Inside Woodward Table

Woodward Table’s L-shaped dining room faces the open kitchen. Photograph by Dakota Fine.

Built in 1911, the 11-story Woodward Building served as a grand office space—there’s plenty of beautiful detail like custom tile and marble fixtures—and is close to the White House. Photograph by Dakota Fine.

Woodward Takeout Food features an open bakery, which produces all the breads, pastries, and baked goods for both operations. Photograph by Dakota Fine.

WTF channels an old-school deli, in both the menu (Reubens, Waldorf salad) and the aesthetic. It doesn’t come easy: Between delivery issues with Sandy and the number of letters needed, those retro menus took nearly three weeks and $5,000 to complete. Photograph by Dakota Fine.

Chef-owner Jeffrey Buben greets regulars in Woodward Takeout Food. Though it’s downtown, he promotes a neighborhood vibe, taking special requests from customers and making biscuits for the dogs in the condo building upstairs. Photograph by Dakota Fine.

A mural of the bakery faces the actual working one, which churns out classics like warm cinnamon buns and muffins alongside bacon–chocolate chip cookies and banana-chocolate bread with house-made marshmallow fluff. Photograph by Dakota Fine.

The 75-seat bar contains three styles of seating: quieter booths next to the windows, pub tables, and bar seating, perfect for watching the five televisions built into the wall above. Photograph by Dakota Fine.

The Washington power booths—there are only two in the restaurant—are ultra-cozy semicircles that look out over the open kitchen. Photograph by Dakota Fine.

The Honey Delight cocktail: Buffalo Trace bourbon with honey simple syrup, citrus, and pineapple juice, garnished with pickled pineapple. Photograph by Dakota Fine.

The majority of the menu doesn’t borrow from Vidalia or Bis, but Buben wanted to bring back the old-school swordfish club, a popular order from his days at the Occidental. Thin-cut swordfish is grilled and layered on toasted brioche with bacon, Boston lettuce, and lemon tartare sauce, and served with salted vinegar chips. Photograph by Dakota Fine.

One of the few dishes one the menu at both WTF and in the main dining room: a duck confit flatbread with butternut squash, Manchego cheese, garlic, sage, and Brussels sprouts. Photograph by Dakota Fine.