Former Ashby Inn & Restaurant chef Tarver King mixes avant-garde techniques with a dedication to local and seasonal bounties at this bucolic greenhouse dining room and organic farm in Loudoun County. The result: artistic, modern plates that aren’t overwhelmed with molecular trickery and that taste true to their roots. It’s tempting to fill up on the fresh bread and butter with hay-smoked salt, but save room for dishes sourced near and slightly farther away, such as chestnut soup served alongside a smoking birch leaf or stuffed rabbit loin and maitake mushrooms under a blanket of buttermilk emulsion. Knowledgeable servers are friendly guides for the menu and wines. On Thursday nights, an à la carte menu is offered; on Friday and Saturday it’s a $78 prix fixe; Sunday (twice a month) it’s a $55 prix fixe family-style dinner.
Open: Thursday and Friday for dinner, Saturday for brunch and dinner, Sunday for brunch and, twice a month, dinner.
Don’t Miss: Greenhouse salad, with speck and pecorino; deconstructed “fish pie”; toasted milk pot de crème; charred cheddar with onion marmalade.
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.
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
