100 Very Best Restaurants: #17 – Gravitas

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With a new Michelin star on his résumé, chef Matt Baker puts on one of the city’s more vibrant tasting-menu experiences from his warehouse-chic Ivy City restaurant. It’s comparatively generous, too, with five courses starting at $98. We feasted on inventive plates such as tuna sashimi with black-vinegar aïoli; lobster poached in curry-carrot butter; and adobo-marinated duck with charred pineapple. (For dessert: Turkish breakfast.) A pricier chef’s counter leans more heavily on luxury ingredients. We’d instead splurge on pre-dinner cocktails in the atmospheric rooftop observatory bar. Very expensive.