IN THE LAST 15 YEARS, and even more rapidly over the past 8–10, Washington has evolved from an extremely predictable restaurant town, in which dining out was more a matter of convenience or expense-account entertaining than pleasure, to one of the top-10 culinary centers in the country—a city where it’s really fun to be a restaurant critic.
The sorts of heavy French and Italian (or “Continental”) dishes to which a generation or two of Washingtonians had become inured have been replaced by market-fresh, innovative, and sustainable cooking. Many chefs feel free to combine elements of the older classic cuisines, hence the kitchen-sink phrase “modern eclectic,” but in the process they have developed a distinctly regional accent—what is, for lack of a better term, often called modern American.
At the same time, and perhaps even more exciting, top chefs are turning back the clock not to those perfunctory white-linen dishes but to the real ethnic cuisines, whether they are native to the region or simply admirers. Among the area’s best restaurants are kitchens turning out Mediterranean, Balkan, Northern Thai, Indian, French, South American, Algerian, and Belgian cuisine; and in a surprising but admirable twist, the great Spanish-born but culinarily restless star chef José Andrés has reintroduced Washington to its own American culinary heritage. Several kitchens, most notably Andrés’s own Minibar, have also mastered the difficult, imaginative, technically stunning style broadly referred to as molecular gastronomy or culinary deconstruction.
It would be impossible in the space of one chapter, and difficult in a whole book, to describe the variety and quality, not to mention the capriciousness, of Washington dining these days. But even a basic primer—an A-B-C (and more)—should be an indication of its maturation and sophistication. Among the major trends are, for short: All in the Family (local chefs with multiple restaurants); Brewpubs, Gastropubs, and Wine Bars; Celebrity Chefs; Drinks, anyone?; Ethnic for Everyone (especially upscale); Fixed-price Menus and Intimate Spaces; Get Over It!—trends we’ve had enough of already; and Hot ’n’ Heavy, the neighborhoods where restaurants cluster.
Washington chefs must drink too much, um, caffeine: They can’t seem to feel busy enough. More and more of them are opening multiple establishments—not with similar menus (difficult enough to watch over) but with distinct style, and not necessarily in the same part of town.
First among those who have chosen to expand both their physical and culinary boundaries is José Andrés, a star of both Spanish and American television and a protégé of El Bulli’s revered deconstruction icon Ferran Adria. In Washington alone, Andrés oversees three Spanish tapas Jaleo outposts, the Greek-Turkish mezza Zaytinya, the seriously “classic” America Eats Tavern, the Mexican Oyamel, the molecular gastronomic temple Minibar (and Barmini), an offshoot of his Las Vegas Peruvian-Chinese restaurant called Chile Chilcano, and even a Spanish food truck called Pepe.
Robert Wiedmaier owns the fine French/Belgian Marcel’s and the more classically Belgian Brasserie Beck downtown, Mussel Bars in Rockville and Arlington, and the semi-Mediterranean Wildwood Kitchen in Bethesda; plus the tripartite BRABO, Tasting Room, and Butcher’s Block in Old Town Alexandria; and a second Brasserie Beck to open in Gaithersburg. Jeff and Barbara Black have the seafood sit-down and market BlackSalt in the Palisades, Black Market Bistro in Kensington, the seafood-and-veggie-heavy Republic in hiptown Takoma Park, the retro Gulf oyster bar Black’s Bar & Kitchen in Bethesda, and Pearl Dive Oyster Bar and Black Jack bar in Logan Circle.
The family of Old Town Alexandria–based Cathal and Meshelle Armstrong includes the fine dining Restaurant Eve, two Dublin-style fish-and-chipperies called Eamonn’s, the American home-style favorite Majestic, Irish pub fare Virtue Feed & Grain, and the gourmet-kitchen wine bar Society Fair. Jeff Tunks, whose interests are almost as broad as Andrés’s, oversees the kitchens of the seafood-centric DC Coast, PassionFish in Reston (and coming to Bethesda), the Cuban Ceiba, Cajun and Creole Acadiana, retro-tavern District Commons and Burger, Tap & Shake, and Mexicano Fuego Cocina and Tequileria. Mike Isabella, who’s worked for Andrés, Iron Chef Jose Garces, and Marcus Samuelsson, has opened the Greek spit grill–themed Kapnos, the Italian/pizza Graffiato, and the carryout-to-haute-cuisine G.
Former Mexican top chef turned Vegas, Denver, and Dubai chainmaster richard sandoval has his whisk in the Latino-Asian Zengo in Penn Quarter, two El Centro DC taquerias, the trendy Balkan newcomer Ambar, the Latin steak house Toro Toro, and the Japanese/tapas Masa 14. Jeff and Sallie Buben, who started with the new-Southern standard Vidalia and then went heartland French with Bistro Bis, most recently went a slightly more fashionable regional Americana route with Woodward Table.
And that’s not all: Andrés has begun selling condiments, Spanish-packaged seafood, paella, and more online and in gourmet groceries; while the Armstrongs, Bubens, Wiedmaier, and Frank Ruta at Palena have all opened markets and/or carryouts for their products—a new type of vertical thinking.
These and similarly established chefs have among them fostered many of Washington’s up-and-coming cooking stars, but they are not the only ones. Restaurateur Ashok Bajaj is not a chef, but he has one of the best noses, or palates, for good ones: His eight properties—Bombay Club, Ardeo + Bardeo, Nopa Kitchen & Bar, Rasika and Rasika West End, Bibiana, Oval Room, and 701—are consistently on best restaurants lists.
Nightlife entrepreneur Joe Englert has opened close to two dozen joints in his life, many of which survive, especially in the H Street strip of the Atlas District.
And Michael Babin’s Neighborhood Restaurant Group, whose reach has expanded from its Del Ray roots but whose devotion to quality has not wavered, now includes 14 restaurants, many of them twinned with gastropubs or wine shops, plus a catering company, an events producer, and three Buzz bakery/coffee shops. NRG’s culinary/beverage team—executive chef Kyle Bailey; Bailey’s wife, dessert specialist Tiffany MacIsaac; beer sommelier Greg Engert; and local charcuterie star Nathan Anda—oversees (along with top on-site chefs): Birch & Barley/ChurchKey, the Iron Gate, Partisan, GBD (Golden Brown and Delicious, as in fried chicken and waffles), and Bluejacket (a brewery and restaurant), all in the District; and in the Virginia suburbs, Vermilion, Tallulah/Eat Bar, Columbia Firehouse, Evening Star/Planet Wine Shop, and Rustico in Alexandria and Arlington.
Most of the establishments mentioned above are profiled later in this chapter.
Washington has been into big beer lists for many years: Dupont Circle’s Bier Baron, which was for more than 50 years known as the Brickskellar, made it into the Guinness Book of Records for its 1,000–plus bottle options; and its offshoot, RFD in Penn Quarter, opened in 2003 with the then-astounding 40 taps. Successful chains, such as Gordon Biersch, which both brewed and curated beers, pushed even mainstream family restaurants to expand their options. The move to intelligent beer pairings led to the development of increasingly enticing gastropubs—beer-centric restaurants where the menu is designed to complement the brews, as well as the other way around—along with their wine-oriented counterparts.
But bottle lists, even international ones, aren’t enough anymore: Freshly brewed choices, with artisan ingredients, wide ranges of alcohol and spice, are all the rage. After more than a half-century drought, the Washington area is once again fragrant with hops and malt and seasonal choices. Among good breweries that are reasonably accessible by public transportation are Bluejacket, 3 Stars Brewing Company, Right Proper Brewing Company, Atlas Brew Works, Capital City Brewing Company, District Chophouse (a good-quality steak house that does indeed brew on-site), Mad Fox Brewery, and Chocolate City Beer, all in the District; and Heavy Seas Alehouse in Rosslyn, a branch of a good Baltimore brewery bringing in a chef from Tom Colicchio’s Las Vegas Craftsteak.
Among the tastiest of the gastropubs are Birch & Barley and ChurchKey, Black Squirrel in Adams Morgan, Virtue Feed & Grain in Old Town Alexandria, Tallulah/Eat Bar in Clarendon, Meridian Pint in Columbia Heights, the almost theme-parkish Biergarten Haus with oompah music and a year-round heated garden, and Granville Moore’s, the self-described “gastropub with a healthy Belgian fetish,” both in the Atlas District. Although its menu is limited to the pies from Pizzeria Paradiso upstairs, Birreria Paradiso in Georgetown retains a loyal following thanks to its rotating 16 taps and 150 bottled choices; and the beloved grungy Quarry House Tavern in Silver Spring stocks 300 beers—and almost as many whiskeys.
Though he was the only one of Washington’s six brewery owners to reopen after Prohibition, Christian Heurich closed up shop in 1956; his last factory stood where the Kennedy Center is now. However, his mansion-museum in Dupont Circle is a heady brew in its own way: see the profile in Part Five.
Wine bars, too, are increasingly laying out sophisticated, if sometimes short, menus: try Veritas in Dupont Circle, which sticks to the charcuterie and cheese tradition; the classic French Bistrot Lepic in Glover Park, which has live jazz and almost-daily happy hour by-the-glass specials; Ripple and Ardeo + Bardeo in Cleveland Park; Dickson Wine Bar, Cork, the Italian gastropub Ghibellina, and Barcelona Wine Bar and Restaurant, all in Mid City; the wine-first-and-foremost Grapeseed in Bethesda; and Proof in Penn Quarter, with high-ranking fare that makes wine bar an understatement.
For cocktail and higher-proof pleasures, see “Drinks, Anyone?” below.
The Washington palate has become demanding enough (and, to be frank, the expense accounts have rebounded sufficiently) to lure first, a trickle, and more recently a tidal wave of chefs and restaurateurs from other dining capitals—New York, Las Vegas, Chicago, even international centers—to open branches in the nation’s capital.
Food-mag fave rave Michel Richard abandoned L.A. to make Washington his home base, starting with Citronelle (now closed) and expanding to Central; though he has recently returned to New York and the Palace Hotel, Central is going strong. L.A.’s other pioneer, Wolfgang Puck, designed The Source restaurant for the Newseum, and international superstar Alain Ducasse created Adour (also now revamped) for the St. Regis Hotel.
New York icon Daniel Bouloud is reproducing his DBGB Bar & Kitchen in the City Center development downtown (alongside Florida stone crab legend Joe’s); compatriot Michael White has cloned both his Osteria Morini and his East Village pizzeria Nicoletta for the Lumber Shed entertainment pavilion at Yards Park by the Nationals Stadium.
Although it’s a 90-minute drive away, Washingtonians gladly claim chef Patrick O’Connell of five-star Inn at Little Washington (Virginia), whose cuisine has been admired in print in every culinary journal of note for 35 years. Local favorite Fabio Trabocchi, whose Maestro Restaurant was a D.C. destination before he moved to Manhattan to open the critically acclaimed Fiamma (just before the crash), has returned to Washington to open Fiola, Casa Luca, and the expansive Fiola Mare.
Laurent Tourondel added Washington to his BLT Steak empire, and Todd English, who gave up his first attempt at a D.C. outpost of his Boston-based Olives, is now into the haute Mexican MXDC (and stole its chef from the Iron Chef kitchens). IC and ubiquitous TV chef Bobby Flay has five Bobby’s Burger Palace locations in the metropolitan area (so far); and fellow Iron Chef Jose Garces’s Argentinian steak house (his 16th restaurant!) is scheduled to open in the Madison Hotel in 2014.
Charlie Palmer of New York’s Aureole fame opened Charlie Palmer Steak. Danny Meyer (Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Park Tavern, Madison 21) has branches of his hip Manhattan Shake Shack in Dupont Circle, Penn Quarter, and at Nationals Park.
Washington gained an offshoot of California’s landmark French Laundry, albeit at one degree’s remove; its longtime chef de cuisine Eric Ziebold presides over the Mandarin Oriental Hotel’s luxurious CityZen restaurant. Eric Ripert of the four-star Le Bernardin created Westend Bistro in the midtown Ritz-Carlton, though they have since parted company; Strasbourg’s three-Michelin-star chef Antoine Westermann has put his stamp on Café du Parc at the Willard Hotel.
Two of the biggest names are in the super-, or perhaps supra-, steak houses: Jean-Georges Vongerichten created J&G Steakhouse in the W Hotel, and one of Michael Mina’s signature Bourbon Steak locations settled into the Georgetown Four Seasons Hotel.
Susur Lee, whose chic Pan-Asian restaurants range from Toronto to Singapore and New York, launched Zentan in the Donovan House hotel. Miami-based Guillermo Pernot, a peer-fave ceviche specialist, opened Cuba Libre, his fourth along the East Coast, in the Penn Quarter. The huge UK-based ONE group has opened an STK Steakhouse, which targets women diners rather than men, downtown. Even trendier, perhaps, reality TV stars Bill and Giuliana Rancic have announced plans to duplicate their Chicago RPM Italian in D.C.
Philadelphia-based Stephen Starr, who may be the busiest of all with more than two dozen restaurants (Morimoto and Buddakan among them), has opened Le Diplomate in Logan Circle, based on his hugely successful Parc brasserie; he is rumored to be preparing to try out a new concept here as well. Boston’s answer to Bobby “Burger” Flay, Michael Schlow, is opening a Mexican/South American restaurant in Mid City.
Other New York imports include Carmine’s family-style Italian “mangiaria” and Hill Country Barbecue in Penn Quarter; three outposts of Rosa Mexicano, famous for tableside guacamole and margaritas, in Penn Quarter, National Harbor, and Chevy Chase; Bond 45 steak house and its Italian sibling Fiorella at National Harbor; and Kellari Taverna and legendary Manhattan watering house P. J. Clarke’s downtown.
There is also a mini-constellation of chefs, famous to TV food-network shows, who have taken up Washington residence. In addition to those mentioned in “All in the Family,” above: Warren Brown, now a Food Network star, opened his first CakeLove bakery on U Street in 2002 and now has three outposts, including one in National Harbor. Sisters Sophie LaMontagne and Katherine Kallinis, whose already successful Georgetown Cupcake business went ballistic when they won a Martha Stewart–inspired cupcake contest, have expanded to a bigger location (with longer lines) in Georgetown and a small, less-famous outpost in Bethesda. Oprah’s former personal chef Art Smith, whose Table 52 in Chicago was a favorite of the First Family back home, opened the Art and Soul restaurant in the Liaison Hotel on Capitol Hill. And Bryan Voltaggio (who came in second to his own brother, Michael, of Pasadena, California’s Dining Room restaurant) has a huge multifaceted restaurant called Range in Chevy Chase along with Frederick, Maryland’s popular Volt, among others.
