Here Are The Winners of The 2021 RAMMY Awards
Published in DCist, September 20, 2021
The 2021 RAMMY Awards, the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington’s annual celebration for the buzziest players in D.C. food and drink, looked different for the second year in a row. After last year’s virtual awards were held in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic, attendees who showed official vaccination certifications gathered in person last night at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center for an unveiling of the winners. But rather than skim over the difficulties of the last 18 months, the 39th annual awards deviated from usual programming to recognize the ways in which the region met the year’s challenges.
The association, an anonymous panel of judges, and a 2021 RAMMY’s chairs committee scrapped most of its traditional categories and qualifications to identify awards that would speak to how the restaurant industry has adapted during a year of pandemic difficulties: the best takeout pivots and to-go packaging, the most impressive redesigns for safe dining and outdoor patios, the most innovative pop-up and ghost kitchen concepts, and the technology leaders around virtual menus, online ordering, and delivery platforms. For this year only, the nominations were open to anyone in the industry, forgoing the RAMW membership requirement and the one year of operation typically needed for most awards consideration.
