About The Dabney
100 Very Best 2016
100 Very Best 2019There aren’t many cozier places in DC than this restaurant. A ten-foot-long hearth sits at the center of the open kitchen, its flames visible from nearly every spindle-backed chair in the dining room. Fire is the key ingredient to many of Jeremiah Langhorne’s best Southern-accented sharing plates. A light char—and a bath of foie gras hollandaise—transforms lowly cabbage into something luxurious. Sweet potatoes, which turn custardy when roasted in the embers, are hit with lime juice and benne seeds (like sesame but nuttier). Then there’s the fried stuff—Langhorne’s version of sugar toads, a forgotten Chesapeake pufferfish that he chicken-fries and serves with hot honey, is the bar snack of our dreams. Expensive.
Also great: Hushpuppies; potato-confit salad; chicken and dumplings; butterscotch pie.
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.
Jessica Sidman covers the people and trends behind D.C.’s food and drink scene. Before joining Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Food Editor and Young & Hungry columnist at Washington City Paper. She is a Colorado native and University of Pennsylvania grad.
Kristen Hinman has been editing Washingtonian’s features since 2014. She joined the magazine after editing politics & policy coverage for Bloomberg Businessweek and working as a staff writer for Voice Media Group/Riverfront Times.
