Food

100 Best Restaurants 2012: Marcel’s

No. 9

Amuse Bouche- Salmon tartare with yuzu and black sesame (in spoons) and smoked salmon and potato blini Napoleon with creme fraiche and trout roe. Photograph by Scott Suchman

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Robert Wiedmaier may have gone rustic-casual at his other ventures–Brabo, Brasserie Beck, and Mussel Bar–but this quietly elegant dining room is where he struts his classical French training.

The Kennedy Center-bound show up early, then the place clears out for romantic tête-à-têtes and celebratory groups who bask in the unobtrusive yet on-point service. Also appealing: the create-your-own four-to-seven-course meal, which includes amuse-bouches and other extras, plus a wine list that’s inspired and mostly French.

What to get: Chestnut-and-foie-gras soup; shrimp with corn blinis; boudin blanc with truffle sauce and truffled potato purée; melted Montboissie cheese over toasted pecan-raisin bread; Mission-fig-and-almond tart with Armagnac-spiked caramel sauce.

Open daily for dinner. Very expensive.

Ann Limpert
Executive Food Editor/Critic

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.