Ardeo + Bardeo, where the mimosas flow freely. Photograph courtesy of Ardeo + Bardeo via Facebook.

The Coffee: La Colombe, roasted in Philadelphia 

The Mood: Boisterous and all-inclusive, with a mix of neighborhood families, groups, and solo diners sipping coffee and catching a game at the bar. 

A wine bar with a top-notch small-plates menu—Ardeo + Bardeo, for example—isn’t what leaps to mind at brunch time. But restaurateur Ashok Bajaj’s sleek Cleveland Park dining rooms were packed on a recent Sunday afternoon with boisterous diners who know the secret: There’s nothing small about the daytime offerings.
Oh, you can still nibble on charcuterie if you want, but better to go with the crowd and pick two courses from the set menu, offered alongside unlimited J. Roget champagne or mimosas ($25 per person). Crispy, lightly charred Brussels sprouts, dressed up for breakfast with tangy yogurt and chopped pistachios, are a surprisingly addictive starter, while creamy salmon rillettes with everything bagels make for a tasty riff on bagels and lox. Rock shrimp and grits, dressed with arugula and a lobster emulsion, are surprisingly light. On the other end of the spectrum, there’s a smoky burger topped with cheddar, house-made bacon, and a fried egg. When combined with frequent top-offs from servers bearing jugs of mimosas, it may just inspire an afternoon nap.

Brunch at Ardeo + Bardeo is served every Saturday and Sunday from 11 AM to 3 PM.

At the Tabard Inn, Chantal Tseng’s not-so-traditional sherry cocktail gets a shot of tequila. Photograph by Scott Suchman.

The first sherry cocktail that ever touched the lips of Adam Bernbach, bar manager at Proof and Estadio, was the work of another notable local barman: Derek Brown, who owns the Columbia Room and the Passenger cocktail bars in DC. “It was a variation on an Adonis”—a mix of dry sherry, sweet vermouth, and bitters—recalls Bernbach, and the drink made an impression.

Although José Andrés’s Jaleo was the area’s first sherry-cocktail destination, Bernbach is now Washington’s foremost mixer of sherry-enhanced concoctions. He uses dry finos, aromatic amontillados, and dark, rich olorosos in place of base spirits and in supporting roles, sweetening or bittering up drinks as necessary.

Sherry, which begins life as a white-wine grape, hails from the southwest of Spain, in and around the city of Jerez. After vintners press and ferment the fruit, they fortify the wine and age it in barrels, often using the solera system, mixing old batches with new. For years, the Spanish shipped cheap stuff to the United States—that’s how it earned its reputation as Grandma’s super-sweet postprandial sipper.

Today, wine and liquor stores stock an array of sherries, making it easy to experiment at home. A good place to start is this cocktail—which pairs amontillado sherry with aged tequila and Drambuie—from Chantal Tseng at DC’s Tabard Inn.

Bill White at Fish in the Hood. Photograph by Scott Suchman.

Talk to someone who has been to Fish in the Hood—also known as Bill’s Seafood Kitchen—and you may encounter an evangelist. One customer said he regularly drives in from Fairfax because he and his wife are addicted to the fried shrimp and broiled salmon.

As it turns out, the storefront’s cult-like following is deserved. The brief menu is posted on a glass case holding rows of seafood on ice. Choose a fish and a preparation—fileted or whole, broiled with spices or fried—and it’s taken out of the case, weighed, and cooked. The bone-in fish lend themselves to broiling. The black bass ($10.99 a pound) and the red snapper ($12.99 a pound) are sprinkled with an herby Cajun seasoning and get a dollop of butter before their trip to the broiler.

The Bethesda bakery Tout de Sweet boasts a classic cocoa with vanilla whipped cream (left). A fluffy rum-maple marshmallow crowns the ultra-rich hot chocolate at the Sweet Lobby (right). Photographs by Scott Suchman.

Artfully Chocolate. Sixteen diva-inspired drinks vie for your attention. Our favorite is the Rita Hayworth, infused with clove and orange, then crowned with whipped cream zigzagged in caramel.

Ceiba. This silky sipper showcases south-of-the-border spices such as canela cinnamon and fiery cayenne pepper and comes crested with a house-made marshmallow.

Co Co. Sala. This dessert destination offers seven varieties of hot cocoa, but the PB & Co.—made with dark and milk chocolate, creamy peanut butter, frothy whole milk, and sea salt—is the best. If one isn’t enough, pick up a make-at-home version at the shop next door.

Northside Social. The Clarendon coffeehouse’s just-sweet-enough hot chocolate is made with Trickling Springs Creamery milk and is light and frothy to the last drop.

The Sweet Lobby. The hot chocolate at this DC pastry shop is so rich that you need order only a small size—especially if you cap it off with a house-made rum-maple marshmallow.

Tout de Sweet. Luxuriously dense vanilla-bean-speckled whipped cream tops off this patisserie’s smooth operator, made with a blend of three cocoa powders. It’s even better paired with a couple of cinnamon-gianduja macarons.

This article appears in the February 2012 issue of The Washingtonian.

Brian McPherson is focusing on local and sustainable at Jackson 20 (pictured here) and the Grill at Morrison House. Photograph by Stacy Zarin-Goldberg.

Late last year, Dennis Marron left his gig as top toque at Old Town Alexandria restaurants Jackson 20 and the Grille at Morrison House for a new post at Poste. All three restaurants are owned by the Kimpton hotel and restaurant chain, and Kimpton has picked Brian McPherson, an alum of New Heights, Butterfield 9, David Greggory, and—wouldn’t ya know it—Poste, to replace him.

The weekend is almost upon us, food truck followers! It's Farragut Friday and the trucks are en route to the sunny square, among other locations. Don't forget to smile and tip. 

FLOTUS in Texas: The first lady dined at a Fort Worth Olive Garden this week.

Being the First Lady isn’t all dry-aged New York strip and caramelized Brussels sprouts. Last night, Michelle Obama had dinner at an Olive Garden in Fort Worth, Texas. The meal was part of her "Let's Move!" campaign—Olive Garden's parent company, Darden, is introducing healthier kids’ menus across its eateries, which include Red Lobster and Longhorn Steakhouse.

Obama visited the Forth Worth restaurant with White House chef Sam Kass following an event in Little Rock, Arkansas, according to press traveling with the First Lady. Per the report, her motorcade from the airport “passed an Olive Garden on the way to the Olive Garden.”

Dining at a long table with eight parents, Obama reportedly ate salad, minestrone soup, and Venetian chicken, and had limoncello mousse with vanilla cookie crust for dessert. No word on whether she took advantage of the bottomless breadsticks.