After being told on the phone that morning that the restaurant was fully booked for brunch I turned up anyway on the off chance to not only be led straight in but a surprising amount of tables free.  The chairs at the lower tables are genius as they are rotating mini-arm chairs and in my morning after condition, that was just fine with me! Pretty cool as haven’t had that before and I suppose that’ll happen at a 5* hotel.

On to the food and as usual, I ordered way too much in order to get as much of a feel for the menu as possible and Short rib hash with olive oil-poached egg with horseradish was well done.  It’s a fairly heavy, dark beef dish to have in the late morning but the horseradish sauce underneath was very good, but if only there was more(!).  I found myself having to forage around for the horseradish in the hope of finding more and the egg was slightly over done (not runny the whole way through).  I also forgot that the word ‘biscuit’ in America refers to scone for those in the UK and this was nicely done (not ludicrously dense but wholesome at the same time) and the pineapple jam was an absolute killer! So much more interesting than normal strawberry or raspberry jam.

Unfortunately, two bits that weren’t my cup of tea were the bacon which was hard and without the essential crispy fattiness that I simply prefer my bacon to be.  Perhaps this is usual to be served hard but texturally, for me this is a crime with one of the world’s greatest flavours and food products.  The other matter was the grits which I was intrigued about and the staff very kindly gave a side just to taste, but unfortunately this really wasn’t my thing either.  It’s very popular in the US and is essentially a savoury porridge made from corn, but even with a dose of cheese within I still found this completely bland and only just salvaged by the caramelised onion blob in the middle, but even this didn’t lift the overall effect.

Finally, I absolutely had to try one of my favourite brunch dishes as well just to see the variation of how it was done and that was the eggs benedict; something I happily spend a good 30 minutes making myself if the hollandaise is going to be done as beautifully as it can be.  I think the idea of having the pulled pork was a good one but this seemed to have a pickled glaze and along with the gherkin, mustard (within the hollandaise), Swiss cheese and cayenne pepper produced a far too biting and vinegary overtone for the morning.  Almost everything, including the cheese needed toning down and unfortunately there was basically nothing on this version of eggs benedict that I truly enjoyed.

However, the hospitality and overall feel of this restaurant is very pleasant indeed.  Based on how everyone attends to you as you enter, are shown around and served, I have no doubt this will be a lovely place to try lunch or dinner especially with cocktails outside on the terrace.  And like I said, dishes on the tasting menu will have a lot more opportunity to stretch the taste buds.

Having said the summary, I have to say the first impression of here was how strange the exterior was.  The approach almost feels like you are weaving through the garage area of backstreet parking to neighbourhood houses.  However, The Dabney is not alone in this way as there are several other eating and drinking places within this trendy and somewhat bohemian area.

Once you navigate to getting in to The Dabney the bar greets you to eat at if there is space and you want to simply walk in but this remained packed throughout the whole of the Saturday night I was there, so for busier times, it might be best to manage expectations.  Luckily there was space at the bar when I went and I consequently had the perfect view of the restaurant on the end of the bar.  I loved the way the chef was in normal clothes with apron as if you are in his home and the huge log fire behind is a lovely ornament (the fire is not actually used for the cooking as I discovered but for gaining the red hot coals for wood which are then used as the heat for cooking the pans left and right of this, similar to tao pan cooking at Kiln.  There’s also no messing with the strength of the cocktails here and my G & T was very well done, with hints of orange in the mix which was a refreshing touch.

So first up, which absolutely had to be done were the pork rind snacks (essentially puffed up crackling).  These were sprinkled with a sugared mix and were absolutely gorgeous, no kidding.  Such a lovely pork essence and the dusted element of the sugar was not only a pleasing texture for these but a super flavour as well.

The ‘toads’ (a type of non-poisoness puffer fish) were deep, crunchy, sugared and sweet with a superbly balanced ranch dressing at the bottom to go with.  I loved the honey-glazed exterior of the skin and the crunch that went with this and the truly outstanding flavour of the buttermilk dressing to go with the salad (the dressing also contained garlic, pepper, Worcester and cheese).  My gripe with this dish though is that although I took great care to not bite in to the toads too much (as they were deep fried whole, leaving the bone in place), I still had bone in virtually every mouthful which was a pain to deal with and ruined many mouthfuls.  The only option was to be insatiably careful with each bite which took away the joy of the dish.  When it was had bone-free, the fish itself was a pleasing flavour nonetheless.

The focaccia bread had a great texture and flavour and the whipped lardo and this was exquisite – it was essentially the perfect halfway house between fried and toasted bread and the fennel pollen, aleppo pepper, sea salt and black pepper on top made the already beautifully whipped butter on to another level of happiness.  This really is a ‘you cannot go here and not have this’ sort of side I would say and one of the nicest bread and butters I have had in a while.  The soft-shell crab was quite substantial and although I thought the stock at the bottom was a nice touch along with the spiced emulsion on top, the dish lacked overall flavour for me.  Whilst I waited for my guest, I asked the foie gras to be on hold which they kindly did for the 30 minutes and moved me to one of the high rise tables opposite the bar which had space for two;  it was also a kind gesture of the restaurant to nibble on a small scallop offering in the interim which was nicely done with fennel puree.

The cooked foie gras itself was as supple and quality as they come with a lovely rhubarb gel, with sesame seeds on leaves.  The butter milk pancakes were something different but ultimately, I thought too heavy; I liked the gentle charred flavour which was good but that also came with overall quite bitter and would have been a bit too much so if on own but with the moscato was a decent combination.

Of all the places I could have ended up for my one evening in Washington, this was a bet that paid off and the causality, atmosphere, buzz and polished service combined with great food made it a certainty of a decent experience for visiting.  The bottom line: this is a very good place to visit for virtually any occasion.