Think of this DC restaurant as a supper club on the cheap–a satin-curtained retreat where it’s hard not to indulge in one of the well-made cocktails and where the staff seems to be taking care of you and you only. Chef/owner Matt Cordes’s menu might be a mess–it organizes dishes by their proteins, groups them according to price, and encompasses a UN’s worth of influences–but he and fellow chef Bobby Beard work with precision, so that even the heartiest of shared plates feels like a minor masterpiece.
What to get: Fisherman’s chowder; chicken flatbread; wonton soup; duo of pork (grilled loin and braised shoulder) with apricot polenta; short-rib ravioli; grilled-vegetable gratin; lamb meatballs; chocolate-mousse cake with honey-lavender ice cream.
Open Tuesday through Saturday for dinner, Sunday for brunch and dinner. Expensive.
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.
