Dining Minis

Gerard Pangaud Bistro

915 15th St. NW

202/737-4445

French

In 2006, Gerard Pangaud left his restaurant, Gerard’s Place, for a senior position at L’Academie de Cuisine in Bethesda. He has returned to McPherson Square part time, renaming it Gerard Pangaud Bistro, revamping the menu, presiding as executive chef, and cooking there from time to time. The chefs in the kitchen are students whom he taught and trained. He trained them well. The cooking is first-rate.

The menu is almost identical at lunch and dinner in selection and price. Starters include a salad of beautiful and refreshing red and golden beets, roasted in olive oil and paired with a spoonful of a creamy goat cheese; diver scallops, sauteed and dressed with a subtle citrus beurre blanc and chopped orange; nuggets of veal sweetbreads sauteed to a crisp finish; and a cake, of wild mushrooms with a sorrel sauce.

Braised short ribs make an outstanding main course. Saddle of venison is served with sweet potato and beet puree. Wild coho salmon is sauteed with carrots in a lemon-ginger beurre blanc.

A delicate, delectable mango tart, with a coulis of passion fruit sauce, is not to be missed. The restaurant does not charge a corkage fee during the week.

— Corinna Lothar

Federal House Bar & Grille

22 Market Space, Annapolis

410/268-2576

American

Federal House Bar & Grille serves traditional Chesapeake Bay fare — seafood, steak and pasta — in a historic Annapolis building.

The raw bar is one of the freshest in town and usually has a nice selection of oysters, clams, mussels and shrimp available daily. Signature soups such as cream of crab or crock of onion gratin are a good remedy for taking off the winter chill.

Appetizers are comfortable favorites: spinach and artichoke dip, crab bruschetta, buffalo wings, coconut shrimp, or clams casino, to name a few.

Baked oysters Hogan ($10.95) are topped with crab imperial and baked to a golden brown. The crab imperial featured nice chunks of crabmeat and was wonderfully light. The oysters were perfectly cooked and bursting with flavor.

Crab cakes, Angus burgers, and fish, all served with fries, round out the sandwich board. There are also a number of vegetarian sandwiches.

For main plates, four fish dishes are featured daily: mahi-mahi, halibut, yellowfin tuna and tilapia — any of which can be blackened, baked or grilled. Meat lovers can choose filet mignon or grilled rib-eye.

— Scott Haring

BLT Steak

1625 I St. NW

202/689-8999

American

BLT Steak — for Bistro Laurent Tourondel — is more high-end steakhouse than bistro, a capital version of the New York BLTs. It is a comfortable place to enjoy very good food.

The dinner menu with dinner prices is available at lunch. The kitchen also prepares several hefty salads and sandwiches and a few lunch entrees. A mixed vegetable salad topped with slices of excellent fried chicken is particularly good. A large cheese popover is hot, perfectly baked and irresistible.

Steaks vary from a 10-ounce hanger steak for $24 to Kobe strip steak at $26 per ounce. A recent special was a 10-ounce Kobe hanger steak for $33. The perfectly seasoned steak was cooked as ordered, but a peppercorn sauce was mediocre. Braised beef short ribs are superb.

Small portions of potatoes (baked, gratin, hash brown, fried or mashed) and vegetables (spinach, asparagus, green beans, tomatoes, carrots, mushrooms) can be ordered as sides.

Seafood includes Dover sole, lobster, swordfish, tuna, cod, scallops and grilled shrimp. Nothing is remarkable about the shrimp cocktail except the size of the shrimp.

Desserts include an excellent crepe souffle with a passion fruit coulis. Service is friendly and efficient.

— Corinna Lothar

Hudson Restaurant and Lounge

2030 M St. NW

202/872-8700

Contemporary

Hudson, a new restaurant and lounge in the David Greggory restaurant space in Washington’s West End, has a sleek look and a well-stocked bar, but in terms of food offerings, it falls short.

The menu, which includes everything from Thai curry mussels to buttermilk fried chicken, has the look of a Top 40 chart — something to please everyone but nothing to excite or thrill; no originality and no risk-taking.

Hudson has the feel — and price — of an upscale chain restaurant, and considering that it’s a stone’s throw from several large hotels, this probably makes good business sense: a wide range of choices but nothing too out there.

The interior is modern and tastefully done but not unique. The service is speedy, but knowledge of food and food preparation is lacking; you get the feeling there is no passion or real interest in food here. Some may say it lacks soul.

This is reflected in the kitchen as well. No garnishes, no unexpected flavor combinations, no stellar produce or meat selections and no creative presentations. It’s a business, not a place that pushes a culinary envelope.

— Gabriella Boston

Westend Bistro

1190 22nd St. NW 202/974-4900

Contemporary American-French

The new Westend Bistro by Eric Ripert is lively, buzzing with talk and the clink of wineglasses.

Appetizers are the classics: oysters, clams, mussels in white wine with chorizo, fried calamari and pork pate. Equally fine are grilled shrimp with a quinoa salad, a crab cake, and a memorable tuna carpaccio.

If onion soup is traditionally the test of a French bistro, the hamburger, plain or with a sharp cheese, is the test of the American counterpart, and Westend’s classic burger is a high-quality sandwich to rival any burger in town.

Other than a roast whole chicken for two, all the meat dishes are of beef. Fish choices are more varied, and skate is outstanding. Vegetarian choices are limited to salads and side dishes.

Desserts are up to the high standard of appetizers and main courses. Service is efficient, helpful, friendly and professional.

Westend Bistro begins lunch service next week: 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.

— Corinna Lothar

Lebanese Taverna Cafe

2478 Solomons Island Road

Annapolis, 10/897-1111

Lebanese

The Annapolis branch of the Washington area’s Lebanese Tavernas is a cafe in the Annapolis Harbour Center, with no reservations required.

Guests don’t need to know anything about Lebanese cooking to enjoy the bounty it offers.

The menu touts “fresh bread baked here all day,” and that is no exaggeration. The cafe’s warm pita bread is excellent, just right for all the dipping and wrapping from the selection of mezze on the menu.

The Taverna’s hummus dip, made with chickpeas and tahini, lets the ingredients speak for themselves. Smooth and creamy, it blossoms with just the right touch of garlic andlemon.

Baba ghannouj offers a much bolder flavor. Some texture from the eggplant is present, so it offers a nice contrast to the ultracreamy hummus.

Falafel heads the “For Your Fingers” section of the menu. The falafel is dense and offers a strong earthy flavor. Kibbeh ground beef, lamb, bulgur and pine nuts is more subdued.

Both are perfectly crisp on the outside.

—Scott Haring