The new freshman class in Washington, DC, seems to be a cool and casual bunch.
We don’t mean the freshman congressmen and senators. We’re speaking of the bars and restaurants.
At least this is the vibe we get sipping a Beuchert’s 75 cocktail (gin, lemon, herbal syrup and prosecco) under the dim lights of Beuchert’s Saloon (623 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, beuchertssaloon.com) which opened earlier this year in Capitol Hill. The place might remind New Yorkers of Prime Meats in Brooklyn. There’s a marble and wood bar. (We particularly liked the two stuffed bison heads behind the bar named Mike and Ike, which lend the place an old-fashioned Western saloon sort of look.) The list of $11 specialty cocktails includes such gems as the “Jack Rose” (applejack, lemon and spiced grenadine), as well as the “Beuchert’s Dirty” (gin, Dolin vermouth, Diep 9 genever and housemade brine). The seriously rich hamburger is served with a plate of fries on a garlicky puddle of aioli. When we stopped by on a Saturday night, there wasn’t even space at the bar.
Another hopping spot is Mintwood Place (1813 Columbia Road NW, mintwoodplace.com), which was a James Beard Award semifinalist for best new restaurant this year, and after a taste of the steak tartare, served with a crisp layer of cubed potatoes on top, you can understand why. Chef Cedric Maupillier (who was Food & Wine’s 2013 People’s Best New Chef winner in the Mid-Atlantic region) offers a cast-iron chicken that is moist and rich and a hangar steak that is perfectly medium rare. Mintwood is jammed well into the night, and we spotted a tuxedoed Denis McDonough, the White House chief of staff, having a drink at the bar. (Our only quibble was that on a Saturday night a “few minutes” wait stretched out more than 45 minutes, despite having a reservation.) One shouldn’t leave without trying the wood-grilled confit calf’s heart with pea shoots and cauliflower. Part salad, part offal fiesta, it’s a masterpiece.
New Yorkers will not have too much trouble finding their representatives in DC. (We’re talking about culinary reps, right?) Greg McCarty, who started out at Jean-Georges and opened Nobu 57, just unveiled a 160-seat brasserie, in the same building as the International Spy Museum, called NoPA Kitchen + Bar (800 F St. NW, 202-347-4667). It features seriously rich charcuterie, like a housemade country pate, or the silky foie gras terrine with carrot and ginger. (Oh, and in case you were wondering: “NoPA” means “North of Pennsylvania Avenue.”)
And the well-heeled Washington power establishment continues its ascent. If you’re staying overnight at the new Capella hotel (1050 31st St. NW, capellahotels.com/washingtond c) in Georgetown (where rooms start at $595 per night), you might stop by the Grill Room for one of its $40 rib-eyes, or the Rye Bar for a whiskey.
While the freshman class is promising, a DC visit should also include a perusal of some of the sophomores. Birch & Barley (1337 14th St. NW, birchandbarley.com), which opened in 2009, has injected nice beer artisanship into the capital, boasting 555 different brews on the menu. If you’re not up for a full meal, you can go to its upstairs tavern, Churchkey, with its 17-foot ceilings and decent snack menu, and try 4-ounce tastes for as little as $2.
But for our money, the casual and cool should not be limited to restaurants and bars. The on-the-go and bite-sized should have its place, too. Thank goodness, DC has Union Market (1309 5th St. NE, unionmarketdc.com), a big indoor market mostly focused on food. There, you’ll have one of the finest meatloaf sandwiches you’ll ever taste at Red Apron Butchery (redapronbutchery.com), which opened in January. Red Apron offers a fantastic array of Italian sandwiches like the “porkstrami” (pastrami-style pork, bacon, mustard and overflowing sauerkraut), Italian beef and meatball sammies all served on crisp baguettes.
Buffalo & Bergen, also at Union Market, sells Yonah Shimmel-worthy knishes — although given the fact that one of them is stuffed with pork, they’re not the kinds of knishes your bubbe would recognize. (New Yorkers can skip their bagels, however.)
And a trip to Union Market would feel slightly wasted if one didn’t stop for oysters at Rappahannock Oyster Bar, which offers up a fantastic spread of local oysters and clams, as well as some provocatively named beers, such as Flying Dog Pearl Necklace Oyster Stout, which claims to be brewed with Rappahannock River oysters.
All that leaves us with is dessert.
Many serious eaters will recognize the concept of merging fried chicken with the donut (as Michael Solomonov did with his Philadelphia joint, Federal Donuts), and Washington has gotten in on the practice with the recently opened GBD, a k a Golden Brown Delicious (1323 Connecticut Ave. NW, gbdchickendoughnuts.com). The donuts and fritters are sweet and flavorful. Try the grapefruit campari old-fashioned donut, the chocolate cream-filled brioche and the apple fritter. You won’t even feel like you need the fried chicken.