About Hazel
The Atkins Diet may seem like a relic, but restaurant bread service still hasn’t recovered. Not here, where you’ll find gratis baskets of seven-spice rice chips as well as (non-gratis) whimsies such as house-made English muffins with spicy sausage spread and Greek yogurt or zucchini bread with foie gras mousse. The rest of chef Rob Rubba’s menu is a similarly deft mash-up of flavors and influences. An addictive bowl of donburi, the Japanese rice dish, is dressed with Mexican street-corn accents; gnocchi are umami-bombed with kimchee-pork ragu; and garlicky aïoli enriches a Korean-inspired seafood pancake. Rubba’s styling place, done up in dark wood and flowery light fixtures, is a Neighborhood Restaurant Group production, so you can count on the smart beer and cocktail lists that distinguish the empire. Expensive.
Also great: steamed clams with brown-butter/miso broth; sticky-crunchy ribs; duck dinner for two.
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.
