I don’t know how much circulation My Maryland gets outside of Maryland. Its a great magazine published by our friends at the Maryland Farm Bureau. They have featured Bryan on the cover and a great article about VOLT’s relationship with our Maryland farmers and Bryan’s continued commitment to sourcing local, sustainable and organic for the restaurant.

If you haven’t read it yet, here is the link to the full article.

Big thanks to Becky Brashear for the article and Becky we just can’t wait for the Great Frederick Fair. Come to VOLT for drinks when the fair leaves town, I know you’ll need it. I’ll buy the rounds.

Blog Post by … guess who? Of course its me - Hilda.

So how long have we all been waiting to get a taste of what those Top Chef judges tasted back in Season 6? Woo Hoo here is your chance! MICHAEL IS IN THE HOUSE!!

In support of Share Our Strength’s efforts to end childhood hunger, on Tuesday, September 28th, Bryan and Michael will prepare an eight-course meal with beverage pairings at VOLT. This is the first time the chefs will be cooking together in Maryland since leaving to embark on their culinary careers.

Ok my friends, tickets are not cheap, $1,000 per person and $2,500 per couple in the Chef’s Dining Room. But hey I’ll be there! No seriously, it’s all worth a great cause to end childhood hunger and you will have a chance to chat with Bryan and Michael, have an incredible dinner, and see all of the new tattoos up close and personal. Not to mention that we will have a very special guest with us- name to be released closer to the event.

For ticket information and reservations please go to Share Our Strength.

This promotional brought to you by Hilda.

One of my absolute favorite events in Frederick - In The Street! Serious. Do not miss the fun. Especially all the fun at VOLT. This will be our 3rd year of ITS and we have some lessons learned from past years. For the most part we are doing away with VOLT as you know it for the day. Instead, we’re bringing the party outside! Of course as the celebration suggests - We’ll be in the Street! But really we’ll be in our courtyard. Food stations, Beer Stations, Wine Stations. Stations Galore!!
Come on out for the day and walk downtown but save your appetite for the VOLT house where we’ll have VOLT street food for the day from 11-5.
If you have dinner reservations with us or anywhere else downtown, leave your house early because the streets and the garages will be full.
To get the full low down on the day’s events please go to Celebrate Frederick.

Oh by the way - this is Hilda. Hello there.

Ok so this is soooo not the right place to promote our beautiful people but what the hay. It is my blog and here’s Caroline.

AMC’s Mad Men is having a casting call and they’ll choose from amongst the top vote getters. So please support one of our friends of VOLT and vote for her. She shot her pictures for the contest at VOLT.

Caroline, you naughty girl. Can’t believe you got on my bar before I had a chance to get on the bar.

Here’s the link and you don’t have to register to vote. Click this everyday.

After Sunday the only tomatoes I want to see or hear about better be muddled in a bloody mary. But until then, check these out. That green one was super insane (how do you like that description).

This one was the pineapple tomato.

Oh and we had Holly Morris from Fox 5 come out to shoot their live segment for the Morning Show on Wednesday. Remember Wednesday? When we had the torrential downpour in the morning? Yup we were all there in the field. These guys were out there picking tomatoes for the segment. Champs I tell ya.

My buddy Timmie Metz even drove from an hour away to come play some tunes for us. He’ll be there Sunday to play for the group. You’ll love him too and we’ll also have a jazz quartet for the latter half of the event. Chef Ben Lambert from Restaurant Nora also made the trek out from DC. There was flooding, up and down GW Parkway. Chef Jack Walker from Firestones along with our cheese, olive oil and wine friends were also there. Not sure how these guys made it out to the fields in that downpour. But thank you all.

Group shot with Holly! Half the group had left by the last segment though. We will have many more participants out with us on Sunday.

Along with the wines, we will also have Heirloom Tomato Bloody Mary’s galore!!!

Go get your tickets, come on out. It’ll be fun. And then give me a month or two before mentioning anything tomato related to me.

www.bigwhitebarn.com

Save the date and come out for a fun family day at the beautiful Carrollton Manor Farms in Buckeystown, MD. As you all know VOLT loves our farmers and what better way to celebrate the bounties of our Frederick County local agriculture than to host a festival to honor the mother load - the heirloom tomato.

If you’ve ever tried your hand at growing the heirloom, you know its not for the faint of heart. They certainly are a handful and not anywhere as easy to grow as your typical nursery, disease resistant variety. But if you have the patience, the green thumb and the loving, caring time, the results are a feast for your taste buds. I have none of the above, so I am more than eager to taste the many varieties that our hosts Steve and Anita are growing for us.

