The Brixton’s open-air roof deck is open for your boozing pleasure. Photograph by Jeff Martin.
It finally feels like spring, with a weekend forecast of sun and temps in the 60s and 70s. Even if the weather is a little erratic, you’ll want to post up on the nearest patio while the mild temperatures last. Whether you’re looking to catch some rays or huddle under heat lamps in the chilly evenings, there are plenty of al fresco spots to get an early start on outdoor partying.
The expansive beer garden of this H Street spot is open year-round— it’s partially covered and lined with heat lamps—but sunny days are the best time to grab a seat at one of the long, communal tables and drink a few supersize German beers.
Specials: Monday through Friday from 4 to 7, you’ll find brews—including Paulaner Pils—plus select glasses of wine and currywurst sausages, all discounted to $5.
One of DC’s best open-air roof decks is open and ready for outdoor drinkers. Order a shandy and catch a few rays before the crowds descend this summer.
Specials: Monday through Friday from 5 to 7, three varieties of drafts are $5 and rail drinks and house red and white wines are $6. Sunday brings a late-night happy hour and a shot-and-beer combo for $8.
The weather finally feels right for sitting by the water with a margarita at this Southwest Waterfront spot, even though the deck has been open since early March. You can also catch a great view of the cherry blossom fireworks on Saturday, April 6.
Specials: Daily deals include $4.50 Blue Moons on Friday and $5 Yuengling pints on Saturday.
Patios at both the Del Ray and Shirlington locations of Jill Erber’s cheese shop/restaurant are open, so you can sip wine and nibble fromage al fresco.
Specials: Find $2 off wines and beers and $4 off cheese boards weekdays from 3 to 6.
This neighborhood Petworth bar already boasts a huge outdoor patio armed with picnic tables and bar seating, and construction is now complete on the new al fresco service bar.
Specials: You can get two-for-one anything (yes, anything) from behind the bar on Monday through Saturday from 5 to 9 PM. Test your capacity for mimosas and bloody Marys during the bottomless brunch on weekends.
The newest addition to the Clarendon scene boasts communal tables on a small outdoor patio, perfect for taking down steins of German and Belgian beer alongside brats and mussels.
Specials: Happy hour starts next week with specials like 17-ounce Erdinger beers and pints of Ommegang for $5.
The bar at Daikaya Izakaya, set to debut soon in Penn Quarter. Photographs by Jeff Elkins.
Update: Daikaya Izakaya is now open.
The Chinatown ramen shop Daikaya has only been open a few weeks, but already it’s attracting hourlong waits and even one gentleman who traveled across the world to slurp a bowl of noodles from chef Katsuya Fukushima. Now the project—which Fukushima and fellow co-owners Daisuke Utagawa and Yama Jewayni literally built from the ground up over the course of several years—is nearly complete with the imminent debut of a 90-seat izakaya above the sidewalk-level eatery. True to the izakaya concept in Japan, the space operates as both a bar and a restaurant—though you can get anything from a light snack to a full meal (here’s the menu)—with the intention of becoming a neighborhood gathering place. Here are five things to look for at the new spot, set to debut in the coming days (we’ll keep you posted).
Photograph via Shutterstock.
When attending a Passover Seder, we like the idea of bringing a kosher wine to the party so our kosher-keeping friends can partake. However, by reputation many kosher wines aren’t among the tastiest. To help us find some good options, we hit up the obliging Michael Dumas, a serious vino geek to whom this blogger regularly turns for excellent value-driven bottle selections. Dumas can be found assisting customers at Cleveland Park Wines, a neighborhood wine shop that stocks a lot of good cocktail stuff, too—Dolin vermouth, Fever-Tree tonics, Scrappy’s Bitters, and the like.
Here are Dumas’s choices for kosher bottles. Handily, he also offers advice on which wines pair well with traditional Passover dishes such as maror (bitter herbs), charoset (apple-walnut relish), karpas (green leafy vegetables), beitzah (hardboiled egg), and zeroah (roasted lamb shanks).
The big value:
“There is a good, inexpensive brand from Chile—Terra Vega—that is kosher. Terra Vega has a whole line of affordable Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Carménère that sell for $8.99 each. Out of those, my favorite is the Sauvignon Blanc; it has good acidity, good minerality, and a nice fruity mid-palate followed by a slightly spicy, clean, crisp finish perfect for cheeses, grilled chicken, or fish and light salads. Out of the red, I like the Carménère—a light body red wine with nice dark-berry aromas, soft tannins, and a spicy finish that is easy to pair with a variety of foods and is really good with roasted lamb dishes.”
Halibut crusted with bitter herbs is one of the modern takes on traditional Passover foods at DGS Delicatessen. Photograph courtesy of DGS.
Let’s face it: Not everyone has time to whip up a full Seder dinner for their ten closest relatives. Thankfully, a number of Washington restaurants and markets put together menus for the holiday, offering everything from a traditional multi-course meal to Manischewitz sangria at the bar.
In keeping with the new-wave deli theme (cocktails! House-made everything!), the Dupont restaurant offers a modern Seder menu. Grab friends, a date, or your bubba for house-made matzo soup with bone marrow, bitter-herb-crusted halibut, braised lamb, and an assortment of interesting beverage pairings (never started Seder with sherry? Now you can).
Details: Monday, March 25, through Sunday, March 31; $40 per person, with a $20 pairing option.
