Le Diplomate is one of the best, most consistently good restaurants in DC right now. The wait, yeah it’s long. The service, well it’s packed and they make their food fresh, so it can be slower than Subway. Are these bad things? Decidedly no. Not convinced? Here are 23 reasons with pictures why all of the continued hype about Le Diplomate is real.
1. This housemade delicious bread and room temperature butter.
2. This 2006 Saint-Émilion Grand Cru.
3. These cold radishes with whipped herb butter (because vegetables with butter is how the French roll).
4. The best mushroom tart with fresh cheese you will ever have.
5. These six oysters who are your stomach’s new best friends.
6. A perfect Negroni.
7. The best, and biggest, steak au poirve in DC.
8. The half roasted chicken with au jus that you’ve been missing your whole life.
9. The Petit and Grand Plateau.
10. These herb, garlic, butter escargots and their little puff pastry toppers.
11. And because the herb, garlic butter left in the escargot dish is perfect to dip ANYTHING in.
12. All the oysters!
13. Fresh. Tuna. Carpacchio.
14. This amazing steak tartare with a fresh raw quail egg.
15. Because on Tuesdays you need this daily lobster risotto special.
16. Did we mention this mushroom tart?!?
17. It’s hot in DC and you need this outdoor seating.
18. Because they will happily add bacon to your mac and cheese.
19. This jumbo roasted asparagus.
20. These ricotta ravioli that shows up the Italians.
21. This rich and smooth foie gras.
22. This large bar with everything you could possibly want.
23. Because the staff (including those mentioned below), understand that this can always happen and they handle it properly.
24. And finally because Francis, William and Erik are some of the nicest and best in the business. Thank you eternally!
Don’t even get us started about their amazing brunch!
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Worst photos ever.
They could be better indeed. These were taken on an iPhone, but I’m not sure they are the worst “ever?” But we will continue to work on the quality of our content and pictures, thanks for the comment.
Honestly, that mushroom tart isn’t anything special. Yeah, it was tasty, but both me and my GF agreed that it tasted like it could have come from Trader Joes. Plus, a perfect Negroni is nothing special. It’s a 1:1:1 drink featuring pretty common cocktail ingredients. Yeah, they’re delicious, but you could teach a seven year old how to make one. That chicken however…damn…I can attest to that being perhaps THE platonic ideal of roast chicken.
Thanks for the feedback! While we don’t condone letting 7 year olds mix our cocktails, I have often found them either way too bitter or too sweet. I guess my point was while easy, some places do often get them wrong. And “damn” is right. That chicken is perfect indeed! Thanks for the feedback and thanks for reading!