Thanks in large part to noted mixmaster Todd Thrasher of Restaurant Eve in Old Town Alexandria, whose PX “speakeasy” above Eve’s nearby sibling Eamonn’s (and now his TNT lounge at the second Eamonn’s) was the first bar seriously dedicated to the creative cocktail revival, Washington has developed several bars dedicated to the making of original and authentic classic cocktails (as opposed to the sugary shots and chocolate martini generation).
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Washington chefs have a habit of naming restaurants after their offspring, including Restaurant Eve and Eamonn’s, Marcel’s and Brasserie Beck, Casa Luca, Ella’s pizzeria, Kora (little sister of the shuttered Farrah Olivia), even the TNT lounge, short for Trystan Noah Thrasher.
Among the most innovative places to enjoy considered cocktails are Thrasher’s PX and TNT; Columbia Room and Passenger, its bar within a bar, and Proof in the Penn Quarter, both of which are also highly regarded restaurants; Wisdom and the Eddy Bar at Hank’s on Capitol Hill; and Policy and the aptly named Gibson in the heart of Mid City at 14th and U.
Of course, in the era of Mad Men, there are hundreds of fine, more traditional bars, many with history to boot: the Round Robin in the Willard InterContinental lays claim to being the place where the mint julep was formalized; and in the aptly named Off the Record lounge of the Hay-Adams Hotel, cocktail historian John Boswell holds forth, and/or keeps, a lot of local secrets. The legendary Sam Lek, who spent 30 years pouring martinis for politicians and celebrities at the Mayflower Hotel, has now set up shop at the 14K Bar in the Hamilton Crowne Plaza.
More straight-up fare, especially whiskey, is fashionable as well: Black Whiskey in Logan Circle has dozens of small-batch whiskies in addition to a cocktail menu and Scottish pub fare (i.e., roast beef with Yorkshire pudding); the Irish Whiskey Public House boasts more than 50 whiskies (and as many beers). The two branches of Bourbon, one in Adams Morgan and the other in Glover Park, each stock some 60 rare and craft whiskies; while their younger, bigger brother, the three-story Jack Rose Dining Saloon in Adams Morgan, takes both parts of its name seriously, offering more than 700 kinds of whiskey, and such entrées as veal cheeks, diver scallops with artichokes and fennel, pork belly, and, of course, bacon fat fries. The Georgetown outpost of the Rí Rá Irish pub chain (a beautiful mash-up of rescued/salvaged Irish pubs, a bank, and even a theater) offers not flights but “duels” of rare whiskies costing up to $180. MXDC has a tequila menu of more than 100 brands—and you’ll find about the same number of vodkas at the Russia House or the D.C. branch of New York’s Mari Vanna at either end of Dupont Circle (which means you’ll see a lot of hockey imports hanging out as well).
And at last, the District has its own distillery producing small-batch Green Hat gin, and soon it will have a rye to match.
As is clear from even the quick listings above, Washington is awash in ethnic cuisines, and why not? As a capital that naturally attracts immigrant professionals, military and diplomatic personnel, students, and refugees, Washington should have long since been attracting chefs from around the globe, though not (yet) from every region. Washington has the largest Ethiopian population in North America, estimated at 250,000, and “Little Ethiopia” (the Mid City area centered on Ninth and U Streets NW) has been rated one of America’s top four ethnic neighborhoods for dining by Travel + Leisure magazine. The Eden Center in Falls Church is a sort of super-food court of the fine Vietnamese restaurants that pervade that booming neighborhood (though, unfortunately, it is not near a Metro station).
For many years, “foreign” restaurants were the Henny Youngmans of restaurant criticism—somehow considered separately from “fine dining” establishments, as if only certain kinds of cooking could be considered “cuisine.” (The obvious fact that Italian, French, and Chinese styles are all “ethnic” seems to have failed to strike a lot of critics.) Now, at last, cuisines of all sorts are getting the respect they deserve, and professional attention at that: Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, Greek, Indian, Middle Eastern, Chinese (of all regions), Central and South American (of many regions), Thai, Uzbeki, and Ethiopian kitchens have progressed from first-generation mom-and-pop immigrant eateries to professional, critically acclaimed restaurants.
And the greater quantity of choices means better quality as well: each successive ethnic boom, such as the recent one in Thai food, educates diners to the delicacy as well as the potency of that cuisine; then importers ramp up the amount and quality of supplies, and the unauthentic kitchens either upgrade or go out of business.
Here’s one other point to consider: There are generally three stages in the evolution of ethnic restaurants in the United States. The first tends to be opened by immigrants who are trying to get along by offering rather Americanized fare—and many of whom are likely never to have cooked for a living before. (What percentage of any population is comprised of trained chefs? You’re as likely to have a displaced doctor or engineer cooking for you, and we have.) The second stage tends to the mom-and-pop-style eateries, where the food is more authentic but not particularly fancy. By the third generation, you have chefs who have actually trained in other countries or studied in a kitchen or culinary academy, have access to quality ingredients, and open white-table restaurants. Voilà: “ethnic cuisine.” Fortunately, an increasing number of Washingtonians can recognize the real thing these days—if only because so many read food blogs or watch food channels.
Not that authenticity in itself is the only criterion; there are some cuisines that may be, by certain standards, better as they are practiced in the United States or Europe because of more dependable storage, electricity, higher-quality meats, and so on. And “fusion,” detached from its glossy magazine past, is not a “trend” but a natural evolution (where would we be without the Japanese-American hybrid known as the California roll?). There are few rigid “purists” among great chefs; influences and creativity are highly prized these days. Many of the chefs mentioned above—Johnny Monis, José Andrés, and Jean-Georges Vongerichten, to name a few—have developed cuisines that are more characteristic than classic, but all are grounded in a real and respectful understanding of a cuisine’s basic tenets.
But even at the everyday level, ethnic dining is, well, all-American. Just as there are elementary school classes in the region where 20 languages may be spoken, there are few neighborhoods where one would have to drive far to find at least a half dozen ethnic flavors. As just one example, consider Rockville Town Center, a “new town” development near the Rockville Metro station: Around a fairly small pedestrian square are situated Thai, Indian, Japanese, Lebanese, Vietnamese, Italian, and Peruvian restaurants, as well as a branch of the Gordon Biersch brewpub chain, a hot wings hangout, a burger joint, and a crab cake house (and the public library, where the computers are manned by a melting pot of locals). Within eyeshot are a Hong Kong–style shabu-shabu joint, a Pan-Asian restaurant, pizza, tortillas, Tex-Mex, and a Taiwanese noodle restaurant with a menu more than 200 (big) dishes long.
The ethnic-fare boom is almost certain to continue: National surveys show that younger consumers are developing tastes for a variety of ethnic flavors early in life, and consider them as much a part of the American buffet as the Italian, Mexican, and Chinese fare—generally of middling authenticity—that older diners tend to stick to. And continued immigration naturally means greater cultural diversity, which is why there are increasing numbers of African and Eastern European restaurants in this country.
Tasting menus have been a feature of many ambitious Washington chefs for several years, most of whom (Cathal Armstrong at Restaurant Eve; Eric Ziebold at CityZen; Robert Wiedmaier at Marcel’s; Frank Ruta at Palena; Vikram Sunderam at Rasika; and Roberto Donna, whose Roberto’s 4—literally a four-seat table inside Al Dente—has revived the style of his once-famous Laboratoria Galileo) offered them as fixed-price specials in addition to more familiar à la carte options.
But a growing number of restaurants now offer only prix-fixe or tasting menus, an almost imperial edict previously limited to the most famous of culinary figures such as Michel Richard at (the now shuttered) Citronelle, Patrick O’Connell at the Inn at Little Washington, or José Andrés at Minibar.
Johnny Monis of the extraordinary haute-Greek Komi, who has risen to rival these internationally known chefs as a local superstar, offers only one fixed-price meal starting at $135, a degustazione tour de force that allows him to indulge his intensely focused take on Mediterranean classics; his tiny Thai restaurant next door, Little Serow, has a no-reservations policy and a single $45 offering. Popular chef R. J. Cooper, who tried out a 24-course tasting menu toward the end of his long tenure at Vidalia, has opened the frankly named Rogue 24 near Mount Vernon Square, although you do have a choice of not only the supersize 24-course fiesta for $120 but also a 16-course version for $100 and a modest four-course dinner for only $35 (plus several tiers of wine pairings). Seasonal Pantry is really a sort of supper club, with a table for 12 and a menu of whatever the chef feels like cooking. G by Mike Isabella is a sandwich shop by day but a four-course diner ($40) by night. Wiedmaier also offers a Goldilocks choice of courses at Marcel’s, ranging from $85 for four courses to $145 for seven. At the revamped Minibar, Andrés’s team offers only the $225 menu, but three levels of wine pairings. These days, the menu at the Inn at Little Washington ranges from $168 to $198, depending not on the number of courses but on the day of the week. At Roberto’s 4, the tasting menu is $85. And Nobu Yamazaki, owner-chef of Sushi Taro, has revamped that long-respected but predictable restaurant into a cutting-edge vision of Japanese classics (if that’s not a contradiction), with fresh fish flown in daily from Tokyo’s Tsukiji market and offering four kaiseki-style menus, ranging from $80 to $180 without pairings. It makes one almost nostalgic for Obelisk chef Peter Pastan, who has stuck to his five-course fixed-price menu for more than 20 years and still holds at $75.
Intriguingly, while several of these are reservation-musts, many of these are also part of a different trend, the no-reservation, haute cuisine hole-in-the-wall—meaning they have such limited seating that many bars outnumber them. Little Serow and Thai X-ing both seat 28; Etto 42; Donburi 14; the downstairs ramen bar at Daikaya holds 40 (though the upstairs izakawa does accept reservations); while Rose’s Luxury holds a relatively luxurious 75. Roberto’s 4 accommodates—well, you know—and while it does accept reservations, they are only available Tuesday–Thursday. Toki Underground, Pearl Dive, and Estadio take a few group reservations very early, before the dinner rush; however, most of these will allow you to leave your name (once you make it to the front of the line) and your cell phone number so you can get a drink while you wait.
Here’s what else is bubbling up on menus all over Washington.
Pizza (Neopolitan, New York–style, New Haven–style, St. Louis–style, wood-fired, coal-fired, gourmet, gluten-free); burgers (Kobe [meaning Wagyu], venison, bison, turkey, tuna, lamb, lobster, veggie, supersize, you name it); the start of an artisan hot dog trend; lobster rolls, mussels, pho and banh mi (in non-Vietnamese places); mumbo sauce (the local heat wave); fried chicken and doughnuts (don’t even go there); charcuterie and cheese, cheese and charcuterie; duck-fat fries, bacon-fat fries, triple-fried fries, and truffle-oil fries. Food trucks are so trendy that even José Andrés has one called Pepe, and Brooklyn’s acclaimed Red Hook Lobster Pound has one that trolls the Farragut Square neighborhood. (Just to give you an idea, and directions, there are at least three sites claiming to monitor all mobile meal activity: foodtruckfiesta.com, dcfoodtrucks.org, and thestreats.com.)
The big-ticket steak chains refuse to die, no matter how many nutritional (and economic) stakes are hammered into their hearts. (And, of course, Washington is the home of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the folks who told you that fettuccine Alfredo was just as bad for you as you always knew it was.) These are now so popular, and their formats so similar—prime beef, creamed spinach, Caesar salad, and hefty wine lists—that we have simply listed “The Best Steaks,” so that you can browse by location. The big-name Bourbon Steak, BLT Steak, and J&G Steakhouse, which aren’t really chophouses of the same sort, are profiled later.
Locavore, market-to-table, and sustainable are all terms increasingly likely to show up on restaurant credentials; organic-cooking maven Nora Pouillon of Nora may not be able to claim all the credit, but as founder of a national organic network, Chefs Collaborative, she has inspired many other chefs to demand the freshest ingredients.
Along with the awakening of the Washington palate has come a rearrangement of the dining map. While Georgetown remains a busy shopping and nightlife area, it is no longer a dominant restaurant strip; and the ethnically mixed Adams Morgan neighborhood, though still intriguing, is gentrifying and “graying” slightly. Upscale redevelopment around various suburban Metro stations—most notably Crystal City, Ballston, and Clarendon in Virginia, and Bethesda and Rockville in Maryland—have lured both established and first-time restaurateurs to those mini-cities.
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Let’s just get this out of the way: Among the places the Obamas have dined are Komi, Equinox, Blue Duck Tavern, Acadiana, Good Stuff, Nora, Ray’s Hell Burger, Mintwood Place, Vermilion, the Source, and Sei.
But by far the most energized areas for dining are what is known as Penn Quarter, the revitalized downtown arts and entertainment district, and Mid City, the neighborhood around U and 14th Streets NW stretching to the Logan Circle area north of that. (The Atlas District on H Street NE is more of a draw as a nightlife area—see Part Eight: Nightlife and Entertainment—but it includes plenty of restaurant options as well.)
Penn Quarter, a fairly recent nickname but one that has already been enshrined in a Metro subway station, refers to an area from around the Verizon Center at Seventh Street NW west to about Tenth Street NW north of Pennsylvania Avenue, and is gradually spreading into the old law-and-lobby office downtown toward K Street NW. It is also just a few blocks south of Mount Vernon Square, making it convenient to the convention center business.
Among the best restaurants in Penn Quarter are Zaytinya, Oyamel, Jaleo, Café Atlántico, and the laboratorio of deconstruction Minibar (all, astonishingly, under the watchful eye of Catalonian super chef José Andrés); Sei, the Source at the Newseum, NoPa Kitchen + Bar, MBK, Tosca, Siroc, Fiola and its more casual Casa Luca, 701, Rasika, Oceanaire, Poste, Acadiana, Michel Richard’s Central, Graffiato, Daikaya, and the expense-account Rogue 24. Most of these are profiled later in this chapter.
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U Street has replaced the old Chinatown as the place to appease late-night hunger pangs; many of these places are open until the wee hours on weekends—some even during the week.
