From January 2005 100 Very Best Restaurants

The Washingtonian often gets letters and e-mails from out-of-towners wanting to know where they're most likely to spot DC celebrities. The answer is easy--lunchtime at the Palm, which seems to be the restaurant of choice for everyone from James Carville on the Democratic side to Bill Bennett on the Republican. Manager Tommy Jacomo swaps jokes with them all.

The Palm is best known for its steaks, particularly the New York strip and the bone-in rib eye, and for its giant lobsters. The sides to order with them are the terrific cottage fries--or half cottage fries and half fried onions--and the fried asparagus. The Palm is less appreciated for the Italian section of its menu, but there's a very good marinara sauce and dependable renditions of standard Italian-American veal dishes, particularly veal parmigiana and veal piccata.