100 Very Best Restaurants 2015: No. 36 Baby Wale

Photograph by Scott Suchman

About Baby Wale

cuisines
American

The pairing is delightful, completely unexpected, oddly enthralling. No, not a wine and a main course. And not a combination on the plate, either. We’re talking about the mix-and-match of Chuck Brown—the Godfather of Go-Go, DC’s homegrown funk—on the sound system, and Tom Power, the classically trained chef, in the kitchen.

This is fusion we can believe in.

Come for a full meal if you must, but it’s best to think of this coolly sophisticated spot as a place for pre- or post-show noshing. Either way, you’ll want to spend time with one of Power’s gorgeous soups, luxuriate in his conscientious shopping (in warmer months, a perfect heirloom-tomato plate), and linger with a good glass of wine (the man’s a Burgundy hound) over his faux rib eye—the best steak you’ll find in the area for less than $30.

Don’t miss:

  • Filipino-style spring rolls
  • Mushroom pizza
  • New Jersey hot dog
  • Roast chicken for two
  • Chocolate WhistlePig custard
  • Cookie dim sum


Ann Limpert
Executive Food Editor/Critic

Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.

Food Editor

Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.