In Mid City, along the blocks of U Street NW between about 10th and 14th Streets, and on the blocks of 14th Street from just above U Street down toward P, you’ll find the most literary of Washington cafes: the new-American Café Saint-Ex, named for aviator and The Little Prince author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and its sibling Bar Pilar, named for Ernest Hemingway’s boat. Also look for the Belgian-inflected pub fare at Marvin, named for local-boy soul star Marvin Gaye, who lived in Belgium toward the end of his life; Busboys and Poets, a combination bookstore, cafe, bar, and poetry lounge named for black poet Langston Hughes, who was working as a busboy at the Wardman Park Hotel when he began writing (for locations, see busboysandpoets.com); and the New Orleans–flavored Eatonville, named for black novelist Zora Neale Hurston’s hometown. More straightforwardly named are Dickson Wine Bar and the Gibson, the semihidden sidecar to Marvin; the Saloon, a transplanted Georgetown beer haven; Locolat, a first-rate Belgian waffle and chocolate shop; Bistro le Bonne; Policy; and Cork. Dukem, Little Ethiopia, and Etete are among the most highly regarded Ethiopian restaurants. Masa 14 is a collaboration between Richard Sandoval of Zengo and Kaz Okochi of Kaz Sushi Bistro; Etto is a small (and no-reservations) pizzeria with benefits (charcuterie and cocktails). Izakawa Seki and Le Diplomate are both profiled below.
And, of course, this area is home to the legendary Ben’s Chili Bowl, still dishing out chili half-smokes (half pork and beef smoked sausage on a bun topped with mustard, onions, and chili) to the likes of Chris Rock, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, and Russell Crowe, but where only Bill Cosby and President Obama eat free; and the Florida Avenue Grill, which calls itself “the oldest soul food restaurant in the world,” and at 70, it just might just be.
Just a few blocks south of this cluster, and gradually beginning to merge with it, is Logan Circle, which is actually centered on 13th and P Streets NW but which also serves as the shorthand name for the growing P Street restaurant and 14th Street theater district. Among the top names there are Estadio, a Spanish tapas extravaganza from the folks who brought you Proof; the very stylish gastropub Birch & Barley/ChurchKey (the one named for the makings, the other for the opener); Posto, which offers more than 110 bottles of Italian wine to go with its wood-fired pizza; and Logan Tavern, a very casual but often surprisingly deft neighborhood hangout.
THE RESTAURANT PROFILES that follow are not strictly the best restaurants; rather, they are intended to give you a sense of the atmosphere and advantages of a particular establishment as well as its cuisine. None should be taken as gospel, because one drawback of Washington’s new appetite for adventure is that restaurants open and close—and promising chefs play musical kitchens—with breathtaking speed. We have for the most part profiled only restaurants that have been in operation for at least a year, or that have chefs with such strong track records that they are of special interest. We have also, in most cases, given preference to establishments with easy access to the subway or cabs because we realize that the majority of visitors to Washington stay (if not with family or friends) in the major business or tourist areas.
And, blame it on yuppie consciousness, gourmet magazine proliferation, or real curiosity, but the increased interest in the techniques of cooking has also produced a demand for variety, constantly challenging presentations, and guaranteed freshness. Consequently, many of the fancier restaurants change their menus or some portion thereof daily, and many more change seasonally, so the specific dishes recommended at particular places may not be available on a given night. Use these critiques not as menu pages (that’s what the Internet is for) but as a guide, an indication of the chef’s interests and strengths, rather than a hard-and-fast ordering chart. And truth to tell, the waitstaff often has pretty good advice, if you ask sincerely.
Each profile features an easily scanned heading that allows you, in just a second, to check out the restaurant’s name, overall star rating, cuisine, cost, quality rating, and value rating.
OVERALL STAR RATING The star rating is an overall rating that encompasses the entire dining experience, including style, service, and ambience, in addition to the taste, presentation, and quality of the food. Five stars is the highest rating possible and connotes the best of everything. Four-star restaurants are exceptional, and three-star restaurants are well above average. Two-star restaurants are good. One star is used to indicate an average restaurant that demonstrates an unusual capability in some area of specialization—for example, an otherwise unmemorable place that has great barbecued chicken.
CUISINE This is actually less straightforward than it sounds. A couple of years ago, for example, “Pan-Asian” restaurants were generally serving what was then described as “fusion” food—Asian ingredients with European techniques, or vice versa. Since then, there has been a Pan-Asian explosion in the area, but nearly all specialize in what would be street food back home: noodles, skewers, dumplings, and soups. Modern American sounds pretty broad, and it is: part “new Continental,” part “regional,” and part “new eclectic.” Like art (or pornography), you just know it when you see it. Where there are major subdivisions of cuisine, we have tried to put it in the most obvious place; Marcel’s is French-Belgian, while its sibling Brasserie Beck is definitely Belgian. And Nuevo Latino is distinctly different from traditional Spanish or South American. (Although it seems pretty clear that China Chilcano is going to be the only true Chinese-Peruvian menu you’ll ever see.) Again, though, experimentation and fusion is ever more common, so don’t hold us, or the chefs, to too strict a style.
COST To the right of the cuisine type in the ratings bar is an expense description that provides a comparative sense of how much a complete meal will cost. A complete meal for our purposes is an appetizer and entrée with side dish; desserts, drinks, and tip are excluded.
Inexpensive $25 or less per person
Moderate $26–$40 per person
Expensive $41–$60 per person
Very Expensive More than $60 per person
QUALITY RATING The food quality is rated on a five-star scale, with five being the best rating attainable. The quality rating is based solely on the food served, taking into account taste, freshness of ingredients, preparation, presentation, and creativity. There is no consideration of price. If you want the best food available, and cost is not an issue, look no further than the quality ratings.
VALUE RATING If, on the other hand, you are looking for both quality and value, then you should check the value rating, also expressed in stars. The value ratings are defined as follows:
WHO’S INCLUDED Because restaurants are opening and closing all the time in Washington, we have tried to confine our list to establishments with a proven track record over a fairly long period of time. Franchises and national chains are rarely included, although we have included a list of the most dependable locally based chains, especially those that are located in accessible neighborhoods where businesspeople and visitors may find themselves. Also, the list is skewed toward the family tourist and the business traveler, so non-inclusion of a particular place does not necessarily indicate that the restaurant is not good, but only that it’s relative ranking in its genre may not have been balanced by its accessibility. Detailed profiles of individual restaurants follow in alphabetical order at the end of this chapter.
IF YOU LIKE THIS At the end of the profile, we may offer alternative suggestions—restaurants featuring similar fare nearby in case the one profiled is already full, restaurants in another part of town from the same chef or company, and more.
901 New York Ave. NW; 
202-408-8848; acadianarestaurant.com Downtown
Reservations Recommended. Service rating 
. Friendliness rating 
. Metro Metro Center or Mount Vernon Square. Wine selection Very good. Disabled access Good. Open Brunch: Sunday, 11 a.m.–3 p.m.; Lunch: Monday–Friday, 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m.; Dinner: Monday–Thursday, 5:30–10:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5:3011 p.m.; Sunday, 5–9 p.m.
THE PREMISE On the ground floor of this very sleek office building is an elegant surprise—a beautiful, Creole-nostalgic dining room with lush banquettes, chandeliers, and platters bought in New Orleans. (The rest-rooms are almost baroque.)
THE PAYOFF Like the architecture, the kitchen updates Louisiana classics such as beer-battered soft shell crab étouffée; New Orleans–style barbecued shrimp spiked with Worcestershire sauce; grillades and grits; and pan-fried duck with dirty rice, collard greens, and red pepper jelly glaze. The bar is particularly popular for quick dining—think gumbo; trio of deviled eggs (topped with ham, crab, and such); corn, crab, and turtle soup (or a tasting of all three); fried pork boudin balls. Make sure to get the hot biscuits with pepper jelly—they will come free, but you might want a second basket—and a real New Orleans–style Sazerac cocktail. Sunday brunch means almost-free booze and jazz. In good weather, there is seating (and sometimes crawfish boils) on the patio.
IF YOU LIKE THIS Longtime Acadiana associate and New Orleans native David Guas now has a fine bakery/bistro near the Courthouse Metro called Bayou Bakery, Coffee Bar and Eatery (bayoubakeryva.com), and—as a lagniappe—he puts many of his recipes on the website.
523 8th St. SE; 202-813-3039; ambarrestaurant.com Capitol Hill
Reservations Recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating 
. Metro Eastern Market. Wine selection Good. Disabled access Good. Open Brunch: Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Dinner: Sunday–Thursday, 4–11 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 4 p.m.–midnight.
THE PREMISE This Serbian tapas joint serves dishes ranging from stuffed cabbage to long-braised veal shank. (The restaurant describes itself as the meeting of southeastern Europe and Southeast D.C.) Owner Ivan Iricanin, who is a partner in the Latin-Asian fusion Masa 14 and Mexican small plate El Centro, and chef Bojan Bocvarov here showcase the food of the Balkans, but in a trendy-size format that means you can dabble in more tastes. The room is long and sleek, with wood accents that echo the name (ambar are barnlike corn cribs of Serbia).
THE PAYOFF The wide-ranging menu echoes the many countries that meet in middle Europe, including Greece, Turkey, Hungary, Austria, and a touch of France: asparagus topped with a quail egg, kebabs, flat-breads, grilled calamari, hummus, mussels, grilled duck breast, veal stew, veal and vegetable soup, burgers, Parmesan-crusted sirloin, even Brussels sprouts with bacon. (Dishes may be “small,” but they are meticulously presented.) There are a couple of all-you-can-eat dinner options, which can be pricey ($59 or $69), unless you’re really hungry. The unlimited $35 brunch includes not only mimosas and Bloody Marys but also huge lists of mezze, eggs, crêpes, even suckling pig. The other allure is the number of Balkan wines and fruit brandies (rakia) available in flights for newcomers.
IF YOU LIKE THIS There isn’t much Balkan fare in Washington, but Bistro Bohem (bistrobohem.com) at the eastern edge of the U Street corridor near the Shaw Metro is a nice alternative. And there are some familial resemblances in the Russian-Uzbeki menu at Rus-Uz (rus-uzcuisine.com) in Ballston.
600 New Hampshire Ave. NW (in the Watergate Hotel); 202-333-1600; ancoradc.com Foggy Bottom
Reservations Recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Foggy Botton–GWU. Wine selection Very good. Disabled access Good. Open Monday, 11:30 a.m.–9 p.m.; Tuesday–Thursday, 11:30 a.m.–10 p.m.; Friday, 11:30 a.m.–10:30 p.m.; Saturday, 5–10:30 p.m.; bar opens at 4 p.m.
THE PREMISE Although highly regarded chef-owner Bob Kinkead’s earlier restaurants (21 Federal, Colvin Run Tavern, and the long-running Kinkead’s) were modern American, he started out in Cape Cod and always had a soft spot for seafood, a leaning well represented here (the name means “encore”). The space is lovely, with large curved windows facing the patio, which has views of Georgetown across the Potomac River.
THE PAYOFF Crudo and roasted sardines; salumi; Sicilian-style brioche-crusted fluke with capers, pine nuts, and raisins; Arctic char with crab-stuffed pasta; sautéed calf’s liver; medallions of veal with sweetbreads and artichokes; venison with chestnuts. Ancora has a more informal annex next door, Campono, offering pizzas, salads, and sandwiches (open all day).
IF YOU LIKE THIS This is the nicest option for Kennedy Center theatre-going outside the complex itself (it’s just steps away), but if it’s upscale Italian seafood you’re after, Fabio Trabbocchi’s Fiola Mare (fiolamaredc.com) is a 5-minute walk at the Washington Harbour.
3311 Connecticut Ave. NW; 202-244-6750; ardeobardeo.com Northwest
Reservations Recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Cleveland Park. Wine selection Very good. Disabled access Good. Open Brunch: Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Dinner: Sunday and Monday, 5–10 p.m.; Tuesday–Thursday, 5–10:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5–11:30 p.m.
THE PREMISE This sleek-chic Siamese-twin restaurant began as two separate but equal parts—a wine bar on one side (guess which) and the kitchen on the other—but over time (and about a million bucks), they learned to play well with one another. The only drawback to the lost walls is the louder volume.
THE PAYOFF Owner Ashok Bajaj (mentioned earlier in the chapter on page 203) has a fine eye for a chef and has moved any number through his several restaurants. At press time, Charlestonian Matt Kuhn was in charge, which explains the deviled eggs, the astonishing country ham “chips,” shrimp and grits, and the kale stew; but you’d have to know how strong the Italian culinary history of New Orleans is to recognize the duck confit with chestnut-sage pesto, grilled octopus with chorizo and faro, black spaghetti with pork ragu, and the pappardelle with braised veal breast. Though still described as a wine bar, Bardeo is also high on the craft-cocktail list. Ardeo is one of only a couple of remaining rooftop dining spots in the neighborhood. Brunch is trendy but reliably offers something for everyone, from huevos rancheros to eggs Benedict to grits and grillades.
IF YOU LIKE THIS Ripple, a few doors down, is a major up-and-comer (profiled). Among other restaurants in Bajaj’s Knightsbridge Restaurant group—those with a similar style—are the Oval Room in Farragut Square (profiled) and 701 (701restaurant.com), just at the Archives–Navy Memorial–Penn Quarter Metro.
1201 Royal St., Old Town Alexandria; 703-519-3776; bastillerestaurant.com Virginia suburbs
Reservations Recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating 
. Metro Braddock Road. Wine selection Very good. Disabled access Very good. Open Brunch: Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Lunch: Monday–Friday, 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m.; Saturday, noon–2:30 p.m. Dinner: Monday–Thursday, 5:30–9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5:30–10 p.m.; Sunday, 4–8:30 p.m.
THE PREMISE Chef-owners Christian and Michelle Poteaux (Michelle is also the dessert chief) met when they were working at the Watergate Hotel a decade ago, and the quality of their food back then has left them with good friends, including sommelier Mark Slater, one of the area’s most respected wine directors, and Jamie Stakowski, a longtime local chef (and personal fave) who now specializes in first-rate charcuterie. Poteaux is a classicist (but not hidebound), locavore, and seasonally flexible; after all, French bistro food was farm-to-table before there was such a term.
