100 Very Best 2019Johnny Spero has cooked in avant-garde kitchens across the world, including DC’s Minibar. At his own place, which opened in Georgetown in the fall, the chef takes center stage in a kitchen plunked in the middle of the room. The menu lacks cohesion—what’s a burger doing next to tweezer-plated scallop crudo?—but the hits outnumber the misses. The Big Mac riff is elevated with smoked-egg “special sauce” and miso-cured pickles, while a whole sliced duck is paired with beet-licorice juice. Spero also brings plenty of modernist tricks: What looks like pound cake is actually aerated white chocolate that dissolves on your tongue. Expensive.
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.
Jessica Sidman covers the people and trends behind D.C.’s food and drink scene. Before joining Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Food Editor and Young & Hungry columnist at Washington City Paper. She is a Colorado native and University of Pennsylvania grad.
