Only the top 40 restaurants were ranked in 2011's Best Restaurants list.
This cozy Capitol Hill restaurant, a dead ringer for a Parisian bistro, is unapologetically untrendy: Tomato gazpacho is served in winter, braised rabbit in summer. Like its European counterparts, the kitchen puts out very good food for great value: You could make a meal out of a $9 bowl of steamed mussels with white-wine broth.
The decor features butter-yellow walls, Le Chat Noir–style posters, and pine tables and chairs. The place is exactly what it wants to be: a neighborhood restaurant as nice for an intimate date as it is for an animated group of friends.
Also good: Puréed eggplant with olives, pine nuts, and raw shallots; hanger steak with sautéed potatoes and red-wine sauce; cod in a broth with tomatoes, leeks, and chorizo; lemon and berry tarts; floating island.
Open Tuesday through Friday for lunch and dinner, Saturday and Sunday for brunch and dinner. Moderate.
>> See all of 2011's 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.
