"The West End’s St. Gregory Hotel welcomed an elegant European bistro in November honoring D.C. music legend Duke Ellington, whose namesake park sits across the street. The 90-seat dining room opened with French onion soup, oven-roasted escargot swimming in absinthe butter, beef tartare mixed with caper berries and piccalilli, charcuterie and cheese boards, and rotating crudo with grapefruit and shiso. Veteran D.C. chef Frank Morales formerly cooked at downtown power spot Oval Room (now La Bise) and Alexandria’s modern American eatery Rustico." - Vinciane Ngomsi, Tierney Plumb