OOAK Architects designed the interior spaces at Imperfecto.
IMPERFECTO
Venezuela-born chef Enrique Limardo and his culinary partner, Ezequiel Vázquez-Ger, the team behind the award-winning restaurant Seven Reasons, recently opened the 98-seat Imperfecto in the West End. With an airy and contemporary design by OOAK Architects, a firm based in Stockholm and Athens, the restaurant fits perfectly into this stretch of real estate between Georgetown and downtown. The resto features three seating areas: the bar, the main dining area and the chef’s table. Limardo’s peripatetic ways—he’s traveled extensively throughout Latin America, spent six years cooking in Europe and was a private chef in the Middle East—are obvious immediately. His cooking style, he says, is decidedly fusion. Last month, Limardo launched his Friday night chef’s table, dubbed the Dégustation Experience. The 12-course tasting experience includes South American and Mediterranean flavors, including hiramasa crudo aged in kombu with red leche de tigre, trout caviar, chicharrón and cilantro flower; prawn and stracciatella with salsa tatemada, fried garlic, pan-seared prawn, chile de árbol glaze and preserved lemon; and aged wagyu nigiri with housemade wild boar jerky shavings, three-day cured egg yolk and wasabi. Raquel Ortega, the sommelier and wine director, created a pairing experience ideal for warmer weather: 12 chilly rounds of Champagne and sparkling wine. 1124 23rd St. NW, 202.964.1012, imperfectodc.com
DAUPHINE’S
Kyle Bailey, who leads the culinary crew at The Salt Line under the auspices of Long Shot Hospitality, knows a little something about pleasing DC’s gourmands. With the chef-partner’s new venture, the 145-seat Dauphine’s, located in Midtown Center and opening later this month, Bailey recruited chef Kristen Essig to helm the kitchen. Essig, who has called New Orleans home for more than 20 years and is a James Beard Award nominee, will use mid-Atlantic ingredients to prepare classic Louisiana fare. Look for local twists on dishes like seafood gumbo and paneed rabbit. Guests also will love the raw bar and wood charcuterie case. New Orleans native Neal Bodenheimer—owner of Cure, the 2018 James Beard Foundation Award winner for outstanding bar program—developed Dauphine’s beverage program. Bonus for late spring and summer: Dauphine’s has 4,000 square feet of outdoor dining space for 100 guests, designed by local geniuses Grizform Design Architects. Lush greenery, complemented by a tiled fountain, links the dining room and bar area. 1100 15th St. NW, 202.577.2170, dauphinesdc.com
Roasted cabbage topped with pickled mushrooms, cashew puree and soft herbs
FIREFLY
Chef Jose Molina, who helms the kitchen at the renovated Firefly, doesn’t have a complicated culinary philosophy. “When I started cooking at the age of 16, my mentors taught me to respect each ingredient, make everything with passion and be as creative as you can possibly be,” he says. “Growing up in Bolivia with Latin flavors had a powerful impact—it was my gateway to international influences.” Molina’s cooking mantra comes through on every plate, including dishes like chickpea stew, pan-roasted Faroe Island salmon and the citrus tamarind-lacquered St. Louis rib tips. Weekend brunch standouts include PB&J-stuff ed brioche French toast and kimchi pork hash. The new space, a short walk from Dupont Circle, is chic and bright (for seating, choose a jewel-toned, crushed-velvet banquette); accordion windows open onto New Hampshire Avenue on warmer days and nights. It’s a lovely transformation and an apt setting for Molina to showcase the skills emanating from this impressive kitchen. Make a point to meet Anastasiia Le Ber-Hehelska, Firefly’s general manager. Find the industry veteran greeting and accommodating guests or mixing cocktails; she’s the type of enthusiastic and warm host every great neighborhood restaurant needs right now. 1310 New Hampshire Ave. NW, 202.861.1310, firefly-dc.com
Photography by: Jennifer Chase; courtesy of Firefly
