PRICE:
Frommer's Exceptional

Chef Eric Ziebold, winner of the 2008 James Beard Foundation's "Best Chef for the Mid-Atlantic Region" award, continues to fill tables nightly at CityZen and garner AAA five-diamond ratings annually. Located in the deluxe Mandarin Oriental Hotel, CityZen's dining room is temple-like: cathedral ceiling, dimly lit, with a coterie of acolytes flitting back and forth between tables and kitchen. You choose among three prix-fixe menus: three courses for $75, a six-course vegetarian tasting menu for $80, or a six-course $110 tasting menu. Starting with an amuse-bouche of fried mushroom with truffle butter; moving on to a grilled pork jowl with marinated French green lentils, micro watercress, and shaved foie gras confit; and further on to the crispy skin filet of Atlantic black bass served with Rancho Gordo shelling beans, CityZen chorizo, and baby leeks -- every taste is exquisite and out of the ordinary. Waitstaff bring intermittent refreshments, such as olive oil custard topped with infused butter or ginger sorbet in homemade root beer. Only a food artist would think to create sensations like the cardamom-dusted orange cruller with kumquat marmalade and African amber tea sorbet. The restaurant's 800-bottle wine selection concentrates on bordeaux, burgundy, and California cabernet. As mentioned in the review of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, the hotel is in an odd neighborhood, off by itself in a sea of government buildings and construction. But it's worth finding your way here. Enjoy a drink first in the hotel lounge overlooking a landscaped terrace or in CityZen's handsome lounge and bar (with its amazing "wall of fire"). Note: You can also dine fabulously and less expensively at the bar. Dress nicely (no denim, shorts, or sneakers).

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Washington, D.C. 2009, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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