Washington DC
Ben’s Chili Bowl
Review of Ben’s chili bowl in Washington DC.
Sushi Nakazawa
Sushi Nakazawa started in NYC when two gentlemen hired a former Jiro (yes that Jiro) chef named Daisuke Nakazawa. In 2018, they opened another outpost in DC which now has one Michelin star. The DC location is located inside the Trump International Hotel with a separate entrance in the back.
Overall, service was good, and I would say that you get a lot of pieces for comparable omakase in this price range. The sushi was good. If you are looking for good sushi in DC, this would be a good option.
Peking Gourmet Inn
Peking Gourmet Inn is a Chinese restaurant located in Falls Church, Virginia, about a 20 minute drive from Washington, DC. It is known for its Peking Duck. There were three reasons I wanted to try this place:
1. I love Peking Duck
2. We had been travelling for almost 2 months and hadn’t had a good Chinese meal
3. It was supposedly the favorite restaurant of people like George Bush and other world leaders/celebrities. In fact, the walls of the restaurant are filled with famous people
Fiola
Fiola is a one Michelin stared Italian restaurant in Washington DC. They recently opened another location in Miami.
They have a tasting menu or you can order a la carte. We went with the later. Reading the menu is exciting. They list the sources of their products, give a story about the farm, and also list what was fresh that week.
We started with Culatello which you do not find on many menus outside of Italy. If I remember correctly, our server was mentioning that Fiola had some role to play in being able to bring it into the USA as the FDA initially did not approve of it. In any event, it is a far superior product to prosciutto.
Cranes
Cranes is a one Michelin star restaurant in Washington DC. The concept is very interesting with a mix of Asian and Spanish. The chef worked for years in Singapore under Spanish chefs so you can see both influences in the dishes.
You can do a la carte or Omakase. We went with the later. Overall the service was good and we were seated with the best view of the kitchen. Because it we had been travelling a lot over the past couple days, and the weather in the day was unbearably hot, my main focus of the meal was to relax, hence, my lack of commentary above. I can say I don’t recall anything really blowing me away or disappointing me.