Equinox (DC)
Equinox
818 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20006
(202) 331-8118
Cuisine: American
Lunch: Appetizers $10-$12, salads $12-$22, entrees $18-$28, sides $7, desserts $8-$9
Dinner: Appetizers $12-$19, entrees $15-$33, desserts $9-$10
Wine list: Long and lovely, but expensive, with only about a half-dozen bottles under $45.
If you’re a visitor scoping out the White House or a 9-to-5-er in the Farragut or McPherson Square area, Equinox makes a fine lunch destination. If your pockets aren’t lined with gold, it’s also an ideal special occasion spot.
After being seated in the airy atrium or the intimate dining room, you’ll typically receive a cylinder of soup, which, in my experience, is always fantastic. A red pepper “shooter” carries a lovely veggie flavor and a bit of zest, and the leek-garlic version leaves one salivating. Then, you get to pick from the tempting bread tray. The dark raisin is my favorite, but the sturdy French slice is delicious, too.
If you visit while tomatoes are still on the menu — later than normal this year in many Washington-area restaurants — any of those babies with locally made mozzarella is a winning start. For the main event, barbeque salmon with a salad of sweet corn and roasted red peppers is perfection. The sushi-grade salmon, cooked to medium rare, melts on the tongue with a pleasing barbeque-y tang, and the corn and peppers delight taste buds with a hint of basil. Golf ball-sized crab cakes, served amidst baby arugula and frisee, are chock-full of lump crabmeat and easy on the fillers. They’re glazed with preserved lemon, the perfect citrus counterpart to the seafood. On the side, green beans baked with tomato, shallots, garlic, and scallions are superb.
To wind down your meal, try the strawberry-basil sorbet — it’s summer in a spoon, with beautifully balanced flavors. Its pound cake companion is on the plain side, but a puddle of macerated strawberries livens it up a bit. It’s important to note that chef and owner Todd Gray places a high value on seasonality and geography — he tries to use organic ingredients grown within 100 miles of Equinox “whenever possible,” according to the restaurant’s Web site. Translation: the menu changes often.
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By Alison L. McConnell
Alison L. McConnell is a Washington, D.C.-based journalist and writer. A native of New Jersey and upstate New York, she attended Bowdoin College in Maine and the London School of Economics before settling in Washington, where she works as a financial reporter and pursues her zeal for cooking on the side. Some of her favorite things to make are risottos, roast chickens, and cakes. She abides by a long-standing family motto: McConnells always finish their desserts.
About The Humble Gourmand
The Humble Gourmand is a monthly online publication edited by Alison L. McConnell, a Washington, D.C.-based journalist and writer. It is designed to offer straightforward lessons and advice to aspiring cooks, oenophiles, and all other eaters and drinkers.
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