Welcome to Talk to Tom, the dining-advice column that aims to point you toward good meals, steer you from the dross and solve your pressing restaurant queries. Look for a fresh Q&A every Thursday in this space.
Questions and comments can be submitted to TalkToTom@washingtonsun.com. Submissions may be edited for length and clarity.
Now that everyone and their mother has glowingly reviewed Albi in Washington, how is a mere mortal supposed to get a reservation?
“Truth is,” texts William Simons, the director of operations and wine director, “it’s the same as it ever was, really. If people plan ahead and try when the reservations window opens, there are generally spots open.” For December, the window opens at midnight Nov. 1, for example.
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The Palestinian restaurant, launched in the Navy Yard in 2020 by chef Michael Rafidi, was my No. 1 pick in my last annual dining guide for The Washington Post, a rating my predecessor gave the establishment earlier this month. In June, The New York Times awarded it four stars — its highest rating ever for an out-of-Manhattan review. Two years ago, Rafidi won the James Beard Award for outstanding chef in America.
Simons says that it “helps to be open to times out of the prime-time rush and non-weekends” and guides wanna-be diners to the notify list on Resy. “When we see cancellations, they’re generally two days prior to the date which will open the occasional last-minute spot.”
A friend who went twice recently says his second dinner was easier to access when a pal booked Albi’s (covered and heated) Garden Table, available for groups of 10 to 14, and promptly rounded up a posse to fill the seats. “Meal was fabulous,” reports my discerning friend. “They’re cooking beautifully.”
What now-shuttered D.C. restaurants do you miss the most?
I appreciate this question, and not simply because it offers a stroll down memory lane. Washington benefited greatly from dozens of restaurants that no longer exist but helped put the city on the national culinary map.
High on my list would be Komi in Dupont Circle, the starry modern Greek restaurant from chef Johnny Monis; Yanyu in Cleveland Park, to my taste the best source of Peking duck, carved tableside, ever in D.C. proper; Kinkead’s, the top-notch seafood purveyor from chef Bob Kinkead in Foggy Bottom, so popular it once had a dedicated telephone number just for people soliciting charitable donations; Michel Richard Citronelle in Georgetown, the glam underground oasis with visionary Michel Richard, a trained pastry chef, in the glass-fronted kitchen; Zuki Moon, the pan-Asian dining room within a ticket’s toss of the Kennedy Center and helmed by the forward-thinking Mary Richter; and Palena from former White House chef Frank Ruta, whose combination a la carte restaurant and tasting room in the rear addressed the different wishes of his fan club. (A lot of us considered Ruta’s hamburger and roast chicken to be best in class.)
Going back even further, there was Sichuan Garden on 19th St. NW, starring master chefs from China, and Red Sage, with its then-trendy Southwestern menu and simulated thunder and lightning design. (You read that right.)
I was too young and too poor to afford the Watergate Hotel’s legendary Jean-Louis Restaurant, but my predecessor at The Washington Post, Phyllis C. Richman, told me the French chef Jean-Louis Palladin, whom she called “perhaps the most famous French chef in America,” made her career in its heyday in the ’80s and ’90s.
You’re celebrating your 10th anniversary. Where do you go?
The 10th is a milestone, traditionally represented by tin or aluminum — symbols of resilience and strength.
I’d spring for a restaurant with some nice age on it. The well-regarded Centrolina and The Dabney represent the class of 2015 and offer Italian and Mid-Atlantic flavors, respectively. But they’re babies compared to some of the area’s longer-lived establishments: Obelisk in Dupont Circle, Perry’s in Adams Morgan, the Bombay Club near the White House, Il Pizzico in Rockville, La Ferme in Chevy Chase, L’Auberge Chez Francois in Great Falls and the fabled, nearly-50 Inn at Little Washington in Washington, Virginia.
The most senior of the bunch, though, is Old Ebbitt Grill, whose revolving door never seems to stop and whose hospitality remains something to emulate even at … 170 years.
Do you consult with anyone on food from cultures with which you’re not super-familiar?
One of the advantages of living in a world capital is access to a lot of smart, well-traveled, discerning residents. At this point in my career, I’ve been fortunate to travel widely around the world, but if I ever had a question about, say, the food in Singapore or Brazil, I know I could reach out to someone from an embassy, or a representative from the World Bank or the Peace Corps, for an answer. Also, there are knowledgeable chefs and cookbook authors, here and elsewhere, I might contact.
Even now, I like to invite people from different parts of the world to join me in a meal that might offer them a taste of home. And I never take a Lyft or Uber where I don’t ask anyone who says they’re from Ethiopia where they go for their native food. Their answers vary widely, which makes me frustrated, in a good way: I don’t think I’ll ever be able to try them all, much as I aim to. (I love Ethiopian cooking. Right now, Beteseb in Silver Spring is a favorite.)
My wife and I will spend three nights in Dublin next month. Do you have any favorites there?
My two, tried-and-true picks share literary connections. One is the casual, long-running Winding Stair, named after a Yeats poem and located above a bookshop. Picture (very good) Irish comfort food, a chalkboard menu and a cozy dining room whose windows overlook the River Liffey.
The other is the luxe, Georgian-style Chapter One, tucked in the lower level of the Writers Museum on Parnell Square. While the top chefs have switched since my last visit, Chapter One’s menu continues to highlight prime Irish ingredients — Clare Island salmon, Donegal lobster, roast pigeon — using French techniques. Don’t say good night before sampling the best Irish coffee anywhere. The signature drink is prepared tableside by a server who pours a spiced syrup into a hot pan, caramelizing the sweetener. Brazilian coffee, whiskey finished in beer barrels, and a finish of whipped Irish cream complete the dream.
I haven’t been, but food pals sing the praises of the historic, Art Deco gastropub Davy Byrnes and the refined Sole, acclaimed for its seafood.
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