(Continued from Page 25)


lined with burnt-orange banquettes and photographs taken by co-owner and chef Claudio Pirollo — looks like countless cozy bistros abroad; the servers’ French accents and the sight of Flemish beef stew fueled with dark beer make Washington feel further away. I’m a fool for salmon gravlax delivered with blinis to start, but from there it gets more challenging: Do I return to a favorite fi sh waterzooi or one of the best hamburgers around, or try something else? Cod paved in basil and mustard is my new must-have main course. The fi sh is just part of the appeal; a bed of angel-hair pasta swollen with lobster sauce sends it into a richer realm. Let’s hope next tomato season brings back Et Voila!’s stellar risotto: tangy with tomato concasse, decorated with pesto-speckled shrimp and the appetizer of choice this summer of super-chef Alain Ducasse, for whom Pirollo worked at the Plaza Athenee in Paris. I’ve left a dreary gray lentil soup in its bowl, and my last memory of dessert was of an underdone crepe. But a meal at Et Voila! is still a trip. // 5120 MacArthur Blvd. NW; 202-237-2300; www.etvoiladc. com. Open: lunch Tuesday through Sunday, dinner daily, brunch Saturday and Sunday. All major credit cards except Diners Club. Entree prices: lunch $9 to $19.95, dinner $14 to $28.95. Sound check: 74 decibels.


★★ HONEY PIG GOOLDAEGEE KOREAN GRILL I agree with my discerning Korean dry cleaner: Honey Pig isn’t the best Korean restaurant around, and its corrugated- metal walls, concrete fl oor and low ceiling make it painfully noisy when it’s busy, which is almost always. So why bother? Because if you go with a group of thrill-seekers and know what to order, this 24-hour hot spot is one of the most entertaining barbecues around. Pork belly is the signature, but galbi (marinated beef rib) is just as satisfying; either meat sizzles from red to brown, along with accents of jalapeños and onions, on a table grill monitored by an effi cient server. Deft with both scissors (for cutting ribbons of meat) and chopsticks (for cooking it),


At the Columbia Room, co-owner and mixologist Derek Brown takes ice seriously. Review on Page 24.


she knows precisely when everything’s ready to be plucked from the fi re and points out which dips or sauces you’ll want for which meat before bundling it into a crisp lettuce leaf. Neat-freaks, those aprons hanging on the wall are for you. My dry cleaner adds this tip: Wear clothes you can wash easily, because you’re going to leave Honey Pig smelling of smoke, garlic and chilies. // 7220-C Columbia Pike, Annandale; 703-256- 5229. No Web site. Open: 24 hours. All major credit cards. Entree prices: lunch $7.99 to $9.99, dinner $12.99 to $24.99. Sound check: 80 decibels.


★★★★ INN AT LITTLE WASHINGTON The difference between the Inn at Little Washington and just about every other food temple I know: Fun is a major ingredient at the 32-year-old inn in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains. What other restaurant serves movie popcorn with shaved truffl es or wraps avocado around peekytoe crab to create a caterpillar, capped with a spoonful of caviar? (Chive fronds fi ll in for antennae.) As the table is swept between courses, a server murmurs, “This is the crumby part of the job.” And just before the elaborate cheese tray arrives on the back of a toy cow on wheels, we’re told


28 THE WASHINGTON POST MAGAZINE | OCTOBER 17, 2010


it’s a “moooving experience.” Let there be no misunderstanding: The cooking is serious. Chef Patrick O’Connell’s takes on lobster salad, vitello tonnato and even lemon pudding cake are luscious wonders. Among the recent additions to the entertaining seven- course menu are fi llets of silken black cod shocked with a lemony vodka sauce and arranged with button-size shrimp- and-pork dumplings, but you should also make room for what might be the best macaroni and cheese of your life (folds of Virginia ham and black summer truffl es help). The inn is as close to nirvana as restaurants come; slips such as one night’s dry sliced duck poised on faint islands of corn pudding are rare. It’s easy to spend $300 a head if you imbibe, and you should, if only to meet the latest addition to the inn’s cast: wine director Jennifer Knowles, a jolly and knowledgeable import from San Francisco. Keep in mind, an evening at the inn is more than just a meal. It’s a performance worth experiencing at least once in your life (and more, if you’re able). Members of the military should sign up for reservations Monday through Thursday in January and February: That’s when the inn offers them 30 percent discounts on the food portion of the bill — yet another touch to salute. // Middle and Main streets, Washington, Va.; 540-675-3800; www.theinnatlittlewashington.com. Open: dinner Monday, Wednesday through Sunday; closed some Tuesdays. American Express, Master Card, Visa. Entree prices: six-course fi xed-price $148 Sunday through Thursday, $158 Friday, $178 Saturday; 10-course tasting menu $188 Sunday through Thursday, $198 Friday, $218 Sunday. Sound check: 68 decibels.


★★★ J&G STEAKHOUSE It calls itself a steakhouse, but I’m just as apt to go fi shing as hunting when I visit this designer creation in the W Hotel from celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Lure No. 1 is a plate of seared scallops perched on a glossy bed of snap peas, bacon and (ahhhh) fresh mint, perhaps the best appetizer on the menu. Lure No. 2 is an entree of (Continued on Page 34)


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170  |  Page 171  |  Page 172  |  Page 173  |  Page 174  |  Page 175  |  Page 176  |  Page 177  |  Page 178  |  Page 179  |  Page 180  |  Page 181  |  Page 182  |  Page 183  |  Page 184  |  Page 185  |  Page 186  |  Page 187  |  Page 188