White House correspondents’ dinner weekend: top five parties, by food

The annual White House correspondents’ dinner in Washington is ostensibly about the dinner poking fun at the president. But like the Oscars, or the Met Gala, it’s also about the parties.

But how to decide which parties to attend and which ones to skip? Every day of the White House correspondents’ dinner weekend is now inundated with competing events.

The conversations and the people, for the most part, are fun, until it inevitably gets boring. And then the most interesting thing about the parties becomes the food.

Like stock tips, past performance is not an indicator of future performance. But it could be – so here are the Guardian’s top five parties of 2024, in terms of food:

The party: Hosted at the Allbritton residence in Georgetown by Politico and the Allbritton Journalism Institute. Essentially the detox brunch the morning after the White House correspondents’ dinner. This year was Swiss-themed with a large wooden-frame pavilion in the huge back garden, with various food stations dotted around the perimeter. Heidi would have felt at home, walking past two Alphorn players in the front, a toy cable car contraption against a giant wall with a painting of the Matterhorn behind the bar, and flags of various Swiss cantons on each pillar. But it was very warm, and the two St Bernard dogs wearing Politico-branded scarves seemed to be slightly overheating.

The food: Towards the side there was a pastry station, absolutely stacked with viennoiserie. Your reviewer sampled the marmalade buns, which were fluffy on the top and firm in the middle, on which the jam sat. Seemed to be freshly baked. Perfect breakfast food. Your reviewer also sampled the relatively mini-waffles, adding the optional caviar and smoked salmon toppings. After