100 Very Best 2014
100 Very Best 2019Inside José Andrés’s sur-realist hideaway, pizza is nearly as thin as air and basil froth is eaten with spoons made of Parmesan. It’s a wild trip—a celebration of both art and science—that takes place around a kitchen-facing bar and will cost you roughly 500 bucks a person. If you’ve taken it before, you’ll recognize some of the twists and turns (such as “dragon’s breath,” a meringue dipped in liquid nitrogen that causes smoke to billow from your nose). Still, head chef Josh Hermias has some excellent new dishes up his sleeve—super-sweet Dungeness crab sided with green capsules that taste like broccoli-and-cheddar soup, or snail caviar in rabbit sauce (the creation is dubbed Fast and Slow—get it?). Very expensive.
Also great: Uni toast; Scottish langoustine; fried doughnut.
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.
