Restaurants

Each year brings an explosion of promising new restaurants to the capital, but this year's crop seems especially noteworthy. The chef/owner of what I consider the city's best restaurant, Michel Richard of Citronelle, in Georgetown, has opened Central, an American/French brasserie on Pennsylvania Avenue. Robert Wiedmaier, whose high-end, West End dining room, Marcel's, always gets high marks for its elegant Belgian/French cuisine, is doing a brisk business at his more casual, most delicious, Beck's, on K St. And superman Jose Andres, he of Jaleo, Café Atlantico, Zaytinya, and minibar, has moved his Mexican Oyamel from suburban Virginia to the heart of the Penn Quarter neighborhood, which means that D.C. finally has an authentic Mexican restaurant (even if Andres is a Spaniard).

In all, Washington has about 2,000 restaurants, offering irresistible tastes of world cuisines for every budget. Space constraints limit me to review a mere fraction -- about 100. I've included all the above mentioned restaurants, as well as old faithfuls, little sandwich places, neighborhood joints, special occasion destinations, intimate eateries, and party-hearty spots, to cover every type of dining experience you might desire.

If a place beckons, call ahead for reservations, especially for Saturday night. More and more restaurants are affiliated with an online reservation service called www.opentable.com, so you can also reserve your table online.

If you wait until the last minute to make a reservation, expect to dine really early, say 5:30 or 6pm, or after 9:30pm. Or you can sit at the bar and eat, which can be more of a culinary treat than you might imagine: Some of the best restaurants, including Palena, Citronelle, and PS7's, offer a reasonably priced bar menu.

Better yet, consider a restaurant that doesn't take reservations. This practice seems to be on the upswing and works for places like Pesce and Lauriol Plaza, where the atmosphere is casual, the wait can become part of the experience, and the food is worth standing in line for.

Few places require men to wear a jacket and tie; I've made a special note in the listings for those places that do. If you're driving, call ahead to inquire about valet parking, complimentary or otherwise -- on Washington's crowded streets, this service can be a true bonus.

I've listed the closest Metro station to each restaurant only when it's within walking distance of that restaurant. The closest Metro stop to Georgetown is the Blue Line's Foggy Bottom station, where you can hop on the Georgetown Metro Connection shuttle bus for a short ride to Georgetown.

About the Prices -- I've selected a range of menus and prices in the major "restaurant" neighborhoods of Washington. Keep in mind that the price categories refer to dinner prices, but some very expensive restaurants offer affordable lunches, early-bird dinners, tapas, or bar meals. The prices within each review refer to the cost of individual entrees, not the entire meal. I've used the following price categories: Very Expensive (main courses at dinner average more than $30); Expensive ($20 to $30); Moderate ($10 to $19); and Inexpensive ($10 and under).

Glover Park -- The blue-painted Georgetown Metro Connection shuttles travel as far as R Street and Wisconsin Avenue, and the D.C. Circulator buses travel as far as Whitehaven Street, both just a little bit short (south) of Glover Park; you can walk it easily, but it is all uphill. Regular Metro buses (the no. 30 series) travel to Glover Park. Perhaps the easiest thing to do is take a taxi.

A Seat at the Bar

Dining out in Washington can be many things: a culinary adventure, a happy pastime, a chance to transact business, a romantic interlude . . . and a competitive sport. Most restaurants require reservations, and in this cutthroat town, all the best seem always to be booked. Oh pooh! What's a hungry, reservation-less, good-food lover to do? Head to the bar, of course. In an effort to please those who haven't managed to reserve a table in their main dining rooms, but who nevertheless hope to sample some of their food, glorious food, a number of the city's top restaurants have started serving modified versions of their regular menus at the bar. The experience often proves more intimate and convivial than that in the main dining room, and here's the kicker: it's always less expensive. Consider these:

At Palena, 3529 Connecticut Ave. NW (tel. 202/537-9250), you sit on comfy stools at the bar and enjoy chef Frank Ruta's exquisitely prepared Kobe beef cheeseburger with brioche bun and sottocenere (a creamy Italian cheese with black truffles), Caesar salad, pastas, roasted chicken, a charcuterie plate, fried lemons (don't knock 'em til you try 'em) and onion rings, all perfectly done -- and everything costing less than $14. On Monday nights, the main dining room is closed and this bar area at the front of the house becomes Palena's Café, serving just the bar menu (this is a favorite 20-something gathering space and time).

At Michel Richard Citronelle, in the Latham Hotel, 3000 M St. NW (tel. 202/625-2150), the bar/lounge is located on a level just above the main dining room. There are bar stools, but also a collection of tables. The a la carte menu offers a range of items, from $12 mushroom cigars (fried mushroom duxelles with ginger sauce) to $38 duck, served medium rare, with duck leg confit. So many people have raved about the lobster burger ($28) that Richard includes it on the menu at his new restaurant, Central. This is Richard's award-winning cuisine, at a fraction of the cost of his tasting menus.

CityZen, in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, 1330 Maryland Ave. SW (tel. 202/787-6868), offers perhaps the most jaw-dropping bar meal: Chef Eric Ziebold's three-course tasting menu in his main dining room costs $75; at the bar, Ziebold's edited version goes for $45. The chef does not present a set bar menu but pulls one or two choices from each course on offer that night, so you can be sure you're dining on the same heavenly fare as those seated at tables: maybe a pickled shad with braised celery and potato crisps, or braised shoat shoulder with English peas. And the service is sublime.

Other bar scenes to recommend: Marcel's, whose wine bar menu ranges from a gratin of endive for $13 to beef carbonade, in $15 and $28 portions (Marcel's also features live jazz in the wine bar nightly); Bistrot Lepic, another wine bar, offering both bar item menus and specialties of the house; and PS7's, whose lounge is a cool scene and its menu even cooler -- try the risotto balls, tuna sliders, and house-made half-smokes.