THE PAYOFF Everything old is new again, and this is the kind of food that converted Julia Child; crispy pork belly or salmon with lentils, grilled hanger steak, and coq au vin. You can dine as a prince or a peasant: there are fixed-price deals, bistro plates, Sunday “family dinner,” and gourmand (not “gourmet”) menus to choose from—though if you want to go all Daniel Boulud, Bastille offers a burger loaded not only with foie gras but also with duck confit, caramelized onions, and aioli. The cassoulet here stars pork belly, duck confit, and lamb shank, while the duck gizzards on the frisee salad make bacon seem boring. Prices are 20% less at the bar. Although the Braddock Road Metro station is closer if you’re walking, there’s a free shuttle from the King Street Station that makes for a more historic walk.
IF YOU LIKE THIS The ruddy-toned Brabo by Robert Wiedmaier (Marcel’s, Brasserie Beck), at 1600 King Street, is more Belgian-inflected and a bit more pub than bistro, but has some similarly old-school entrées.
315 Pennsylvania Ave. NW; 202-450-4800; bearnaiserestaurant.com Capitol Hill
Reservations Recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Capitol South. Wine selection Brief. Disabled access Good. Open Monday–Friday, 11 a.m.–11 p.m.; Saturday, 5:30–11 p.m.
THE PREMISE Chef-owner and former Top Chef and Iron Chef America contestant Spike Mendelsohn may have one of the most impressive resumes in town—he has worked for Gerard Boyer, Thomas Keller, Drew Neiporent, among others (and if you have to ask …)—but he was raised in Montreal, and this family-style and family-run steak-frites bistro is an homage to his hometown. (Executive chef Brad Race has the local version of the resume: Minibar and Michel by Michel Richard, as well as New York’s Le Cirque, where he met Mendelsohn over the saucepan, according to restaurant legend.) It has the bistro look—black-and-white tile, “weathered” silver mirrors, and latticework windows.
THE PAYOFF Order the flatiron, filet, or rib eye, and you’ll have all-you-can-eat fries as well as salad or soup. (There is actually a choice of sauces in addition to the eponymous béarnaise.) The other items are classics: escargots, onion soup, smoked trout, steak tartare, pâté, pork chop, mussels (and frites), duck confit (and frites), and, well, frites.
IF YOU LIKE THIS Medium Rare—one location a Metro stop away at Eastern Market, the other at the Cleveland Park Metro—offers (only) a fixed-price dinner of bread and pâté, salad, and steak frites for $19.75.
1100 New York Ave. NW; 202-216-9550; bibianadc.com Downtown
Reservations Recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Metro Center or McPherson Square. Wine selection Very good. Disabled access Very good. Open Lunch: Monday–Friday, 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Dinner: Monday–Wednesday, 5:30–10:30 p.m.; Thursday–Saturday, 5:30–11 p.m.
THE PREMISE Depending on your taste, the high-gloss decor—lots of glitter, peek-a-boo views of the kitchen through the bar back, chandeliers, and modern angular chairs that look better than they sometimes feel—of Bibiana is either a boardroom knockout or a design mag knockoff. There is some outdoor seating in warm weather.
THE PAYOFF You’ve seen bar snacks before, but perhaps not like these: rice balls stuffed with pork ragu, crispy duck wings, Roman-style fried baby artichokes, or sherry vinegar–glazed lamb ribs. Chef Nicholas Stefanelli gives “smoking” a whole new meaning, and we mean smokin’!, especially the hay-smoked sweetbreads and the blackened wheat cavatelli. Other hits include veal-and-potato-stuffed calamari, squid ink spaghetti with lump crab and chili peppers, and grilled sardines. This is also a hot spot for lovers of charcuterie (here, of course, called salumi), much of which is housemade. Conventioneers note the unusually intriguing $27 three-course lunch deal.
IF YOU LIKE THIS A half block up the street is Casa Luca (profiled), a more rustic and informal Italian star. Only one Metro stop away at Gallery Place is Graffiato (profiled), also close and quick enough for conventioneers, especially at lunch, but louder.
1337 14th St. NW; 202-567-2576; birchandbarley.com Logan Circle
Reservations Recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Dupont Circle, Mount Vernon Square, or Shaw–Howard University. Wine selection Good. Disabled access Good. Open Brunch: Sunday, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Dinner: Tuesday–Thursday, 5:30–10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5:30–11 p.m.; Sunday, 5–8 p.m.
THE PREMISE This brick-and-board neighborhood hangout is one of the city’s best gastropubs, with a beer list that tops 550 (and correctly designed glassware to match). The decor points to the mission; in fact, the display of copper draught lines behind the bar is nicknamed the pipe organ, for good reason—it makes strong men sing, if not weep. Birch & Barley is one of those two-for-one establishments: B&B is the more formal dining room, and if you can get the bar, has better service and a more restrained noise level. ChurchKey (get it? a pairing of bottle openers and beer ingredients?) upstairs is a more informal bar, with a younger, clubbier, and louder crowd. The menu is shorter, but the beer list is the same. Even better, if you have time in advance, reserve seats at the kitchen counter.
THE PAYOFF Beer is the breadwinner here, and so are some of the breads, including fresh pretzels and flatbreads, and pasta. But the predictable beer-bar fare—housemade charcuterie, fried chicken and waffles, a “brat” burger with beer-braised kraut—shouldn’t obscure the more surprisingly brew-friendly entrées: pan-seared mackerel with sunchokes and fennel; braised beef cheeks with pork fat hush puppies; duck-stuffed agnolotti and cockscomb mushrooms in duck consommé; roast leg of lamb with hen of the woods, chestnuts, and parsnip gnocchi; housemade pasta with seafood. (Think you’ve had every sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich out there? Not yet.)
IF YOU LIKE THIS If you’re more into wine, check out Cork (profiled).
15 E St. NW (in the Hotel George); 202-661-2700; bistrobis.com Downtown
Reservations Recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Union Station. Wine selection Very good. Disabled access Good. Open Brunch: Saturday and Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Breakfast: Daily, 7–10 a.m. Lunch: Monday–Friday, 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Dinner: Daily, 5:30–10:30 p.m.
THE PREMISE The name sounds like affection shorthand for bistro, but it also means “encore”; this was the second fine production from Sallie and Jeff Buben of Vidalia (profiled), but it resembles that neo-Southern favorite only in its refusal to see traditional fare as limiting. Formerly a dark old pub, it’s now sleek, chic, and a touch oblique, its long space divided into a series of semidetached blond wood and etched-glass dining “suites” off a hallway that somehow makes you feel that your companions may be billing you by the hour: zinc-topped bar, tiled floors, lobbylike chairs, and an almost voyeuristic display of exposed-steel kitchen countertop.
THE PAYOFF Poultry is offered in a variety of ways, in generous doses. (Before they opened Bis, the Bubens claimed to have eaten their way across France one roast chicken at a time.) In general, this is semiclassical but not rigid French fare: duck liver “parfait” with fig jam; a sort of deconstructed boeuf bourguignon, with the meat braised in individual portions; and a similar mini-cassoulet of lamb shank with flageolets; halibut with lobster; the more traditional bistro-esque steak or mussels with frites; and old-fashioned onion soup. The quantity of food is not so unusual in this business-expense era, but the delicacy of seasoning and the staff’s light hand with rich sauces make it hard to leave much on the plate.
IF YOU LIKE THIS On the Blue/Orange Metro side of Capitol Hill, at the Eastern Market station, is Montmartre (profiled).
3128 M St. NW; 202-338-3830; bistrofrancaisdc.com Georgetown
Reservations Suggested. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Foggy Bottom–GWU. Wine selection House. Disabled access Good. Open Sunday–Thursday, 11 a.m.–3 a.m.; Friday and Saturday. 11 a.m.–4 a.m.
THE PREMISE This old reliable hasn’t changed much since the word bistro was new to Washington—hanging pots, rotisserie spits, frankly well-used flatware, and clanking trays. For all its many pleasures—its famous late-night service (at least 3 a.m. and often later) and the especially telling fact that many local chefs eat here after hours (the smoked salmon is named for fan Michel Richard)—this old favorite gets the Rodney Dangerfield treatment from the fashionable crowds, and is feeling a little bedraggled in response. But don’t let that scare you off; after all, there are plenty of restaurants that pay to look worn.
THE PAYOFF The steak and frites here is probably the standard against which most others should be measured. Many bistro classics here—especially Dover sole, coq au vin, and its signature spit-roasted chicken—will remind you why they are perennials. (Think making steak tartare out of tenderloin is silly? Try the flank steak version here instead.) But daily specials are often even better: duck confit, roast game birds, or lamb with artichokes. And there are fixed-price lunch ($22.95) and pretheater/post-theater fixed-dinner menus.
IF YOU LIKE THIS La Chaumiere, just down the way at 2813 M Street NW, isn’t open as late, but it’s also a favorite among old-line Washingtonians, especially—thanks to its amazing fireplace—for romantic meals.
4933 Fairmont Ave., Bethesda; 301-656-7373; bistroprovence.org Maryland suburbs
Reservations Strongly recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Bethesda. Wine selection Very good. Disabled access Good. Open Brunch: Saturday, noon–2 p.m.; Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Lunch: Wednesday–Friday, noon–2 p.m. Dinner: Sunday–Friday, 5:30–8:30 p.m.; Saturday, 5:30–10 p.m.
THE PREMISE This is easily the most striking restaurant in Bethesda, one that looks as if it were transported whole from some old Manhattan brownstone firehouse, but is in fact a new building. (The penguins carved into the overhead arch commemorate the icehouse that once stood on the site.) The decor is true bistro—chandeliers and honey gold walls or exposed brick—with a stunning stacked-stone courtyard in the back (and a real duck press, though mostly for show). This is not a big space (and it can be loud), so call ahead.
THE PAYOFF Yannick Cam’s first Washington restaurant, Le Pavillon, was a sensation 30 years ago, and really a revelation of nouvelle cuisine in what was then a pretty heavy Continental cream-sauce town. He’s a perfectionist, and even though he calls this a bistro, the fare is inherently upscale. (He has said he plans to put a more expensive tasting room upstairs.) Cam has since been in and out of a series of Provençal, Brazilian, Catalonian-Spanish, and French–country inn establishments—he is notoriously restless and might well head off again before he celebrates many anniversaries. Still, when he’s good, he’s very, very good. A sampling of his (all-organic) style: roast lobster over tiny lentils or scallops over asparagus risotto; duck confit over sautéed potatoes; a boudin blanc of poultry and foie gras over a sweet potato cake; a delicate ceviche of scallops in grapefruit; saffron risotto with shrimp; veal chop or hanger steak; grilled shrimp with pear-flavored sauce; walnut-stuffed clams.
7750 Woodmont Ave., Bethesda; 301-652-5525; blacksbarandkitchen.com Maryland suburbs
Reservations Strongly recommended. Service rating 
. Friendliness rating . Metro Bethesda. Wine selection Good. Disabled access Good. Open Brunch: Sunday, 11 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Lunch: Monday–Friday, 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m.; Saturday, noon–3 p.m. Dinner: Monday–Thursday, 5:30–10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5:3011 p.m.; Sunday, 5:30–9:30 p.m.
THE PREMISE Following an extensive and expensive ($2 million) renovation, this formerly funky fish house is now a stunning upscale grill with a sleek patio and mini-pond, black glass facade with red logo, burgundy glass dividers in the bar, and a Tuscan-mural dining room with a wine cellar as its centerpiece. The oyster bar and communal table are busy happy-hour properties; in fact, owners Jeff and Barbara Black are such oyster fans that they’ve teamed up with a Virginia oyster farm to harvest their own “name brands,” Old Black Salts (the brinier variety) and Black Pearls.
THE PAYOFF The Blacks have abandoned some culinary fashion frills in favor of a bold, not-quite-retro take on comfort food in share-friendly portions. Who could resist corn cakes with green tomato jam? Light fare (grilled squid, chicken liver mousse, mussels, shrimp roll, and barbecue) is available at the bar all afternoon; oysters and shrimp are among happy-hour bargain fare. And that’s worth considering because it often seems as if here—as elsewhere—the appetizers steal more of the kitchen’s attention than the entrées. These include grilled whole fish; twice-cooked chicken (poached, then deep-fried); seafood stew; Addie’s steamed mussels; wild king salmon tartare or more traditional beef tartare; any of a half-dozen wood-grilled options, including rock-fish, rib eye, lamb loin, and a double pork chop the size of a small cleaver. Sunday features half-price wines. Black’s uses as much local and organic ingredients and renewable energy and recycled products as possible. If you go when soft-shell crabs are in season, be sure to ask for the market price; it can be a shock.
IF YOU LIKE THIS While the Blacks have a handful of restaurants in the area with similar menus, real oyster lovers downtown should look into Pearl Dive Oyster Bar in Logan Circle, with its New Orleans look (“broken plaster” over exposed brick) and inspiration (oysters Tchoupitoulas and Rockefeller). With a car (or friends), head to BlackSalt, half restaurant, half seafood market, on MacArthur Boulevard in the Palisades. See also the profile of Hank’s Oyster Bar(s).
1625 | St. NW; 202-689-8999; bltsteak.com Downtown
Reservations Recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Farragut North. Wine selection Good. Disabled access Good. Open Lunch Monday–Friday, 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Dinner: Monday–Thursday, 5:30–10:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5:30–11 p.m.
THE PREMISE For a French steak house in an office building, it’s pretty nice, reminiscent of a high-end executive dining room on Wall Street (which figures, as namesake chef Laurent Tourondel’s now 14-restaurant empire is headquartered in Manhattan): lots of leather, dim lighting, and the sort of free opening gambit—chicken liver in a Mason jar served with Gruyère popovers—that’s supposed to reconcile you to a titanium-card bill.
THE PAYOFF The easiest way to describe this steak house really is to explain its riches (in both senses): a choice of real Japanese Kobe beef, priced at $25 an ounce (with a minimum 4-ounce portion) or American Wagyu, which will run you only about $4 an ounce. Those, of course, are the fattiest of bovine breeds, making this the ultimate steak house for the cholesterol crowd, especially when you add the leaning tower of onion rings. (But don’t think too badly of BLT until you check out the profile of Bourbon Steak.) Its other classics include an East-West Coast selection of oysters at nearly $3 apiece, lobsters, braised short ribs, double-cut racks of lamb, hanger steak, a stunning veal chop, ginger-crusted tuna steak, crab cakes with Meyer lemon and radish salad, and more—all à la carte. Our suggestion? Go for lunch and have your Kobe on a bun.
