Troi Moore walks into the Fogo de Chão in the Penn Quarter neighborhood of Washington, D.C., for the second time in a month. This time, though, she’ll have more than herself to keep her company.
“I’m nervous,” she tells TODAY.com. “I just want people to have fun.”
Moore, a 22-year-old content creator and actor, went viral after posting a video about being stood up by her dinner date on Aug. 15.
Her night was turned around by the staff at Fogo de Chão, who watched her wait for about an hour and a half for a date that never showed, and gave her free drinks and dessert.
“In your own house, you’re supposed to know exactly who your guests are, what they’re doing, and how they’re feeling,” says Gilson De Oliveira, general manager at Fogo de Chão and one of Moore’s guardian angels that night.
“When we saw somebody sitting, waiting like that, we were like, ‘Wait a minute,’” he continues. “As soon as Troi got tired of waiting and then decided to leave, we jumped in.’”
Moore says a couple of free caipirinhas and a slice of cake might not seem like much, but they were everything to her that night.
She wanted to pay it forward to singles in the D.C. area, and the fact that National Caipirinha Day (Sept. 10) was coming up felt like kismet.
“I said that it would be great to have a singles event or something to commemorate the moment of me being stood up, and they said, ‘Sure!’” Moore says. They called the event the “Young and Turnt Singles Meet Up!” based on what she said in her viral video.
Troi Moore mingles at Fogo de Chão.Joseph Lamour / TODAY
“We wanted it to be something that celebrates singlehood, that celebrates getting to know people, that celebrates romance, and celebrates getting stood up,” Moore says with a laugh.
During the two-hour event, singles mingle over small bites including beef ribs, garlic sirloin and bacon-wrapped steak, as well as unlimited caipirinhas. A popping photo booth features feather boas, sunglasses and party favors with catchphrases from Moore’s viral video.
While most of the singles are too shy to be quoted, we notice at least two pairs trade contact information for a second date.
Two attendees at the Young and Turnt singles event at Fogo de Chão.Joseph Lamour / TODAY
Moore mingles with many of her guests all evening, taking selfies and filming social video.
While every attendee hopes to see Moore leave with a paramour — and some, indeed, volunteer — she says it wasn’t the point of the endeavor.
“I think that this opened up a door that I didn’t know I could open,” she says. “It’s opened up a sense of community I didn’t think I could’ve experienced before. That means much more to me than one date ever could have.”
Dining and Cooking