PRICE:
Frommer's Highly Recommended

As its name suggests, you should come here to enjoy West Coast wine, along with contemporary American cuisine and a California-casual ambience. Most of the 200-or-so bottles on the wine list are California vintages, with wines from Washington State and Oregon thrown in; and waiters are knowledgeable about the specifics of each, so don't hesitate to ask questions. California-casual doesn't mean cheap, though: Bottles range from $20 to $500, although most fall in the $50 to $60 range. The restaurant offers 20 wines by the glass, in different sizes, the better for tastings; and many of these run between $6 and $10 each. Fresh ingredients predominate, whether it's an entree of olive oil-poached king salmon with sweet-and-sour red onions or South Carolina quail stuffed with pheasant sausage and accompanied by Brussels sprouts and roasted figs. Rough-textured slate walls alternate with painted patches of Big Sur sky to suggest a West Coast winery in California's winegrowing region. The wall sconces resemble rectangles of sea glass and the dangling light fixtures look like turned-over wineglasses. It's a very pleasant place, where Georgetown neighbors tend to congregate nightly down the length of the handcrafted cherry-wood bar. Also read about Mendocino's sister restaurant, Sonoma.

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

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