We stated RIP too many instances this yr, Heck, this month (goodbye Convivial, Crisfield, and Virginia’s Darling, amongst others). It’s time to pay our respects.
Almeda
Petworth
The cycle of superb eating places opening and shortly closing in a tiny area on Upshur Road—Magpie and Tiger, Little Vietnam—sadly continued into this summer time, when Danielle Harris shut down Almeda. When it debuted, Harris known as the place “a celebration and exploration of the diaspora for me, and what it means as a Black girl to cook dinner Black meals.” Her Afro-fusion plates—fried catfish and spaghetti, jollof risotto—stood out for his or her originality and sometimes, their deliciousness. Harris can also be the founding father of Little Meals Studio, however she just lately stepped away from the tiny pastry and sandwich store.
Bar Spero
Judiciary Sq.
Johnny Spero’s Basque eating room on the Capital Crossing improvement garnered loads of reward throughout its two yr run. Each Esquire and Bon Appetit anointed it one of many nation’s greatest new eating places, and final yr, it landed on Washingtonian’s 100 Very Greatest Eating places checklist. However that applause by no means actually translated to steady numbers, and the restaurant known as it quits in September. You may nonetheless discover Spero’s seafood-heavy cooking at Reverie, his Georgetown restaurant.
BLT Steak and Charlie Palmer Steak
Downtown DC and Capitol Hill
It’s exhausting to shed any tears for expense account eating rooms and lobbyist magnets, however these two eating places epitomized a really particular time in DC’s meals scene: when superstar cooks planted their stakes in our metropolis by… taking part in it protected and opening “trendy” steakhouses. Keep in mind J&G (Jean-Georges Vongerichten)? Or Rural Society (Jose Garces)? I’ll credit score each BLT and CP Steak for excellent folks watching—Michelle Obama was a BLT common—and strong comfortable hours. Plus, Taco Bamba’s Victor Albisu acquired his begin at BLT. Subsequent yr, he’ll open a steakhouse of his personal.
Convivial
Shaw
Cedric Maupillier’s bistro will shutter on December 22 after a 9 yr run, and although the town is at the moment awash in good French eating places, this one hurts. Maupillier, who got here up underneath the late Michel Richard, was quietly placing out a number of the most constantly nice cooking—from canonical bistro fare to baguettes to desserts—in DC. Fortunately, he’s acquired a plan: he just lately advised Tom Sietsema that he’ll oversee the menu on the forthcoming Barbouzard in downtown DC, the place the delicacies will lean extra French/Mediterranean.
Crisfield Seafood
Silver Spring
This Jap Shore-inspired seafood counter—run by generations of the Landis household for practically 80 years—is closing December 22. The place was one in every of this space’s uncommon time-capsule areas—nothing modified, ever. Not the light headshots of native celebrities on the wall (Arch Campbell, Chuck Brown), not the tiny glasses of unfashionably mild beer, not the jug of Andes mints that I lived for as a child, and positively not the simple menu of buttery crab Norfolk and baked stuffed shrimp. One other rarity: a clientele that felt like a cross-section of the town, with fits subsequent to ‘Skins jerseys.
Firehook Bakery
Dupont, Alexandria, Chantilly
It was straightforward to miss this chainlet of bread retailers in its later years—Washington just isn’t hurting for bougie bakeries—however 32 years in the past, Firehook and Marvelous Market had been the 2 greatest video games on the town when it got here to contemporary loaves. Hillary and Chelsea Clinton had been reportedly Firehook followers, and the enterprise at one level had eight space places. The enterprise was purchased by a non-public fairness agency in Connecticut earlier this yr, and its remaining three shops will shut down on Christmas Eve. The information isn’t all dangerous. The corporate’s line of wonderful grocery retailer crackers isn’t going wherever, and Firehook staff are taking up the Dupont retailer and turning it right into a espresso store come January.
Marcel’s
Foggy Backside
Robert Wiedmaier’s lace-curtained French eating room, a staunch bastion of ritual and positive eating, closed in Could—and it felt like the tip of an period. Wiedmaier was a part of an older guard of DC cooks who flourished within the ‘90s and early 2010s, earlier than small plates, no reservations, and servers in Chucks took over. Now, Michel Richard and Bob Kinkead are not with us, and Yannick Cam and Roberto Donna have taken their craft to the ‘burbs. Really, Wiedmaier’s remaining eating places—a pair of extra informal Mussel Bars—are there too, in Ballston and Bethesda.
Mi Cuba Cafe and El Sapo
Mount Nice and Silver Spring
DC’s Cuban meals scene has by no means precisely been thriving, however now, it feels prefer it’s crumbling. First, Mi Cuba, a dependable Mount Nice cease for Cuban sandwiches and ropa vieja, closed over the summer time. And simply final week, Raymond Mendizabal advised the MoCo Present that Silver Spring’s spiffy El Sapo Cuban Social Membership has already poured its final mojito.
Virginia’s Darling/Mae’s Market
Outdated City Alexandria
Quirky little wine bar Virginia’s Darling aspired to really feel like a nightly banquet. And, with its easygoing menu and splendidly accessible wine checklist, it usually did. Nonetheless, proprietor Nicole Jones introduced on Fb Wednesday that December 28 can be its last day, resulting from failed lease negotiations. Jones can also be closing the adjoining connoisseur store Mae’s Market, however you may nonetheless discover Mae’s terrific sandwiches at its new Arlington location.
Government Meals Editor/Critic
Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was beforehand an editorial assistant at Leisure Weekly and a cook dinner in New York restaurant kitchens, and he or she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Schooling. She lives in Petworth.
