August. (Local angle: The co-founder of that Red Hook Lobster Pound in New York is Susan Povich, granddaughter of the late, great Washington Post sports scribe, Shirley Povich.) Fifteen bucks is a lot to shell out for a sandwich served in a foil container at lunch. But one bite into the lobster roll, bursting with seafood that’s trucked down from Maine, and I’m hooked; bonus points for the barely there binder of mayonnaise, fresh lemon juice and minced celery. For just over half the price, but just as much savor, there are sweet wild shrimp tossed with a tarragon mayonnaise and cradled with shredded lettuce in a buttered roll that’s faintly crisp from the griddle. Eating the prize catch, you almost expect a sea breeze, or a gull cry. Want to upgrade? Ask for your lobster roll Connecticut-style, and it’s bathed in warm butter. Be sure to check your order: Mine was missing a whoopie pie — the perfect excuse this lobstah lovah needs to return. // Various locations; 202-341-6263; www.redhooklobsterdc. com; @LobstertruckDC. Open: Monday through Saturday, days and location posted on Twitter page. All major credit cards. Prices: $8 to $18.


★★★★ RESTAURANT EVE’S TASTING ROOM Five courses, seven courses, nine courses: There are multiple ways to explore the impressive range of chef Cathal Armstrong in his 50-seat Tasting Room next to Eve’s less-formal bistro. Yet another option is to hand the menu back to the waiter and let Armstrong surprise you with what he thinks is best, which could include any of the entire restaurant’s repertoire of 63 dishes. That’s the path I took on my most recent visit to this gracious dining room in Old Town, which is getting a $100,000 infusion of new chairs, fresh paint and wallpaper for the ceiling this month. First impressions are elegant: a dab of foie gras mousse on a wisp of lavash, a Lilliputian deviled quail egg dotted with caviar, and antelope pâté — hors d’oeuvres best enjoyed with one of Eve’s exceptional cocktails. Next up are ruby-hued squares of bluefi n tuna sashimi splashed with a lemony roasted- tomato vinaigrette; halibut paved in


Marcona almonds with red pepper coulis; and more antelope, lean yet juicy (the next hot protein?) and displayed with tiny, intensely fl avored heirloom carrots and golden risotto fritters. I was sorry to see my cheese course, a divine huckleberry tartlet set off with a tangy quenelle of Irish cow’s milk cheese, disappear in two bites. I can’t say the same for my dessert, however. A little tower of yellow watermelon layered with cheesecake mousse tasted as if it were still in the design stages. Better: a slender bar of chocolate cake robed in ganache (and snatched from the plate of my companion, who was savoring a completely different menu). Not all the servers are equally smooth; ours rattled off every dish as if he were an auctioneer. Dinner might not be perfect, but it’s pretty close — and plenty starry. // 110 S. Pitt St., Alexandria; 703-706- 0450; www.restauranteve.com. Open: dinner Monday through Saturday. All major credit cards. Prices: fi ve-course fi xed-price $110, seven-course fi xed- price $120, nine-course fi xed-price $150. Sound check: 66 decibels.


★★ SEVENTH HILL Half the point of going to Seventh Hill, a slim pizzeria on Capitol Hill lighted with sconces made from pizza pans, is the chance to watch 23-year- old pizzaiolo Anthony Pilla at work. (Or is it play?) No one locally stretches dough, or spins a pie, with more carefree grace and attention. The other reason to show up here, of course, is to eat his handiwork. The dozen or so standing choices take their names from nearby landmarks — Lincoln Park is meatless; Navy Yard sizzles with sausage — while specials have run to duck prosciutto, heirloom tomatoes and spinach. What all share are thin, puffy-lipped crusts that fuse yeast and char in every bite. The elegant soups (chestnut-bacon and potato-rosemary in cool months) are made by the French kitchen next door at Montmartre, whose owners run Seventh Hill. Bread from the hickory-stoked oven means top-notch sandwiches, including an irresistible Italian model packed with salami, mortadella, provolone and hot red fi recrackers — er, cherry peppers.


42 THE WASHINGTON POST MAGAZINE | OCTOBER 17, 2010


Meseret Bekele and Samuel Ergete found Washington’s Ethiopian restaurant scene wanting, so they opened Ethiopic. Review on Page 25.


Pilla fans, take note: Seventh Hill is closed Monday, and Tuesday is the passionate pizzamaker’s day off. // 327 Seventh St. SE; 202-544-1911; www.seventhhill.com. Open: lunch Tuesday through Sunday, dinner Tuesday through Sunday. All major credit cards. Prices: eight-inch pizza $9. Sound check: 73 decibels.


★★ SPICE XING A diner can point pretty much anywhere on this menu and hit a winner, be it chicken draped in a creamy, coconut-laced curry; shrimp electrifi ed with vinegar and red chilies; or lamb bedded on greens spiked with mustard oil. You don’t have to be a meat-eater to appreciate the kitchen, which also serves chickpeas in a rich concert of spices, and grilled caulifl ower and red bell pepper speckled with black onion seeds. “We try not to say no,” says owner Sudhir Seth; butter chicken isn’t on his menu, for instance, but his kitchen can make it and other Indian classics on request. Though rice is the best way to extinguish any heat, Spice Xing’s refreshing cocktails (try a margarita punched up with cilantro) prove handy, too. The name of the place might just as well be a nod to the festive


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