★★ AGAINN Patrons leave Washington for London when they stroll through the door of the area’s most dashing gastro pub, with its faux fox heads, dark leather seats and personalized Scotch lockers. Againn (pronounced ah-GWEN) doesn’t just look the part of a pub across the pond: It tastes like the real deal, too. Black pudding (that’s blood sausage, mate), topped with a sunny egg and set on a mash of onions, proves lusty eating. A shepherd’s pie of lightly browned mashed potatoes paved over ground lamb leg braised with beer and bolstered with rosemary, anchovy paste and sofrito gives that typical dish of leftovers a fresh spin. New to chef Wes Morton’s fall menu is terrifi c boudin blanc arranged on silken pureed potatoes that bring aligot, that rich French whip of spuds and cheese, to mind. The fi sh sandwich is a crumbly mess of cod mousse and salmon belly. Better are fi sh and chips. Even fi ner is whole roast branzino, its snowy fl esh fl attered with lemon and herbs. Beer is the obvious quaff of choice, except on Mondays and Tuesdays, when Againn offers all of its bottles for half-price. // 1099 New York Ave. NW; 202-639-9830; www. againndc.com. Open: lunch Monday through Friday, dinner Monday through Saturday. All major credit cards except Diners Club. Entree prices: lunch $10 to $21, dinner $19 to $26. Sound check: 80 decibels.


★★ ASHBY INN Few restaurants bridge old and new better than the Ashby Inn in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The property dates to 1829, but dinner delivers a taste of today, starting with a snack of airy crackers, perhaps spiced as if they were Buffalo wings, and concluding with black chunks of chocolate sponge cake supported by toasted cumin-fl avored marshmallows. Tarver King is an imaginative chef with an artistic streak, partial to arranging his food — heirloom tomato chunks and a snow globe of burrata fenced in with tuiles of bread; miso- braised pork shoulder and steamed jasmine rice tingling with lime — in delicious rows on its plates. But he


Taqueria La Placita is authentically Mexican, from the varied tacos to the Coke shipped in from south of the border. Review on Page 43.


never forsakes fl avor for gimmicks and always treats accompaniments as if they were centerpieces: Lemony spaeztle is as much a treat as the crisp rockfi sh it supports. All of the intimate dining rooms are welcoming, although warm weather typically fi nds me outside on the fl agstone terrace, and the underground tap room with fi replace calls to me in winter. (In a triumph for line-weary females, the inn’s restrooms are marked


20 THE WASHINGTON POST MAGAZINE | OCTOBER 17, 2010


“Women” and “Men and Women.”) The upstairs provides reasons to linger, provided you plan ahead: six romantic guest rooms. // 692 Federal St., Paris, Va.; 540-592-3900; www.ashbyinn. com. Open: lunch Wednesday through Saturday, dinner Wednesday through Sunday, Sunday brunch. All major credit cards except Discover. Entree prices: lunch $12 to $16, dinner $29 to $36, brunch $39. Sound check: 67 decibels.


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