Gerard Pangaud Bistro
Washington, DC 20005
202-737-4445
(Downtown between I and K Street)
Re-styled as Gerard Pangaud Bistro (formerly Gerard's Place), Chef Pangaud offers French bistro cuisine that highlights seasonal ingredients. We had rated Gerard's Place our top French Restaurant in DC. We look forward to checking out the new format and have every reason to believe it continues the tradition of excellence.
For the historical record, here is our review of Gerard's Place written in 2004:
Walking into Gerard’s Place, you notice that it is a rather
small restaurant with about 20 tables inside and some sidewalk
tables. The dining area is well decorated with brick-red colored
walls, black and white prints, and a colorful abstract painting.
The service staff seated us on a corner table next to a buffet
where a large copper pot was displayed.
We started with cocktails for which I had a glass of kir royal.
It was just perfect and it came in a larger champagne glass than
I usually see in restaurants or bars. Indeed, it was a very good
start for a fabulous dinner. The dinner menu offers an $85 tasting
menu, which was very tempting, but since everyone at the table
must choose this, we decided to order a la carte. For appetizers,
the asparagus soup with morels was filled with flavor, the scallop-lobster
in cream sauce was purely a joy to taste, and the seared scallops
were prepared just right. For the main course, we had the famous
lobster (outstanding), the rabbit cooked four ways (delicious),
and squab (amazing!).
The service was excellent – our waiter was professional and warm.
The staff attended to us without being overwhelming. Gerald’s
Place offers excellent French food using the best ingredients
from the season. Interestingly, they also offer a cooking class
that includes a sit down lunch paired with wines.