100 Very Best Restaurants: #26 – St. Anselm

The grilled monster prawn at St. Anselm. Photograph by Scott Suchman

About St. Anselm

cuisines
American, Steaks
Location(s)
1250 5th St NE
Washington, DC 20002

Think of this Brooklyn transplant near Union Market as the punk-rock version of a steakhouse. (It’s not hard, once you see the servers in concert tees and hear Richard Hell on the speakers.) The star cut is the so-called axe-handle rib eye, a table share that’s all hulking bone and savory meat. Longtime DC chef Marjorie Meek-Bradley oversees the kitchen, and as at her former place, Ripple, you’ll want to go for anything lamb, whether in a tartare or merguez sausage. Still, it’s the seafood here we love most—the salmon collar will change any ho-hum perceptions of the fish, and the giant prawn is as sweet as lobster. You’ll likely be stuffed—get the ice-cream cake anyway. Expensive.


Ann Limpert
Executive Food Editor/Critic

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.

Food Editor

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
Food Editor

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.