Sitting at the sushi bar and watching the chefs do their deft blade work on hulking slabs of fish, making edible art with Zen-like calm, provides some insight into what makes Sushi Taro special.
Inside this unassuming rowhouse next to a CVS, Johnny Monis is putting out the top culinary experience in Washington. The wine pairing ($70 per person) is generous and full of offbeat picks.
The menu changes almost weekly, but standouts have included pork rinds served with duck-liver dip and sausage flavored with lemongrass and kaffir-lime leaves.
What to get: Pork loin with greens and eggplant; cavatelli with roasted chicken and chicken-skin cracklings; hake with beans and corn; grilled skirt steak with puréed potatoes and mustard greens.
When was the last time you picked up a mezcal-spiked cocktail and ate it like a snowball? José Andrés’s 27-course menu kicks off with just that and follows up with other mind-bending surprises.
Tapas we’ve been loving for years include goat-cheese-stuffed red peppers, crusty bread rubbed with tomatoes & layered with thinly sliced Manchego, a textbook gazpacho, & warm dates wrapped in bacon.
The ultimate indulgence is Table 21 in the kitchen, where Voltaggio crafts a 21-course meal as up to eight diners watch.
Five-course meals begin with canapés such as “the world’s tiniest baked potato” and might end with a visit from a mechanical cow named Faira (aka the cheese cart) and cheese savant Cameron Smith.
