Chef Enzo Fargione works in his exhibition kitchen at Elisir. (Stacy Zarin-Goldberg/For The Washington Post)In Sunday’s dining column in The Washington Post Magazine, food critic Tom Sietsema celebrated something in­cred­ibly rare in the D.C. area: the emergence of a new fine dining restaurant. Sietsema says that Enzo Fargione’s Elisir “trumpets hope for high-end dining” and “not every dish soars, but his high notes verge on the operatic.”

Sietsema proclaimed the lamb loin, pancetta and Yukon potatoes a “triumph of choice ingredients and jousting flavors.” ( Stacy Zarin-Goldberg/For The Washington Post)

Elisir’s bar features a $19 fixed-price menu at lunch. (Stacy Zarin-Goldberg/For The Washington Post)

“Fargione's rib-eye,” writes Sietsema, “looks ready to hang in a gallery. Juicy bars of rosy beef garnished with those terrific onion rings are arranged on a large white plate that serves as a canvas for a tiny potato cake, a single slice of roasted porcini mushroom and a dark green block of wilted spinach, rich with cream.” (Stacy Zarin-Goldberg/For The Washington Post)

Yes, fine dining fans, those are linens you see draped over Elisir’s tables. (Stacy Zarin-Goldberg/For The Washington Post)

This appetizer is “a tiny glass globe containing a perfect bite of salmon crudo, bits of Sicilian green olive, a nest of shaved fennel: an exquisite fish salad capped with an airy white froth of licorice that ties the package together.” (Stacy Zarin-Goldberg/For The Washington Post)