About Pineapple and Pearls
100 Very Best 2017
100 Very Best 2019Changes are afoot at our top-ranked restaurant on last year’s list. For one, the fanciful cocktails that greeted you at the door have been replaced by glasses of sparkling wine. At our recent dinner, the kitchen had traded much of its whimsical dinnerware for simpler plates. And the price—$280 in the dining room, including drink pairings, tax, and tip—is set to rise to $325 come April. What has stayed the same: stellar service and the ability of Aaron Silverman and Scott Muns’s cooking to knock us back with delight. Take the tasting menu’s terrific opening act, masa puffs filled with mole or garlic crema. Or the seafood courses, whether a filet of bass “scaled” with thinly sliced grapes or an abalone panna cotta. One thing is for certain—as Pineapple evolves, we can’t wait to see what Silverman and company pull off next. Very expensive.
Also great: Barely cooked salmon with white-wine sauce; caviar with bone-marrow brioche ($125 supplement); squash-blossom taco; caramel gooseberries.
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.
