The Dabney

I came to DC over the summer for some sightseeing and some general celebration of my birthday. I ranked all of the restaurants in town using an algorithm/decision-making-tree that I came up with. And The Dabney popped up as one of the premier must-go places. So I made my reservations and showed up on time and got seated in the very beautiful main dining area. We had the perfect view of the open kitchen right next us, so we got to watch the well-oiled machine the entire time. So many tables going through course after course, a guy with a dry erase board keeping track of all the moving pieces, all the meats seemingly being cooked with only wood and fire. Really great stuff. And the service? Come on. We had multiple people that waited on us, each being their own cog in the machine of the service presentation. We never wanted for anything. And the conversation was very pleasant and seemed authentic. Right down to the very end of the night to when one of the hosts checked on us to see how we were getting back in the pouring rain. So anyway, I can't talk about all of the courses served in the well orchestrated show that we went through, but I will give some thoughts and notes. I love how this place, and many other places, are highlighting and celebrating local ingredients. Where our food comes from is very cool to know, and I'm glad that they are supporting local, small businesses rather than buying a pack of 1,000 frozen oysters from another country. The second snack of the night really hit that point with lamb from the Shenandoah area stuffed into a mint leaf that came from Kentucky. Very nice. I also liked how the courses got progressively bigger in size, from the snacks to the actual courses, to the main event. Fried squash blossom. Enough said. There's no vessel more fun to eat something from. One of the courses had us take a fried corn tortilla and smash it to make our own tortilla chips to eat the rest of the dish with. That was fun! And of course, the main event. From a local farm, we got Autumn Olive Farm Pork served in a few different ways. It was all laid out to us at once and then we got free range of the feast. The Sorghum Butter they gave us for that Cornbread was insane out of this world delicious. And the Scrapple they put that Caviar on top of? Wow. It was all just so fun and delicious. We finished off with three dessert courses, all good. I feel like I've said a lot, but also a lot of nothing. The bottom line is that the place is very good. They select high quality, local ingredients, and present them in a beautiful, delicious way. The only thing is that a place like this needs to send you home with some post-dinner munchies. That's all that was missing. Not sure if I'll ever be back, but will certainly recommend this place to everyone I know who heads to DC.

Amazing. What an experience. Every bite was magic. Truly top notch. The service is easily the best in the city. The manager Sam stopped by and was such a delightful man and the bartender was so knowledgeable and crafted 5 star drinks. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming. If you are ever in DC put this place at the top of your list. ☺️☺️

Sat at the bar for some quick bites. The fennel sour mocktail and sweet potato roll (catfish slider) was fantastic. The raddichio was a bit heavy in sauces, and the pork rib skewer was also a bit too sweet - tasted like korean marinated pork, not too elevated. Good overall.

Just an incredible meal! Hard to describe, but each course was absolutely divine! And they all flowed so well together, each item paired harmoniously with what came before it. The staff was super attentive, knowledgeable, and friendly. Thank you for an absolutely amazing dinner experience!

Wonderful experience. Opted for the prix fixe menu at the bar with one more person so we each got to try two apps and mains, and it was incredible at every turn. Warm, friendly, and informative service as well. Very much worth it!