D.C. has an amazing selection for restaurant week. From DuPont to Chinatown you can find a restaurant in just about every neighborhood, with hundreds of restaurants participating. They do it several times a year, so plenty of opportunities to eat.
We chose Urbana in DuPont Circle. Let me tell you, we were not disappointed! Although we had made reservations, we were at least 45 minutes late (my fault) and ended up sitting at the bar instead of our table. I am big a fan of bar eating. I think it's more interactive and always provides for fantastic people watching. Our bartender was awesome, he recommended some great menu items and even told us about their great brunch with $2 bellinis (it's on my list of things to do).
The menu was out of this world! Now for those of you who have never participated in a restaurant week it is a fixed menu at a fixed price ($35 for dinner, not including drinks). There are generally three to four courses and you get to choose one item for each course. For my meal at Urbana I chose butternut squash soup for course one, fettuccine for course two, salsicce pizza for course three and bomboloni for course four. Not one item disappointed. My dinner partner agreed.
The soup was wonderful, nutty and filling. I have issues with butternut squash soup (some of them are so bad!), but the bartender assured me I would enjoy it. He was right! I would order the fettuccine again without blinking. It had homemade sausage in it, with clams and mussels. I'm a seafood freak so this was spot on. The pizza, which seemed to be a popular choice as I looked around the restaurant, was also fantastic. Neither of us could finish and had to take some home. It made a great breakfast the next day. And HOLY DELICIOUSNESS the bomboloni was made of kittens and puppies! It was phenomenal. Okay so no kitten and puppies were actually involved but that thing was amazing! It was chocolate and hazelnut dreamy goodness. I could eat it everyday! I mean I won't because I can't afford to buy all new clothes, but it's really that good.
The atmosphere in Urbana was interesting, much more sophisticated than I am used to (dive bars are my comfort zone), but I loved it. Very sexy and cool. You had to walk down some stairs off of P Street to get in, so it was like an underground secret. It had a bar area where we sat separated from the restaurant and then another smaller bar in another area. I love places that have different areas for different moods. Overall I loved the restaurant and of course I loved the food. If you get a chance go participate in restaurant week, it's a great way to try new places!
The menu
Pre dinner drinks
The fettucini
Heaven
http://www.urbanadc.com
http://www.ramw.org/restaurantweek
