A fancy riff on a Peruvian causa—Albisu reimagined the salad for the Penn Quarter palate, emphasizing sea-sourced proteins over starchy tubers. Photographs by Jeff Elkins.
Inspired by the cuisines of Peru, Argentina, and their regional neighbors, Del Campo is a fine-dining restaurant that also embraces the rustic side of South American eating—note the Argentinian penguin decanters lining shelves behind the wine bar, and the bar-goers negotiating towering street-style sandwiches, egg yolk running off their chins.
Chef/owner Victor Albisu loves all things smoked and charred—even the bread comes with smoked olive oil—and blackened food shows up everywhere. For instance: Grilled octopus and avocado top a fancy version of a Peruvian causa with grilled octopus, tuna confit, and ramps prepared three ways. Berkshire pork chicharrones—an appetizer offering ribs and belly—taste both tender and charred.
Albisu says Del Campo’s early diners have leaned toward the chivito sandwich on the bar menu, opening wide to wrap their lips around layers of Wagyu beef, mortadella, ham, provolone, fried egg, grilled olive salad, and hearts of palm mayonnaise, as well as the tuna ceviche and the chef’s asado boards, soon to be featured at a reservations-only chef’s table with a view into the kitchen.
A happy hour menu of $7 drinks (including grilled-juice cocktails)has
already debuted at the bar. Coming soon: a streetside patio and lunch service—the
latter should start in about two weeks.
Del Campo. 777 I St., NW; 202-289-7377. Dining room open Monday through Wednesday 5:30 to 10:30; Thursday through Saturday 5:30 to 11. Bar open Monday through Wednesday 5 to 11:30; Thursday through Saturday 5 to midnight. Restaurant open Sunday 5 to 10.
The bar boasts 120 different kind of beer glasses for the expansive list, as well as wine and cocktails. Photograph by Andrew Propp.
Belgian mussels and fries are a ubiquitous dish around Washington, but vlaamse stoverij met rode kool (Flemish beef stew)? Not so much. B Too, the newest spot from Belga Cafe chef/owner Bart Vandaele, isn’t just another spot to quaff Belgian beers and munch on frites, though you’ll find plenty of both. The recent Top Chef competitor’s nearly complete, 175-seat Belgian restaurant is slated to open for dinner on May 7. Here’s what to look for.
Bajaj’s brasserie mixes tradition—burgundy booths, steak frites—with seasonal American and Asian-influenced dishes. Photograph by Andrew Propp.
On May 6, Ashok Bajaj’s rapidly expanding empire—which includes Ardeo + Bardeo, 701, the Oval Room, and Bombay Club—welcomes a new eatery to the fold. NoPa, Bajaj’s first brasserie, will be his third Penn Quarter spot. (Rasika and Bibiana are the first two.)
Freshly baked breads are perfect for sopping up poached eggs at Le Diplomate’s new brunch. Photograph by Jeff Elkins.
Looking for a new happy hour spot? Hungry for eggs Benedict on a beautiful patio? Ready for a new restaurant? We have you covered on all fronts. The Washington restaurant scene is buzzing with fresh dining experiences, from newly opened eateries to lunches and brunches launching at established places. Here’s what’s new this week for a variety of cravings.
Boozy $3 punch and fried chicken
New fried chicken and doughnut hot spot GBD just rolled out its sit-down dinner menu and bar last week. Up this Thursday: happy hour from 5 to 7 Tuesday through Friday. Tonight’s specials include $3 glasses of punch, $4 Tempranillo and Riesling wines on tap, and $4 brews like De Struise Pannepot and Ballast Point Sculpin (the brews will rotate daily on the whim of brewmaster Greg Engert). Order up snacks such as smoked chicken skin chips or crispy Buffalo wings and make an early evening of it.
Lunchtime tacos and tortas
Richard Sandoval’s 14th Street Mexican spot El Centro D.F. just launched lunch service on Monday. Weather permitting, you’ll head up to the 45-seat roof deck—likely less crowded than it is on beautiful evenings—for the menu of guacamole, ceviche, tacos, entrée salads, and more. The ground-floor taqueria is the place to hole up with a steak torta and Dos Equis during springtime rain and scorching summer afternoons. The meal is served Monday to Friday 11 to 3.
The second- and third-floor dining areas are elegantly beachy, with stained wood and tables printed with various sea creatures. Photograph by Jeff Elkins.
It’s an exciting time to be a food fan in Washington: More than a dozen new eateries have recently opened their doors, the Red Hen debuts Tuesday in Bloomingdale, and now chef Frederik De Pue is set to open his second restaurant, Azur, Thursday in the former Café Atlantico space. Those looking for a break from fried chicken and doughnuts, take note: This 135-seat spot is wholly devoted to seafood.
