Cuisine: Of all the restaurants in Jeff and Barbara Black’s local empire, this fishhouse is the most polished and most expensive. But the premise is wonderfully simple: an ever-changing roster of often rustic dishes built around well-sourced seafood and fish, from Maryland rockfish to Japanese hamachi.
Mood: A tidy fish market fronts the restaurant: A stainless-steel-accented bar/cafe is the casual counterpart to the bistro next to the glass-walled kitchen in back. The spaces share tight quarters, a menu, and—when the place is full—lots of energy.
Best for: Seafood lovers who don’t want precious preparations of raw fish.
Best dishes: Sweet Nantucket bay scallops atop a zesty puttanesca; a many-splendored salad of bitter escarole, sweet candied almonds, salty bacon, and tart apples; creamy chowder with crisp fried clams; steamed mussels with chorizo and tomato sauce; tart Key-lime pie; butterscotch pudding with a Scotch milkshake.
Insider tips: You can easily make a meal from a couple of happy-hour-menu small plates and $5 Champagne cocktails, available daily from 4 to 7 in the bar and cafe. You can order one of pastry chef Susan Wallace’s seasonal fruit streusels from the market up front.
Service: ••
Open Monday through Saturday for lunch and dinner, Sunday for brunch and dinner. Expensive.
See all of 2010's 100 Best Restaurants
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.