Thank you to Bar-T, the premier all-green, Children’s Ranch in Urbana. They are our official Children’s Zone Sponsors and we are thrilled! They will have cotton candy, popcorn, moon bounce and other fun kids activities to keep your little ones occupied while you get your fill on the heirlooms.

Check out the tomato line up here. heirloom-list.pdf

To purchase tickets please go to Big White Barn link here.

So the Keys Game was completely nuts and totally fun at the same time. Totally nuts for our crew who worked the concession stand. Totally fun for me since I chatted with fans and drank beer for three hours. But a great time was had by all. Here’s a few pictures in case you missed out on the night.

The VOLT Crew

The 1,000 bobbleheads ran out in the first half hour of gates opening at 6:00.

I think this was around 5′ish when I stuck my head out to see if anyone had shown up for the game early. Ha. Wow.

How seriously cute is this?

Ok this one is cuter. The VOLT and the Baby VOLT on the field for the first pitch of the night.

Our Baby VOLTS in the house! Thanks Tibet and the Lost and Found crew for finding my lost son. Finding a peanut in a ballpark - totally scary half hour of the night.

The awesome kitchen crew.

Big Thanks to the Frederick Keys (Dave, Adam, Anita, Barb and the rest of the team) for inviting us and coordinating the event.

Thank you to our VOLT fans for coming out. Big thanks to all of you who stood in the food line for the entire game. We had no idea of the demand. I hope all of you who came out for the VOLT concession experience got to eat one of everything on the menu. For those asking, the “21″ on the VOLT t-shirts represented our amazing Table 21. To the guy who offered me $50 for the one I was wearing, I would have given it to you but I didn’t have a change of clothes. And no we don’t currently have any t-shirts for sale or any bobbleheads left. We’ve been asked by the Keys to come back for another event and of course you will be the first to know if we do plan another outing in the future.

If you’re dining with us on the 25th, make sure one of your toasts of the evening is to us and to you. We wouldn’t be here after two years, were it not for your support and hunger - both to our regulars who have become part of the family as well as to our new guests who are walking in for the very first time.

To our employees, thank you for your complete faith, endless hours on the floor, cheerful disposition and commitment to VOLT. To those of you who have been with us since day one and those of you who are brand new and have no idea what you just got yourself into:) thank you.

To our investors - you ROCK! You always believed in us and look at us now! We will always have VOLT together. As for those of you who joined me in my outside adventure last year, I’m not doing a repeat so stop asking. I’m staying home and out of trouble this year. Now, next year, well, maybe we can all get kicked out together to celebrate year #3.

Third base feels awfully good especially when you’re hungry and have VOLT in the house.

VOLT is coming to the Frederick Keys Baseball Field and we are not coming empty handed. We are taking over the concession stand at 3rd base for one night only on Tuesday July 27. Be the first in line to get your very own Bryan Voltaggio bobblehead at the gates. Who doesn’t want a Bryan doll on their dashboard. I’d show you a picture of the bobblehead but then I’d spoil the surprise. Trust me. It’s just precious.

Chef will also be throwing out the first pitch of the night. Woo hoo. Come on out and root for him.

Come hungry for a fun-filled family night of baseball at the Keys Stadium. Click here for a sneak peak of the concession stand menu. keys-night.pdf

A Portion of proceeds from our concession stand will be going to the Keys Care Foundation. Buy your tickets today. This is sure to sell out fast.

Fort Detrick and local agencies will be hosting a Twilight Tattoo at Baker Park on Saturday, June 26, 2010 at 6:00 pm.

A tattoo is a military pagent where the history of the US military is enacted. The event includes all of the various eras of military uniforms, horses, cannons and lots more. If you’re not familiar with the event and want to know more, I’d suggest you google “twilight tattoos Washington DC ” – I quickly found some videos.
Putting on the event involves between 300 – 400 military personnel (this number does not include the audience – yes, it’s a really big event).

I saw these guys by accident last year and was completely blown away. We could hear the cannons from my house and we ran out thinking… well, when you hear cannons you should run out of your house. However, we did all run towards the blasts and not away from the noise which is exactly what you shouldn’t do. But in this case, we were treated to the most extraordinary show.

Anyone in the military reading this, you are in luck. For our military guests in town for the show we are offering our express lunch menu - $14.00 for three choices. This menu will only be available in the bar/lounge and courtyard weather permitting and only offered to participants in the Twilight Tattoo.

Example of some menu items included:

Grilled Border Springs Farm Lamb Burger
Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwich, dill potato salad, fried pickle
Summer Tomato Gazpacho, shrimp ceviche, cilantro
Jelly Doughnuts, blueberry, strawberry, vanilla anglaise

Members of the Twilight Tattoo, make sure to stop in for lunch.
All others - don’t miss the show at Baker Park!