Ann Cashion named her sophisticated Adams Morgan restaurant after Doe's Eat Place, a down-home steak-and-tamales place in her native Mississippi, and that hints not so much at the style but at the confidence of her cooking. An occasional dish might come straight out of the American South--grilled pork chops with maple-pecan butter, mashed sweet potatoes, and mustard grains--but the Southernness of her cooking is more evident in her commitment to fresh seasonal produce and a conviction that the accompaniments are as important as the main ingredient.

From Cashion's handwritten menu, which changes daily, you might begin with a bowl of the most authentic New Orleans­style gumbo in town, a spicy fried rabbit loin with Creole mustard sauce, or a plate of superb house-made charcuterie--a terrine of veal and pork, pork rillettes, and a creamy rabbit-liver mousse. Main-course choices have ranged from roast duck breast with sautéed foie gras in an apricot sauce, accompanied by mashed parsnips and baby carrots, to a surprising and delicious rendition of an Asian crispy whole fish--beautifully fried whole flounder with a chili-lime dipping sauce and a salad of pea shoots and radishes with an aromatic yuzu dressing.