D.C is a "Food Capital."
Spin a globe or grab a map and place your finger on the United States. Look a bit closer and you may notice two stars next to Washington D.C. The first star has a circle around it, as it’s the nation's capital. The other star is to highlight all the Michelin restaurants in the capital city. In the competitive culinary scene, few accolades hold as much prestige globally as the coveted Michelin star. As the only governing body to ever invade the United States capital, Michelin officially planted its flag in 2016. While critics may argue that Michelin's standards cater to a specific dining experience, the undeniable truth is that the arrival of Michelin marked a pivotal moment in the city's culinary evolution. Now in 2024, the city is home to 25 Michelin-starred restaurants, firmly cementing D.C as a different kind of capital—a food capital!
Hopefully I don’t need to be a “K Street” lobbyist to convince you of all the fine dining in Washington D.C., however, choosing from the 25 could be difficult for a single trip. How do I normally narrow down my choices? The vino, of course! I’ve listed a few D. C. restaurants to check out this spring/summer where the wine lists align with their Michelin-starred status. After finishing your food and wine pairing, I’m confident this will be the easiest bill signing the political capital of the U.S. has ever seen.
Oyster Oyster
1440 Eighth St. NW.
Prices: $135 tasting menu (optional $55-per-person wine pairing)
Hours: Tuesday - Saturday: 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm (last seating)
Chef/Owner Rob Rubba
Awarded its Michelin star in 2022, Oyster Oyster is located in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington D.C. The area is known as a creative enclave for indie boutique shops, vibrant nightlife, and eclectic restaurants. The neighborhood seemed like a great fit for James Beard Award winning Chef and Owner Rob Rubba to open up an eco-friendly, plant-focused restaurant in 2020. Oyster Oyster offers a seasonal menu with partners from local Mid-Atlantic farms who share their ethos for stewardship, environmentally beneficial oysters from the Chesapeake, and locally foraged mushrooms.
Favorite Dish: Grilled Lions Man - Brassicas, vegetable reduction
Plant based fine dining
For wine lovers not used to pairing wines with strictly plant-based dishes, don’t overthink it. Ask yourself where does wine come from?
“Wine itself is an agricultural story in a bottle; like our cuisine, the wines selected for our list are congruent with the same care and sustainable ethos we apply to the ingredients in our kitchen. Finding wines within those constraints relies on an individual being creative and open-minded. Cooking a plant-focused menu that is also regionally sourced doesn’t fit into a lot of traditional go-to pairings. Therefore, the sommelier needs to be flexible while thinking ahead to find the next best pairing. Fortunately, many of the wines we select are not large productions and tend to have limited allocations, making our list as fluid in its evolution as our cuisines.” -Chef/Owner Rob Rubba
Chef Rubba takes the “wine experience” one step further by becoming the country’s first restaurant to turn used wine bottles into plates. He purchased a $10k glass crusher and now almost 100% of the meals are served on recycled serving dishes. As a wine lover I like the idea that wine is a part of every dish at Oyster Oyster.
Bresca
1906 14th St. NW
Prices: Chef’s tasting $158 (Wine Pairing +$125, Reserve Pairing +$215)
Hours: Wednesday & Thursday: 5.30 - 9.30 PM. Friday & Saturday: 5 - 10 PM. Sunday: 5 - 9:30 PM
French-American cuisine in D.C
Located in the storied Logan Circle neighborhood of D.C., Bresca is celebrated as an American-French fusion eatery. Chef/Owner Ryan Ratino honed his skill in the NYC fine dining scene before opening his own restaurant in 2017. Bresca was founded as a homage to culinary innovation and creating a space where food is honored as a reflection of community and culture.
Each dish pays tribute to the local terroir, blending flavors originating from the toil of farmers, the rods of fishermen, and the skill of artisans.
Favorite Dish: Duck á la presse – pear, duck heart, hickory
Upgrade your meal with a wine pairing
Bresca is a French bistro, so it’s no surprise they have a large selection of wine from that country but other regions also make an appearance on the menu.
