Michel Richard is one of the most honored chefs around (a couple James Beard awards, plus nominations), and his restaurant Michel Richard's Citronelle at the Latham Hotel is said to be the best restaurant in Washington. I am not too thrilled by places where the chef
plasters his name all over the place (and there is a framed cute picture of him at the center of each table: we moved it off to one side so we didn't have to look at him), but it is said that this is a don't miss, so we didn't miss it. You go through this narrow
double door arrangement (fat people cannot get in) and down into what I can describe only as a Danish modern pit. I don't see why the media rave about the furnishings: they look rather like someone's playroom, only bigger and with no dog hair. The tables are okay,
but the chairs are big and low: you sit there and feel like a kid; some may like this, but I think it's just a bit silly.
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Speaking of silly, there is a tasting menu at $85 and a tasting menu at $100. As it was splurge night, my friend B and I wanted to do one of each (at comparable places, such as Rover's in Seattle, if you do this, you end up with something like 20 little tiny jewel-like
courses); the waiter informed us that not only do they not do this, but everyone at the table has to get the same menu, so it was either two $85s or two $100s. We had to think about that, and they obviously thought we'd get scared away and end up ordering the cheapest
things on the menu ... It was a bit irritating, but we came up with a solution that satisfied our tummies and taste buds and also their greed for our money: we split 4 main courses.