You’ll recognize the lofty three-story building from its José Andrés days, but De Pue has transformed the interior to fit the nautical theme with the help of Belgian interior designer Natascha Folens. Comfy wicker chairs and cushy stools fashioned after bottle corks greet you in the entry-level bar area, a prime spot for sipping one of the many seasonal cocktails named after famous boats. The Magusta 165 may sink your wallet with its $40 price tag, but the cognac-based libation named after a mega-yacht is the most expensive on the list. The $6 Regina Marina is more our cruising speed. You can sip the Aperol and Champagne concoction alongside bar snacks such as baked oysters with chorizo, toast spread with sea urchin butter, or crispy calamari tossed with a Vietnamese-style vinaigrette and chopped peanuts.
A Washington Post article recently revealed that it cost Stephen Starr more than $6 million to build out Le Diplomate, now open on 14th Street. Photograph by Jeff Elkins.
Spring has officially sprung, and new restaurants have been popping up way faster than those late-to-the-party cherry blossoms. Washington has recently welcomed spots for chowing down on homey fried chicken, relaxing with a date on an outdoor patio with raw oysters and Chablis, or getting rowdy with friends over beers and the big game. Check out these dozen new spots, and stay tuned for more—so many more—coming soon.
Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken
The newest face of the fried chicken and doughnuts game just opened its doors on Monday, and is soft-opening this week by doling out comfort eats from 8 AM until the shelves are empty (which so far has been just after the lunch rush). Stop by the storefront early for coffee and a vanilla-glazed round, or get creative at lunch with double-fried Korean-style chicken.
The gastro-bar above Daikaya’s Penn Quarter ramen shop is equally suited to eating and drinking, with Japanese small plates and beer, cocktails, and sake galore. Nibble on grilled avocado with ponzu or crispy crab croquettes paired with a spherified sake bomb. You can always teeter downstairs to slurp noodles if you work up a hefty appetite.
With highs in the 70s, you could start that summer tan while dining at Clarendon’s newest spot for mussels, sausages, and cold brews. The cozy outdoor patio features picnic tables, so get a few friends together over giant steins of citrusy Erdinger wheat beer and brats—or, for the more adventurous, rattlesnake dogs.
GBD (Golden, Brown, Delicious)
Fried chicken, doughnuts, and booze—the newest joint from the Neighborhood Restaurant Group just launched full service on Wednesday. In addition to daily counter-order breakfast and lunch, there’s also now a full bar and evening sit-down dinner. Bad news for the arteries: You’ll find freshly fried dough and buttermillk-brined birds at all hours, as well as beer, wine, and punch.
Roberto Donna behind the new chef counter at Al Dente, where he’ll serve a Laboratorio-like meal for four guests. Photograph by Jeff Martin.
It was less than a year ago that Hakan Ilhan opened Al Dente and tapped veteran chef Roberto Donna to lead the kitchen, and already the duo are planning to expand. Donna tells us a new 180-seat restaurant—equipped with another 120 patio seats—is on track for a late summer or early fall opening at the corner of Fourth and I streets, Northwest. The name: Alba Osteria, an homage to truffle-centric Alba, Italy, where the team recently traveled.
Details are still being worked out, but the concept will be as casual as its Upper Northwest sister restaurant (don’t go looking for Galileo IV) and geared toward a young Penn Quarter-area crowd. Expect an expansive bar with plenty of beers and wines by the glass, plus a large salumi counter. There will be pastas and pizzas—a wood-burning Italian oven is already set in the space. The menu will be divided by dish types, as opposed to courses, so you might find a meatball section featuring three different varieties, and other trios of options in such categories as gnocchi, fresh fettuccine, stuffed pastas, veal, and chicken. A few dishes will come from Al Dente, but most of the offerings will be new.
Planning for a new restaurant isn’t the only thing keeping Donna busy these days. At Al Dente, he has started up a smaller version of his much-lauded and lamented Laboratorio del Galileo. He’s calling it “Roberto’s 4,” which refers to the four counter seats opposite the open kitchen where he cooks. The 12-plus courses include such Laboratorio revivals as pasta alla chitarra with sea urchin, diver scallop crudo with Ligurian olive oil, roasted squab breast with duck liver, and gnocchi with lobster sauce. It’s $85 per person, with an optional $45 wine pairing, and the meal is only available Tuesday through Thursday for one 7 PM seating (to make a reservation, e-mail robertos.four@gmail.com).
Check back in for more details as the project develops.
You may have stopped by Rabbit Grill in Clarendon this week looking for a dinner salad and a Red Velvet cupcake, only to find the doors locked. The reason: Restaurateur Aaron Gordon is in the midst of creating a concept inspired by Belgian and German beer gardens with a new partner and co-owner, chef Rahman “Rock” Harper. We found the Hell’s Kitchen victor grilling up bratwurst and spicy Italian sausages for what’ll become Fat Shorty’s*, slated to open the first week of April.
