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Latham Hotel
3000 M St. NW
(202) 625-2150
Hours of Operation and Prices
Breakfast: Daily 6:30-11; Entrees: $8-$12.50
Lunch: Daily 11:30-2; Entrees: $9.50-$17
Dinner: Sun-Th 6-10, F-Sat 5:30-10:30; Entrees: $24-$29
Brunch: Sun 11:30-2:30, $10-$13.50
Pre-Theater: M-F 6-6:30, Sat-Sun 5:30-6:30, $35
Other Information
• All major credit cards
• Reservations recommended
• Complimentary valet parking
• Dress: casual
• Handicapped accessible
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France and California meet in Georgetown, at Citronelle. This chain-restaurant spinoff of Los Angeles chef Michel Richard's Citrus waxes and wanes, depending on who's in the kitchen. If it's the master - Richard himself - you're in good hands. But that's rare, and the on-site chefs have been changing frequently.
So stick to the basics.
Of course, basics here are much more complicated than elsewhere. They include the signature Crunchy Kataifi Shrimp - shrimp wrapped in shredded wheat pastry and deep-fried - and desserts such as a shimmering custard layered between filmy, crackly layers of puff pastry for a napoleon that's painted with stripes of chocolate and caramel.
In any case, the restaurant is a comfortable, airy space with a laid-back California feel and a full view of the kitchen from the main dining room. The cooking's a show: layering shiitakes and puff pastry into a sky-high appetizer napoleon; poising a thin crunch of pastry atop fat, near-raw oysters and spinach for an appetizer pot pie; piling mounds of thin french fries or Maui onion rings atop the grilled chicken or the scallops. And ingredients are California-fresh - thumb-size fresh artichokes, emerald-green herbal sauces, spinach pasta as bright and flavorful as the vegetable itself. So if you happen along when a first-string chef is on the field, the food can be spectacular.
© Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company
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