tom sietsema best restaurants 2020 tom sietsema best restaurants 2020
The entree is textbook perfect, down to a hedge of mustard-sharpened salad greens. But the restaurateurs are doing a four-star job of helping us navigate the pandemic with life rings including pizza and ice cream at Happy Gyro. ("Its a sandwich," he says, recalling the original outcry.) The girls got their wish, and Bethesda gained something special, in May: a restaurant with the exuberance of his original Spanish tapas draw, but also a greater selection of comfort foods, including a section devoted to eggs, one of the famous chefs many passions. No on-site seating. Frederik De Pue has moved the indoors outside at his destination restaurant in Annapolis, where a 30-seat patio dressed with carpets, curtains even a temporary roof makes for a considered and cozy backdrop for his creative tasting menu. Fritto misto suspends steaming cod and red snapper in rings and balls of tempura, a golden catch finished with Fresno chiles. Layer on citrus peel and green olives, and suddenly youre hungry for "Casablanca." Chef-owner Ali Mesghali hoped to introduce his Persian retreat, a dashing extension of his culinary brand in Atlanta, in March. Katherine excels at sweet endings. Sandwiches $14-$21, entrees $25-$27, family meals $40. Dinner Tuesday through Sunday. Il Pizzico translates to English as the pinch, as in pinches of different flavors of Italy, says Livia. Traditional diner food takes some surprising twists. ) One of the finest combinations of bread and filling in town is the epic flauta with slices of serrano ham or rugged chorizo, swaddled in paper and practically begging to go on a picnic. History reimagines ratatouille as a summery salad garnished with a savory sorbet. And yes, the tour includes khachapuri, the shallow Georgian bread bowl that helped put Compass Rose on the map of food lovers. Brunch and dinner daily. A perch at the convivial bar lets you watch the skilled mixers and shakers and glean the latest mating rituals. Bobby Jones, the chef and co-owner of one of Marylands prize crab destinations, says his seafood restaurant 10 miles north of Annapolis was inspired by long-ago summer family gatherings at his grandmothers little creekside rancher on Kent Island. Indoor and outdoor seating. The patio treats customers to a mural abloom with flowers and incorporating local architecture. To look at ssam is to take in a rainbow. A celebration of the bounty of the Mid-Atlantic look for quail with wild grapes the Dabney occasionally incorporates truffles or foie gras into the menu, and I couldnt live without olive oil, jokes the chef. Corn might be stuffed into pasta and arranged on a piney cream sauce; local beef is sliced over charred shishitos alongside a brushstroke of mustardy Diane sauce. Your cooking, from rustic pork pt to elegant omelet, not only travels well, it demonstrates how lucky the city is to have you at the stove. Then the coronavirus started dominating headlines, and he was forced to rein in anything more ambitious than survival. Takeout, no delivery. Fans of the standout Japanese restaurant in Dupont Circle were crushed by the news that Sushi Taro would do only takeout following the pandemic. Sounds hopeful to us. Takeout and delivery. If it werent for the pandemic and my wish to eat under the radar, Id be tempted to high-five chef Jeeraporn Poksupthong. Washington Post critic Tom Sietsema gave Fiola a rare three-star review before complimenting individual dishes like the lobster ravioli. Chicken liver mousse appears as creamy tufts on shards of toasted bread, along with bits of roasted peach that signal summer. ) The ambiance feeds me as well as the kitchen. Spiced potatoes, cabbage and carrot compose one of nearly a dozen rousing fillings. Recipients might have to play sous-chef and reheat something, but any directions are easy to follow and the color-coded packaging keeps you from mixing up garnishes. We feel comfortable we can get to the other side, Tyler told me recently. The forest-green spinach kofta next to the dusky gold aloo gobi alongside the shocking red paneer chili begged for a frame. Drinks show up quickly. Regulars know it as much for its ambitious social mission as its tea leaf salad and catfish mohinga. No barriers to entry (door is automatic); ADA-compliant restrooms. No matter where you settle, youll find a menu framed by what farmers and growers are sending chef Neal Wavra, who co-owns the property with his wife, Star. The Best Bad Restaurant Reviews of 2018 - Eater