Pretheater Dinners = Great Deals -- Some of Washington's finest restaurants make you an offer you shouldn't refuse: a three-course dinner for just a little bit more than the cost of a typical entree. It's the pretheater dinner, available in the early evening on certain nights at certain restaurants; and while your choices may be limited, your meal will undoubtedly be delicious.
At one end of the spectrum is Marcel's, whose $48 fixed-price includes a starter, such as an arugula salad with caramelized shallots; an entree, like pan-seared Norwegian salmon; and a dessert of either crème brûlée or chocolate terrine. Marcel's offers this menu nightly from 5:30 to 7pm and throws in complimentary limo service to get you to the Kennedy Center, returning you to the restaurant after the show for the dessert portion, if you haven't already consumed it.
Café Atlantico's pretheater menu allows you three courses for $30; sample dishes are foie gras terrine as a first course, duck confit with candied pumpkin seeds or chicken with a Veracruz sauce for the main course, and sorbet or warm chocolate cake to finish. The restaurant's pretheater menu is available nightly between 5 and 6:30pm.
Other restaurants in this guide that offer a pretheater menu are Zola, Rasika, 1789, and Café Saint-Ex.
