100 Very Best 2016
100 Very Best 2019Restaurants in new developments can feel antiseptic, but chef Amy Brandwein’s CityCenterDC Italian is anything but. The restaurant/market concept means you can dine near the butchery’s hanging salumi or by the open kitchen’s wood-burning hearth. Seasonal Italian is taken literally with an oft-changing menu of creative dishes that run the gamut from bright and clean (burrata with diced tuna and cucumber) to hearty bowls of hand-rolled pasta with milk-braised veal-and-beef ragu. It’s tempting to stick with the noodles—and we have—though fire-kissed whole fish and roasted-vegetable contorni are worth the occasional carb break. Expensive.
Also great: Roasted oysters with ’nduja;grilled-chicken paillard; branzino with Calabrian chili and yogurt; lamb chops scottadito; mushroom pappardelle.
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.
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.
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.
Kristen Hinman has been editing Washingtonian’s features since 2014. She joined the magazine after editing politics & policy coverage for Bloomberg Businessweek and working as a staff writer for Voice Media Group/Riverfront Times.
