100 Very Best Restaurants: #29 – Le Diplomate

Warm Shrimp Salad

About Le Diplomate

cuisines
French
Location(s)
1601 14th St NW
Washington, District of Columbia 20009-4306

Few things have changed since Stephen Starr’s bistro opened in 2013. The best tables are still the red leather banquettes that ring the dining room. Reservations remain tough. And the place continues to pull off several feats, from well-balanced cocktails to a great brunch to standard-setting house-baked breads and baguettes. The menu is straightforward and French, with footballs of foie gras parfait, bountiful shellfish towers, and a lovely skate with beurre noisette. Still, if we had to pick one burger to eat for the rest of our lives, it’d be the all-American double patty here. Expensive.