More than 60 of the region’s top restaurants joined us last night for Washingtonian‘s annual Best of Washington party at the National Building Museum. Tough job, but somebody had to try them all. Here are some of our favorite bites of the night:
Best in show: For the second year in a row, top honors go to high-end Indian restaurant Rania. Their ultra-crisped shiso chaat leaf with a sweet and tangy dip of white pea ragada, sweet yogurt, and mint chutney was both elegant and a beautiful balance of flavors and textures. If felt straight out of a tasting menu because it is straight out of their tasting menu. Rania also supplied one of our favorite cocktails of the night: their signature mezcal-based “Rang Birange,” which is served at the restaurant in a wooden box with a snake.
Biggest wow factor: The team behind luxe Georgetown sushi restaurant Kyojin brought an entire 140-pound tuna to the event, head and all. They carved the fish in front of partygoers for super-fresh bites of nigiri.
Most impressive feat: Ukrainian restaurant Ruta appeared to be going for a world—or at least US—record for the largest holubtsi, a traditional stuffed cabbage dish with beef, chicken, and rice. The 302-pound stuffed cabbage was filled with many (delicious!) mini stuffed cabbages. We hear it took five days to prepare and included 200 pounds of cabbage alone.
Best salad: Ellie Bird’s smashed cucumber salad was not your typical cucumber salad. This one came topped with dried blue crab and Thai green chili in a pool of lime yogurt.
Best summery dish: Leave it to the Dabney to embrace the season with lick-the-bowl corn grits accompanied by heirloom tomato jam, herbs from its rooftop garden, and barbecue-spiced corn chips for dipping. And speaking of corn, we also loved Cucina Morini‘s toasted garlic crostini with charred corn caponata and sweet-sour fennel pollen agrodolce. And we’d be remiss not to mention Centrolina’s fava bean and ricotta cannoli!
Most creative vegetable dish: Shaw’s Oyster Oyster brought one of the star bites from its summer tasting menu: lettuce wraps with mushroom “chorizo” and pickled gold bar squash.
Best raw fish dish: A lot of restaurants showed up with tartares, crudos, and ceviches this year, but our favorite was Causa’s dry-aged bluefin tartare served in a flower-shaped wafer with red onion relish, yuzu kosho, cilantro, aji amarillo leche de tigre, and wasabi. Meanwhile, sister Mexican restaurants Anafre and El Sol offered an excellent ceviche with octopus, shrimp, scallop, and a kick of heat.
Most decadent bite: Chic Italian hotspot L’Ardente is well-known for its 40-layer lasagna with short rib sugo and truffle mornay sauce. At the event, they served seared bite-sized slices on toothpicks, which managed to feel just as decadent as the restaurant dish.
Best cheesy bites:Â It was a good night for pimento cheese lovers. The Fountain Inn in Georgetown served delightful everything bagel and pimento cheese gougeres. Meanwhile, Arlington’s Ruthie’s All Day brought bite-sized biscuits with pimento cheese and Lady Addison Country ham.
Best elevated fast-casual: Indian chainlet Rasa wowed with its bhel puri made from puffed rice, chickpea noodles, tomato, onion, mango, and mint and tamarind chutneys.
Jessica Sidman covers the people and trends behind D.C.’s food and drink scene. Before joining Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Food Editor and Young & Hungry columnist at Washington City Paper. She is a Colorado native and University of Pennsylvania grad.
