High-End Eateries You Can Finally Afford During 2018's Winter Restaurant Week
By Sophia Barnes ••
Whether you’re trying to impress a date, your parents or yourself, D.C.’s winter Restaurant Week is a diner’s dream. From Jan. 22 to 28, hundreds of local eateries will offer brunch and lunch deals for $22 and dinner deals for $35.
Restaurant Week is a great opportunity to branch out into D.C.’s world-class dining scene, which earned its own Michelin Guide two years ago.
It’s tough to choose between the 250 restaurants planning to participate this year. But with brunch, lunch and dinner menus fixed at reasonable prices, Restaurant Week may be one of your best chances to score a high-end meal for a mid-tier price.
Below, we’ve rounded up some of D.C.’s top-rated, pricey or Michelin-approved dining spots, including three restaurants that earned stars in this year’s guide.
Reservations are definitely recommended and available through OpenTable. You can also check out all the participating restaurants on the Restaurant Week website.
Michelin-Starred Spots
Fiola This Michelin-starred, downtown spot will offer lunch specials during Restaurant Week. The ultimate dining experience would usually set you back $75 or more, but Fiola actually offers more affordable lunch options year-round. Still, if you’re in the mood for a Restaurant Week lunch downtown, this D.C. favorite is ready.
Local
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
Elevated, but familiar, dishes impress many diners at Georgetown's 1789 Restaurant. Their dinner-only Restaurant Week menu features choices including celery root soup with white truffle oil, bucatini, short rib with polenta and chocolate dacquoise. Wine pairings will cost an extra $55.
At Sushi Taro, you can try a multi-course Japanese dinner in the traditional Kaiseki style. Reservations are highly recommended for this 17th Street Northwest restaurant that earned a coveted Michelin star. It’s unlikely the yet-to-be-announced specials for Restaurant Week will be the deluxe offerings that floored the Michelin team. However, a focus on fresh food keeps online reviewers generally raving.
Shutterstock
The elaborate botanical displays at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, include the Orchid Extravaganza from January to March.
Omni Hotels and Resorts
About four hours from the city by car, Hot Springs, Virginia, is home to the Omni Homestead Resort. Escape to the spa, or take a soak in the natural hot springs at this lavish getaway. The massive homestead is more than 250 years old and sits on a 2,300-acre property.
Courtesy Wisp Resort
There’s no shortage of activities at Wisp Resort in Maryland's Deep Creek Lake area. Resort-goers can enjoy snow tubing, ice skating, skiing and Wisp's popular mountain coaster, which allows riders to control their speed along uphill and downhill twists and turns. There are a variety of different packages and specials to choose from at varying prices.
DiscoverLancaster.com / Terry Ross
Known for its large Amish population, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is a popular peaceful getaway a little more than two hours from D.C. by car. The area's scenic farmland is a breath of fresh air. For those who prefer not to slow down for too long, there's plenty of shopping, restaurants and tours of Amish country, plus activities such as snow tubing and buggy rides.
Shutterstock
Transport yourself back to George Washington's time and see how he might have lived at Mount Vernon. Visit for celebrations of Washington's birth in February or take a tour — topics include The Enslaved People of Mount Vernon Tour, the Through My Eyes Character Tour and the National Treasure Tour.
Massanutten Resort
It doesn't have to feel like winter when you're at Massanutten Resort in Massanutten, Virginia -- the resort features a year-round indoor water park, complete with body slides, pools, hot tubs and a water fortress. For those who prefer the outdoors, the resort also includes skiing, snowboarding and tubing.
Kristin Rayfield
Get out on the water with Rudee Tours in Virginia Beach. Their winter wildlife tour will give you the chance to see humpback whales, dolphins, seals and more all along the Atlantic coast. Their boats also have snacks, a full bar and a heated cabin.
Shutterstock
Shop or go for a spin at the ice rink at Baltimore's Inner Harbor. If you're bringing your kids, check out the Maryland Science Center or see the sealife at Baltimore's National Aquarium.
Jim Hanna
Families and couples alike can find fun at the luxe, comfortable Salamander Resort in Middleburg, Virginia. Unwind at the spa and sip wine by the fire.
Shutterstock
Picturesque Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, becomes even more breathtaking during winter. Lace up your skates for a few spins around the ice at Liberty's Ice Pavilion, learn how chocolate was made in the 18th century and enjoy a carriage ride through the historic area. Winter packages are available.
Shutterstock
Get out of the city and enjoy some nature in the beautiful Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Warm up at one of the many bed and breakfasts near the park after a winter hike up Old Rag Mountain. Or, when it's cold enough, hike White Oak Canyon to see stunning frozen waterfalls.