Get slow and low on the go at Smoke BBQ Bethesda. Photograph by Andrew Propp.
You’ve been to Potbelly a billion times, and the cashier at Pret A Manger greets you by name. Sound familiar? Lunchtime go-tos are nothing to be ashamed of (the above describes this writer’s midday habits perfectly), but it’s nice to mix it up once in a while. Whether you’re looking for a quick grab to take back to your desk or a meal to linger over, we have eight new lunches for you to try.
All of the sandwiches are available in half and whole portions at this lower Dupont family-operated eatery, which is a good thing: Halves of an Italian hoagie or braised beef brisket sandwich are as large as most restaurant’s wholes, and full-size means a feast (or leftovers). A variety of salads, pizzas, and soups round out the menu, as do a selection of seasonal pickles.
You’ll find truffles with exotic flavors at Fleurir Hand Grown Chocolates. Photograph by Erik Uecke.
Don’t be that Valentine. You know, the one who rushes to the pharmacy at 5:30 on February 14, desperately hoping there’s a heart-shaped box of something left on the shelves. It’s not a good look. Instead, head (early-ish) to one of these chocolate shops around town and pick up some sweets as special as your special someone.
Serbian spot Ambar on Barracks Row is just one of many places offering a special Valentine’s Day menu. Photograph by Jeff Elkins.
Want to celebrate Valentine’s Day with a nice dinner? We’ve rounded up spots around town offering special menus, romantically themed cocktails, and more treats to show that special someone you care enough to feed them.
Free Ben & Jerry’s ice cream? Yes, please. Photograph courtesy of Flickr user Dougtone.
Sure, free cone day is a fantastic Ben & Jerry’s tradition. But the altruistic ice cream company has been going above and beyond in the District, starting with gratis frozen yogurt delivered to area offices. Now Vermont's finest plans to dispense a thousand free scoops at Union Station’s Main Hall on Friday, February 1, starting at noon.
In addition to the joy that is free ice cream, Washingtonians will also be among the first to try a new mystery flavor that commemorates the series finale of NBC's 30 Rock the night before. Company cofounder Jerry Greenfield will make the big reveal in Manhattan at a finale party near Rockefeller Center, and we can only guess what madness will be packed into the new pints. Citrusy, candy-studded Liz Lemon(head)? Some paper-like substance based on the Japanese porn star diet? Meatcat? Leave your ideas in the comments.
The new flavor will be available in area scoop shops and grocery stores in February.
Mintwood Place is just one of many Restaurant Week participants that is also featured on 2013’s 100 Very Best Restaurants list. Photograph by Scott Suchman.
For the full list and updated reviews of the 2013 100 Very Best Restaurants in Washington, you’ll need to pick up a copy of our February issue. But since Restaurant Week is right around the corner, we figured you might want to know which participants made the cut. The following restaurants appear on both lists. Deals last from February 4 through 10. Unless noted, each restaurant will feature a three-course lunch or dinner (or lunch and dinner) for $20.13 at lunch and $35.13 at dinner. If you want to go, make your reservations now, and don’t forget to tip generously.
Alain Ducasse’s refined restaurant in the St. Regis hotel—which made our top ten this year—is offering a lunch menu for Restaurant Week, featuring dishes like cauliflower velouté, seared Chesapeake rockfish, and a tian of shortbread, mousse, and marmalade.
The New Mexico Avenue trattoria hasn’t posted its RW lunch and dinner menus yet, but
don’t miss the chance to try
Roberto Donna’s homey pastas. Update: the restaurant writes to say it will offer the full menu for RW.
This Cleveland Park mainstay has yet to post its RW dinner menu, but hope for dishes such as rabbit Bolognese, mini open-face steak-and-potato sandwiches, and chicken soup with green chili.
The ladies swoon for chef Nick Stefanelli, who cooks up some soulful-but-elegant Italian food in this dark-lit spot on New York Avenue. It’s doing lunch and dinner during Restaurant Week—no menus yet, but look out for hand-rolled pastas and creative desserts.
Again, no menu yet. But you can count on chef Kyle Bailey and his pastry chef wife, Tiffany MacIsaac, to treat you right. If you’re watching your carbs, forget it—B&B’s bread basket is out of this world. Good luck with reservations; this tiny 14th Street restaurant is bound to fill up fast.
Head to Jeffrey Buben’s E Street spot for lunch or dinner during Restaurant Week for French bistro classics like salmon Normande, coq au vin, and blanquette de veau.
Jeff Black’s Palisades favorite will offer lunch during Restaurant Week—the menu is TBD, but you can count on super-fresh seafood.
The good life? Photograph courtesy of Shutterstock.
Restaurant critic. It’s a pretty sweet gig if you can get it—evenings spent dining on the company dime, days spent rhapsodizing about vichyssoise and vitello tonnato. In a corporate climate of cutbacks and slashed expense accounts, eating for a living seems like the cushiest job ever—especially when you consider all those wired-in foodies ready to Yelp their meals for free.
So, could you do that? To find out, we talked to five very good critics, including San Francisco-based Jonathan Kauffman, who recently relinquished his long-time anonymity to take a post at Tasting Table, and The Washingtonian’s own Ann Limpert, who once recorded a three-hour meal to ensure she got all the dishes just right. Read on to learn about the realities of life as a pro diner.
