This New Washington, DC, Restaurant Serves Up a Six-Course Mid-Atlantic Tasting Menu
Tasting menus featuring local East Coast ingredients are having a bit of a moment. New York’s Pearl Street Supper Club is spotlighting New England seafood and vegetables. And an even newer entrant to the genre in Washington, DC, is turning its eye toward seasonal mid-Atlantic cuisine.
Irregardless, opening Tuesday in the northeast quadrant of the nation’s capital, is serving two tight six-course menus—one with meat and fish, and the other focused solely on vegetables. Across the two, the emphasis is on regional produce and homemade pasta, as interpreted by the executive chef Ben Browning (formerly of Mintwood Place, Maydan and Reveler’s Hour).
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The opening menus ($85 per person) include the best of late-summer produce. Omnivores will be greeted by a fluke crudo finished off with serrano and radish, while a scallop schnitzel with frisée, lardons and egg yolk tips a hat to Browning’s European upbringing. Vegetarians, meanwhile, will start off with braised leeks accompanied by capers, egg and cornichon, with later dishes including cacio e peas and a mushroom tarte. Both menus include a gnocchi panzanella with tomato, cucumber and basil, and all guests will have a choice of three desserts: poached pear, a trio of sorbets and tarte pour Jim.
Alongside the prix fixe, there will be two optional wine pairings, both clocking in at $60 per person. Irregardless’s owners, Mika and Ian Carlin, also serve as the sommeliers, and they’ve created a wine list that mirrors the regionality of the food menu. Former attorneys who met at the University of Virginia’s law school, they want to highlight that state’s vineyards; to that end, one of the pairings showcases only Virginia wine and spirits.
The rest of the drinks menu includes twists on classics mixed up by the bar manager Christine Cabatuan. The Matcha Do About Nothing (vodka, elderflower, matcha, vanilla) is meant to be a lighter take on this season’s “it” cocktail, the Espresso Martini, while Once Upon a Time in Hawaii takes inspiration from a Negroni but showcases pineapple-infused mezcal.
If you want a taste of Irregardless without digging into the full menu, a la carte dishes will be available at the 12-seat bar. Regardless of what you opt for, though, you can’t go wrong.
Irregardless will be open Tuesday through Saturday, 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.
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