But I was doing the same thing. The second is a world-class stew coaxed from fistfuls of herbs cooked down to a thick green bog and completed with tender morsels of beef and kidney beans. Mesghali sweats the details. He previously worked for the Microsoft Corp., where he launched sidewalk.com; the Seattle Post-Intelligencer; the San Francisco Chronicle; and the Milwaukee Journal. Dinner and lunch Tuesday through Sunday. Were reintroducing hospitality, says the restaurateur. Tom Sietsema's 7 favorite places to eat in January 2022 - Washington Post, January 2022 We're back to struggle': Confusion and adaptation inside Baltimore's restaurants under omicron surge - Baltimore Fishbowl, January 2022 Read our outstanding reviews online, here: Resy Trip Advisor Yelp For press inquiries please contact: tara@elevenelevenpr.co Takeout also available via phone. The $8 appetizer is familiar and finessed, just like so much of the rest of Rutas handiwork at the youngest restaurant in the realm of the prolific Ashok Bajaj. Summer beans and julienned peaches are slicked with a dressing of chile oil, lime juice and sesame seeds, plus some crunch courtesy of dried shallots and garlic. Dinner commences with a flurry of snacks a bite of pork rillettes paired with fig and black garlic, a furl of smoked salmon on a dab of yogurt and pickled herbs before moving on to dishes that ask diners to eat outside the box. The cafe Yellow adjacent is just as great for coffee and wonderful baked goods. Spring for the sweet lumps of crab scattered over a tangle of linguine stained black with squid ink. (Scott Suchman for The Washington Post). Peel back the folds of injera, though, and you witness a kaleidoscope of yellow lentils, dark green collards, crimson beets and turmeric-colored cabbage with bright orange carrots. Some of the best flavors of any new restaurant in town, we think. Aracosia feels like the family business it is. Four-course menu $95 per person; a la carte bar menu $28-$33. One slice leads to another, and before you know it, you feel like youre the piggy which doesnt stop you from inhaling some butterscotch pudding before you waddle out. No takeout or delivery. ), [Jos Andrs brings Spanish comfort food including a lot of eggs to Bethesda]. Throw in a gracious staff and some of the best alfresco seating in the city theres no prettier alley than this one in CityCenter and you get something both refined and approachable, a delicious package deal. While the siblings have in common hospitality and great things in glasses, Revelers Hour is the more relaxed of the two, a model pasta and wine bar in a room thats dark as a movie theater but illuminated with candles and surrounded by wine. Service just about everywhere has taken a hit during the pandemic. We're counting down Post food critic Tom Sietsema's Top 5 restaurants in and around Washington for 2022 over the next two weeks, highlighting one restaurant each weekday until Tom's full. The supple tortillas derive from fresh masa (and a hand press), and the spicy margarita is true to its word. Indeed, Johnsons list draws inspiration from around the world. (Even outside, or on the phone, Jaleo lives up to its English translation: commotion. Wheelchair users should call ahead for a ramp at the entrance; ADA-compliant restroom. I still stand behind stalwarts Bucks Fishing & Camping in Washington and Charleston in Baltimore, which you can find in my Hall of Fame. And this in a honey-lit, wood-bound dining room that factors in sheepskin stools for purses, local rocks to ferry the bread and tiny anvils with your partys name written on it. Reservations recommended, through Tock. But you wouldnt want to miss a note in the concert. This winning mom-and-pop no longer does takeout, and wine pairings have gone the way of Novak Djokovics winning streak on the tennis court. Owner Javier Fernandezs advice for struggling restaurants: Keep it simple and "no shortcuts," says the chef, whose signature double-roasted pork belly remains every bit as garlicky and noisy as I remember it from my first heady encounter. Or dense and delicious morsels of lamb rolled in a grass-colored paste of raw green papaya, ginger, mint and red chiles. Then again, I also always fit in the ropy caramelized beef jerky, ignited with ginger and best enjoyed with its stinging red sauce. Because readers asked, the following reviews offer information on vaccine mandates and accessibility. Aim for a counter stool and the chance to watch the staff shape rounds of dough on a surface of durum