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.