IF YOU LIKE THIS If you prefer your chophouses of the more classic (and moderately more affordable) style, the lovely Art Deco Prime Rib is only a short walk away at 2020 K Street NW; you’ll also get live jazz music at lunch and dinner, often from Dan “you-can’t-stump-him” Ruskin, on a gleaming white piano; and if you aren’t wearing a suit jacket, they’ll lend you one.
1201 24th St. NW (in the Park Hyatt Hotel); 202-419-6755; blueducktavern.com Downtown
Reservations Recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Foggy Bottom. Wine selection Very good. Disabled access Good. Open Brunch: Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Breakfast: Daily, 6:30–10:30 a.m. Lunch: Monday–Friday, 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Dinner: Sunday–Thursday, 5:30–10:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5:30–11:30 p.m.
THE PREMISE Architecturally a long, cool box with slate walls and patio views, the once angular-cool restaurant has gone a little more classic tavern with burlap upholstery (though not your grandmother’s kind) and Windsor chairs (that might be her kind). This is one of the area’s longest, strongest locavore kitchens. The lounge (where you can eat if you prefer or feel underdressed) is catty-corner to the kitchen but has half the window views, which go around two sides; in good weather, there is seating on the patio.
THE PAYOFF This is classic American cooking with unabashed pride and a little admirable weirdness; though not in any way “deconstructed,” the idea of serving foie gras on a kind of carrot cake is exhilarating. The menu, which is divided into categories such as “meat,” “grains and potatoes,” and “vegetables” (the last two of which are far more interesting options for vegetarians than at many eateries), also lists the ingredients’ “purveyors and artisans”—which, for those unfamiliar with the region, range from oyster farms to grass-fed beef to organic chicken. (And though not so specifically local, the wine list has some impressive regional options.) Roasting or wood grilling occupies a fair amount of the kitchen’s attention: roasted salt-crusted veal chop for two, wood-fired chicken or hanger steak, but also scallops (flavored unexpectedly with hazelnuts), whole fish, and one of the best dishes—roasted bone marrow. Look for soft-shell crabs in season, a purist’s crab cake, rich short-rib hash or braised short rib, suckling pig, sweetbreads, venison, or quail. Sound like a lot to juggle? Not with the 6-by-18-foot, $180,000 custom Molteni stove. Reserve the 18-seat chef’s table for a birthday celebration, and whatever the occasion, don’t miss the duck fat fries.
815 Connecticut Ave. NW; 202-659-3727; bombayclubdc.com Downtown
Reservations Recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Farragut North, McPherson Square, or Farragut West. Wine selection Very good. Disabled access Good. Open Brunch: Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Lunch: Monday–Friday, 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Dinner: Monday–Thursday, 5:30–10:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5:30–11 p.m.; Sunday, 5:30–9:30 p.m.
THE PREMISE Though perhaps not so high-profile as in previous years, this luxe Raj-retro restaurant was among the first to brave the lowbrow carryout bias and show Indian cuisine at its best. Visually stunning, with gleaming silver and white linen and lounge chairs that almost seem to be equipped with Pimm’s cups, it’s a beauty. In nice weather, there is outdoor seating.
THE PAYOFF The menu may be classic (the lamb vindaloo is a local favorite), but it’s not clichéd; consider duck kebabs or duck in an elegant cashew and apricot sauce, samosas stuffed with shiitakes and fresh corn or butternut squash, mustard-seared scallops with tomato chutney, lobster coconut curry, and striped bass in mustard and yogurt. Even lamb lovers should try the kumbi paneer, chili-spiked layers of pan-seared cheese and shiitake mushrooms with yogurt-cashew sauce. If you’re a sampler with a fairly good appetite, check out the three thalis—one veggie, one seafood, and one omnivore (lamb, chicken, seafood, and veggies). The $21 Sunday brunch ($28 with unlimited sparkling wine) is very popular. Bombay Club is also one of the few remaining spots with live piano music at dinner.
IF YOU LIKE THIS Some of Washington’s other best Indian kitchens are also near Metro stations, including Rasika, Indique/Indique Heights, and Spice Xing (all profiled below) and Spice Xing’s sibling Passage to India in Bethesda.
1837 M St. NW; 202-558-9545; boquerianyc.com Dupont Circle
Reservations Recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Farragut North or Dupont Circle. Wine selection Good. Disabled access Good. Open Monday–Thursday, 11:30 a.m.–10:30 p.m.; Friday, 11:30 a.m.–11:30 p.m.; Saturday, 10:30 a.m.–11:30 p.m.; Sunday, 10:30 a.m.–9:30 p.m.
THE PREMISE No one is going to challenge José Andrés (Jaleo, Zaytinya, Minibar, and more) when it comes to small plates, but this New York–based tapas bar, named for the historic market of Barcelona, is more than a watering hole with benefits; it uses regional produce and organic meat suppliers wherever possible, so daily specials can be fine. (Local charcuterie master Jamie Stakowski is one of its suppliers.)
THE PAYOFF Beyond the classic tapas (meatballs, bacon-wrapped dates, octopus salad, lamb skewers), Boqueria has a knack not only for grilled meats but also for seafood (seared octopus, paella for two or more, squid ink pasta or shrimp, mussels, and monkfish stew in hazelnut romesco). It also does some of the more interesting vegetarian dishes around, including a Mediterranean-inflected parsnip dish with marcona almonds, flatbread with wild mushrooms, and artisan cheeses. At brunch, $38 gets you unlimited tapas and sangria—three types, and all better than you would expect. Although the wine list is good, the sherry list is a little shorter than one might expect.
IF YOU LIKE THIS Teddy and the Bully Bar, just around the corner on 19th Street NW, also goes the locavore small-plates route, but with a more robust attitude toward game (well, what would you expect from a Bull Moose bar?) and more Rough Rider-ish cocktails. Check out the monocle chandelier.
2800 Pennsylvania Ave. NW (in the Four Seasons Hotel); 202-944-2026; bourbonsteakdc.com Georgetown
Reservations Recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Foggy Bottom. Wine selection Very good. Disabled access Very good. Lunch Monday–Friday, 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Dinner Sunday–Thursday, 6–10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5:30–10:30 p.m.
THE PREMISE BLT has Laurent Tourondel, J&G Steakhouse has Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and this celebrity and power-diner meets pol hangout has Vegas star Michael Mina as its creator. With its slightly sunken setback, dark and milk chocolate colors, and power-suit diners, this looks like a cross between Mad Men and The Apprentice. The big room is broken up by overtly intimate booths and windows with canal views. The music is more Coldplay than King Cole, the cocktails are retro-classic (one of the few Corpse Revivers in town), and the liquor list is as long as the wine list.
THE PAYOFF This is more than just a paean to the bull market, although the Kobe beef here clocks in at $30–$35 an ounce (but the minimum is only three ounces). Mina has 18 restaurants in his empire, and the classic dish with a twist, such as the lobster pot pie with brandy in exquisite pastry, is his shtick. (A personal fave is the bone marrow and unagi custard, even more decadent than the foie gras and about half the price.) His other signature, which he debuted in, where else, Las Vegas, is poaching meat in fat—beef in butter, lamb in olive oil, and pork in bacon fat—and finishing it on the grill. The first dishes to the table are a pair of hefty freebies: a cast-iron skillet of truffle oil–glazed rolls and cheddar-dusted duck-fat fries with three housemade condiments (pickle ketchup, for instance). Mina started in San Francisco, and his on-site chefs have a fine eclectic sense of seasonings, so seafood lovers can not only safely pile into a (low-cal if not low-cash) shellfish platter of lobster, shrimp, clams, and oysters, but also steamed clams over nori-flavored pasta, smoked trout with creamy cabbage, tuna with Vietnamese caramel, and vermilion snapper sashimi with Australian finger limes and avocado. All the sides are $10, so skip the baked potato and get the harissa-spanked eggplant, the Brussels sprouts in duck confit, the cassoulet with goat, or (for a few dollars more) a paella that could be a light meal. (In fact, if you get through the skillet of truffle oil–infused rolls that come as soon as you’re seated, you may not even need a side.) Or check into the lounge menu, where you can go high with a Wagyu flat-iron or low with a lobster corn dog, a lamb burger (with or without foie gras), and those alluring duck-fat fries. The burger here—dry-aged, oak-grilled, optionally cheddar topped, and with its own “special sauce”—is a local fave, as is foie gras–infused Armagnac.
1101 K St. NW; 202-408-1717; beckdc.com Downtown
Reservations Strongly recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Metro Center or McPherson Square. Wine selection Very good. Disabled access Good. Open Brunch: Saturday and Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–4 p.m. Lunch: Monday–Friday, 11:30 a.m.–4 p.m. Dinner: Sunday–Thursday, 5–10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5–11:30 p.m.
THE PREMISE This retro-Belgian bistro is a hive of dining areas set off by etched glass and high ceilings; walls are dotted with orange-faced clocks timed to Casablanca, Antwerp, and such. Tilted mirrors bring a slightly hectic sense of the sidewalk traffic inside, a glass-walled kitchen is even more hectic, and a long white marble bar bustles at all times. In good weather, there’s sidewalk seating.
THE PAYOFF Reclaiming Belgium’s reputation for heavyweight fare (which owner Robert Wiedmaier once called Flemish redneck) is job one, and with the assist of former Blue Duck Tavern chef Brian McBride, he’s made it look easy, if not exactly lightweight: beer-braised pork shanks, artisan charcuterie (especially lamb sausage) and cheese plates, carbon-nade (beer beef stew), tagliagelli with wild boar ragu, amazing veal cheek meatballs, and a surf ’n’ turf of pan-seared scallops and spring lamb. On the other hand, there are oysters, shellfish platters in two sizes, grilled octopus, steak tartare, sautéed skate with bacon and shrimp, and, of course, mussels. All these can be paired with either wine or beers; the Belgian beer list of more than 100 labels is the longest outside Belgium itself. All that said, Beck is not as fervently Belgian as it used to be: Both Wiedmaier and McBride are part of a famous poker and motorcycle circle of Washington chefs, and the influences are showing up in all directions. There are also seasonal specials: If goose is on the menu, go for it.
IF YOU LIKE THIS B Too near Logan Circle and Belga Café on Barracks Row, both from “Top Chef” contestant and Stella Artois spokesman Bart Vandaele, do Belgian the bistro way, with flair: waffles with lobster, wild mushrooms, or boudin noir; foie gras–stuffed quail; braised rabbit; frogs’ legs; venison filet; pan-seared duck breast; Flemish stew; and, of course, lots of mussels.
1401 Pennsylvania Ave. NW (in the Willard InterContinental Hotel); 202-942-7000; cafeduparc.com Downtown
Reservations Suggested. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Federal Triangle. Wine selection Good. Disabled access Good. Open Daily, 7 a.m.–10 p.m.
THE PREMISE This is one of the celeb-chef restaurants that doesn’t advertise its provenance, but the proof is in the pork belly, so to speak. Although three-Michelin-star chef Antoine Westermann isn’t often on-site (his other restaurants are in Paris and Strasbourg), his classicism is the key to this bistro’s consistency. It’s delicate and robust at the same time—pâté in flaky pastry; a steak frites that’s a filet, not a minute steak; and a wild mushroom tarte fragrant with truffle oil—and it’s one of the few breakfast places worth traveling for, or even making your hotel choice. Inside, there is seating in the bar, which is actually a little nicer than the dining room, which is pretty ordinary.
THE PAYOFF The kitchen reveres real bistro classics, such as a ploughman’s platter of pork rillettes, pâté salami, and ham (with or without foie gras torchon); steak tartare with a raw quail egg (no one uses mere chicken eggs anymore); a great pot of mussels, even in a mussels town (split it as a first course); and roast chicken. But it keeps it modern, adding kale and, even more intriguingly, figs, to that crispy pork belly; and a tomato-basil broth to the roast salmon. When weather permits, this is one of the few really pleasant and tasty spots to play at café society, and its light-fare menu (3–5 p.m.) is very welcome after a long day on the Mall.
3251 Prospect St. NW; 202-333-6183; cafemilano.com Georgetown
Reservations Strongly suggested. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Foggy Bottom–GWU. Wine selection Good. Disabled access Through rear entrance. Open Lunch: Daily, 11:30 a.m.–4 p.m. Dinner: Sunday–Tuesday, 4–11 p.m.; Wednesday–Saturday, 4 p.m.–midnight.
THE PREMISE This celeb (and gossip item) HQ is a cross between an haute couturier’s salon and a Milan disco, with a subway map painted on the ceiling and a portrait of Placido Domingo as El Cid (all of which makes for interesting philosophical speculation on the direction Italian interests have taken since the days of the Sistine Chapel). At Bice, where owner Franco Nuschese was manager, the shadow boxes held wallpaper samples; here they frame the even hip-jokier designer ties—presumably from his closet, as he never seems to be wearing one—and limited-edition scarves. And the pastas are named after designers. There’s a terrace for warm-weather dining and a prettier-than-usual long bar.
THE PAYOFF Try the Ravioli Cavalli (veal-and-spinach-stuffed ravioli in a butter-sage sauce with shaved porcini mushrooms); zucchini-and-basil-filled half-moon pasta with ricotta cheese; assorted grilled seafood (daily specials are a good bet); and for the big boys, steaks and chops with real Italian flavor, no Chicago nakedness. There are even light little pizzas, and lighter courses are available late. Admittedly, Café Milano is as much about the crowd as the cooking—a few years back, it was voted Power Spot of the Year by the area restaurant association—but the food has to be at least good enough to bring ’em back. And, surprisingly, it is.
1099 New York Ave. NW; 202-628-1099; casalucadc.com Downtown
Reservations Recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Metro Center or Mount Vernon Square. Wine selection Very good. Disabled access Good. Open Monday–Thursday, 11:30 a.m.–10:30 p.m.; Friday, 11:30 a.m.–11 p.m.; Saturday, 5–11 p.m. Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–9 p.m. (Sunday brunch: 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m.)
THE PREMISE This is the more “family-friendly” offshoot of the top-ranked Fiola (see profile), named for chef-owner Fabio Trabocchi’s son and showcasing the cuisine of central Italy, where Trabocchi’s farmer father was from; the dining room is decorated with blown-up family photographs, tiles, and blown glass lamps from Mallorca, his wife’s home. However, family friendly may not mean affordable; for tourists in particular, a family lunch may be (a little) more in line with the budget.
