I recently went to my favorite restaurant in the States, Per Se, and as usual just had an exceptional experience. While very few restaurants are on par with Per Se, Manhattan offers an extraordinary range of culinary delights such as Nobu, WD-50, Bouley, etc. Other major cities, such as Chicago, San Francisco (even though some friends from the area lament the decline in SF dining), Los Angeles, and Boston, also offer a great number of fantastic culinary choices. Which brings me to DC. Besides a handful of exceptions, such as CityZen, DC just doesn’t have a restaurant scene comparable to other major cities. Why? Why don’t up and coming young chefs want to open up restaurants in DC like they do in Chicago? The potential client base in DC has to be comparable to Chicago, and the rents should be less in DC. So why the lack of exciting culinary choices in DC?