“As far as Bresca goes, I definitely have a bias towards French wine. I think French wine pairs perfectly with our French cuisine and both components really complement each other. We offer two tiers for our pairings. The traditional Bresca pairing is slightly esoteric and actually features some wines from other regions, such as California and Spain. We do feature some French wines, but I enjoy certain styles with specific items on our current tasting menu. All of the wines for our traditional pairing are wines you don't always typically see. For example, we are currently pairing our new pork loin dish with a Rouge blend from Provence! The La Bastide Blanche Bandol Rouge 2019 is one of my current favorites. It is dark, brooding, and has a heavier body so it holds up well with pork.
Our reserve pairing is strictly French. On the higher end pairing, I always like to start with some champagne, and then transition into white Burgundy with the following course. I like to include more well-known producers as well as more sought after regions on this pairing. We also feature Bordeaux with our Wagyu supplement, specifically the Chateau Lagrange Cabernet Blend 2015 hailing from Saint Julien. On the reserve, guests are more likely to see some wines with age.” - Bresca Sommelier, Alexandra Padron
The” Michelin love” doesn’t stop for Chef Ratino with Bresca. He also owns Jônt, a two-star Michelin located right upstairs from Bresca. Don’t be surprised if you see Chef Ratino moving smoothly between venues with the cleanest pair of white Nike Air Force Ones I’ve ever seen.
Albi
1346 4th St. SE
Prices: Sofra $125 (Wine Pairing +$75 or +$125)
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 5pm – 10pm
Sweet 'n Sumac
Albi (Arabic for “my heart”) opened 2020 in D.C.’s Navy Yard neighborhood. Palestinian-American Chef/Owner Michael Rafidi invites guests to savor the Levantine inspired cuisine. The radiant hearth in the open kitchen serves as an epicenter for the restaurant. Views of the live fire and earthy décor can make you feel like you’re sitting in Chef Rafidi’s home particularly with the Sofra Experience. During Sofra (“a table set for you” in Arabic) the chefs prepare a spontaneous menu right in front of guests highlighting seasonal ingredients.
Favorite Dish: Fattoush – apple, smoked grapes, pear. pomegranate molasse, smoked feta
Smoked Muscat
For wine connoisseurs that have never had Middle Eastern cuisine with wine from the same region - prepare for a more culturally immersive experience.
“We only have one hard and fast rule for pairings and that's to never use the by the glass list. The pairings are about exploration, and why choose pairings if you can simply order a glass of the same thing? The nature of the food we serve gives us free range to draw from anywhere we can think of for beverage - guests don't have any preconceived ideas about what they ought to drink with Arabic food, so we have the liberty to serve them just about anything. We'll work in one Palestinian or Lebanese or Cypriot wine at least because for one we believe quite strongly in them, and also because they're of the region.
Our food & beverage program at Albi is more or less constantly evolving, so there are little shifts or tweaks just about every day, but one thing we're particularly excited about is a container of wine and arak that just arrived from Palestine - Cremisan, Muaddi, Arak Ramallah, and Philokalia - which is central to our program and faces obvious challenges for export. It was a huge effort by the importer to get the container on the water, and we're itching to get them in the door in the coming weeks. Some of these new arrivals have never been in the U.S. before now. Periodically, we switch up the categories on the wine list - the next one we're planning is a collection of wines made in different areas - California, Oregon, Lebanon, maybe more if we can get them - by young winemakers of Palestinian heritage - diaspora wines basically, which is another project we're excited about.” - Wine Director/Director of Operations, William Simons
I love Middle Eastern food but knew very little about wine from the region. Perhaps it was fortunate that I swirled around the glass of Cremisan Baladi 2019 a few times and remembered that I’m trying this wine to form an opinion not to justify one. Each time I placed my nose at the glass rim, inhaled, and sipped I learned more about the wine region. Thank you, Albi, for broadening my palate.
