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Included In
Like the unfailing jeans and t-shirt you fall back on whenever your other outfits don't look as good in the mirror as they did in your head, Vera is the restaurant to keep in your back pocket for a night where you need guaranteed good food and good fun.
The Lebanese-Mexican spot in Ivy City is packed every night, putting Vera on DC’s short list of restaurants where you should make a reservation—especially on a weekend. That’s also when the DJs show up. And while you won’t quite relive your Dream or Love days, you can dance (or lean against the cinder block walls) until 2am.
photo credit: Nina Palazzolo
photo credit: Nina Palazzolo
photo credit: Nina Palazzolo
Because most people are loudly talking at their own tables and only looking around to check out the plates passing by, Vera is a great spot to bring a date—especially early on. Keep the stakes low—and the steaks medium and slathered in a spicy homemade mole that’s richer than Bill Gates.
It’s the same mole you’ll find inside the molten lava cake in the elote & mole—a dessert so good you should just order two from jump because sharing isn’t an option, even if you are trying to impress someone. Instead, show off your international knowledge by telling them about how the fusion restaurant pulls from the deep history of Lebanese immigrants in Veracruz, Mexico—the region the restaurant is named after. Much easier than handing over an extra spoon to your corn ice cream.
The menu is short—so short you’ll be tempted to taste all 14 dishes (do it). Like the slurpable labneh leche de tigre that makes their oyster ceviche the kind we’d take the D4 from Franklin Square in rush hour traffic to get. The smaller dishes, like the fattoush tostada, are built for sharing, but there are also adult-sized entrees like the deconstructed lamb birria dripping in an adobo sauce we keep trying to figure out the recipe for.
Vera is clutch enough that you should keep their Tock bookmarked, so you never have to waste too much time booking your reservation. It could be the difference between the fun night out you want to have, and the mediocre night out you end up with somewhere else.
Food Rundown
photo credit: Nina Palazzolo
Fattoush Tostada
photo credit: Nina Palazzolo
Oyster Ceviche
photo credit: Nina Palazzolo
Reides Fritters
photo credit: Nina Palazzolo
Lamb Birria
photo credit: Nina Palazzolo