100 Very Best 2014
At this cozy restaurant—inside the wine-country getaway L’Auberge Provençale—chef Scott Myers serves cuisine a touch more modern than the floral tablecloths and antique dining chairs would suggest. Sesame powder and yuzu gelée lend Eastern flair to a hearty spinach-and-Swiss-chard soup, and chorizo cream perks up tender pork belly. At a recent dinner, a thick slice of crisp-skinned snapper, cooked sous-vide and then seared, was the highlight of the evening. The low point: a sampling of bland, slushy sorbets. Look instead for desserts featuring seasonal fruits; the kitchen has a way with crisps and panna cotta, both of which taste great with a Virginia-made ice wine.
Open: Wednesday through Monday for dinner.
Don’t Miss: Parmesan-truffle popcorn; caramelized-cauliflower soup; galantine-style turkey with eggplant, tomato cream, and buffalo mozzarella; Peach Explosion, with peach crisp, peach-pecan ice cream, and grilled peach with raspberry cream.
Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
