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A nine-course vegetable tasting menu in Shaw where the chef holds a James Beard Award and a Michelin star, and still manages to make a beet taste like pastrami. Rob Rubba's kitchen treats local farms as the whole point, not a selling line, and the results are the kind of thing that makes omnivores quietly reconsider their priorities. The bread alone, enriched with "garleeks" and served with sunflower-marigold butter, gets talked about for days afterward.
The awards strongest first
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Winner · Outstanding Chef · Rob Rubba
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Food & Wine The Top 15 US Restaurants
- James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Best New Restaurant
- Esquire #12 · The Best New Restaurants in America
- The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Washington, D.C., Right Now
- The Washington Post The 40 Best Restaurants In and Around D.C.
- Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants Around D.C.
- Washingtonian #62 · 100 Very Best Restaurants
- Washingtonian 8 Exciting and Delicious Vegan Restaurants Around DC
- Eater The Best Tasting Menus in D.C. Right Now
- The Washington Post 9 of the best restaurants in Shaw
One number, weighted & current 94
How we scoreThe dishes from the writeups
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Agnolotti
“There is true creativity here, as in a pasta course which features agnolotti filled with a creamy eggplant and house-grown mushrooms, served brodo-style with a roasted corn broth and accompanied by a truffle tart.”
Michelin Guide -
Lion's mane skewers
“Expect plenty of earthy surprises on his current “vernal” multi-course menu for spring, like lion’s mane skewers with pastrami spice on a sharpened spice bush twig that diners are encouraged to chew on.”
Eater -
Shiitake chip cookie
“Think: a bird’s nest of fried celery root wrapped around a morsel of smoked tofu, berbere-spiced beets topped with shredded red cabbage on a caraway cracker, and shiitake chip cookie for dessert.”
Eater -
Koginut-squash confit
“Next are such pleasures as a smoky potato salad with potato-skin vinaigrette and a koginut-squash confit with a medley of foraged mushrooms.”
Washingtonian, 2026
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