and maybe meet Valerie Harding. Takeout and delivery via DoorDash and Uber Eats. Mezze $16-$25, shareable entrees $52-$65. Takeout and delivery via Uber Eats. Theres no other food like this in Washington. The most Belgian of them all, though, is a waffle chocolate, served with white chocolate whipped cream and chocolate sauce. The slim storefront comes with a big caveat, but let me show the kitchen some love for a few sentences. Kinship makes it easy and safe to sup indoors, planting flowers on unoccupied tables as a way to keep diners socially distanced. singles are more interested in a potential someones vaccination status. Rooted in royal Thai ceremony, the snack crowns juicy yellow fruit with little balls of chicken shaped with roasted peanuts, fermented radish and palm sugar. For openers, Im spending more time in increasingly casual restaurants, looking harder for more vegetarian dishes and inclined to shine a light on restaurants whose chefs arent household names. No sooner is it 5 p.m. than the crowd files past a garden that might win Adrian Higginss stamp of approval and into the restaurant, where smiling greeters are somehow able to promptly seat the lot in a span of minutes. Harding insisted we stay for dessert. Washington Post's Tom Sietsema Awards Del Mar 3 Stars. Fun is a side dish here. Possibly it was the sting of the orange gazpacho, poured from a slender plastic flask, or the broad metal pan used to ferry the seafood-scattered paella from Penn Quarter to my doorstep. Whatever the detail, takeout from Jaleo, among my hall of fame picks, places me back in the dining room, alive with color and energy in happier times. Perspective | All my takeout has delivered a mountain of trash. See what I mean? Takeout via Toast. Desserts chocolate mousse, floating island, profiteroles run to the classic. Tacos are fashioned from herbed Indian flatbread and jackfruit lit with chile paste and lemon juice a vegan draw if you opt out of the sour cream base. Yet the journey, he adds, should be a happy one. Rutas menu is a master class in execution. The switch from a la carte limits waste and "creates an experience," says De Pue. A magnet since it opened in 2013, Red Hen does normal well. Lunch and dinner Tuesday through Sunday. Nowhere else in town will you find finer kashk badenjoon or ghormeh sabzi. Indoor seating only. The strapping bowl from the dashing McLean retreat brims not just with the expected beans, but with minced beef, dried dill and streaks of yogurt. A cup of her dreamy tiramisu or chocolate budino feels like happy days are here again. Can I be honest? Delivery via Skip the Line. Like before, the courses are restrained, and sharing them is encouraged. That said, my preference is a table in the second-floor dining room. Ziti stuffed with ricotta comes with a topping of bacon-y steamed clams and garlic toast: clams casino as a garnish. And if the drinks taste true, credit goes to Dauphines spirits maven and co-creator Neal Bodenheimer, whose Cure bar in New Orleans helped fuel the countrys craft cocktail revolution. Another is their preparation. P.S. Definitive Laotian food is worth a return trip. 2020 Fall Dining Guide by Tom Sietsema The original article can be read here 'Surrounded by the sun' is the name and the setting I rediscovered a chill pill this summer that doesn't involve a prescription. Made by hand, the pastas have included such glories as capunti strewn with poached tuna, tomatoes, fennel and pistachios. Muchas gracias for takeout! Customers asked for breakfast and chef-owner Tsehay Beferdu delivered, with a menu offered daily until noon. Im a folder, says the owner. On my last visit, a young woman spent a course or two rearranging drinks and food for some close-ups. Awash in green tile and fringed parasols from Bali, its become my new favorite landing spot in the countrys most famous inn. Mac and cheese gets finished with Parmesan breadcrumbs, and the braised greens served with smoked tomatoes sting with the juice of pickled Fresno chiles. Lamb chops are marinated overnight in garlic, Greek yogurt and green chiles elements that insert themselves into every nook and cranny of the meat and acquire a shower of crushed pink peppercorns after they leave the grill. The chef is a discerning shopper. Sietsema reported being so overwhelmed with flavor that he felt like waving his napkin in surrender. While Ive experienced his cooking only as takeout, the food inside the bags and boxes is arranged just so, as if waiting for a photo shoot. Just ask the