100 Very Best 2017
100 Very Best 2019Washington—especially Georgetown—was once dominated by French restaurants. Dining at Chez Billy Sud, we understand the allure. The elegant, pale-green room with gilded mirrors is as lovely for a working lunch as it is for a date-night dinner. (In warm weather, the lamplit courtyard is our pick.) Chef Brendan L’Etoile winningly revives Gallic classics such as red-wine-poached duck eggs with mushrooms and lardons, Burgundy snails tucked into puff pastry, and trout grenobloise. We’re equally enchanted by Bar à Vin, the sister wine bar across the patio—its wood-burning fireplace is the perfect place to start the evening with an aperitif. Expensive.
Also Great: Smoked-bluefish rillettes; onion soup; duck confit with pommes rösti and mushrooms; beef cheek bourguignon.
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.