Betsy Dunkerton/Wintergreen Resort
You can hit the slopes at Virginia's Wintergreen Resort. Enjoy skiing, tubing, snowboarding in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Bib Gourmands
The Michelin Guide’s bib gourmand list details restaurants where you can enjoy a good meal at a reasonable price. On Restaurant Week, however, you can feast on a budget.
One of several Jose Andres restaurants on this list, Oyamel offers Mexican food in a brightly-colored, Penn Quarter setting. Previous Restaurant Week menus included three antojitos (“little cravings”), a taco and a dessert.
Try two cuisines you can’t always find on the typical Asian fusion menu -- Cambodian and Taiwanese -- blended at Maketto. Chef Erik Bruner-Yang just opened up a new restaurant in the new DC LINE Hotel, but this original spot on H Street is where you can encounter the James Beard Award nominee’s dishes for Restaurant Week dinner.
A group of four could sample every dish on Jaleo’s Spanish tapas-style Restaurant Week lunch or dinner menu. Between the rich bacon-wrapped dates, light sauteed spinach with pine nuts and meaty pork loin with blue cheese sauce, you'll likely walk out stuffed. Locations in D.C.'s Penn Quarter, Crystal City and Bethesda are participating.
In this bright Van Ness restaurant where the waitstaff is decked out in floral attire, a pasta dish will usually cost you between $23 and $26. But picks from their regular menu, including potato gnocchi, squid ink and paprika cannellini curl and provence black truffle pappardelle, keep this restaurant filled with diners year-round.
Thai and Southeast Asian food is balanced with sweet, salty, sour and spicy that makes each dish deal a flavor punch. Centered on 14th Street in restaurant-packed Logan Circle, Doi Moi has won over many mouths with their flavorful dishes. Past Restaurant Week offerings include a version of Thailand’s “som tam,” a green papaya salad with lime, peanuts, green beans, tomato and chili. You’ll also find classics like khao soi, stir-fried rice noodles and mango sticky rice.
When it comes to food, the fusion of Chinese and Peruvian is enough to pique almost anyone’s interest. Backed by one of D.C.’s most famous chefs, Jose Andres, menus featuring 4-course dinners and 3-course lunches (including dessert!) are a tasty bet downtown.
This Penn Quarter modern Indian restaurant didn’t get starred by Michelin -- which several local foodies, including News4’s own Eun Yang, considered a snub. You can decide for yourself during Restaurant Week. They’re only serving lunch, but the early-bird “pre-theatre” dinner menu always has an appetizer, entree and dessert for $35.
Rasika's Chef Vikram Sunderam joins News4's Eun Yang to discuss his new cook book, which shows readers how to bring the flavors of India into their homes.
This steakhouse, with locations in Las Vegas, New York, Napa, Reno and, of course, near the Capitol, has lunch and dinner menus that offer a good value and some options not usually found on the standard menu. The 18-ounce New York Strip Steak will add an extra $15 to your Restaurant Week bill, but still offers a good discount from regular prices.
There are dozens of Morton’s across the country, each aiming to offer a classic American steakhouse experience. In the past, Morton’s has offered salad, steak and dessert specials. Bethesda and Reston locations plan to participate.
Dark, wooden interiors, linen tablecloths and plush chairs fill the dining room at downtown D.C.’s Mastro’s Steakhouse. They haven’t released a menu yet, but you can expect good service and, if you’re lucky, some representative sushi on the Restaurant Week menu.
Tariq Hussein
Just weeks before the end of the year, shocked drivers stopped their cars to gawk at the man's rampage and record it on their cellphones, backing up traffic on Route 28 in Fairfax County, Virginia. A man had stripped naked and jumped onto a moving truck in freezing temperatures near Washington Dulles International Airport. Jose Gonzalez Flores, 32, was involved in a hit-and-run and then assaulted another driver and ran into traffic, police said. He tried to smash the windows of passing cars and used a knife to stab at the roof of the truck he jumped onto, a witness told News4.
Courtesy of family
After a black Bowie State student and aspiring army lieutenant was stabbed to death by a white University of Maryland student, the FBI stepped in to investigate the "unprovoked attack."Initially, authorities announced there wasn’t enough evidence to charge the accused killer, 22-year-old Sean Christopher Urbanski, with a hate crime. Since then, prosecutors have uncovered digital evidence and brought hate crime charges against Urbanski. The killing shocked the Bowie State campus, where students held vigils and honored their classmate at the graduation ceremony where Collins was set to walk the stage.
Getty Images
The "March for Life" brought tens of thousands of marchers to D.C. in January, days after the streets were filled for inauguration parades and protests and the massive women’s march. "We've seen an increasingly palpable enthusiasm this year, I think in large part because of some of the demonstrations that have occurred over the course of the last week. And then also, just with a hopeful outlook in terms of the couple of years ahead," Jeanne Mancini, the president of the anti-abortion group, said.