You can still find leafy greens at 3035 Clarendon Boulevard through 3 PM this Friday, when the fast-casual salad spot closes its doors permanently. Once they reopen, the only rabbits on the premises will be in sausage form. Harper plans for about 16 styles of sausage spanning the globe, from German brats and weisswurst to South American chorizo and fennel-flecked Italian. Even more far-flung will be exotic links such as crocodile andouille, chipotle buffalo, and jalapeño-spiked rattlesnake. Bringing things back home, many of the producers will be local, even for the international flavors. Richmond-based Sausage Craft may create everything from Italian-grandmother-style sausages flavored with white wine and pecorino cheese to a smoky version made with Virginia ham, while Binkert’s out of Baltimore specializes in Germanic meats. And of course, being a Washington operation, a half-smoke is in the works.
In addition to the sausages themselves, Harper will craft a variety of customizable toppings including chili, sautéed peppers and onions, and sauerkraut, as well as a variety of mustards (and mumbo sauce!), which you’ll find at the communal beer-hall-style tables. Several varieties of mussels and freshly-cut frites with dipping sauces will round out the menu, all meant to be washed down with German, Belgian, and local craft brews. Servers will drop by the 80-odd seats to refill drink orders and clear plates, but otherwise Gordon is keeping with the counter-order method popular with families and the lunch rush crowd. In warmer weather, a 20-seat outdoor patio will be the place to relax over cold Leffe Blondes and brats.
Even after Shorty’s is up and running, Harper plans to keep working as a job instructor at the nonprofit DC Central Kitchen, where he helps unemployed, at-risk men and women find careers in the culinary arts. His two projects will merge once the new restaurant opens; he plans to employ the hardest-working alumni of the program at Shorty’s.
“We’re used to sending our graduates out into the world, so it’ll be special for me to be so close to them,” says Harper. “It’s a little like having a room in your kid’s dorm.”
Check back in with us for updates on the opening and details as they become available.
* The name refers to a childhood nickname, similar to Gordon’s other new spot, Zeke’s DC Donutz. There’s no affiliation to any artist, living or dead—remember how that turned out last time?
Sakae Ishida with Daikaya chef Katsuya Fukushima and co-owner Daisuke Utagawa. Photograph courtesy of Utagawa.
Two days after its official opening on Valentine’s Day, the Penn Quarter ramen restaurant Daikaya received a visitor: a well-groomed man with round glasses and a neat row of bangs across his forehead. The man bent over a big bowl of soup, took a slurp from its broth, and smiled his broad smile. Later, he would remember thinking, “This is Japanese ramen.” Seeing him smile, Daikaya co-owner Daisuke Utagawa recalled a wave of emotion washing over him. “I had to run back into the kitchen,” he says.
“It was like your dad saying, ‘Good job,’” agreed chef Katsuya Fukushima, who is helming the kitchen at the ramen spot as well as the upstairs izakaya, which is set to open in the coming weeks. Fukushima came to the project from a fine-dining background—he worked for José Andrés at Cafe Atlantico and Minibar, and his résumé lists stints at Vidalia and Cashion’s Eat Place. Though he was born in Japan, he left the country as a young child and only really reconnected with his native land while traveling along with Utagawa and partners to prepare for Daikaya. Another part of his preparation: spending three weeks cooking alongside the man with the round glasses—ramen master Sakae Ishida, (or “Ishida-san,” as Fukushima calls him, “san” being a designation of respect in Japan). This stage took place inside the Nishiyama noodle factory in Sapporo, Hokkaido, the birthplace of miso ramen, a beloved soup style in Japan. Despite his white-tablecloth pedigree, Fukushima approached the process with humility. “This isn’t rocket science, but it’s real cooking, true cooking,” he said.
Daisuke Utagawa and Eighteenth Street Lounge co-owner Yama Jewayni—the partners debut the ramen portion of Daikaya on Valentine's Day. Photograph by Scott Suchman.
Daikaya—the long-awaited two-level project from Sushiko owner Daisuke Utagawa—will open its first-floor ramen restaurant on February 14. The crew under chef Katsuya Fukushima will start serving up noodle soup at 5 PM on Valentine’s Day, staying open until 11 PM. The restaurant will keep those hours for its first few weeks of existence, eventually expanding once things are running smoothly.
The restaurant—which neighbors Graffiato at 705 Sixth Street, Northwest, in Penn Quarter—will specialize in traditional ramen in the style of the Sapporo region of Japan. It is using noodles from a famous Sapporo factory, Nishiyama, and working with a ramen master from that company, too.
There is no opening date yet for the upstairs izakaya at Daikaya. Utagawa says the focus will be on the ramen shop for now. Further down the road, partners in the projects—18th Street Lounge cofounder Yama Jewayni is among them—will open Kiji Club, a bar inspired by the cocktail lounges of Japan. Kiji Club will occupy a small space at 600 F Street, Northwest.
We will have a lot more info on what to expect at the ramen spot shortly. In the meantime, here’s an article with some more details.
