100 Very Best Restaurant 2016: Blue Duck Tavern

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Photograph by Scott Suchman

About Blue Duck Tavern

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Location(s)
1201 24th St NW
Washington, DC 20037

How does a decade-old farm-to-table restaurant still feel exciting when tavern-chic concepts abound and bone marrow feels about as edgy as a kale Caesar? It recruits fresh talent, as this Park Hyatt dining room did last year. Chef Franck Loquet and pastry chef David Collier have taken on the kitchen with vigor. The marrow—on the menu since day one—now arrives crusted with everything-bagel seasoning that complements the unctuous center, while Collier’s “Nutella breakfast” dessert transports us to a dreamy weekend morning. Talent isn’t limited to the kitchen—try the exquisite blends from the tea cellar.

Don’t miss: Braised mussels in French onion broth; acorn-squash salad; pork belly and johnnycakes; cider-braised lamb shank; kale gratin.

See what other restaurants made our 100 Very Best Restaurants list. This article appears in our February 2016 issue of Washingtonian.


Ann Limpert
Executive Food Editor/Critic

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.

Food Editor

Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.