With some of the best guacamole in the DC area, there is always a reason to get excited about going to Penn Quarter’s Oyamel. Now with the Day of the Dead celebration less than a week away, there is even more reason to stop in. The all-inclusive kick-off event will be held on October 20th from 6pm-9pm, with the festival running through November 2nd. After being invited in for a sneak peak last week, we can wholeheartedly say it’s going to be a great time.

This year’s Day of the Dead Festival is a tribute to the legendary luchador wrestler, actor, and folk icon El Santo. The two week festival, sponsored by El Luchador Tequila, runs until November 2nd and offers a variety of carefully crafted dishes and drinks that pay tribute to this Mexican icon.

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Among our favorite dishes were the Huatape De Hongos (locally foraged mushrooms sautéed and served over a herbaceous masa sauce of epazote, sorrel, and jalapeño) and the Puerco en Chile Morita (local baby pig roasted in a salsa of chile morita). As for our favorite drink we both enjoyed the Santo contra los zombies the most (Santo vs. the Zombies).

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(above photos credit to Dan Swartz)

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We obviously recommend the guacamole as well, which we tried several times throughout the evening. Alix was more than excited when she saw the amount of avocados they were using.

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José Andrés and team have done it again! This event ranked up among our favorites over the last year, so I can only imagine what October 20th is going to bring.

For more details, click here.

-Scott