2010 Fall Dining Guide

By Tom Sietsema
Sunday, October 17, 2010

The name primes patrons for the expected, and I'm fond of the kitchen's thick, dry-aged rib-eye. But why limit yourself to meat when chef David Varley is so adept with fish (say, silken black cod on a nettle foam with black pasta bow ties) and seafood (cue the glorious lobster potpie, with a brandy-kissed cream sauce)? A meal in this luxe restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown commences on a decadent note, with bouquets of french fries crisped in duck fat, and warm truffle- butter rolls. Varley was a pastry chef in another life, as his beautiful agnolotti strewn with sweet peas and edible flowers and brightened with carrot juice suggests. The restaurant is serious, but it knows how to have fun. Anyone for a twist on an Almond Joy or a spritzy root beer float with chocolate chip cookies for dessert? The tuna tartare prepared tableside is too mute; and there might be lags between courses and noise from the nearby lounge. But Bourbon Steak's sophisticated cocktails and people-watching opportunities (Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry is a semi-regular, and Tom Hanks has dropped by) heighten the experience. Frequenters know to bypass the sepia-tone dining room for the best place to sup: outside, on Bourbon Steak's courtyard, surrounded by flowers and warmed by fire pits.

Bourbon Steak's lounge takes elements of the classic steakhouse bar (brown leather armchairs, dim lights) and gives them a serious style upgrade, with long banquettes, low metal cocktail tables and stylish overhead fixtures. So far, so good.

Then you open the leather-bound cocktail menu and your mouth starts to water. The H.B. Shrub, made with rye whiskey, sherry, brandied cherries, burnt orange peel and a piece of huckleberry shrub, is as rich and decadent as it sounds. The Last Word, a gin/maraschino liqueur/green chartreuse concoction, is accented with lime peel and redolent of spring.

Mixologist Kevin Diedrich, a D.C. native, was recruited from San Francisco, where he had worked at Bourbon & Branch and Clock Bar, two of the most praised cocktail bars in the United States.

"It was an opportunity to do a bar program from scratch," he explains. "At [other bars], there'd be an existing program and I'd learn it. Here, I have full control."

Also, he added: "D.C. has a great cocktail scene, and I thought it would be great to be involved with it. It's my home town."

Diedrich says his is a "West Coast" style, influenced by the slow food movement; his cocktails involve lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Every month, he says, he goes to farmers markets and orders seasonal fruits (at the moment those include rhubarb and strawberries) and works them into the menu.

All this pleasure comes at a price, though: Cocktails are $12 to $16, as are glasses of wine. But the lounge usually stays packed from 7 p.m. on.

"I think it's phenomenal," says Clarence Wooten Jr., the president of Maryland Internet company CollectiveX. "You come in here and it's a who's who of Washington, D.C., business. And the mixologists are fantastic. . . . You'll be here for hours."

"This is the new D.C.," says Brian Davis, the Duke basketball-star-turned-developer, who's relaxing on a banquette with a cocktail. Davis lives nearby and says he stops in often. "Great drinks, great restaurant."

In the next month or so, Diedrich says, things will get even better: He's planning a menu of champagne cocktails, Pimm's cups and punches that will be served on the hotel's secluded patio.

-- Fritz Hahn (May 8, 2009)