The formal air of restaurants has gone up with the cigarette smoke that is no longer welcome in them—and we can all breathe a sigh of relief. No more getting dressed up to get dressed down by someone with a French accent who actually hails from Brooklyn. White tablecloths are out; bare, communal tables are in. Local, organic and sustainable have replaced imported, phony and insufferable. Tap water is fashionable.
Cigar bars are yesterday and wine bars are here to stay. Prosecco is the new cava. Manhattans are cool and cosmopolitans are provincial. And thankfully, ties are now behind us. The dress code has been broken, but the bank has not. So what are you waiting for? Get up, head out, and chow down!
Cost of a Bombay martini
Average cost of a glass of house wine
Average cost of an appetizer
Average cost of an entrée
Average cost of a dessert
Tip (20 percent)
Sales tax (10 percent in D.C.; 5 percent in Virginia and Maryland)
Average cost of a glass of house wine
Average cost of an appetizer or dessert
Average cost of an entrée
Tip (20 percent)
Sales tax (10 percent in D.C.; 5 percent in Virginia and Maryland)
Out of Africa
How many Gambian chefs with a degree in international affairs are there in D.C.? Turns out, only one. Howsoon Cham has been in the Washington area for 15 years, starting at Georgia Brown’s, then purchasing Red Ginger in Georgetown in 2003, after restaurant stints in both Baltimore and Bethesda, Md. Now he has taken over the space at the corner of 21st and P in Dupont Circle, the former location of BeDuCi and 21P, to open Café Tropé (2100 P St., NW; 202/223-9335; www.cafetropedc.com; $75 per person, all inclusive).
The space has always had appeal, but nothing there seemed to stick. Hopefully, now, that will change. Glass-paneled garage doors that open in nice weather allow diners to enjoy a breeze, while still offering protection from the sun. Inside, the bar and 75-seat dining area are sublevel, cozy and warm, with bamboo floors, earth-tone walls and colorful island paintings.
Cham offers what he calls French Caribbean cuisine, and in keeping with the current trend, dishes are in the $10 to $15 range and are meant to be shared. Frankly, I prefer the old appetizer/entrée plan over the three- or four-plate menu, but then again, I would have missed out on the butternut squash and wild-mushroom rice pilaf dotted with shiitake mushrooms and scallions if I had chosen only two items. Jamaican jerk lollipops with fried cabbage tries too hard; the chicken is great, but doesn’t need the other things, and $10 for two wing joints is hard to swallow. But other dishes are greatly underpriced, like a salad of frisée, spinach and mango topped with chunks of seared salmon.
Cham shines with most of his African dishes, like the sublime oxtail stew with rice and peas; the boldly flavored, velvety chicken curry with spinach; and rum-cured pork with collard greens and sweet potato purée. A four-course tasting menu is available for $70, and includes a half-bottle of wine, which is a great value. Cham also offers gluten-free food and dishes that cater to those with food allergies. Best of all is the bread: small, delightfully yeasty boules served right from the oven with a pleasant artichoke smish.
Asian Fusion
Charlie and Christiana Chiang opened their first restaurant in Alexandria in 1974 and expanded to several D.C.-area locations over the years. The food has been credible, but the décor and menus always predictable. Now, they have opened Ping by Charlie Chiang’s (4060 Campbell Ave., Arlington, Va.; 703/671-4900; www.charliechiangs.com; $68 per person, all inclusive) in Shirlington, and the place is a revelation. The Chinese character ping represents the highest standard, and they have achieved it here. Division 1 Architects interspersed maple and cedar with stainless steel, acrylic, glass and red wood to stunning effect. Christiana styled the menu herself with Hong Kong chef Chun Mui Kwok, and it’s clearly her baby. (“I don’t cook, but I design food!” she affirms correctly.) The xiao die (small plates) are exquisite and, at an average of $10, a bargain. Shiny, slippery shrimp are actually a heaping pile of delicate tempura with a sriracha sauce; the five-spice short ribs are like butter in texture; the roasted chicken is deboned and crispy like Peking duck and covered with crunchy toasted garlic. It gets better.