customers who ordered the Korean take on beef Wellington, swaddled in pork belly, for Christmas. Ive also yet to meet a pasta I havent loved here. is followed by the offer of a Tide stick from a server. Sofra tasting menu $95, chefs table at the hearth $150 per person. Lentils, cracked wheat, chicken and warm spices add up to a fabulous golden porridge. A host of memorable restaurants has rolled out during the pandemic. The mind-set shared by all Aaron Silverman restaurants: "The food has to be craveable," says the visionary behind Roses Luxury, Pineapple & Pearls and Little Pearl on Capitol Hill. Welcome to Carusos Grocery, which takes its name from a store Babins long-ago Sicilian relatives operated in Baton Rouge and revels in old-fashioned details. Try it, youll like it. I used to work at Montmartre, the much-missed French draw on Capitol Hill, he tells us. Over summer, diners thrilled to a rainbow of tomatoes served with what tasted like herbed ricotta but turned out to spring from pumpkin seeds, and a round of watermelon plied with chile-hot peanuts, shiso and a hidden local oyster sharpened with ginger vinaigrette. Seemingly a bushel of arugula shows up with a hailstorm of pistachios, goat cheese crumbles and juicy blackberries. Cool detail: Those and other tastes can also be enjoyed from a cart parked in front of the restaurant, where the ice cream is scooped into housemade sourdough waffle cones. [Get your Maryland crab fix at the Point Crab House, along with ace service and a water view], Indeed, the Point is a crab lovers bonanza, where you can enjoy the main event as a dip, atop toast, steamed to order or mixed with mayonnaise, lemon juice and hot sauce and presented as a broiled cake. Im a fool for golden nuggets of fried potatoes and juicy pork meatballs draped with tomato sauce, and fall-apart cod flanked with velvety red peppers. Fernandez wants staff and customers alike to be safe, so just one customer at a time is allowed inside the snug storefront. Lechon, its richness best cut with the house vinegar sauce, is by no means the sole attraction. A server might suggest with your meal a little thimble of what looks like liquid fire: pili pili, a habanero-stoked condiment and an exception to Kenyas relatively tame flavor profile. (Scott Suchman. This memory maker rolls up with a cart carrying an enormous dome of spun sugar hiding progressively smaller replicas inside along with dessert and a salutation on a marzipan ribbon. Other delicious options include spicy steamed shrimp, fish and chips staged in a fry basket and tacos (pork or fish) distinguished by their two-ply cradles: a soft flour tortilla lined with a fried corn tortilla. A familiar name to local diners, he was briefly at Pembroke in Dupont Circle ("not the right fit") but better-known for his time at Le Diplomate, where he served as chef de cuisine, and before. Because outside chef Amy Brandweins restaurant, along an alley of upscale shops, is a magical place to find yourself, sipping on a well-made cocktail, poking into an artful appetizer or twirling housemade pasta on your fork. Dinner commences with a temperature check and slices of ciabatta and focaccia from Piccolina, the restaurants casual offshoot across from where youre socially distanced from fellow diners. The owners earth-to-table philosophy is based in part on her wide-open pantry. [If family-style takeout is on the menu, these 3 restaurants have a whole lot to offer]. I appreciate the environment, open and airy, and the attention paid to the wine list. The first is an appetizer of fried mashed eggplant, bright with mint and sweet with fried onions. Takeout via Tock or phone. And I cant imagine a Nepalese meal without momos. Reservations required for indoor dining; patio first come, first served. The kitchen, under the watch of chef Robert Cain, is as reliable as ever. The restaurant takes heat requests seriously. But an even finer dish is the chicken, brined in citrus, massaged with oregano and dried before roasting. Knowing that Tyler and her colleagues, chef Jon Sybert and wine maven Bill Jensen, are also behind the nearby Tail Up Goat is reason enough to pay respects. Every entree has something to recommend it, and most come with a choice of sides. Robert Sietsema's 15 Best Dishes of 2020 Our senior critic champions barbecued pork, a carbohydrate-only sandwich, and delicate scallop crudo eaten in a backyard garden by Robert Sietsema. Takeout Wednesday via website. Truth in advertising. Not at Corduroy near the convention