National Landing’s Dining in the Park is the culinary experience the DC area has been craving since the start of the pandemic.
If you don’t yet know DC-based, Venezuelan Chef Enrique Limardo by name, chances are you know Seven Restaurant Group’s establishments by reputation. In less than three years as part of the DC culinary scene, Chef Limardo’s restaurants have attracted the attention of celebrities, politicians, and the elusive Michelin.
“To define my cuisine is fusion—mixing Italian with Middle Eastern food, or South American with Mediterranean,” said Chef Limardo. “It’s quite unique.”
This past December, President Joe Biden dined at Limardo’s Michelin-starred Imperfecto, feasting on lamb moussaka “cigars,” tuna tartare with shishito puree and trout caviar, and other epicurean delights.
Per Washingtonian’s Jessica Sidman, co-owner Ezequiel Vázquez-Ger deemed Biden’s visit “better than a Michelin star.”
But Imperfecto isn’t the only Seven Restaurant Group establishment attracting star power. In April, Bono serenaded Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) for his birthday celebration at Limardo’s Seven Reasons.
Noticing a theme with the number “seven?” It’s not a coincidence.
Chef Limardo’s inspiration behind the names for Seven Reasons and Seven Restaurant Group is the mysticism around the number seven.
“Surreal is going to be a restaurant that [creates] a new atmosphere where the mystic magic and the way that we are going to present the architecture is going to bring something really new to the area,” said Chef Limardo. “It’s going to be completely mind-blowing.”
As the heart of National Landing’s Dining in the Park experience, Surreal embraces the nature that surrounds it, creating a seamless transition between indoors and out.
“The lighting is going…to be similar to clouds floating in the space,” said Chef Limardo. “We are going to integrate nature inside the restaurant.” Additionally, to accommodate those who crave year-round outdoor dining, Surreal’s exterior seating area will adapt to the changing seasons.
Surreal is the anchor of National Landing’s Dining in the Park experience. While sipping and strolling wine before dinner, visitors will have full sightlines of the all-glass restaurant. They will even be able to see into the kitchen from the street.
“I always use the word ‘magic,’ because I believe in magic—something that you cannot touch but you know that it exists,” said Chef Limardo. “That’s something that we’re going to create and it’s going to exist in the near future.”
With construction of Dining in the Park already underway, that magic should arrive in National Landing in the second half of 2023. And it will be Surreal.
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For more information about JBG SMITH’s development of National Landing and Dining in the Park, please visit nl.jbgsmith.com.