Pork dumplings come with peanut or red-oil sauce and scallion flowers. Crispy sesame chicken with caramelized sugar bears no resemblance to what you’ve been ordering for years, and I could make a whole meal out of the Szechuan green beans. There’s also a sushi bar that features modern and traditional “culinary stylings,” green tea martinis and plenty of sake. For this food, I’d make a special trip back to Shirlington, which has become a restaurant boomtown since my last outing there. I wish Christiana would bring this concept to their downtown locations, where there is a noticeable dearth of upscale, up-to-date, chic Chinese restaurants. That would be double happiness for us!
Lucky Number
Behind the FBI building on E Street in Penn Quarter, Nuthinepan Tantivejakul (Natalie) and her husband, Boonrod Yotmanee (Rod), have opened Asia Nine (915 E St., NW; 202/629-4355; www.asianine.com; $45 per person, all inclusive). She runs the front of the 100-seat house and he’s the chef. The couple are Thai, but the menu and the design of the space—slate floors, walnut tables, awashi paper sculptures, red and green tiles, halogen spot lights, a steel waterfall, bamboo banquettes—are what they dub “Asian-Asian” fusion, a combination of Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, Malaysian and Japanese elements. It’s all here: a sushi and oyster bar, a sake menu, Thai lemongrass and coconut-milk soup, Japanese miso soup and the usual Chinese won ton variety.
They call the appetizers “tapas,” which is either cute or just confusing, adding a Spanish word (as in “nuevo” Asian) to an already precarious mix. The concept has already met with great success at Café Asia near Farragut Square, but you have to be willing to accept that one kitchen cannot produce the foods of several distinct cultures with complete authenticity. That is not to say that there are not many hits at Asia Nine: the warm spinach salad with smoked bacon vinaigrette, red onions, mushrooms and tempura oysters is a knockout. Keep in mind that the chef is Thai. Look for the larb gai (minced chicken, rice powder, red onion, chili lime dressing), Thai basil curries, kapow (minced chicken with fresh basil, chili and garlic sauce) and pad Thai, which stands up to the better versions of a dish found all over town.
Among the “signature” entrées, the salmon papillote (soy-glazed salmon, tiny vegetables, Thai basil and kaffir lime wrapped and roasted in rice and served atop green curry lentils) is clever, and the pork chop with Thai salsa is worth a trip. Sakes, fancy martinis (lychee) and trendy cocktails abound, as does an extensive offering of teas, hot and iced, sweetened and not. I would not go out of my way for dessert. Thai tiramisu and green tea crème brûlée missed the fusion boat and should stay docked in the Far East.
Modern Marvel
When the restaurant in the Sofitel Hotel near McPherson Square was known as Café 15, it was well reviewed but had a reputation for being pricey. So they closed, redecorated and made the menu more “approachable.” It’s now reopened as Ici Urban Bistro (806 15th St., NW; 202/730-8700; www.iciurbanbistro.com; $75 per person, all inclusive), ici meaning “here” in French. I love the mod new look: Tablecloths are out, and place mats and black napkins on dark wood tables are in. The side chairs are tweedy and bright red, their backs cut out like square doughnuts. The food, under the direction of executive chef Philippe Piel, an Antoine Westermann acolyte, stays fairly close to traditional renditions of French standards: cheese-crusted onion soup, mussels with white wine and cream, frisée salad with poached egg and bacon, cast-iron mijotés (casseroles) of lamb ragout and seafood bouillabaisse, and steak frites.