center. Takeout, no delivery. Aaron Silverman, the visionary behind one of the most beloved dining destinations in Washington, says, Were not in the restaurant business, but the business of making people happy. Sure enough, dinner at Roses Luxury commences with light-but-luscious focaccia offered with housemade ricotta and accompanied by the kind of music you wouldnt mind as background to your life. Soups, including a subtle beef broth, come with a choice of thin or wide noodles; the latter, made with the wheat common in northern China, are rolled out in-house. Dinner Tuesday through Saturday. Duck confit slipped into triangular pasta, fried to a light crisp and served on a spoonful of fontina sauce merits a return engagement. The texture is as much a selling point as the taste; different grinds of some of the seasonings add a pleasant crackle to the eating. [Frankly 1513 Antioch Rd, Andalusia, AL 36421. Omakase is on hold, but Sushi Taro is still turning out gems. Word seems to have spread. No barriers to entry; ADA-compliant restroom. Lettuces, shishito peppers and cardoons are a given. My lifeline throughout the pandemic is owned by a native of Guyana who bought it from a Black couple who opened the place 53 years ago and still live above the shop. Theres more to explore: whole scored fried sea bass festooned with carrots, red peppers and onions that taste like theyre plugged in to an electric socket a beauty of a Jamaican escovitch and saucy curry goat heaped over steaming rice and peas. In the hands of chef Yuan Tang, the familiar is still fabulous, Three-course dinner $75 per person, a la carte entrees $25 to $43. "We just got a couple in from Chicago," he told me last month. Designed for two, the feast can easily feed four a bountiful bargain. Indeed, some of the most bespoke takeout from the past seven months has come from Kinship, whose offerings embody the spirit of the restaurant, which the chef thinks of as "celebrating at the dinner table" with people you care about. Im thinking of velvety, sweet-hot Goan shrimp curry, and purple eggplant in a cloak of gravy that resonates with tamarind, peanuts and coconut. It would be easy to feast just on vegetables. Happily, the four-course tasting menu that diners can design for themselves remains a staple of one of the citys most creative restaurants. Takeout via website or phone. As before, the smell of smoke from a wood-stoked oven seduces you the moment you step inside the wood-and-brick interior. When Onyona was able to partially reopen the space for on-site customers in June, his target audience of nearby embassy and World Bank employees was mostly working remotely. Your eyes widen with each bite. The forward-thinking Thamee responded to racial injustice by promoting Black and Brown producers and adding a 30 percent charge to checks to support staff health care and profit-sharing. Which it is, despite some trimming of the drinks and wine lists and a format switch. A dip of a demitasse spoon into the shell finds a sunny yellow custard flavored with some delightful surprises: anchovies, golden raisins, fennel and more. The newcomer, adjacent to the Roost food hall in the Hill East neighborhood, is neither cheesy nor cheffy. Review. Diced fluke arranged with ribbons of compressed celery and matchsticks of green apple in a puddle of dashi adds up to the most revivifying crudo for miles. Kudos to the server who presents the menu as if his fingers were a frame and the list were worthy of one. 2020 Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema entertains your dining questions, rants and raves. Long live the queen of this kitchen. Rajoo adjusts the level with a combination of roasted black peppercorns and dried red chiles. The bounty of hunt country, served amid the trees. The staffs T-shirts say it best: Get to the Point.. See a pupusa on the list? Indoor and outdoor seating. It takes skill and good timing to achieve jjolmyeon with the desired chewiness. The sight of a tall hamburger being ferried through the long and narrow dining room has me rethinking my order, a thought dismissed as I tuck into tender hanger steak lapped with green peppercorn sauce. Fried lentils replace the usual bulgur in a tabbouleh displayed on a swipe of hummus fueled with tamarind; Lebanese flatbread, sprinkled with zaatar, makes for a finger-blistering scoop. 