Cuisine: Chef/owner Jeff Tunks tapped promising young chef Brendan Cox to head the kitchen late last year, but a slow-and-steady approach is what has kept this atrium-style dining room running well for the past decade. Dishes such as Chinese-style smoked lobster and Tahitian-style tuna tartare are just daring enough, while the risk-averse rely on stalwarts such as fried Chesapeake oysters, roasted Mediterranean sea bass, and crab cakes.
Mood: With its banklike building, the efficiency of the waitstaff, and the professionals who dine here, the place is all business, though it loosens up during the dinner hours.
Best for: A thank-you meal for a client; dinner with parents or out-of-towners.
Best dishes: Mussels in white-wine sauce; chile relleno atop corn and black beans; fried oysters with crispy lemons; brook-trout meunière; Chinese-style smoked lobster; cider-brined pork chop with cabbage and pears.
Insider tips: Don’t try to linger over lunch. Servers aim to get you in and out—great if you’re trying to make a 1:30 meeting, not so much when you’re catching up with an old friend.
Service: ••
Open Monday through Friday for lunch and dinner, Saturday and Sunday for dinner. Expensive.
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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.
