One of Washington’s A-list dining destinations is ready to reopen. Minibar, José Andrés’s two-Michelin-star tasting room in Penn Quarter, has been closed for over a year-and-a-half since the start of the pandemic. It will reopen on Thursday, October 14. Online ticket sales are currently live on Tock through November for the $295 per person tasting (excluding tax, beverage, and gratuity), plus optional $195 beverage pairings—the same price as when it closed.
Andrés was among the first high-profile restaurateurs to shutter his businesses in DC and NYC at the beginning of the pandemic, letting his dining rooms go dark on March 15 and transforming many into takeout-only “community kitchens” with affordable meals. ThinkFoodGroup has since reopened most of its DC-area restaurants (save for Jaleo Crystal City) for regular dining, including Minibar’s adjoining cocktail destination, Barmini, which has run pop-ups of Minibar’s throwback menus. The hospitality group is also on the forefront of requiring proof of vaccination at all of its ventures for all indoor diners over 12 years old.
When it reopens, Minibar will rejoin Jônt on the short list of DC restaurants with two Michelin stars that have reopened (perhaps for a short time, as Aaron Silverman’s Pineapple & Pearls recently teased an encore). But Minibar is no longer the priciest. Logan Circle newcomer Jônt’s regular tasting clocks in at $305 per person—not to mention a special $695 “white truffle experience”—while Minibar remains a lowly $295.
Stay tuned for more details on the reopening.
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.
