48 MARCH13, 2022
Y
ou still wait in the Seussian lounge with the melting
clock until you’re escorted to your seat in a dining room
that resembles theater-in-the-round.
As before the pandemic, you don’t get a menu until just
before you leave. The 10 or so chefs behind the 20 or so dishes
prefer to keep you in suspense while they’re introducing their
magic tricks from the other side of the counter.
A welcome of gin-infused matcha signals the most notable
change at Minibar by José Andrés, the acclaimed, avant-garde
performance space that returned to service after 19 months in
October. The refreshing, brilliant-green cocktail, tagged with
gold leaf, kicks off an evening that’s decidedly Japanese in spirit.
Also on a visitor’s horizon here in Penn Quarter are (spoiler
alert!) tempura, wagyu beef, abalone and doughnuts flavored
with roasted green tea, a confection served with an aged sake the
color of amber, smelling of toffee and pleasantly acidic —
“ancient treasure,” indeed.
A longtime follower of the most daring restaurant in Andrés’s
Washington portfolio, I figure the new theme is designed to be
the calm following the storm of the past two years. Andrés tells
me he’s been mulling the flavor for a while, though. Remember
the Spanish-Japanese restaurant he hoped to open in the
Trump hotel, a project he left after Donald Trump insulted
Mexicans at the dawn of his presidential campaign? Andrés and
Koji Terano, the research and development chef at parent
company ThinkFoodGroup, have also been talking for yearsDiningWITH TOM SIETSEMA
The cuisine
changes, but
the Minibar
is raised
The one-bite taco at Minibar comes in a seaweed shell and is filled with pork and tomatillo.
PHOTOS: LAURA CHASE DE FORMIGNYUnrated during the
pandemicMinibar by
José Andrés
855 E St. NW. 202-
393-0812.
minibarbyjoseandres.
com. Open: Indoor
dining beginning at
5:15 p.m. Tuesday,
Wednesday and
Friday, and 5:15 p.m.
and 8:30 p.m.
Thursday and
Saturday. Price:
$295 per person for
20 or so courses,
excluding tax and tip.
Sound check: 70
decibels/
Conversation is easy.
Accessibility: Guests
in wheelchairs are
asked to specify
needs on a pre-
arrival form and may
be accommodated at
a separate chef’s
table; restrooms are
ADA-approved.
Pandemic protocols:
Staff members are
all masked and
vaccinated.