Spotted (again and again): Angelina Jolie dining at modern Indian restaurant Rasika.
The “Eternals” actor can’t seem to get enough of restaurateur Ashok Bajaj’s tony dining room tucked away in West End—a VIP favorite frequented by the Clintons and Obamas. Her most recent visit on Wednesday night—accompanied by eight guests—was one of many, including a dinner just last month. Representatives of the restaurant say Jolie has visited at least three times in recent memory—which, given her out-of-town Hollywood status, basically makes her a regular.
Jolie is in Washington more than your average mega-star thanks to her humanitarian work with UN refugee services and advocacy for environmental and anti-violence causes. On Wednesday, she was present at the White House as President Biden signed the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. The Academy Award winner has been a vocal proponent of the legislation.
Jolie isn’t exactly living it up when she dines out, according to sources at the restaurant. When she visited in February with six female dining companions, Jolie purportedly sipped mineral water in a downstairs private room and “didn’t eat much.” She sampled two must-try classics from James Beard Award-winning chef Vikram Sunderam: crispy spinach palak chaat and black cod.
Says the source: “She was professionally dressed in black. People didn’t even recognize her.”
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.
