100 Very Best Restaurants 2013: Proof

Cost:

Foie Gras with shortcakes from Proof. The restaurant is making two dishes for the festival. Photograph by Scott Suchman

About Proof

Cost:

cuisines
Modern

Owner Mark Kuller says he conceived of Proof as a sort of
Franken-restaurant, grafting the best traits of his favorite cafes and
wine bars into a single, low-lit space. The clearest sign of its evolution
after five years is that this sly cut-and-paste is now the model that
every new restaurant in town wants to copy.

Can you blame them? Who else does sexiness, soulfulness, and
sophistication like Proof? ¶ You can relax over some of the area’s best
cocktails at the bar. You can come for lunch, where $25 gets you soup and
a sandwich. You can come for cheese, charcuterie, and wine. And you can
indulge in a blowout of multiple courses. (If it’s a special occasion, ask
for table 10 or 20. These corner banquettes are the most
intimate.)

Haidar Karoum’s menu is a hodgepodge of styles—from meatballs
to crispy tofu to foie gras. It works because of his ability to make them
taste like the kitchen produced that item only. Don’t
miss:
Duck-liver mousse; beef-pho terrine; Mediterranean
flatbread; avocado-and-grapefruit salad; gnocchi with lamb Bolognese; foie
gras with cherry shortcake; swordfish with fennel, olives, and tomato
confit; crispy Pekin duck breast; sticky-toffee-pudding cake; cookie
plate.

Open: Tuesday through Friday for lunch and dinner,
Saturday through Monday for dinner.
Expensive.

100 Very Best Restaurants 2013


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.