100 Very Best Restaurants 2015: No. 12 Del Campo

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Del Campo’s rolled Wagyu skirt steak. Photograph by Scott Suchman

About Del Campo

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cuisines
Peruvian, Steaks

Victor Albisu sets fire to just about everything he can at his cowhide-lined Latin steakhouse. Order a Negroni and it’ll arrive with a pile of smoldering cinnamon shavings. The warm, crusty rolls that precede dinner come with a tiny box of smoked salt. Even the carrot cake takes a turn on the grill.

The taupe, chandeliered dining room is Washington’s best steakhouse, and there are the requisite big-spender cuts of beef (including an excellent dry-aged rib eye).

But don’t overlook the more peasanty meats—a gorgeously crisp Berkshire pork shank, a robust hanger steak with chimichurri, and both varieties of house-made chorizo—all presented on wooden platters. And definitely don’t skip out on the fluffy dulce de leche crepe soufflé for dessert.

Don’t miss:

  • Grilled-octopus causa (with potato purée and crab)
  • Burnt-beet salad
  • Peruvian chicken
  • Grilled prawns
  • Grilled short ribs
  • Ricotta gnocchi
  • Chili-braised lentils with a fried egg
  • S’mores
  • Pumpkin old fashioned and Gin Joint cocktails.


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.