DC’s Summer Restaurant Week is almost here—it runs from Monday, August 12 to Sunday, August 18. And while the promotion has expanded quite a bit from its $35-dinner roots (evening menus now range from $40 to $65 and often have mandatory service fees), it is a good chance to check out a new spot that’s been on your radar. Especially during lunch and brunch, where menus run from $25 to $35.
Bar Japonais
1520 14th St., NW
In June, this sleek French/Japanese izakaya took over Logan Circle’s long vacant Estadio space. The chic, spare dining room is serving a $55 four-course dinner, with various sashimi offerings and salads to start, entrees like chicken katsu or a teriyaki bavette steak and, for dessert, chocolate mousse or ginger creme brûlée.
Casa Teresa
919 19th St., NW
Ruben Garcia’s traditional Spanish restaurant inside the Square food hall excels with family-style feasts. And that’s what Restaurant Week diners will get for its $65-per-person dinner. Pass around hits like DIY tomato bread, creamy croquetas, and gazpacho before digging into grilled fish or Iberico pork. Wine pairings are $35 more.
Cucina Morini
901 Fourth St., NW
This rollicking Mount Vernon Triangle dining room highlights Sicilian fare, courtesy of Caruso’s Grocery chef Matt Adler. At dinner, $40 per person, that means choices like burrata with caponata; spaghetti with mussels and saffron; and seared Arctic char with roasted fennel. At its $25 three-course brunch, you get “something light” (smoked salmon with chili crema; Caprese salad) and “something hearty” (truffled prosciutto omelet; ricotta pancakes). Finish with house-baked custard- and jam-filled pastries or a round of bomboloni. Always included in our plan here, no matter the occasion: the herb-scented house martini.
Hiraya
1250 H St., NE
Paolo Dungca’s hit Filipino restaurant is split into a downstairs cafe and upstairs dining room. In the more casual area, a $25 brunch menu features an entree (such as calamansi/ricotta toast or garlicky, sausage-topped rice bowls), a non-alcoholic drink, and a pastry. Upstairs, Dungca gets creative with a $65 (plus 22 percent service charge) dinner menu, featuring dishes like banana-leaf-wrapped cod with kale and caramelized coconut, corn ravioli with curry emulsion, and a ribeye with “adobordelaise.”
Mita
804 V St., NW
Curious about this plant-based Latin tasting room in Shaw? During Restaurant Week, it will offer a $65 three course prix fixe menu (plus four percent surcharge)—slightly less than its typical $75 four-courser. The menu includes plantain ceviche with mango and pumpkin seeds; a take on hallaca, a traditional, tamale-like Venezuelan dish; and a dessert with po’e cake—a pudding served on Easter Island—with coconut ice cream and miso/pineapple jam. You can add on a round of arepas for $21 (and you should).
Moon Rabbit
927 F St., NW
Kevin Tien’s revamped mod-Vietnamese restaurant—now in Penn Quarter—is one of the most exciting newcomers of the year. It’s $65 dinner menu (plus 22 percent service fee) starts with Parker house rolls, then offers choices like smoked-trout rillettes with wonton crackers, a flatiron steak with marinated tomatoes and beef-fat toast, and shaved ice topped with summer melons and condensed-milk foam.
Namak
1813 Columbia Rd., NW
Adams Morgan’s pretty Mediterranean/Middle Eastern dining room is offering a $45 (plus 20 percent service fee) three-course dinner. Among the many vegetarian-friendly starters, we gravitate toward an herb-packed olive salad, silky hummus or eggplant dip, and zucchini fritters with garlicky yogurt. Larger plates are mostly kebabs, save for a roasted cauliflower with turmeric and tahini.
Ometeo
1640 Capital One Dr., N. Tysons
This sprawling Tex-Mex place on the Capital One campus brings on the specials: besides $40 and $55 dinner menus, and $35 lunches and brunches, there are discounted margs (guava, spicy, and lime), plus wine deals. We’d go for the heaping fajita platter for two, plus a vibrant seafood cocktail or tuna aguachile.
Pastis
1323 Fourth St., NE
Our favorite dish at the bustling Union Market outpost of the New York brasserie is the spaghetti al limone with bottarga—and you’ll find it on each of the place’s RW menus: $35 lunch and brunch, and $55 dinner. The burger, escargots, and scallop crudo are pretty tasty, too.
Seven Reasons
931 H St., NW
Enrique Limardo’s mod-Latin dining room, which moved from 14th Street to CityCenterDC last year, is taking part in Restaurant Week for the first time. Options on the $35 lunch roster include ceviche with crispy quinoa, tuna carpaccio with aji amarillo and Comte cheese, and a smashburger with pineapple-and-prune mayo. At night, the $65 menu features Limardo’s riff on a beet salad and halibut with jalapeño syrup and coconut green curry.
Shilling Canning Company
360 Water St., SE
This locavore-chic Navy Yard dining room isn’t new—but it just made a pretty seismic kitchen hire: former Minibar head chef Sarah Ravitz. The $65 (plus 22 percent service fee) dinner menu shows off late summer ingredients in a tomato, charred eggplant, and zucchini tempura salad, or a dish of squash blossoms with whipped ricotta. Mains include duck with foie gras dirty rice, and wood-fired rockfish with carrot consommé (tack on a wine pairing for $40). The $35 brunch menu offers a pastry, cocktail, and main course. And a $25 lunch draws from Ampersandwich, the place’s lunchtime offshoot. Choose any sandwich and get fries, dessert, and a soda or water.
Street Pizza
507 Seventh St., NW
Gordon Ramsay’s two-level Penn Quarter pizzeria (the first stateside location of the concept) is doing a $35 lunch promotion. Choose a sourdough pie—with toppings like spicy chorizo, creamy Mumbo sauce and fried chicken, or carbonara-inspired bacon and peas—and you’ll also get a Caesar salad or round of cheese-and-chicken-topped fries, plus soft serve.
Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
