After some postopening jitters, PS7’s seems to be settling in. Early on, neither food nor service lived up to the billing—PS7’s had been cast as the next big thing on the DC dining scene, a high-style playpen for foodies.
Five months later, there’s a new feeling of attentiveness, a desire to feed and please. Culinary adventurers, along with a Penn Quarter neighborhood crowd, have taken to dropping by. So far, PS7’s is not a groundbreaker in the mold of Minibar or CityZen, but it is often riveting and frequently delicious. Whether PS7’s will satisfy depends on how open you are to experimentation—with food, format, portion size, and playing with the notion of what we call dinner. In the tumultuous world that is the dining scene, some restaurants are instant successes, others need a little time. PS7’s moment may have just arrived.
PS7’s
777 I St., NW; 202-742-8550; ps7restaurant.com. Open Monday through Friday for lunch, Monday through Saturday for dinner; lounge open 11:30 to closing.
Prices: Lounge menu $10 to $24, dining room $10 to $23, five-course tasting menu $77.
Attire: Stylish casual to suits.
Noise: Can get loud in the lounge, quieter in the dining room.
Best dishes: Tuna Sliders, fried oysters, short ribs with foie gras, lobster with scrambled eggs, veal breast with wild-mushroom ragoût, lobster sausage, cider-braised pork belly, fall-spiced crème frite, Valrhona mousse with lemon-olive-oil gelato and candied beets.
