Minibar at Café Atlántico
Chef José Andrés is a force to be reckoned with on the D.C. dining scene; the native Spaniard—a disciple of famed molecular gastronomer Ferrán Adría—operates five of the city's best restaurants. Three of them are, in fact, on the same block: Minibar, on the second floor of Andrés's "nuevo Latino" Café Atlántico, is just steps away from Jaleo, with its menu of reimagined tapas, and Zaytinya, which focuses on Middle Eastern mezes. While all offer distinctive, vivid eating experiences, Minibar is arguably the best place to sample Andrés's cuisine. For the six-seat restaurant-within-a-restaurant, Andrés and his chef de cuisine, Katsuya Fukushima, have created a tasting menu of 33 "bites"—gustatory treasures like salmon-pineapple "ravioli," in which bites of rich salmon belly are wrapped in caramelized, paper-thin slices of the fruit; "zucchini in textures" (where the squash is prepared in three parfait-style layers, as a gelée, as "caviar," and as a rich, buttery purée); and, perhaps the most whimsical standout, a square of foie gras coated in crushed CornNuts and presented on a stick surrounded by a golden cloud of cotton candy.
Tip: Prepare to book your table a month in advance—and bring your sense of adventure: there's no ordering à la carte, so you'll be tasting all 33 bite-size courses.
As Featured In...
From Travel + Leisure, Apr 2006
“His burgeoning empire began, naturally enough, with the small-plate food of his native Spain. In 1993 he reimagined tapas at the original Jaleo (there are now three), a restaurant gamble in a neighborhood—abutting Chinatown—that had seen better days....” MORE>>
From Travel + Leisure, Nov 2003
“Across America, alumni of Spain's inventive restaurant El Bulli are spreading the culinary gospel of Catalonian chef-scientist Ferrán Adría. Most noteworthy is Minibar, newly opened on the second floor of Café Atlántico in Washington, D.C.'s Penn Quarter....” MORE>>
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