DCReview
photo credit: Nina Palazzolo
Rose's Luxury
Included In
It’s been a while since kindergarten. So you might be out of practice when it comes to obligatory sharing. But fork fights are the only option at this casual Barracks Row restaurant, thanks to their five-course menu of playful American food designed to share. Even though most of the dishes hit, the real reason we never turn down an invitation to Rose's Luxury is that it's fun to be forced into splitting their dishes.
Ordering goes like this: everyone chooses their own appetizer and pasta courses, and then you agree on a large-format main and dessert to share. So if you and your dinner partner have different tastes, you'll at least start the meal as friends. When the time comes, convince them to get Seth’s Fancy Fish Camp, a fried dover sole served with a caviar tartar sauce that we'd happily eat alone if Rose's Luxury allowed solo diner reservations.
photo credit: Nina Palazzolo
photo credit: Nina Palazzolo
photo credit: Nina Palazzolo
photo credit: Nina Palazzolo
photo credit: Nina Palazzolo
If there's one crown jewel of Rose’s Luxury, though, it's the pork and lychee salad that's been on the menu since the restaurant opened in 2013. The tiny bowl layers salty peanuts, crunchy bacon, sweet lychee, and mint that you swirl together. It's creamy and messy, and everyone should order one as their appetizer even if it means you get to try less of the menu.
Each of the dining rooms at Rose's Luxury has a slightly different energy. In the main area downstairs, there's a rowhouse living room with simple tables and groups laughing over spicy-sweet and sometimes too-chewy calamarata alla vodka. Upstairs, in the smaller, more intimate room, couples gaze at each other over challah bread service while lotus-shaped candles cast a hazy glow over their faces. But our favorite place to sit is in the back of the ground floor, which feels like an outdoor cafe with string lights and plants, even though you're still inside.
Whether it's for a date or a group dinner with friends, come to Rose’s with people who know your heart and your stomach. That way, when you fake offer them the last bite of baklava sundae during dinner, they’ll know better than to move within an inch of the flaky phyllo and ice cream. You can make it up to them later.
Food Rundown
photo credit: Aphra Adkins
Ice Cream Caviar
photo credit: Aphra Adkins
Pork & Lychee Salad
photo credit: Aphra Adkins
Calamarata Alla Vodka
photo credit: Aphra Adkins
Seth’s Dover Sole
photo credit: Aphra Adkins
Miso Short Rib
photo credit: Aphra Adkins