In late November, I turned in a review of the Brixton that appeared in the January issue of Washingtonian. Since then, the menu at the restaurant has undergone significant changes, as a commenter pointed out in the online version of the article. Of the dishes I liked best in my four trips to the Brixton, only the fish and chips and samosas remain. Gone are the (excellent) lamb chops with tzatziki and the little tuna tartare towers on pear slices. Gone, too, is that pub standard shepherd’s pie, along with one of the best Scotch eggs I’ve tried.
In place of apps and entrées, chef Jorge Pimentel’s new menu—introduced in early January—is made up of three salads and 19 globe-trotting small plates. Shrimp gyoza, posole, and quibe rarely vie for space on the same menu, but the new selections, which range from $6 to $10, are meant to reflect the international London neighborhood for which the restaurant is named. “The current dishes take reference from street food in Brixton,” says a restaurant rep. The new menu is also “more affordable and accessible,” according to the rep. Pimentel took over for the Brixton’s original chef, Jeffrey Jew, whom you may remember from the first few episodes of Top Chef: Seattle. Its owners, the Hilton brothers, seem comfortable with change—they recently transformed 14th Street restaurant Blackbyrd, best known for an oyster happy hour, into Hanoi House, specializing in Vietnamese pho.
Have you been to the Brixton in the past few weeks and tried the new dishes? Let us know what you think in the comments.
