Café Atlántico $$$

405 8th St. NW
202/393-0812
www.cafeatlantico.com [1]

HOURS: Lunch Tues.-Fri. 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.,
dinner Tues.-Thurs. 5-10 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 5-11 p.m., Sun. 5-10 p.m.,
brunch Sat. 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Sun. 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.,
last dim sum seating 1:30 p.m.

COST: Most entrées more than $20

Another of chef José Andrés’s colorful, boisterous restaurants, Café Atlántico serves what it calls Nuevo Latino, dishes of Central and South American fare with a dash of the islands thrown in, containing touches of coconut milk, pineapple, and banana foam.

Guacamole made table-side is a must for starters, accompanied by a creative handcrafted—read expensive—cocktail such as the Dark and Stormy, made with house-made ginger beer, or the manly “Daisy If You Do:” leather-infused tequila, rye-infused St. Germain, and a dash of peaty Lagavulin single malt.

As with many Andrés restaurants, the menu features a three-course fixed-price theater menu as well as a tasting menu. Bring your sense of adventure; very little on this menu is “the usual.”