Rose’s Luxury

This should almost be two posts: one on getting into Rose’s Luxury and the other on actually eating there on 1-11-2017. It was a production but, as they say, good things come to those who wait (or in this case, absolutely amazing things). It’s currently my favorite restaurant in DC.

Atmosphere: 5 out of 5
Food & Drink: 5 out of 5

In case you aren’t familiar, Rose’s Luxury does not take reservations and is one of the most popular restaurants in DC. You wait in line starting at about 4pm (even on a Tuesday in February) and at 5:30 they open the doors. You either choose to be seated immediately or ask to be put on the list for a later seating. If you choose the latter they give you an hour window of when you might be seated and text you when they’re ready.

Here I am first in line!

How did I accomplish such a feat, you ask? Well we hired this gentleman from Task Rabbit to wait in line for us! That way no one had to leave work early and I met him just as the restaurant was about to open.

I thought everyone knew about the trick of hiring someone to stand in line here for you. However every. single. person. in the line asked me incredulously whether I had hired someone and how it worked. So apparently that is my pro-tip for the day!

Here is the Rose’s Luxury guy who asks everyone in line how big their party is and when they’d like to be seated. Apparently I’m the first person to ever ask for a pic! He isn’t actually the host, more the guy who gets an idea of what the night will look like seating-wise. About 10 minutes after he talked to everyone the doors opened and I went in to talk to the actual hosts. There I gave my contact info and arranged to be part of the second seating between 7:30 and 8:30pm.

Keep in mind at this point it was two to three hours before we were going to be seated. At first I waited for my friends upstairs at the bar. The bartender so nice and unpretentious, my wine was great, and the bar itself was the most beautiful green stone (marble?). However on busy nights they apparently seat the bar like the rest of the restaurant so you can’t always count on it being available.

Given how much time we had, once Ruth arrived we actually went down the street to do nails. The best part about it? They gave us wine!

After nails we went back and waited another 10 minutes until our table was ready. The ambiance in this place was PERFECT: warm, great lighting, good music and so visually appealing. It seems all of DC is in love with those Christmas tree farm string lights right now and Rose’s is not immune. Also this sign is obviously my fav.

Our waiter was absolutely wonderful. He was attentive without being clingy, informative without being pedantic and just genuinely seemed to really like his job.

Foie gras tart (hazelnuts, pear). There are normally two but since we were three people they let us add an extra one. They were the perfect amuse bouche. Between the hazelnuts and pear, they almost tasted like peanut butter and jelly.

The cocktails were fabulous. Unfortunately I never even knew the name of this but referred to it as “the one garnished with rosemary” after I walked by someone else drinking one. It was some sort of gin sour situation. One thing you’ll find is I’m sucker for anything with egg whites served in a coupe. So I think this had egg whites and I know that I loved it.

On top of great food, Rose’s is also apparently hilarious. The smaller bowl in the middle of the table contained fried Brussels sprouts. The slightly larger bowl had a pork sausage lychee salad that you mixed all together and was quite good. Unfortunately Rose’s is one of those places where the menu changes frequently (daily?) and I didn’t take pictures of it; all my descriptions are a little vague because of that. 

This was a shrimp dish that while not bad wasn’t quite as exciting as the rest of the meal.

This pork blade dish was basically a deconstructed summer roll and was really good. The best part was the crispy wafer on top.

Agnolotti! This was savory and delicious and it’s here that my stomach ache hit. I don’t know if it was the rich food or the food plus drinks but in the interest of full disclosure I got quite the tummy ache towards the end of the meal. And yet it’s still my fav #MissionMichelin meal so that tells you something. 

And then we got a shit ton of brisket. We made sandwiches with toasted white bread, horseradish sauce and coleslaw. They were fabulous. I even brought some home for my husband and it was still delicious two hours later.

Finally, coconut ice cream with burnt caramel. Overall the food was delicious and creative without being too over the top. I would also go back as much for the ambiance as the cuisine. It just felt really good to be there.