About Ris
Retro has come to connote a dark and slouchy place, adorned with mementos, where the hip gather to plant a flag in something authentic. Ris is the other kind of retro. Tables are laid with white linen, colors are as soft as the lights, and nobody swings by to “explain the menu.” No need—it’s as contemporary as an Atari handbook. Imagine a family-style restaurant as re-interpreted by a classically trained chef.
Foodies on a hunt for the new might not be intrigued, but we’ll take Ris’s tasty brand of retro any day of the week. The daily specials, among them Wednesday’s spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread, are the best kind of nostalgia. Don’t miss: Octopus salad; scallop “margarita”; cheeseburger; Portuguese skirt steak; chicken pot pie; chocolate pot de crème; butterscotch pudding. Open: Monday through Friday for lunch and dinner, Saturday for dinner, Sunday for brunch, lunch, and dinner. Expensive.
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.
