weekend? Mine was great—I kicked things off with an awesome dinner at Dyllan’s Raw Bar & Grill on Friday night, which I’ll talk about more in a minute, and then spent Saturday afternoon with Jenn shooting some new outfits for the blog in the freezing cold. Even though we couldn’t feel our fingers by the end of it, we had a lot of fun walking around Georgetown and enjoying all the beautiful houses. Once I defrosted, I spent Saturday night making tacos and guac with some friends, and then spent the majority of Sunday after Soul Cycle just hanging out on the couch working on the blog and reading. My weeks have been really go-go-go lately, and so by the time Sunday rolls around, I’m in need of a lazy day solo—the best kind of self-care!

I am lucky that A Touch of Teal has opened many doors for me and provided me with many opportunities I would have never had otherwise. On Friday night, I was invited for dinner at Dyllan’s Raw Bar & Grill with a handful of other Washington, DC lifestyle influencers. I had a great time not only because the food was absolutely delicious, but because I also got to meet and get to know several new people. Though I am not one to shy away from networking events, it had been a while since I put myself out there in the DC blogging world—and pushing my comfort zone is definitely something I want to keep doing in 2019!

Located in Canal Square right off 31st Street in Georgetown, Dyllan’s Raw Bar has some of the cutest decor ever. (Jenn and I seriously considered stealing some of the lamps, hah!) When you walk in, there are two long bars, which lead you into the dining room, where we enjoyed our meal. The vibe is nautical, but not in an overly theme-y way—it’s a great mix of blues, whites, woods, and golds. There also was a roaring fire going, which was much appreciated since it was freezing outside on Friday night! They also have a great patio I look forward to enjoying when it’s warmer out!

We started our meal off with a wide variety of plates from the raw bar—oysters from the East and West coasts, clams, octopus, sushi, and tin fish from Jose Gourmet. (I had never heard of tin fish before, but they are fish that are packaged in beautiful tins and imported from Portugal—you can see some of the designs on their Instagram!) Everything was delicious—including the grilled bread and homemade butter it was all served up with.

Next up, we ordered appetizers—I opted for the caesar salad, though I also tried the house salad, which had an amazingly fresh and light vinaigrette, and the crab cakes had an excellent remoulade sauce that had a slight kick to it. For my main course, I ordered one of my favorite foods in the world—seafood gumbo! Dyllan’s gumbo is one of the best I’ve had outside of New Orleans.

One of the things, I think, that really makes Dyllan’s Raw Bar & Grill stand out among a lot of other DC restaurants is that the portion sizes are very generous. The seafood gumbo was only $12, but it was served in an extremely large bowl and was more than filling. Same with the caesar salad—though it was listed as a starter, if you added a protein, it could have easily been an entire meal!

We finished off the main course with Dyllan’s famous avocado macaroni and cheese. I know what you might be thinking—avocado with macaroni and cheese sounds like the weirdest combo. I definitely thought that, too, but then I tried it, and oh my gosh, it just works. It was one of my favorite dishes of the whole night! Avocado is blended into the cheese sauce that’s mixed in with the pasta, and then fresh avocado is layered on top as a garnish.

I didn’t snap any pictures of the dessert—but my favorite one was the apple pie crumble with ice cream. Needless to say, I was absolutely stuffed by the time we left the restaurant!

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Thank you so much to Dyllan’s Raw Bar & Grill for having me on Friday and treating me to complimentary dinner and drinks! I had so much hanging out with new friends and enjoying great food. I wasn’t asked to write a blog post, but wanted to share my Dyllan’s experience with you since I think it’s a great restaurant worth checking out next time you’re in Georgetown!