Speaking of frites, you’ve got to love a place that offers five varieties (try the sweet potato with Roquefort dip) even if, at $8, you’d expect them to be made of actual Yukon gold. Other offerings betray the chef’s Brittany upbringing, such as mushroom and chicken crêpes. Ici cleverly offers harried downtown business-folk 30-minute lunches served in four-sided platters for just shy of a dollar a minute (the Bistro includes charcuterie, flank steak with red wine sauce, frites and a mini-dessert). The mini-desserts ($3), which include small martini glasses of Key lime mousse, strawberry meringue parfait and panna cotta with kumquat purée, are a smart way to up-sell people who wouldn’t take dessert otherwise. They should offer them individually at dinner, too, instead of as a composed sampler, but that is neither “ici” nor there.
Presidential Palate
The Kimpton Hotel mavens have done it again, this time in Old Town Alexandria, where they have taken a Holiday Inn Express and turned it into a snazzy boutique hotel. The lobby of Hotel Monaco is turquoise and burgundy; the staff abundantly attentive, service-oriented and more than happy to walk you to the adjoining restaurant, Jackson 20 (480 King St., Alexandria, Va.; 703/842-2790; www.jackson20.com; $65 per person, all inclusive).
A giant pig sculpture greets you at the entrance, and cunning pig napkin rings adorn the tablecloth-free tables, so you’d expect the place to be more pork-centric than it actually is. They call themselves “contemporary Colonial” (the name is a nod to our seventh president) but the décor is new-age tavern-like, with high ceilings, op-art light fixtures and enormous communal tables. It’s a loud, happening place, so conversation is easier with your neighbor than your date. Chef Jeff Armstrong has ties to North Carolina, so the food is generally Southern and follows the zeitgeist mantra: local, organic and sustainable.
Look for cornmeal-crusted fried oysters, shrimp and crawfish bisque, buttermilk fried chicken, and slow-braised short ribs with mashed potatoes and greens. The pork tenderloin with onion ragout is a winner: brined, bacon-wrapped, seared and roasted to pink sublimity. The brook trout with crawfish étoufée is also excellent, even if it does come with black-eyed peas. The wine list features 20 for 20: 20 bottles at $20 (including Hogue Pinot Grigio and Ravenswood Zinfandel). There are 15 beer offerings, most of them $5 (Dogfish IPA draft and Brooklyn Lager). But the best idea of all is the buttermilk pie with huckleberry sauce, with its thick shortbread crust and caramel-custardy filling.
Ulah-La
Just across from Ben’s Chili Bowl on the U Street corridor is Ulah Bistro (1214 U St., NW; 202/234-0123; www.ulahbistro.com; $45 per person, all inclusive). Owner Med Lahlou also co-owns Tunnicliff’s on Capitol Hill and Stoney’s in Logan Circle. Those two places are old-time American-style joints—bars that would reek of cigarettes if they were allowed, where you know you could get a great burger that wasn’t square and didn’t come with curlicued fries.
Now we call these places “bistros,” add couches, lounge areas, red pendant lamps, crown molding, exposed brick, long bars with model-like bartenders, and serve pizzas baked in wood ovens. Monte Cristo sandwiches are now paninos (tuna, chicken or veggie), tuna melts are made with turkey on multi-grain bread, and a BLT has grilled salmon on it. Fries come with aioli, but you can ask for ketchup.
Do I have to tell you the apps? Crab and artichoke dip, fried calamari, mini crabcakes (which are excellent: lumpy, not bready), steamed mussels with white wine and garlic, French onion soup. And tuna tartare, of course. There is a Caesar salad (and yes, you can add chicken, shrimp, tuna, steak or salmon).
The entrées are just as familiar, which is not a bad thing: The U Street corridor can stand a little more straightforward neighborhood fare and a little less costly shine. So bring on the seared tuna, shrimp and scallop linguine, grilled herb-crusted salmon with ratatouille, and homemade meatloaf, but please do not call it American pâté; let’s leave well-enough alone. A Bombay martini costs $8.75 and there are 12 beers on tap, so Ulah minus the oo-la-la is just fine by me.