THE PAYOFF There are tasty flatbreads and bruschetta here, but Trabocchi is clearly thinking out of the bread box: minestrone with pheasant, pork rather than veal tonnato, oven-roasted bronzino with olives and sweet peppers, a copper skillet of meatballs, “Milanese-style” breaded monk-fish rather than veal or chicken, and a grilled rack of lamb shoulder with a wild fennel dipping sauce. Pastas are made in-house, and there are rice and corn alternatives for the gluten-averse; however, there is lard in some dishes where it is not obvious. There is an unusually long and alluring list of wines by the glass, and free snacks are offered at happy hour.
1819 Columbia Rd. NW; 202-797-1819; cashionseatplace.com Dupont Circle/Adams Morgan
Reservations Recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Woodley Park–Zoo/Adams Morgan or Columbia Heights. Wine selection Good. Disabled access Not wheelchair accessible. Open Brunch: Saturday and Sunday, 10:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Dinner: Sunday and Tuesday, 5:30–10 p.m.; Wednesday–Saturday, 5:30–11 p.m. (Friday and Saturday, after-dark menu, 11 p.m.–1 a.m.)
THE PREMISE This deliberately low-key, upscale café—jazz and R&B over the sound system and a reclining nude over the bar—was one of this multiethnic neighborhood’s first destination restaurants and locavore from day one. Its name refers back to original chef Ann Cashion, a Mississippi native who helped found Jaleo but went home-style when she opened this Southern cuisine-at-the-crossroads showplace that drew plenty of celebrity attention (think the Clintons). Longtime kitchen chef and now owner John Manolantos has given the menu a more eclectic flair without alienating its clientele from far and wide (and young and old); he maintains the mission of using as much regional produce as possible. Ask a server about the provenance of the Maryland porgy (with shrimp, kalamata olives, raisins, and capers) or the bracing hanger steak with Japanese peppers and “mojo verde,” and you’ll get a review from one who knows. (Cashion herself is now at Johnny’s Half Shell, profiled.)
THE PAYOFF Sometimes it’s the flourish, and sometimes it’s the flair: mustard seed yogurt on the salmon filet with faro, lobster bisque with lump crab, smoked bluefish rillettes with orange, rabbit liver mousse, and an izakawa-inspired seared salmon belly with crispy salmon ribs and a flash of chili. One of the most unexpected and rewarding yinyang dishes in town is duck confit and rabbit sausage over butternut squash risotto. There’s sidewalk seating in good weather.
IF YOU LIKE THIS Just a few doors away is Mintwood Place (profiled), and the whiskey-centric Jack Rose Saloon around the corner on 18th Street NW is increasingly confident.
1001 Pennsylvania Ave. NW; 202-626-0015; centralmichelrichard.com Downtown
Reservations Strongly recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Federal Triangle, Metro Center, or Archives–Navy Memorial–Penn Quarter. Wine selection Very good. Disabled access Good. Open Lunch: Monday–Friday, 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Dinner: Monday–Thursday, 5–10:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5–11 p.m.
THE PREMISE This is currently the only remaining Washington restaurant from super chef Michel Richard, whose hugely grinning photo hangs as paterfamilias on the wall, even though he has decamped, or re-camped, to Manhattan’s New York Palace. (A little strangely, the website wallpaper is the Statue of Liberty, not the Washington Monument.) Visually, Central is something like a Swedish contemporary retro-diner: blond wood with wine-colored accents and industrial chic metals, a long Les Halles-retro white marble bar, see-through wine cellars and meat locker, and frites baskets that resemble Container Store wire mesh pencil pits. Though it describes itself as traditional American with a French accent, some of its most alluring offerings—the $30 lobster burger (really more like a lobster-scallop mousse on brioche), housemade venison sausage with collard greens, short ribs braised for two days in both wine and beer—owe nothing to anyone but Richard himself.
THE PAYOFF Described as a bistro, but priced like a four-star, Central nevertheless remains one of Washington’s best restaurants, annoying as it can occasionally be (loud, and with a pushy I’m-a-regular lunchtime swagger crowd, even when the waiter ignores them). If you don’t like the idea of a lobster burger, you could do tuna, lamb, or the usual beef. You could even pair Richard’s famous “faux gras” starter (chicken liver mousse with extra butter) with the real thing (foie gras risotto). Just don’t expect this super-diner food not to come with a super-diner tab; the menu is à la carte, and the (seriously) KFC-inspired bucket of lunch-to-go fried chicken (six pieces, six nuggets, and mashed potatoes) is $30. (It does make a pretty astounding picnic.) Be sure to check the daily specials: Monday is not usually the day to have seafood, but classic lobster americaine (in a wine, cognac, and tomato sauce) is hard to come by these days; and the seafood choucroute on Tuesdays is even rarer. And Fridays’ cotes de boeuf (bone-in rib eye) for two costs just about what it’s offered for one in New York.
1330 Maryland Ave. NW (in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel); 202-787-6006; cityzenrestaurant.com The National Mall
Reservations Strongly recommended. Service rating 
. Friendliness rating . Metro Smithsonian. Wine selection Extremely good. Disabled access Very good. Open Dinner: Tuesday–Thursday, 6–9:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5:30–9:30 p.m.
THE PREMISE The hotel bows to feng shui principles but with state-of-the-power-broker amenities, so the name—half urban, half Zen, and a salute to Americans in general—fits well. It’s a sleek and showy L-shaped space, with 20-foot-high ceilings; a wall of fire behind the bar; a long, exposed kitchen; and a cool stone- and putty-colored interior with tangerine lanterns and chocolate leather banquettes. On the other hand, there’s nothing meditative about the rock-ish soundtrack or the noise levels. (Perhaps that’s one reason so many lobbyists and pols hang out there; you can’t overhear their conversations.) Chef Eric Ziebold is a veteran of Thomas Keller’s French Laundry, and it shows: Culinarily speaking, this is one of the city’s star attractions, with a four-course tasting menu ($90 before wine pairings), a six-course tasting menu ($110), and an equally indulgent six-course vegetarian menu that may be the best in town.
THE PAYOFF The menus change monthly—though the kitchen wouldn’t dare dispense with its signature opening, miniature Parker House rolls served in a box like fine tea—but the push-the-envelope flair is a constant. Occasionally the flash turns cute (a “shabu-shabu” of foie gras in lukewarm stock) or the service is illogically elaborate (the waiter offers a choice of black salt or sea salt while already sprinkling the dish), but when the food is good, it’s very, very good. Ziebold is both inspired and fearless: stroganoff with salt-roasted beef, flash-broiled fatty tuna sashimi with Meyer lemon chimichurri, and quail satay with an Asian-inflected glaze. The vegetarian courses might include cauliflower “scallopini;” celeriac tagliatelli with hazelnuts, beets, and persimmon; or a sublime herb-roasted matsutake mushrooms with caramelized fennel. Yes, it’s expensive—the six-course menu is $110 even before wine pairings—but the tasting menus come with extras: amuse-bouches, miniature truffles, and more. From the à la carte menu, look for organ meats such as lamb’s brains, sweetbreads, and liver; roast game birds or venison; and delicate fish “collars.” A three-course menu is available in the bar or lounge for $50—and even that is so upscale it comes with wine pairings for another $25—although sometimes the staff seems reluctant to admit it.
1122 9th St. NW; 202-589-0699; corduroydc.com Downtown
Reservations Recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Mount Vernon Square. Wine selection Very good. Disabled access Not wheelchair accessible. Open Dinner: Monday–Saturday, 5:30–10:30 p.m.
THE PREMISE This renovated town house—not immediately visible because of its small, you-have-to-know signing—has been lightened and brightened with exposed brick, slate floors, blond wood, deep leather chairs, splashy abstract art, Noguchi meets Tribeca lighting, and a small bar upstairs. One of the last to demand a little respect from diners, Corduroy keeps a supply not only of long pants for short-sporting tourists but wrap skirts for women.
THE PAYOFF Tom Power, one of Washington’s most under-celebrated chefs, has been through the kitchens of Citronelle (where he learned to value pastry) and the Old Angler’s Inn. He uses local and seasonal ingredients to good effect—thankfully, a growing movement in Washington—and even his more elaborate dishes have a becoming modesty of presentation. The menu is not extensive because it is so market-driven, but game and seafood are always good bets here. Recent examples include guinea hen two ways (roasted and confit) with woodsy maitake mushrooms, seared scallops over grits (almost certainly the prettiest such version in town), and a crab “blintz” with chayote slaw. Try the $70 “chef’s surprise” five-course tasting menu; if the lobster carpaccio dotted with red roe and chervil ever shows up again, jump on it.
IF YOU LIKE THIS Power has opened a less formal but equally polished spot next door called Baby Wale (not a typo, but a type of corduroy), with a huge bar and a light made from a (formerly) live tree. His version of bar food may look familiar on the menu (pizza, ham-and-cheese sandwiches, lobster rolls), but the execution puts them in the haute spot. He should have called it Power Play.
1720 14th St. NW; 202-265-2675; corkdc.com Mid City
Reservations Recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro U Street–African American Civil War Memorial–Cardozo. Wine selection Very good. Disabled access Good. Open Brunch: Sunday, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Dinner: Tuesday and Wednesday, 5 p.m.–midnight; Thursday–Saturday, 5 p.m.–1 a.m.; Sunday, 5–10 p.m.
THE PREMISE One of Washington’s first wine bars (at least, this century cycle), Cork is also one of the chummiest—which, depending on your preference, can mean friendly or up close and too personal. The restaurant is long and lean, with room for only about 80, and as it’s still a neighborhood hangout, the front room is frequently SRO waiting for tables. Cork has had a series of chefs, but all with solid credentials; the menu is a mix of small plates and slightly larger plates to share.
THE PAYOFF Start with about 50 wines by the glass; rosemary chicken liver mousse bruschetta with salad, so popular it’s priced ($1) higher than the foie gras mousse; cheese and charcuterie; hanger steak; duck confit; a sort of upscale brioche croque madame with prosciutto, fontina, and a sunnyside-up egg; and a fine panzanella with burrata and roasted tomatoes. One of the most popular signature nibbles is a sort of avocado bruschetta with toasted pistachios.
IF YOU LIKE THIS It’s likely to be just as crowded, but if you’re feeling the small-plates draw, a block away at 1833 14th Street is Bar Pilar, where you can drink alongside duck confit, seafood with Jameson whisky cream, deviled eggs, or grilled prawns (and its own version of chicken liver mousse).
705 6th St. NW; 202-589-1600; daikaya.com Penn Quarter
Reservations Recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Gallery Place–Chinatown or Dupont Circle. Wine selection Very good. Disabled access Good. Open Ramen shop: Sunday and Monday, 11:30 a.m.–10 p.m.; Tuesday–Thursday, 11:30 a.m.–11 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11:30 a.m.–midnight. Izakawa: Brunch: Sunday, 11:30 a.m.–3 p.m. Lunch: Monday–Friday, 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m. Dinner: Monday, 5–10 p.m.; Tuesday–Thursday, 5–11 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5 p.m.–1 a.m.
THE PREMISE Three things to know: This ramen is nothing like the dry dollar-store stuff, and in fact is made for Daikaya in Sapporo (you may see the fresh noodles drying on a rack); an izakawa is traditionally a sort of Japanese pub that turns out small plates for drinkers (“sakaya” is a sake bar); and two of Washington’s true food stars are partners in this double-decker establishment—Daisuke Utagawa, whose Sushi-Ko was among Washington’s first great Japanese restaurants, and Katsuya Fukushima, who was for many years chef at José Andrés’s groundbreaking Minibar. The laser-cut steel exterior bears the Japanese kanji for “water,” and at night the back light turns it into a lit lantern, which is what says an izakawa is open. The textiles and vintage posters are imported, the “wallpaper” is sheets of manga, and the exposed wood traditional; the blue and yellow chevron-painted bar suggests the ramen carts that are a fast-meal fixture at Japanese train stations.
THE PAYOFF Downstairs is the ramen bar, where if you get a seat by the kitchen counter, you can see the noodles being boiled, the bean sprouts being charred, and the long-simmered broths (chicken, pork, beef, or a vegan version) being prepared. Dumplings are just about the only other option. (Slurping is encouraged.) Upstairs is the izakawa, which shows off not only the imagination but also the humor of both partners. Brunch features a Japanese-style fried chicken and waffles with wasabi-spiked sauce, eggs Benedict with tonkatsu sauce instead of hollandaise, a croissant with sea urchin and white miso, a gin rickey with green tea soda, and more. “Fun bites” include grilled eggplant, grilled or baked oysters, ginger-spiked turkey wings, grilled avocado, miso-braised mackerel to be eaten bones and all, monkfish liver (ankimo) with ratatouille (not so sushi-bar conventional), pork-stuffed rice balls (something like the Japanese version of arancini), and skewers of not only the usual suspects but beef tongue and pork with Brussels sprouts. (At lunch, you could stumble on Hawaiian poke-style tuna or a pork belly wrap.) Incidentally, as well as boasting a fine sake list, Daikaya has a very good French wine selection; Utagawa was in the forefront of the sushi–fine wine movement.
IF YOU LIKE THIS Izakawa dining is popping up all over. Kushi (profiled) is a few blocks north of Daikaya at 465 K Street NW (east of the convention center), and Izakawa Seki (profiled) is near the U Street–African American Civil War Memorial–Cardozo Metro at 11th and V Streets NW. For the ramen, head to Toki Underground in the Atlas District (profiled).
1401 K St. NW; 202-216-5988; dccoast.com Downtown
Reservations A virtual necessity. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro McPherson Square. Wine selection Very good. Disabled access Good. Open Lunch: Monday–Friday, 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Dinner: Sunday, 5:30–9:30 p.m.; Monday–Thursday, 5:30–10:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5:30–11 p.m.
THE PREMISE This smart but not showy restaurant on the 14th Street “fault line,” between old silk stocking lobbyists’ lunch spots and the new downtown, not surprisingly draws trend-savvy young types with expense accounts. More impressively, it’s a lighter alternative to downtown’s preponderance of rich sauces and big-beef chophouses. The wine list is interesting and moderately priced, and the wines by the glass are blessedly unpredictable and refreshing. The restaurant’s name is a sort of joke on chef Jeff Tunk’s previous stints at Washington’s “waterfront” River Club, and in New Orleans and San Diego. The decor is a low-key pun to match, with a bronze mermaid, a gently rolling ceiling (the curl allows mezzanine diners a view of the bar and kitchen staff), fan-pleated sconces that could have been Neptune’s cockle shells, and huge oval mirrors that make the reflected customers seem to swim in and out of your imagination.
