Dishes at Ashok Bajaj’s pretty dining room are always elegant, but there’s also a playful side to chef Tony Conte’s food. Take the butternut-squash soup with . . . olives and banana? In Conte’s hands, it works.
On any given night, you might encounter a Secret Service detail hanging around the front door. Patrons who don’t need bodyguards still skew toward the category of power player. A private room is available on one side of the restaurant, while a smaller dining area sits behind a striped curtain.
What to get: A tiny tower of sweetbreads; pastrami-cured kampachi; Peekytoe-crab salad; fig salad with basil and ricotta; tagliatelle with mushrooms and pine shoots; crisp-skinned rockfish; scallops with crab chowder; coconut custard with lemon-lime sherbet; a hazelnut “Twix” bar.
Open Monday through Friday for lunch and dinner, Saturday for 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.
