Tabard Inn

D.C.’s 38 Best Restaurants | Eater DC

"D.C.’s century-old boutique hotel hideaway got a big 2023 glow-up full of French-Southern flair under culinary partner Ian Boden, the James Beard-nominated chef behind The Shack in Staunton, Virginia. Overseeing the fine-tuned changes in the charming Dupont dining room is executive chef Matthew Zafrir, a fine dining vet who honors his Maryland roots with memorable meals marked by mid-Atlantic ingredients. Highlights include crab fritters, local oysters doused in homemade hot sauce, honeynut squash, duck confit atop Carolina gold rice, and bone-in Berkshire pork chop with kohlrabi slaw. Zafrir’s close ties to family-run farm Earth N Eats also pay off on the plate, where wonderfully unique veggies show up morning to night (as do herbs plucked from Tabard’s outdoor garden). Swing by the eclectic bar up front on whiskey Wednesdays, when beverage director and Fabio Trabocchi alum Dominik Lenikowski pulls a rare bottle from the cellar to sip until it’s gone. Must-try dish: Homemade doughnuts during brunch" - Tierney Plumb