THE PAYOFF Fresh half-shelled oysters topped with a sorbet of pickled ginger and sake; either American or Russian caviar; Chinese–style smoked lobster finished with a soy sauté and Hong Kong-style crispy whole fried fish; diver scallops with grits and caramelized Brussels sprouts; Jonah crab salad with hearts of palm and artichokes; mushroom-crusted halibut; pan-seared skate wing; monkfish “cassoulet.”
IF YOU LIKE THIS DC Coast is one of a group of a half dozen restaurants with different styles, including the retro-Havana Ceiba downtown, District Commons American tavern in Foggy Bottom (and its ostentatiously “basic” Burger Tap and Shake room), and the Cajun-Creole Acadiana (profiled). Business travelers should check out its sibling PassionFish, the most similar menu and arguably the best restaurant in Reston Town Center.
777 | St. NW; 202-589-7377; delcampodc.com Penn Quarter
Reservations Recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Gallery Place–Chinatown or Mount Vernon Square. Wine selection Very good. Disabled access Good. Open Lunch: Monday–Friday, 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Dinner: Sunday, 5–10 p.m.; Monday–Wednesday, 5:30–10:30 p.m.; Thursday and Friday, 5:30–11 p.m.; Saturday, 5–11 p.m.
THE PREMISE If it looks like a steak house, and it smells like a steak house … but wait, there’s more! This churrascaria-inspired grill, with its cool color palate, leather upholstery (and leather labels on its decanters), and scorched-look wood, is certainly carnivore-centric, but surprisingly, it does seafood (including seviche and crudo, the Latin version of sushi), poultry, and even unusually robust sides you could make into a vegetarian meal. Owner-chef Victor Albisu was inspired by South American wine estates (hence the chandeliers and antique mirrors), so the wine list is alluring, but so are the pisco sours and the house caipirinha flavored with burnt figs.
THE PAYOFF The 48-ounce rib eye on the bone for two tops the menu tab at close to $100 (They don’t call it a tomahawk for nothing), but the herb rubs and wood grilling make this a good place for heartier and relatively less pricey cuts, including the slow-roasted Wagyu brisket, skirt steak (for just a taste, you can get it in an empanada), bone- in short ribs, and an assortment of sausages. The real acorn-fed Iberico pork flank is $42, but the applewood-smoked bacon is only $10. Don’t miss the short rib stew (with bone marrow and blackened vegetables) or the offal most Americans have forgotten: beef tongue, sweetbreads, and classic antichuchos (hearts). At lunch, there’s not only a steak salad but also a sort of surf ’n’ turf with grilled prawns and crispy pork, plus hefty head-on prawns. A chivito sandwich might be thought of as Albisu’s take on a New Orleans muffaletta, with sliced rib eye, mortadella, ham, olives, provolone, and hearts of palm, one-upped with a fried egg. And yet, there’s more….
IF YOU LIKE THIS If it’s the all-you-can-eat aspects of South American steak houses that you like, Fogo de Chão Churrascaria is nearby at 11th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW near the Federal Triangle or Metro Center stations.
818 Connecticut Ave. NW; 202-331-8118; equinoxrestaurant.com Downtown
Reservations Required for lunch and dinner. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Farragut West or Farragut North. Wine selection Good. Disabled access Good. Open Lunch: Monday–Friday, 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m. Dinner: Sunday, 5:30–9 p.m.; Monday–Thursday, 5:30–10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5:30–10:30 p.m.
THE PREMISE The best thing about the decor at Equinox is its unobtrusiveness: Walls are a pretty mix of cerulean drapes and oversize subway tiles, and gauzy overhead swags lead the eye to the glass-enclosed “patio” and tailored platters. (Actually, the decor is a good metaphor for chef Todd Gray’s polished and reticent technique.) The glass-walled sidewalk area is particularly popular, though better in the evening, after the rush-hour traffic slows. Gray spent many years as the on-site chef at Roberto Donna’s Galileo, then Washington’s premiere Italian restaurant, but he has devoted his own kitchen to what he calls mid-Atlantic regional, heavy on fresh seafood. (Gray and wife-partner Ellen Kassoff-Gray are among the leaders of Washington’s organic, humane, local, and sustainable food movement, although they make a few exceptions for quality, such as Italian white truffles in season.) Most recently, Gray designed the menu for BET cofounder and local sports mogul Sheila Johnson’s five-star Salamander resort in Virginia horse country. Kassoff is also a vegan, and consequently Equinox has a fine vegan tasting menu, featuring such dishes as a carrot pasta with chanterelles and braised fennel.
THE PAYOFF The menu changes frequently, but in general, expect vegetables to be incorporated into the recipes, not relegated to the side; light sauces based on reductions and natural flavors; and a fondness for contrasting sweet and sour, delicate and pungent, or rich and acid within a single dish. Recent examples include bacon-wrapped venison medallions with kabocha sauce, crispy fried oysters with smoked salmon and yogurt, housemade eggy fettucini with chanterelles and truffles, and locally famous truffle mac and cheese. Gray also enjoys using traditional dishes—polenta, biscuits, grits, and black-eyed peas—in ways guaranteed to earn them new respect.
IF YOU LIKE THIS Gray oversees the Muse Café at the nearby Corcoran Museum of Art, including its vegan brunch menu.
1540 14th St. NW; 202-319-1404; estadio-dc.com Mid City
Reservations Available only for parties of 6 or more. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro U Street–African American Civil War Memorial–Cardozo or Dupont Circle. Wine selection Very good. Disabled access Good. Open Brunch: Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Lunch: Friday, 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m. Dinner: Sunday, 5–9 p.m.; Monday–Thursday, 5–10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5–11 p.m.
THE PREMISE It might seem like just another tapas bar in a neighborhood crammed with small plates, but Logan Circle’s Estadio remains a prime choice, especially as it’s a little farther from tapas-centric Penn Quarter. There are also some Portuguese flavors not as common downtown. The look is post-Moorish occupation, so to speak: patterned tiles, wrought iron, stone, heavy wood, and a touch of steel; food might be plated on wood boards or even slate.
THE PAYOFF The open-faced montaditos are not your grandmother’s tea sandwiches: foie gras with scrambled eggs or with duck breast, lump crab with jalapeños, etc.; the two-sided kind include pork belly with shishito peppers, blood sausage, and grilled vegetables. Grab a toothpick and nosh on chorizo, manchego (among a dozen or so cheeses), achovies, or artichokes; or go big with pork loin, halibut romesco, spicy grilled chicken, mussels, and so on. The sherry and Madeira lists are unusually extensive and are mixed into some delectable cocktails.
IF YOU LIKE THIS Etto, at 1547 14th Street, is half pizzeria, half upscale Italian deli with just a touch of Turkey (the owners are the locally beloved pizza partners 2 Amys). Though much less cosmopolitan, The Pig, at 1320 14th Street NW, could fill in for those prone to the more porcine sandwiches, sausages, meatballs, pork belly, and even pig tails.
601 Pennsylvania Ave. NW; 202-628-2888; fioladc.com Downtown
Reservations Highly recommended. Service rating 
. Friendliness rating . Metro Archives–Navy Memorial–Penn Quarter or Gallery Place–Chinatown. Wine selection Very good. Disabled access Good. Open Lunch: Monday–Friday, 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Dinner: Monday–Thursday, 5:30–10:30 p.m.; Friday, 5:30–11:30 p.m.; Saturday, 5–11:30 p.m.
THE PREMISE Chef Fabio Trabocchi turned Maestro into one of Washington’s very best restaurants before he was lured to New York in 2007 … right before the recession, which torpedoed even his three-star status. His return was widely celebrated, and for good reason. Fiola—in the same space that once was Bice, Trabocchi’s first American employer—is easily the area’s best Italian restaurant, and it has a volume level you can actually converse over. (It’s within eyeshot of the District court complex, which might have something to do with that.) The decor is like a Frank Lloyd Wright concoction, part rustic (stacked-stone walls) and part Mad Men (white leather banquettes, massive cut-glass chandeliers, a touch of gilding, and what looks like a Murano glass basin in the restroom). The menu equivalent: spaghetti with sea urchin, mussels, and prawns.
THE PAYOFF Think big and assured: lobster–stuffed ravioli in a gingery sauce (a signature dish going back to Maestro); carpaccio and tartare (“Italian susci”); tortellini stuffed with lamb belly and served with sweetbreads and fennel confit; braised veal cheeks—by themselves at lunch, but paired at dinner with veal rib eye, oyster mushrooms, and hazelnuts—vitello tonnato; duck-stuffed pasta with foie gras, foie gras with figs, or foie gras with a “carpaccio” of roasted chestnuts. One of the reasons for the strong seafood showing here is that Trabocchi’s father is from the Marches region of Italy, along the coast east of Tuscany, and “Fiola” means something like faithful one or sweetheart. “Maria’s Menu” items, named for his wife, are the more overtly healthy ones, but you can always get a simple grilled fish. For a really special occasion, spring for the five- or six-course tasting menus, $115 and $125 before wine pairings.
IF YOU LIKE THIS Ristorante Tosca is a few blocks away at 1112 F Street NW at the Metro Center stop. It may not be so trendy anymore, but it’s still a power-players hangout, and even lunch goes expense account: carrot pappardelle with rabbit ragu, roast scallops with sea urchin, lobster and clam ragu. At press time, Trabocchi had just opened a huge seafood restaurant called Fiola Mare on the Georgetown waterfront.
7272 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda; 301-652-8008; foodwineandco.com Maryland suburbs
Reservations Recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Bethesda. Wine selection Very good. Disabled access Good. Open Lunch: Monday–Friday, 11:30–2:30 p.m. Dinner: Sunday and Monday, 5–9 p.m.; Tuesday–Friday, 5–10 p.m.; Saturday, 4–11 p.m.
THE PREMISE This place might be easily underrated, but chef Michael Herr, who made the old Butterfield 9 (among others) one of Washington’s best restaurants, is in charge here now, and the menu continues to expand: a raw bar and tartare, charcuterie and cheese, pizzas, sandwiches, such signature appetizers as charred octopus and fried artichokes … and that’s before you get to the entrées. The decor is dark and clubby, but oddly careful not to telegraph its style; apparently, the high volume level tells you what you need to know about this “neighborhood bistro.” The list of wines by the glass is appreciably long, but FWC has even more craft beers. Happy hour goes all day Tuesday and Thursday and after dinner Friday and Saturday.
THE PAYOFF The lamb burger with harissa-tomato compote and yogurt and the “vintage” Angus flatiron steak are signature dishes; the “30-minute” roast chicken is first-rate. The potato tots with cheese made their way through a tsunami of tweets, and reviews, to be named one of the 40 dishes Washingtonians “had to eat” in 2013. The list of daily specials is quite impressive: seared lamb liver; pan-roasted cod with watermelon relish, lime, and pepper cress; a petite filet with chestnut spaetzle and kale, butternut squash, and apples.
IF YOU LIKE THIS See the profile of Grapeseed.
950 15th St. NW; 202-393-4499; gbrowns.com Downtown
Reservations Recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro McPherson Square or Farragut North. Wine selection Very good. Disabled access Good. Open Monday–Thursday, 11:30 a.m.–10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11:30 a.m.–11 p.m.; Sunday, brunch 10 a.m.–4 p.m. (last seating at 3:30), dinner 5:30–10 p.m.
THE PREMISE Low Country cuisine is uptown again, and this sophisticated take on Southern garden district graciousness, with vinelike wrought iron overhead, sleek wood curves, and conversation nooks, has stuck to its roots while taking note of the buzz around Charleston and Savannah. Homesick Southerners can indulge in the fried chicken livers and still look uptown, because the grits are made with manchego cheese. It has its share of fans, including the current First (and Second) Ladies and former firsts the Clintons.
THE PAYOFF Come for bone-in bourbon-brined pork chop; blackened rainbow trout with grits fries and baby bok choy; fried (or jerk-grilled) catfish; beautiful white shrimp, heads still on, with Jamie Stowkowski’s andouille over grits; kitchen-sink gumbo with duck confit, chicken, crab, shrimp, okra, and andouille (and a slightly less jumbly perlau); Southern fried chicken marinated in buttermilk and served with collard greens; twice-cooked pork shanks; chicken fried oysters with tasso ham. Surprisingly, this is a good place to try the veggie plate: red rice, goat cheese-stuffed fried green tomatoes, a black-eyed pea cake, and a butternut squash timbale. Saturday supper, though called “breakfast,” is a more traditional brunch: steak and eggs, pork belly hash with andouille gravy, and eggs Benedict with both tasso and crab cakes. The Sunday all-you-can-eat brunch with live jazz is especially popular, not least because the buffet is only the beginning. Even better might be happy hour, where a list of surprising small plates, not just chicken livers and catfish fingers but also shrimp tacos and meatball sliders, are just $6 with your drink.
IF YOU LIKE THIS Acadiana is more strictly New Orleans, and Vidalia is more upscale and eclectic; in Mid City, Eatonville does Southern in soul style, with some vegan style to boot.
722 King St., Old Town Alexandria; 703-548-0088; geranio.net Virginia suburbs
Reservations Recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro King Street. Wine selection Good. Disabled access Good (with single entry step). Open Lunch: Monday–Friday, 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Dinner: Sunday, 5:30–9:30 p.m.; Monday–Saturday, 6–10:30 p.m.
THE PREMISE As a restaurant town, Old Town is pretty much in the (deserving) grip of Cathal Armstrong (Restaurant Eve and more), but chef-owner Troy Clayton, who trained with Jean-Louis Palladin, among others, has managed to maintain the neighborhood hospitality of this Old Town beauty without dumbing down the menu. The exposed brick of this classic Old Town Alexandria town house is softened by richly colored still lifes. Decor also includes the odd hanging implement (a huge old grain scale), majolica-look flooring, and plastered walls painted a soft flaxen that deepens through the evening to a sage green.
