Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington’s Winter Restaurant Week—running from Monday, January 27 to Sunday, February 2—is a good opportunity to check out a new restaurant. But it’s also a chance to reacquaint yourself with a DC classic. Here’s where to find $25 to $35 lunch and brunch menus, and $40 to $65 dinner menus, with a side of local history.
1789
1226 36th St., NW

Georgetown’s elegant 1789 is going for classic American flavors on its $65 three-course dinner menu. Choices include Maine lobster bisque with cognac; Berkshire pork chops with a cider/mustard glaze; filet mignon au poivre; and pineapple-cardamom bananas Foster.
2941
2941 Fairview Park Dr., Falls Church
Bertrand Chemel’s soaring 23-year-old French dining room in Falls Church is offering a $65 three-course dinner, with a nice amount of choice. Starters include goat cheese mousse with toasted pecans; crab salad with avocado and watermelon radish; mushroom veloute; and more. Move onto bouillabaisse, a ribeye with Cabernet sauce, butternut-squash raviolini, or Berkshire pork two ways. For dessert, there’s cranberry/vanilla cheesecake, a Thai-tea pavlova, and a chocolate/pistachio bar.
Belga Café
514 Eighth St., SE
The neighborhood-y Belga Café has been serving Belgian cuisine on the Hill for 21 years. Visit for $25 brunch, $35 lunch, and $55 dinner prix-fixe menus. At night, there are hearty dishes like steak tartare, coq au vin, and smoked pork chops with apples and dates, and diners can switch out any course for a beer, glass of wine, or cocktail. Brunch includes an entree, dessert, and choice of coffee, passionfruit lemonade, or Bloody Mary.
Bistrot Lepic
1736 Wisconsin Ave., NW
This Georgetown bistro with 30 years of history is serving a relatively affordable ($40) three-course menu of straightforward French food. Think pig’s feet with onion/mustard sauce; escargots; veal kidneys in dijon sauce; and stuffed Guinea hen.
Equinox
900 19th St., NW
Equinox, the 26-year-old American restaurant headed by Todd Gray and Ellen Kassoff, offer a couple ways to do Restaurant Week dinner: a $40 three-course menu ($65 with wine pairings) or a $55 four-course menu ($85 with wine pairings). The lineup features dishes like Maryland rockfish with curried butternut squash, squid-ink tagliatelle, and Hawaiian coconut cake, and there are several plant-based and gluten-free options.
Evening Star Cafe
2000 Mt. Vernon Ave., Alexandria

Twenty eight years ago, the Neighborhood Restaurant Group opened its very first restaurant: this Southern-inspired spot in Del Ray. Its $40 dinner menu features starters like smoked pimento cheese and pickled fried green tomatoes; mains like roast chicken with collards and spaghetti and meatballs; and buttercream-frosted carrot cake or flourless chocolate cake for dessert.
Filomena
1063 Wisconsin Ave., NW
For $35 at lunchtime and $65 at dinner, you can check out this Italian institution in Georgetown, which has been around for 42 years. On the menu: meatballs, arancini with bolognese, rigatoni with house-made Italian sausage, and your choice of mousse cake.
Georgia Brown’s
950 15th St., NW
Downtown Southern eatery Georgia Brown’s has been slinging Carolina gumbo and chicken and waffles for over three decades. Its Restaurant Week dinner menu goes for $55, and includes options like goat-cheese-stuffed fried green tomatoes; pan-roasted mussels with white wine and andouille; fried chicken with turkey collards; blackened sea bass with parmesan couscous; and peach cobbler.
Jaleo
480 Seventh St., NW

José Andrés’s 32-year-old tapas restaurant in Penn Quarter is serving four-course lunch ($35) and five-course dinner ($55) menus. Go for Spanish fare like patatas bravas; creamy chicken croquetas; grilled chicken with salsa verde; and Catalan flan. Our must-order: the kitchen’s gambas al ajillo.
Kaz Sushi Bistro
1915 I St., NW
At chef Kaz Okochi’s 26-year-old sushi spot, expect a customizable $55 dinner menu. You’ll get one appetizer (pay an extra $10 and get two), a six-piece nigiri course (upgrade to bluefin otoro for an extra $4), two sushi rolls, and a dessert of chocolate lava cake or peach panna cotta.
La Chaumière
2813 M St., NW
Next year, this French country restaurant in Georgetown will celebrate its 5oth anniversary. During Restaurant Week, its nearly identical $35 lunch and $65 dinner menus feature standards like house-made pâté, rainbow trout amandine, and ice-cream-filled profiteroles.
New Heights
2317 Calvert St., NW
This 39-year old modern American restaurant in Woodley Park will serve its $55 prix-fixe dinner menu through the end of February. Choose dishes like onion fondue, steak frites, branzino with crushed potatoes, braised lamb shank, and banana-bread pudding.
Oyamel
401 Seventh St., NW
José Andrés’s Mexican small-plates restaurant opened 21 years ago in Crystal City, then moved to Penn Quarter three years later. It’s offering $25 three-course lunch and $40 four-course dinner menus, featuring a roasted beet salad with cacao nibs, its signature cochinita pibil tacos, umami-packed quesadillas hongos, tamales verdes, and pineapple tres leches cake.
Perry’s
1811 Columbia Rd., NW
Credit chef Masako Morishita for breathing new life into this 41 year-old Japanese dining room in Adams Morgan. Her specialty is Japanese comfort food, and standout plates on her $55 three-course dinner menu include miso-grilled lotus root with avocado and salmon roe; wagyu curry rice; trout en papillote; and the red-bean dessert featured on the cover of February’s 100 Very Best Restaurants issue.
Rasika
633 D St., NW ; 1190 New Hampshire Ave., NW

Nationally beloved Indian restaurant Rasika first opened its doors in Penn Quarter 20 years ago; a West End sibling arrived in 2012. At both locations, find $35 lunch and $55 dinner menus (yes, the signature palak chaat is an option on both). Choices include sweet-potato samosas; tandoori Scottish salmon; chicken tikka masala; a vegetable thali; and berry-mango rasmalai.
Taberna del Alabardero
1776 I St., NW
This 36-year-old downtown DC Spanish restaurant will serve up specials all day—$25 brunches and lunches, as well as a $40 dinner menu. Expect eggplant chips with honey; swordfish with creamy basil rice; a tarta de limon; and more.
The Bombay Club
815 Connecticut Ave., NW
This 37 year-old Indian dining room near the White House (a Clinton administration favorite) will offer $35 lunch and $55 dinner menus. Look for elegant dishes that don’t shy away from spice—shrimp with tamarind and chilies; duck korma; crab with spicy tomato chutney; and more.
Vermilion
1120 King St., Alexandria

For comforting dishes like crispy oysters with sweet and sour apples, beer-battered catfish, warm apple-cider cake with whipped cream cheese, and ricotta pancakes, head to this 22-year-old seasonal American restaurant in Old Town. Brunch will go for $25, while dinner is $55 (a wine pairing is $30 more).
Zaytinya
701 Ninth St., NW
José Andrés opened his hit Mediterranean-influenced restaurant 23 years ago in Penn Quarter (it has since spawned locations in New York, LA, and Miami, plus a cookbook). Its $55 dinner menu features four mezze plus dessert, while the $35 lunch is three mezze and dessert. Go for dips, cumin-spiced meatballs, lemony sautéed shrimp, and Greek yogurt with apricots.