ANALYSIS/OPINION:
After Christmas celebrations and New Year revelries, January seems like a time to rein in spending — but that doesn’t mean giving up all restaurants.
Washington’s winter Restaurant Week returns Jan. 30 to Feb. 5, with $22 lunches and $35 dinners at the 200-plus participating restaurants. In addition, many restaurants have lunch specials Monday-Friday.
The Oval Room (800 Connecticut Ave. NW) offers one drink, one dish, one dessert for $20 at the bar. Fiola (601 Pennsylvania Ave. NW) has a presto lunch, which includes a beverage and an entree at the bar, also for $20.
At Hank’s Oyster Bar (1624 Q St. NW), a two-course special of an appetizer and a main course is available for $13.99 from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. BlackSalt’s (4883 MacArthur Blvd. NW) express lunch menu offers three selections for $22 and four selections for $27. Selections include a beverage, starter, entree and dessert.
Ambar (523 Eighth St. SE) offers unlimited small plates and drinks for $49 all day, and Ambar Clarendon (2901 Wilson Blvd., Arlington) offers unlimited lunch dishes for $34 and dinner for $35.
Through Inauguration Day, The Grill Room and Rye Bar at the Rosewood (1050 31st St. NW) will offer special wines available by the glass or the bottle. Try Pol Roger Champagne or The Prisoner, a 2014 California Zinfandel-Cabernet blend.
From Sunday through Jan. 29, The Hay-Adams (800 16th St. NW) will offer “January Jazz at the Hay,” featuring Executive Chef Nicolas Legret’s three-course Sunday brunch, accompanied by live jazz. Brunch will be served from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., and is priced at $80 for adults and $40 for children.
Rob Weland, chef-owner of Garrison (524 Eighth St. SE), is bringing back his fondue menu, launched last winter. It’s available for $18 per person daily in the bar and patio (weather permitting), and features traditional Alpine fondue. The fondue is served with bread cubes; add-ons (apples, rutabagas, radishes, boiled potatoes, steak tips) are available for additional costs ranging from $4 to $10.
On Jan. 15, Chef Brandon Shapiro and spice expert Lior Lev Sercarz join forces in a special one-time-only dinner at Wildwood Kitchen (10223 Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda), featuring the dishes of the Mediterranean. The five-course dinner features Mr. Shapiro’s creations enhanced by Mr. Sercarz’s special expertise. Mr. Sercarz also will be signing his latest cookbook.
In honor of National Soup Month, Legal Sea Foods has declared Jan. 15 as Chowda Day. For that day only, the restaurant’s New England clam chowder will be available for $1 a cup (usually priced at $6.75) with the purchase of any entree. (There’s a limit of one cup per entree.) Chowda Day will be celebrated at all four Legal Sea Foods locations in the Washington area.
On Jan. 18 at 7:30 p.m., Red’s Table (11150 South Lakes Drive, Reston) will host a guided tasting and dinner showcasing wines from Chteau Haut-Brion selected by Will Murck of Barrel One Wines to complement a four-course dinner created by Executive Chef Adam Stein. Mr. Murck will be attending to lead the dinner and to answer questions about the featured wines. Tickets are priced at $95 per person.
New restaurants:
• Letena (3100 14th St. NW) opened in Columbia Heights in September. The restaurant serves Ethiopian and international specialties. Its coffee house features brews made from freshly roasted Ethiopian beans.
• Tredici Enoteca, in the newly overhauled St. Gregory Hotel (2033 M St. NW), opened in October showcasing Mediterranean dishes. Salads and small plates are priced from $9 to $15; meats, fish and pastas are priced from $12 to $24.
• 1230 Restaurant & Champagne Lounge (1230 Ninth St. NW) opened in November in the Shaw neighborhood, and specializes in French-American nouvelle cuisine. The menu features wild king salmon, grilled octopus with cannellini beans, sweetbreads with baby artichokes, roasted venison and grilled quail. Prices range from $10 to $38.
• Fabio and Maria Trabocchi have opened their newest restaurant, Sfoglina (4445 Connecticut Ave. NW), specializing in pasta. (A sfoglina is a pasta maker in Italian.) Pastas are priced from $22 to $27.
• On Rye (740 Sixth St. NW) describes itself as a modern sandwich shop inspired by Jewish delis. It serves sandwiches, salads and latkes, among other items, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday.
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