It’s one thing to be clever; it’s another to be clever and delicious. The “chicken and waffles” at this wine-and-small-plates cafe is both. The poultry is a perfectly fried quail, flanked by two thin waffles atop a marvelous caramel-bacon sauce. This is simple and precisely rendered food, from a gorgeous watercress-potato soup to a sublime croque monsieur. The well-chosen wines, including a few from Virginia, are available in half pours, full glasses, and flights as well as by the bottle. If there’s a drawback, it’s the long waits caused by the small space.
This appeared in the July, 2009 issue of The Washingtonian.
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.
