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halibut, typically a boring fi sh that tastes altogether original when it’s perched on a racy base of black beans and chilies and crowned with cool chopped celery. If you’ve come for something meatier, however, chef Philippe Reininger grills an impressive slab of Wagyu sirloin and even better lamb chops. Served three to a plate and plenty juicy, the chops arrive in a crunchy coat of Japanese bread crumbs with a gorgeous frame of seasonal vegetables. Whatever your path, if you don’t squeeze in some not- too-creamed spinach, you’re missing one of the best side dishes around (basil gives it a lift). The hardest dessert to say no to is the salted caramel ice cream sundae, with peanuts, popcorn and lashings of chocolate sauce. The music blasting from the nearby lobby is all wrong, and some servers over-share: One night, my waiter spent 10 minutes going over the menu, which defeats the purpose of a printed list. A reservation in the dining room, rich with leather chairs and Palladian windows, typically lets you join the “skip” line that cuts any wait for an elevator ride to the rooftop bar — and one of the most spectacular views in town. // 515 15th St. NW; 202-661-2440; www.
jgsteakhousewashingtondc.com. Open: breakfast, lunch and dinner daily, brunch Saturday and Sunday. All major credit cards. Entree prices: breakfast $13 to $15, lunch $12 to $45, dinner $24 to $54, three-course fi xed-price dinner $35, brunch $12 to $45. Sound check: 73 decibels.
★★★ JALEO The original opened 17 years ago, and I’m still not tired of this tapas restaurant. Both of us are showing our age, but Jaleo is as thrilling a place to eat as ever, thanks to its visionary, José Andrés, and day-to-day chef Rodolfo Guzman, a native of Bolivia with the touch of a Spaniard. (Food fl ash: Guzman is leaving next month to open a Jaleo in the new Cosmopolitan Las Vegas.) Shrimp sauteed in garlic, a classic (or not) gazpacho and house-made chorizo bedded on whipped potatoes are standard-bearers I can always embrace, but every visit fi nds fresh reason to fall in
Meat cooks right at the table at Honey Pig Gooldaegee Korean Grill; diners apply sauces and dips, then bundle it into crisp lettuce leaves. Review on Page 28.
love with the epic menu of small plates. Recent fond memories were made of a strip of fl atbread lined with cheese and jewel-like chopped tomatoes and bell peppers; plump grilled quail sweetened with honey aioli; a warm toss of pea shoots, snow peas, sweet onions and tart gooseberries shot through with fresh mint; and a rich tribute to one of the greatest chefs this city ever knew, the late Jean-Louis Palladin (picture a paella veined with duck confi t and nuzzled with frothy foie gras cream). The service is smart and swift, the offshoots (in Bethesda and Crystal City) do the home offi ce proud, and if you go to only one festival next year, make it Jaleo’s annual summer salute to tomatoes. // 480 Seventh St. NW; 202-628-7949; www.
jaleo.com. Open: lunch and dinner
34 THE WASHINGTON POST MAGAZINE | OCTOBER 17, 2010
daily, Saturday and Sunday brunch. Arlington location closed Mondays. Other locations: 7271 Woodmont Ave., Bethesda, 301-913-0003, and 2250-A Crystal Dr., Arlington, 703-413-8181. All major credit cards except Diners Club. Entree prices: lunch $6.50 to $32, dinner $6.50 to $32, brunch $6 to $10.50, pre-theater menu $25 per person. Sound check: 71 decibels.
★★★★ KOMI There is no printed menu at Komi anymore. These days, you’re simply asked whether you have any food restrictions, then you more or less place yourself in the hands of chef Johnny Monis. That turns out to be a grand thing. Almost immediately, sumptuous little snacks and small plates appear at the table. “Eat it in one bite,” a server instructs us as she presents a button of steamed brioche dabbed with Greek yogurt and glistening with beads of orange roe. A trio of pristine slices of
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