Dine like a king (or queen) without breaking your budget during this summer’s Metropolitan Washington Restaurant Week. Dinner is available for $35, and lunch or brunch for $22, with plenty of participating restaurants close to home. Plus, a diner rewards program automatically enters anyone who joins through rwdmv.com to win prizes such as cookbooks and gift certificates.
New this year is an initiative to raise awareness about hunger in the greater Washington, D.C. area. Many restaurants have opted to donate a portion of their Restaurant Week proceeds to the Capital Area Food Bank.
Some participating restaurants have yet to post their menus, but here’s a preview of some of the dishes you’ll find at more than 30 Northern Virginia eateries.
Alta Strada
Lunch options at this Mosaic District newcomer include the Alta Strada burger with pancetta and red onion jam, or cavatelli with corn, cherry tomatoes, basil and pecorino. Steak or salmon can be ordered at dinner, with a choice of gelato and cookies or sgroppino – raspberry-white-peach sorbet and prosecco – for dessert.
Ambar Clarendon
Diners can choose from three “Chef Platters”: seafood, mixed meats or the traditional, featuring typical Balkan fare. Desserts are baklava and a “reforma” cake filled with chocolate, walnuts and hazelnuts.
American Prime
For lunch, consider French onion soup or Maryland crab-and-shrimp poppers for an appetizer, followed by a house-smoked brisket sandwich or a salmon salad. Dinner choices at the Tysons Corner steakhouse include mushroom ravioli or prime rib.
Baba
Ambar’s basement cocktail bar is offering “Baba’s Trio” – any three dishes from several food categories, plus one cocktail, for $35. Baklava can be added for $6.
Capri Ristorante Italiano
Lunch at this McLean trattoria brings prosciutto carpaccio, asparagus-and-rice soup, fettuccini with monkfish, or eggplant rolled with mozzarella cheese over tomato sauce. At dinner, try clams casino or cold fresh cucumber soup, followed by an entrée of rigatoni or filet of cod.