2020 Fall Dining Guide by Tom Sietsema - Girasole Baba ganoush is hardly the most photogenic dish in the world, but chef-owner Michael Rafidi primps it so that the first course eggplant three ways: whipped, charred and pickled holds our gaze. Every dish tastes best in class, be it light arancini that any Italian chef would be proud to serve or a pork chop from Autumn Olive Farms that leaves the wood grill tender and juicy (and eats like a prized steak). Top Michelin Star Restaurants in Washington DC - Keener Management The lush uni, meanwhile, is plucked from Santa Barbara, Calif. Hiroshi presents the treasure with a dab of wasabi and a tiny quail egg. Each spoonful tastes like a day at the beach. Crispy potatoes stuffed into pillowy housemade pita is a lot of carbs almost too much fun. [Italian restaurants can charm and soothe, even without their dining rooms]. Pastas $24-$30, wood-fired entrees $28-$39. Those chopped collards have lots of garlic, ginger and red onion going for them. The following establishments not only have consistency and good taste in their favor, they shine a light on the way forward. The richest dish of the lot is the slow-cooked lamb, shaped into a soft terrine and grouped with red cabbage, sweetened with agave syrup, and an uber-silky potato puree inspired by the late French chef Jol Robuchon. Indoor and outdoor seating. During Phase 2 of reopening in Washington, the sophisticated mom-and-pop made some changes to reflect how many customers prefer to dine these days. Avocado toast has nothing on this sensation. Save. Cut in quarters, rubbed with butter, lemon zest and rosemary and roasted so that the inside seems to melt and the outside takes on char, this cabbage might as well be on a pedestal, especially when paired with plump figs, brilliant Japanese carrots and a pool of sheeps milk yogurt. The dry-fried lamb has diners breaking out in sweat and smiles, as the juicy morsels are fueled with red chile pepper, powder and oil. Hope for sweet-and-sour eggplant on crostini. Proof of vaccination for indoor dining required. No barriers to entry; ADA-compliant restroom. The eyes eat first. Talk about a good neighbor. Its all as luscious as it looks. We try to create joy, says Silverman, whose team excels at awesomeness. His lightly pickled wild sardines, served sashimi style, are from Hokkaido, Japan, noted for the freshness of its seafood. Going into Amy Brandweins warmhearted osteria and market, I always know I can count on seeing a few regulars. Im listening to you, by the way. The majority of his food is touched by a hearth that serves as the focal point in the homespun dining room and gets as hot as 1,000 degree in its center. Those and other dishes were served as part of a tasting menu, introduced during the pandemic, that launched with a trio of snacks, one of them catfish dip garnished with pickled red onions and scooped up with what tasted like a zestier version of Fritos. Private patio table available, reservation required. Hes onto something: generous portions of serious cooking. The owners publicly declared theyre in trouble in September down to our last four weeks, says Jill Tyler, hostess with the mostest at whats become the first place I think of on a rare night off from table hopping. Eye-openers include kinche boiled cracked wheat finished with clarified butter and beef stew mixed with torn injera. The bottom line at the restaurant: Make it delicious and pretty and give customers a sense of value, whether its one bite or a platter, says Silverman. So I asked experts how to minimize it. A ramp leads to the entrance, where a wheelchair user might need help with double doors; ADA-compliant restrooms. Ditto. Inside? Not into crab? Dinner daily, brunch weekends. Tick, tick, tick. In her native Laos, cabbage is used as a scoop and a cover. Confused about tipping these days? A special pop-up becomes a permanent fixture, Entrees $17 to $21, $49 for family platter. The menu is a concert of hot Korean wrap and funk. The boards multiple parts span magenta pickled radishes, bronzed garlic that spreads like butter, white steamed rice and red ssamjang, the thick and spicy paste made with garlic, onion, sesame oil and more. I miss the arty dining room, but not the crowds that packed it. You can find handmade pastas, a fantastic lamb tagine, and a snapper with red curry along with fresh salads, crudos and more. Indoor and outdoor seating. Robert Sietsema's 15 Best Dishes of 2020 - Eater NY In or out, the food rocks. No takeout or delivery. 2941 Fairview Park Dr., Falls Church. Seize the chance to taste a role model. No delivery. Novak Djokovics winning streak on the tennis court.
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