Six teenagers from the African nation Burundi competed in the international robotics competition in Washington, D.C. -- and then vanished from their hotel. The students left their keys in their mentor's bag and took all their clothes from their rooms. Two of the teens were later spotted crossing into Canada, local police said. Earlier in the year, the State Department warned that Burundi is plagued by violence.
NBC 7
In a local race viewed by many as a culture war referendum with wide-reaching implications, Danica Roem, a 33-year-old journalist turned public works advocate, won Virginia’s 13th District House of Delegates seat. Roem is the first openly transgender person elected and seated to a state legislature in the United States.
Farrah Skeiky/Dim Sum Media
Television juggernaut "Game of Thrones" was big across the country this year -- but fans in the District got to actually visit Westeros (and Mereen). The "Game of Thrones" pop-up inspired around-the-block lines on weekends, but News4’s offered a first look.
Shutterstock
A National Rifle Association employee accidentally shot himself while doing firearms training at the organization's headquarters, police told News4 in April. The 46-year-old man's pistol accidentally discharged as he holstered the gun. He suffered a minor wound.
Montgomery County Police
As the MS-13 gang became a major issue in the Virginia governor’s race, police were investigating a crime scene unearthed in a Maryland park. A police informant led authorities to the body of a man who was maimed and decapitated. Police believe the man was lured to the park by MS-13 members, beaten, choked and stabbed before his heart was ripped from his chest. Police are still trying to identify the victim.
Alex Gardega
The “Charging Bull” on Wall Street is iconic, but ahead of International Women’s Day, a “Fearless Girl” stared him down. A Boston-based financial services group commissioned “Fearless Girl,” a statue that shows a young girl bravely facing Wall Street’s bull. One artist who wasn’t charmed by the move introduced a third statue. The little, bronze “Sketchy Dog” statue lifted its leg as if urinating on “Fearless Girl”. The dog statue was in the area for about three hours.
Vladimir Herrera
Catharsis on The Mall raised thousands of dollars to ship a statue known as R-Evolution to the National Mall. Organizers intended the 45-foot figure of a naked woman to stand near the Washington Monument, facing the White House. However, organizers fell short of their fundraising goal before the National Park Service pulled the plug, saying the statue would have damaged the grass.
Shutterstock
Virginia legalized blaze pink vests for hunters, allowed Everclear into state-sponsored liquor stores and cracked down on drivers who move slow in the left lane. Maryland raised the minimum wage, gave money to Planned Parenthood and empowered craft breweries to sell more beer. What other laws were adopted? Check out Maryland's laws here and Virginia's here.
Getty Images
Comedian Kathy Griffin shocked the internet and outraged Twitter users with gory photos of herself posing with a decapitated head resembling President Trump. After attracting criticism from the president, his family, Chelsea Clinton and Anderson Cooper, she apologized via video. "I'm a comic. I crossed the line. I moved the line, then I crossed it. I went way too far," Griffin said.
NBC Washington
Nabra Hassanen was beaten to death on June 18 as she walked back to the All Dulles Area Muslim Society mosque in Sterling, Virginia. The case drew national attention, and #JusticeforNabra was used internationally to remember the 17 year old. A 22-year-old man was charged with murder but not a hate crime. Prosecutors say he lashed out in a case of road rage.
NBCWashington
The 12-year-old daughter of a diplomat stabbed a 13-year-old boy twice in the shoulder with scissors in Georgetown at the British International School of Washington. The boy was expected to be OK after the September attack. The girl was detained, but as the daughter of a diplomat, she was not be prosecuted, police said.
Mice in the situation room, new toilet seats for the Oval Office and damaged legs on Martha Washington’s chairs are only a few things the White House’s General Services Administration tackled at the president’s residence, News4 discovered. The insight into the White House intrigued people across the nation.
Montgomery County Police Department
Laura Wallen, a pregnant teacher from Olney, Maryland, was missing for nine days before she was found buried in a shallow grave. Wallen's boyfriend, Tyler Tessier, 32, was arrested hours later and charged with first-degree murder. Days earlier, he spoke at a news conference with Wallen's family, begging for her to return and holding his girlfriend's mother's hand.
National Park Service
The words "F--- law" were found written in red spray paint early one August morning on a pillar at the monument that overlooks the Capitol building and National Mall. "It's frustrating, not only for the Park Service but certainly for the visitors that come here, that anyone would vandalize any of our iconic memorials. Especially the Lincoln Memorial. Especially with everything that's going on now -- the calls for unity and people to come together," NPS spokesman Mike Litterst said.
