Power to the plate in D.C.

Washington has always been a top destination for museums and monuments, but a culinary destination? Not so much. For years it was considered “lacking” and “conservative.” Some even went so far as to call it a “wasteland.”

Fortunately, a few good — culinarily skilled — men and women are changing that.

“I think it’s one of the most interesting restaurant towns in the country,” says Colman Andrews, a contributing editor for Gourmet magazine. “I would rate it in the top five,” says Mr. Andrews, who is based in Riverside, Conn. “It’s really become a food destination.”

Zagat — the popular consumer-comment-based national restaurant guide — apparently agrees that Washington’s restaurant star is rising.

“Eight years ago, we had 10 Zagat-rated restaurant destinations in the city,” says Lynne Breaux, president of the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington, a trade association for restaurants in the District and Northern Virginia. “Now it’s around 80.”

It’s become a place of celebrity chefs — for example, Michel Richard of Citronelle and Central and Robert Wiedmaier of Marcel’s and soon Brasserie Beck — and fancy, but casual dining — for example Rasika, the trendy, modern Indian restaurant in Penn Quarter with an open kitchen and no table linens. It also has become a place of neighborhood eateries where people don’t have to travel to get a good bite to eat.

“People are moving back into the city, and that has made a huge difference,” says Gus DiMillo, co-owner of Acadiana, Ceiba, DC Coast and TenPenh, which are all downtown within a few blocks of 14th and K streets Northwest.

“Look at all the condos going up around us,” Mr. DiMillo says. “A lot of young people are moving in. It keeps the city vibrant and exciting.”

It wasn’t always that way. Washington used to be known primarily for its steakhouses (which some would claim are still a mainstay) and French fine dining, which usually could be had only in hotel restaurants and prepared by European-trained chefs, says Heather Freeman, a publicist who has worked with local restaurateurs since the early 1980s.

“It’s a completely different scene now,” Ms. Freeman says. “There’s more variety, and the quality is higher. In terms of neighborhoods, Georgetown used to be it.”

Now, Georgetown pales in comparison to Penn Quarter, she says.

Penn Quarter? Well, if you haven’t been there in 10 years or more, you might have the shock of your life. The Northwest area bordered by Third and 15th streets and Pennsylvania and Massachusetts avenues is one of the most happening restaurant quarters in the city, according to many food writers and restaurant owners.

Local celebrity chef Jose Andres recalls the shock people expressed in the early 1990s when he first identified this downtown spot for his Spanish small-plates restaurant Jaleo.

“People thought I was crazy,” Mr. Andres has offered. “They thought I was out of my mind.”

Mr. Andres, who recently won a food-preparation showdown against fellow celebrity chef Bobby Flay on the Food Network’s “Iron Chef America,” is now the co-owner of seven restaurants — most of them within walking distance of Jaleo, which is at Seventh and D streets Northwest.

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