Show Restraint? Nah, Loosen Your Belt — Restaurant Week Starts Soon

Photo by Maria Helena Carey

It’s that time of year when we’re trying to stay warm and enjoying hanging out in the fat pants, and, in all actuality, feeling bad about the fat pants. Well, maybe it’s just me, but January is always a time to reflect on the excess of the holiday season, and reel in the spending. But, each year the fat pants and spending resolutions are cast aside when a great, calorie laden deal comes along. A deal like the annual DC Restaurant Week. It starts next Monday and runs through January 23, and is your ticket to lunch for $20.11 or dinner for $35.11 at some of the city’s ritziest tables.

Some would disagree, but over the years I’ve had amazing meals at local spots for far under what a typical dinner would cost. Yes, you have to get your reservations early, and elbow fights in packed dining rooms have been known to break out.  Why venture farther afield when some of the best restaurants on the Hill are participating? So far I’ve spied Belga Cafe, Cafe Berlin,  Monmartre, the Monocle, Smith Commons, B Smith’s, Sonoma and Zest, as well as Art & Soul, Bistro Bis, Johnny’s Half Shell and Charlie Palmer Steak on the list. I know it’s very broad thinking including the last few but Open Table does, and I’m anything but exclusionary when there’s Monkfish à la Soubise (porcini crusted with spinach, vegetable brunoise, beluga lentils and sweet onion cream, served up at Bistro Bis) on the menu. Click on the links above for a peek at some the menus and tell me you’re not going to save up your Weight Watchers points!

For those of you who want to try (or go back to, more likely) H Street menus beyond Smith Commons, keep an eye on H Street Eats. (Update: Whatthehill.org now has the details on all the H Street Eats specials) You’ll save some pennies and as you walk to your dinner spot, you can eyeball the permit signs hearkening an insane additional influx of new restaurants coming our way.