2007 Fall Dining Guide
By Tom Sietsema
Washington Post Magazine
Sunday, Oct. 14, 2007

"2000 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, please," I instruct my cabdriver. "Kinkead's!" he exclaims, identifying my destination as if it were a well-known monument. In a way, it is. The seafood restaurant created by chef Bob Kinkead in 1993 is a testament to the beauty of fresh fish and to American ingenuity; the menu even bills half a dozen long-running dishes -- among them grilled squid with tomato fondue on polenta, cod lavished with crab imperial, spoonbread and Virginia ham -- as "Kinkead's classics." While a wave of new places to eat around town kept me away for a long time, returning to this bustling, multi-level restaurant reminds me why the crowds continue to flock here. Chowder packed with creamy oysters, sweet corn, rich crab and Smithfield ham is a bowl I want to continue forever, and cornmeal-crisped flounder, great by itself, is rounded out with a chorus line of enhancers, including tender shrimp and a lemony crab ragout. Sauces tend to be robust, and presentations lean to the hearty. Admittedly, there are a few cracks in this picture -- distracted servers, a dated underground bar, dreary bread -- but they're nothing that a platter of chilled oysters or a warm pecan tart can't fix.

The Food section rated this restaurant's crab cake for a July 2009 story about the area's best.

Bob Kinkead knows how to make a crab cake: Never deep-fried, the meat is mixed with mayonnaise and seasoned with celery, tarragon, lemon and just a pinch of bread crumbs to hold it together. Both the formal Washington restaurant and the dockside Annapolis space -- ask for a seat on the patio -- follow the blue crab season from the Gulf up the East Coast for the sweetest meat, shown off by a rich mustard creme fraiche sauce and fresh corn relish.

One 4-ounce jumbo-lump crab cake, $16, appetizer; two for $32

(July 29, 2009)