UPDATE: Like this guide? Then you'll want to check out our-brand new late night eats dining guide. It lists all the spots that are 24 hours or open late for dining throughout the region.
Transplanted New Yorkers are always complaining about DC’s lack of late-night dining options. I’m a native Washingtonian, and I have to agree: The multiple neon-lit pizza operations in Adams Morgan often seem like the only choices for a bite in the wee hours. Even 24-hour greasy-spoon diners are few and far between around here.
Lucky for us, two upscale restaurants have recently unveiled after-hours menus of tasty and civilized food. Just up the street from the land of the jumbo slice, Cashion’s Eat Place is serving late-night fare at the bar from midnight to 2 AM on Fridays and Saturdays. Sam Whittington—a line cook and six-year Cashion’s vet—stays late to cook up plates such as shaved Wolf Neck Farms beef rib eye with onion rings; wild-mushroom risotto; and Thai curry with chicken, shrimp, and basmati rice. There are also smaller dishes such as baby-arugula salad, Serrano ham with dates, and $3.95 pork carnitas. The changing roster of choices ranges from $10 to $14.
If you find yourself in Penn Quarter, starving after a show at the Verizon Center or Shakespeare Theatre, head to Proof. The wine-centric restaurant just launched a late-night menu available in the bar/lounge Thursday through Saturday from 11 PM to 1 AM. Chef Haidar Karoum’s comfort food includes eggs scrambled with foie gras and served on truffle-buttered brioche as well as a Philly cheesesteak gone-glam with Wagyu beef, provolone, and jalapeño mayo. The half dozen dishes are $9 to $13. Cheeses, charcuterie, and the entire 1,000-bottle wine list are also available.
In the same neighborhood, the pizza-and-burger spot Matchbox has an extensive late menu on weekends from 11:30 PM to 1 AM. It offers its signature mini-burgers in orders of three, six, or nine as well as a dozen designer pizzas and a handful of salads. As always, you can create your own pizza, and those crazy-long waits for a table ease way off after dinner hours.
Where are your go-to late night dining spots? Let us know in the comments.
Cashion’s Eat Place, 1819 Columbia Rd., NW; 202-797-1819; cashionseatplace.com.
Proof, 775 G St., NW: 202-737-7663; proofdc.com.
Matchbox, 713 H St., NW; 202-289-4441; matchboxdc.com.
For more posts on dining, Washington restaurant news, and more, click here.
