Playing with fire at Cherry - the W hotel's flame-centric restaurant

Cherry, the newly opened restaurant inside the renovated W Hotel, promises farm-to-fire fare, where elements of each menu offering touch the flames in some way. The open kitchen is centered around a huge 15ft. wood-burning grill and oven – apparently, the largest in DC.

Kitchen Counter
Additional seating
Main seating

The food is straightforward, with an emphasis on fresh, local ingredients, complimented by different cooking techniques and types of woods used in the hearth. Chef de Cuisine William Morris (of Vermillion & Brasserie Beck), experimented with recipes and techniques for a year building up to the opening. The marinated tomato and arugula salad with feta and rustic bread was the perfect summer salad – light and refreshing with delicious local tomatoes, while the roasted rockfish was a perfect shareable dish, the rockfish charred from the open-flame grill, served on top of a hearty yogurt and chickpea side. Vegetables were the surprise standouts of the night – the flavor and texture of the roasted carrots and hearth potatoes were unbelievable.

Don’t sleep on the cocktails either. Most of the spirits used are sourced from local distilleries in the DC area, and presentation is top notch. “In a Pickle” features Ivy City gin, a house watermelon shrub, lavender bitters, and pickled watermelon, while the “DC Flower Delivery” includes a mix of Civic vodka, St. Germain elderflower liqueur, Dolin dry, Don Ciccio finocchietto, peach bitters and Luxardo maraschino.