Restaurant Week, which runs through Sunday, August 18, is a prime time to check out the city’s tasting menu destinations and special-occasion dining rooms. Plus, the deals tend to be solid. (A $25 lunch at Del Mar?! Yes, please.)
1789
1226 36th St., NW
One of DC’s coolest throwback restaurant spaces is this Georgetown dining room, which has been around for over 60 years. Its modern American Restaurant Week menu ($65 per person) offers lots of choices with not many upcharges: Wagyu tartare with black-garlic aïoli; a Southeast Asian-style take on New Bedford scallops; roast duck breast with pickled gooseberries; and baked Alaska.
2941
2941 Fairview Park Dr., Falls Church
Step over the koi pond and enter this soaring, glassy dining room overseen by longtime chef Bertrand Chemel. His $65 dinner menu features summery dishes like an heirloom-tomato tart with smoked goat cheese; hamachi crudo with pickled ramps; risotto with blue crab, calamari, and shrimp; and a blackberry éclair.
Annabelle
2132 Florida Ave., NW
Veteran fine-dining chef Frank Ruta (Palena; Mirabelle; the White House) minds the details at this pretty Dupont dining room. We never say no to one of Ruta’s soups, which during Restaurant Week involves chilled Athena melon with cucumber, watermelon, and almonds. Other highlights of the $65 menu: crispy soft-shell crab with n’duja vinaigrette; grilled mammoth prawns with purple potatoes; sweet-corn ravioli with lemon brown butter; and an Aperol-spritz float.
Bar Spero
250 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Johnny Spero’s cool, Basque-inspired dining room in the Capital Crossing development is putting out a $65 dinner menu. Starters are a choice between shaved ham with potato chips or a tortilla espanola. Entrées—arroz con pollo, a porcini-and-onion-rubbed rib eye, or mushroom rice—are meant to be shared. For dessert, there’s strawberry granita with charcoal marshmallow or torrijas (Spanish-style French toast) with tonka-bean ice cream. Add on a wine pairing for $49 or a nonalcoholic pairing for $39.
Bresca
1906 14th St., NW
It’s Restaurant Month over at Ryan Ratino’s whimsical dining room on 14th Street, which is offering a $65 three-course menu and a $95 five-course menu now through September 1. Menus may change by the week, but current dishes include heirloom tomatoes with plum, feta, and granola; diver scallop with sabayon; and the brioche-stuffed chicken Ratino’s kitchen has become known for.
Cranes
724 Ninth St., NW
Pepe Moncayo’s Penn Quarter dining room brings together Spanish and Japanese flavors. For example, his $35 lunch menu offers bento-style tastes of shrimp escabeche, chicken katsu, and corn-and-quinoa salad, among other dishes. A $65 four-course dinner option showcases king salmon tataki, lamb with squash blossoms, and more. Wine pairings are $35 extra.
Del Mar
791 Wharf St., SW
Fabio Trabocchi’s glam Spanish dining room at the Wharf is offering one of the better lunch deals we’ve seen: three courses for $25. Go for a peach-and-hazelnut salad with queso fresco; sea-bass tartare with yuzu and almonds; a veggie paella for two; and churros or a rocky-road sundae. There’s a $35 brunch and $65 dinner option, too.
El Cielo
1280 Fourth St., NE
Not ready to shell out for one of the usual tasting menus (which start at $178) at this inventive Colombian dining room near Union Market? Get a taste of the place via its $65 Restaurant Week menu, with options like quail with sticky rice, yuca gnocchi with plantains; and the Tree of Life, one of the highlights of the regular dinner menu.
Fiola Mare
3050 K St., NW
This sceney Georgetown seafood room sits right on the Potomac. Grab a table with a view and check out a $25 weekday lunch menu and $65 dinner menu—the latter is where you’ll find peach gazpacho with lobster, Mediterranean dorade with tomato confit and wine brodetto, and an apricot-and-nectarine crostata with goat cheese.
Gravitas
1401 Okie St., NE
A three-course dinner prix fixe at this Ivy City tasting room—which usually goes for $95—is available for $65 through August 25. Chef Matt Baker is also offering a longer five-course tasting menu for $98, with offerings like poached sockeye salmon and roasted scallops.
Mita
804 V St., NW
Curious about this plant-based Latin tasting room in Shaw? During Restaurant Week, it will offer a $65 dinner menu, which is slightly less than its typical $75 four-courser. The menu includes plantain ceviche with mango and pumpkin seeds, and a take on hallaca, a traditional, tamale-like Venezuelan dish. 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. Its $65 dinner menu 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 melon and condensed-milk foam.
Seven Reasons
931 H St., NW
Enrique Limardo’s Latin dining room, which moved from 14th Street to CityCenterDC last year, is taking part in Restaurant Week for the first time. There’s a more casual $35 lunch menu, while a $65 dinner version features halibut with jalapeño syrup and coconut green curry; guava cheesecake; and more.
Xiquet
2404 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Danny Lledo’s Spanish special-occasion spot in Glover Park is shortening its usual tasting menu to a $65 Restaurant Week version. Among the dishes: house-aged tuna loin with asparagus and egg-yolk gel; hamachi and tuna belly with Serrano peppers, apple, and ash oil; and a paella with guinea fowl and rabbit. You can add on the kitchen’s signature Ibérico pork Wellington for $35, and wine pairings start at $45.
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.