THE PAYOFF Linguini with wild mushroom–veal ragout; giant “free-form” ravioli with lump crab; lobster risotto; seared scallop with potato pancakes; oven-roasted pork loin with creamy polenta, wilted spinach, and crispy onions; classic osso buco with saffron risotto and broccoli rabe; oven-roasted rib eye with sweet onions, zucchini, and pancetta over a baked potato cake; seared tuna with tomato confit and artichokes; duck confit with lentils; roast chicken breasts with porcini risotto, pea shoots, and chanterelles.
IF YOU LIKE THIS A few blocks up King Street is Vermilion (profiled), more modern Mid-Atlantic and a little more expensive.
707 6th St. NW; 202-289-3600; graffiatodc.com Penn Quarter
Reservations Recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Gallery Place–Chinatown or Mount Vernon Square. Wine selection Very good. Disabled access Good. Open Sunday–Wednesday, 11:30 a.m.–10 p.m.; Thursday–Saturday, 11:30 a.m.–11 p.m. Bar and Pizza Oven open 1 hour later.
THE PREMISE “Top Chef” contestant Mike Isabella has fashioned a love song to the Italian/American (real) delis of his childhood. The decor is warehouse-chic (metal lawyer’s chairs, exposed brick, laboratory lights), but the real clues to Isabella’s passions are the wood-burning oven downstairs (try to snag one of the nearby bar stools) and the showcase ham bar on the second floor. Translation: artisan pizza, smoky-roast pasta sauces, and locally cured meats.
THE PAYOFF The oven is more than a pretext for making pizza—although, when you consider such options as the Countryman (fontina, black truffles, and soft-cooked egg); the Hobbit (wild mushrooms, crispy rosemary, and castelrosso cheese); or the White House (three cheeses, black pepper honey, and prosciutto), you might not need any explanation. Nevertheless, its presence permeates the menu: the roasted potatoes for the gnocchi with pork; the charred octopus (with a brilliant mostarda of tomato and mint); Chinatown ribs; even the scallops and prawns are smoky. Think you’ve had beet salad? Try the smoked beet/sheep’s milk ricotta/pickled orange version. Other surprises include roasted chicken thighs with a pepperoni sauce (brunch); an egg, bacon, cheese, and potato breakfast pizza that will ruin you for carryout egg sandwiches; and uni crostada. Chef’s tasting menu at dinner is $55 before wine; brunch includes unlimited mimosas for $18.
IF YOU LIKE THIS Two blocks down on G Street is Proof (profiled), which though more wine-centric and a little more on trend, is also heavy into salumi and charcuterie, both imported and house-made; check out its showcase cheese bar.
4865 Cordell Ave., Bethesda; 301-986-9592; grapeseedbistro.com Maryland suburbs
Reservations Recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Bethesda. Wine selection Very good. Disabled access Narrow. Open Lunch: Tuesday–Friday, 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m. Dinner: Monday–Saturday, 5 p.m.–close.
THE PREMISE This sleek and unfussy space—with its removable front walls onto the sidewalk, sit-to bar, banquettes down the hallway, mini dining rooms, and partially exposed kitchen—was one of the area’s first winecentric restaurants. Chef-owner Jeff Heineman has designed a modern tapas menu to match his impressive list of wines, more than 80 of which are available by the glass or even taste. Both appetizers and entrées, which can vary considerably in size and staying power, come listed as accompanying red wine or white, and the pairings (half-size glasses unless otherwise requested) are usually quite smart—unless the county’s wine imports hit a snag, as they sometimes do. However, the staff is well prepared to make alternate recommendations. (Though the table service can be uneven, if you sit at the bar, you’re set.)
THE PAYOFF The menu is not so ambitious as it was in earlier years, but the variety of flavors is still impressive: filet mignon with oxtail ragout; pan-seared redfish with a sort of deconstructed gumbo of corn, okra, tomatoes, bacon, and polenta (okay, grits); crab cakes with panzanella and avocado; Korean barbecue-style beef tips with eggplant; wild mushroom fricassee; cornmeal fried oysters. Tuesday nights, all over-$100 wines are half-price.
1624 Q St. NW; 202-462-4265; hanksdc.com Dupont Circle
633 Pennsylvania Ave., SE; 202-733-1971 Capitol Hill
1026 King St., Old Town Alexandria; 703-739-4265 Virginia suburbs
Reservations Not accepted. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Dupont Circle (Q Street); Eastern Market or Capitol Hill South (Pennsylvania Avenue); King Street (Old Town Alexandria). Wine selection Good. Disabled access Good. Open Hours vary at the different locations; check the website.
THE PREMISE Jamie Leeds, once a Manhattan import as an upscale new American chef, has turned to her roots (Hank was her father) with a series of New England–style fish houses (she calls it “urban beach food”); though the menus are similar, each has its own twist and decor, but all with a cool pun on fish warehouse chic. At the Capitol Hill branch, she has hooked into the signature cocktail bar-within-a-bar trend (there is also a nice local beer and wine selection). Like Jeff and Barbara Black, Leeds has partnered with a prime Virginia oyster farm for her own brand, and if the restaurants aren’t named for her son, the oysters are: Hayden’s Reefs, and Leeds uses the empty shells to restore the beds.
THE PAYOFF Even with the influx of carpetbagger lobster rolls, Hank’s are deservedly popular. The other staples include crab cakes, Ipswich fried clams, popcorn shrimp, and calamari. Daily specials generally include grilled seafood and perhaps lobster or shrimp and grits, but might also include Asian-flavored pork tenderloin. Leeds’s other signature is a “meat & two,” a blue-plate daily special that ranges from molasses-braised short ribs to oven-roasted or fried chicken to grilled duck breast or chops. In Old Town, however, the menu is a little more modern-tavern: braised lamb shanks, more steaks, Japanese pepper-crusted scallops with shiitakes, bouillabaisse, or soy-marinated sablefish. In Dupont Circle, Hanks has a 500-calorie “resolution solution” meal that includes a low-cal cocktail.
2400 Wisconsin Ave. NW; 202-333-3120; heritageindiadc.com Georgetown
1901 Pennsylvania Ave. NW; 202-333-4155 Downtown
1633 P St. NW; 202-387-7400 Dupont Circle
Reservations Recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Farragut West or Farragut North (Downtown); Dupont Circle (Dupont Circle). Wine selection Good. Disabled access Good. Open Hours vary at the different locations; check the website.
THE PREMISE The original Heritage India in Glover Park was one of the first new-age Indian kitchens, so to speak, in the Washington area, ranging into less familiar and more subtle regional fare, and its success has inspired a number of other kitchens to invest in complexity and upscale service. (Though no longer related, Passage to India in Bethesda, once also called Heritage India, retains a very similar menu as well as an even more elegant decor. See also the profile of Spice Xing in Rockville.) Though all three locations have a familiar resemblance to the original decor, which is Raj traditional, with saffron walls, elaborate wooden screens, romantic sepia-toned photos, Colonial-era lithographs, and fabric upholstery, the Pennsylvania Avenue branch is darker with an officers’ club look (wood paneling with antique prints of officers in uniform), and the Georgetown restaurant is lighter and brighter, with saffron and turmeric tones and silver-gilt carved furniture. The menus are divided into street food snacks, tandoori dishes, curries, breads and filled breads, and vegetarian and vegan entrées, which include a smokin’ smoked eggplant with tomatoes and onions.
THE PAYOFF Heat freaks look to the lamb vindaloo, a real fire-starter. Moderately spicy choices include fish fillets, any of a half dozen tandoori dishes, and a tangy but not too spicy dish of sliced grouper in green peppers and tomatoes. Mix that with a soothing dish of baby eggplant in sesame sauce or okra and onions in dried mango powder. Beneath the Glover Park and Dupont Circle sites are the Malgudi cafes, whose menus represent the much more heavily vegetarian regions of Southern India—it’s named for a fictitious village in which many of R.K. Narayan’s novels and stories are based, sort of the Yoknapatawpha County of India—and offers a lot more rice dishes and uttappams and dosas (the rice-based “pizzas” and pancakes, respectively) that would suit the gluten-free diet. (Malgudi is closed Mondays.)
IF YOU LIKE THIS The Downtown and Dupont Circle locations are Metro-friendly, but in addition to Passage to India and Spice Xing, see the profile of Indique and Indique Heights, below.
3512-14 Connecticut Ave. NW; 202-244-6600; indique.com Upper Northwest
Indique Heights: 2 Wisconsin Circle, Chevy Chase; 301-656-4822; indiqueheights.com Maryland suburbs
Reservations Recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Cleveland Park (Indique); Friendship Heights (Indique Heights). Wine selection Good. Disabled access Good. Open Brunch: Saturday and Sunday; Lunch: Monday–Friday; Dinner: Daily.
THE PREMISE Although Indique was the first, a visually stunning whitewashed retreat in Cleveland Park, Indique Heights, a loungy, surprisingly luxe warren of curtain-ringed rooms in an office building, has a little edge when it comes to flavor. This street snack–smart restaurant is brisk and accommodating. Even dining in the bar is relaxing. It also proves to hotheads that there’s plenty of flavor without chili—and vice versa. Although not exactly enclosed (it’s above the Metro escalators), there is a “courtyard” that feels like a second-story mezzanine.
THE PAYOFF Enjoy anise-flavored crab cakes with coconut flakes; baby eggplant in a sesame, peanut, and cashew cream; okra with mango powder; shrimp and scallop masala; buttery chicken tikka makhani; a truly “not for the fainthearted!” chicken with toasted tellicherry peppercorns; veggie samosas; boneless lamb strips with brown spices; all sorts of fried and stuffed breads and crepes with chutneys; and various regional versions of what might be called Indian trail mix. This is a great place for vegetarians, with a good list of dishes with or without seafood. Here you can get the more familiar dishes, such as tandoori shrimp, lamb kebab, and mustard-kicky calamari, as small plates.
IF YOU LIKE THIS The same group also owns the great bargain Bombay Bistro near the Rockville court complex, which is more traditional than the fusion-ish Spice Xing nearby.
Middle and Main Streets, Washington, VA; 540-675-3800; theinnatlittlewashington.com Virginia suburbs
Reservations Required. Service rating 
. Friendliness rating . Wine selection Extremely good. Disabled access Good. Open Dinner Nightly.
THE PREMISE For an astonishing 35 years, this culinary legend—it has been profiled in The New Yorker and selected by Travel + Leisure as the second-finest hotel in the United States and eighth-finest in the world—has been Washington’s most popular distant dining destination, even if it isn’t in that Washington. Chef Patrick O’Connell makes magic in gourmet (and gourmand) circles all over the country. But it is without doubt a special-occasion destination: The prix-fixe menu ranges from $168 on weeknights to $198 on Saturday before wine (or the tip, which you should expect to be generous because of the layers of service), although holiday menus may vary. The kitchen tables flank the huge fireplace and seat up to six apiece; again, depending on the day of the week, the surcharge for dining in the kitchen is $375–$575. But consider that you are paying for some of the most meticulous and labor-intensive cooking in the country, and although the dinner is purportedly four courses, there are plenty of extras along the way. And if you really want a vegetarian gastro-orgasm, this is your chance. Incidentally, this exquisite mansion is worth wandering about, as is the garden, where you will get a glimpse into the bustling kitchen.
THE PAYOFF O’Connell’s strength is a sense of balance: dishes are never overwhelmed or overly fussy; local produce is emphasized (he was among the first to credit sources), which guarantees freshness and inventiveness. The menu changes continually, but look for dishes such as seafood and wild mushroom risotto; veal or lamb carpaccio; tenderloin of beef that reminds you why that’s such a classic entrée; home-smoked trout; curry-dusted sweetbreads with local ham; baby lamb morsels with lamb sausage alongside; a duo of hot and cold foie gras with Sauternes gelée; chilled Wagyu beef tongue; grilled squab breast marinated in blueberry vinegar; pastrami-cured venison; pepper-crusted tuna “pretending to be a filet mignon” and capped Rossini-style with foie gras. Everyone remembers his or her first passion here—homemade white-chocolate ice cream with bitter-chocolate sauce (Eve) or an array of perfect dime-size biscuits with country ham (Dodger)—and for some Washingtonians, driving down to the other Washington becomes an addiction, a compulsion.
IF YOU LIKE THIS The closest thing to the Inn in the bigger Washington is probably CityZen (profiled above), but Minibar and Komi, though different in approach, would be the top in-town foodie destinations; both are profiled below. Meantime, O’Connell is generous with his recipes, often posting them on the website or mailing out newsletters.
1734 N St. NW; 202-524-5202; irongaterestaurantdc.com Dupont Circle
Reservations Recommended. Service rating . Friendliness rating . Metro Farragut North or Dupont Circle. Wine selection Good. Disabled access Very good. Open Lunch: Tuesday–Friday, 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Dinner: Sunday, 5:30–9 p.m.; Monday–Thursday, 5:30–10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5:30–11 p.m.
THE PREMISE This has been among the city’s most picturesque spots for years—built from an old stable, half hidden down a lantern-lit alley, and with some of the most alluring fireplaces in town. After a period of decline, it has reopened, with a little updating and with rising-star chef Tony Chittum, as a modern eclectic tavern with southern Italian and Greek flavors, including Sardinian and Sicilian (he’s a native of the Eastern Shore, but his wife is Greek). Long a proponent of local sourcing, Chittum is turning regional seafood and game on rotisseries and in a wood-burning grill and oven. The dining room has only the two chef’s menus, four courses for $50 and six for $75 before wine pairings; the à la carte menu is served in the bar and on the long-beloved patio. Neither are huge spaces, so walk-ins at crush hour could be tough.
THE PAYOFF Try lamb three ways, including a lamb-neck ragu; faro salad with shaved collards, feta, and dried cranberries; crispy olive oil sunchokes; sweetbreads; lamb with shell beans and collards; scallop crudo with chilies, sea urchin, and baby fennel; a lovely caramelized ricotta gnocchi with trumpet mushrooms; black truffle cannelloni stuffed with sweet sausages and chicken; dill gemelli with braised rabbit and mustard sauce; and local artisan charcuterie. Don’t miss the “spit-roasted whole animal” du jour (or gyro of the day at lunch), which might be poultry or game. There are plenty of wines by the glass. The Iron Gate is one of the few restaurants that boast a few ghosts.
IF YOU LIKE THIS See the profiles of Kapnos and Komi, below.
