100 Very Best Restaurants: #7 – Elle

Pastry chef Lizzy Evelyn's layer cakes at Elle. Photograph by Scott Suchman

About Elle

Location(s)
3221 Mt Pleasant St NW
Washington, DC 20010

Every neighborhood should have an Elle. It’s easy to have an all-day love affair with the 1920s-era space and its bakery/restaurant/bar—whether you’re claiming a sunny nook with a guava pastry in the morning, tucking into a pork-rillettes sandwich at lunch, or booking a date night for dreamy jasmine cocktails. Ex–Blue Duck Tavern chef Brad Deboy’s creative touch goes well beyond the average corner spot—think grilled kimchee-and-labneh toast or a cauliflower “taco salad” with white mole. Comforting plates such as pork schnitzel heaped with a tangy salad and gribicheis the kind of cooking that breeds regulars. Inexpensive to moderate.


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.