A mezzanine dining area puts you above the crowds, but sometimes it’s more fun to mix it up below, particularly at the long communal table.
Surprises reveal themselves slowly. The best examples are the complexly layered soups. If we see one on the menu, we order it. The $65 five-course tasting menu is an excellent value.
Chef R.J. Cooper’s all-tasting-menu venture—parceled out in 16 or 24 quick-bite dishes—is a wild ride of a night, especially if you don’t burden it w/ too many expectations of what dinner should be.
During the day, deals are made over bacon cheeseburgers and the best corned-beef sandwiches in town. Ties are loosened at night, and cocktails keep a crowd around the bar.
This brasserie and beer hall is a multipurpose space—great for blowing off steam with coworkers, downing platters of oysters and pints of beer, enjoying a hearty meal or a leisurely weekend brunch.
There are other places to go to seal a deal, but we haven’t met one that better blends sophistication with culinary finesse. A great spot for people-watching and celeb-spotting.
What to get: Chicken-liver pâté with shallot marmalade; oil-cured tomatoes on toast; fried calamari and shrimp with zingy rémoulade; grilled flatiron steak with anchovy vinaigrette.
Chef Karoum’s Spanish-influenced cooking doesn’t flaunt whiz-bang techniques or trendy ingredients—it’s made for everyday eating. Still, he’s making some of the most exciting food we’ve had this year.
The menu changes almost weekly, but standouts have included pork rinds served with duck-liver dip and sausage flavored with lemongrass and kaffir-lime leaves.
Inside this unassuming rowhouse next to a CVS, Johnny Monis is putting out the top culinary experience in Washington. The wine pairing ($70 per person) is generous and full of offbeat picks.
The bar is a low-key party even on weeknights, service is attentive and warm, and the cooking, under chef/owner John Manolatos, strikes a balance between comfort and polish.
Whether you’re enjoying a killer mint julep in the lounge or biting into buttery cornbread in the relaxed dining room, this subterranean eatery is all about comfort, both in mood and cuisine.
The handwritten menu and the array of antipasti change daily, but some gems do reappear. Thrills on a recent menu included meatballs studded with pine nuts; ultralight arancini; chocolate polenta cake
We gravitate to this high-toned farm-to-table destination whenever we’re in the mood for brunch and whenever we’re trying to satisfy a group of disparate personalities. Service is attentive & polished
What to get: Chestnut-and-foie-gras soup; shrimp with corn blinis; boudin blanc with truffle sauce and truffled potato purée; melted Montboissie cheese over toasted pecan-raisin bread.
With its high-gloss redesign, joining of the main dining room and bar, and hiring of a new chef, Ardeo has become one of DC’s most exciting mid-level destinations.
The main dining room is bright and noisy, the smaller annex cozier. Tables are covered in leather, and there’s the whiff of money in the crowd of politicos, Georgetown old guard, & singles at the bar.
The bustling cafe and bar is a place you can bring the family or come for a casually sophisticated couple’s night out. Plates are huge—you’ll likely take home a doggy bag.
The menu might seem all over the map, but the common denominator is LaCivita’s emphasis on the rustic. Even his most artful plates bear hefty portions.
Here’s a bistro in the classic sense, with French and Belgian cooking that evokes nostalgia for Europe’s old cafes.
Formal old-world service, antique-filled dining rooms, and a prix fixe menu with amuse-bouches and other extras make dinners here special.
Best chicken marsala I've ever had, they treat you like family here - good food and service
