Ellē — Restaurant in Washington

Wow...where do I even start? Whether you're looking for a cozy café with great coffee / pastries, an intimate restaurant serving some of the best New American cooking, or just a place that has some of the friendliest, most inviting staff to ever grace the DC restaurant scene, Elle has you covered.

They operate a cute little coffee counter in the day, which includes some of their amazing scones, croissants, and other goodies, as well as outstanding espresso drinks. There isn't a ton of seating in the café section so it ends up being quite crowded, but if you're lucky enough to snag a seat, it's super cozy and the perfect place to read or just hang out. The café area is confined to two mini counters in a small corner next to the front window, so it always gets plenty of natural light and is a great place to people watch. I dropped by on a Sunday morning to grab an americano and their maple pecan scone; the americano was phenomenal, and the scone was such a delightful ode to autumn flavors. It was quite large, super buttery and rich, and packed with maple and pecan flavor without being overly sweet.

Come back in the evening and you'll stroll into what feels like a completely different restaurant. The coffee bar is transformed into a standard bar, and the ambient lighting, dark wooden furniture, and brick walls make the space feel incredibly cozy and intimate. Their dinner menu is quite pricey, but it's genuinely worth every penny. My friend promised that Elle had the "best vegetable he's ever tasted," and they absolutely delivered -- the roasted broccoli with sardines and parmesan was delightful. It was super simple, but I appreciated how well it let the natural flavor of each ingredient shine, and each component had plenty of its own flavor, with the parmesan and sardines offering a hit of salt, umami, and sight funkiness. We also got the grilled cucumber which, at first glance, seemed like such an odd menu item. After giving it a try, however, I'm now questioning why we don't always grill our cucumbers -- the cucumber was beautifully charred on the outside, and heat helped to bring out some of the vegetable's natural sweetness to counterbalance the smokiness from the grill. It was served on top of a bed of savory, tangy yogurt and with chopped hazelnuts, which offered a great crunch. I was most impressed by the skate; this fish is a rare find in DC, but they prepared with perfectly. It was super tender, which contrasted beautifully against the crispy, crunchy fried outer shell. The skate was topped with crispy onions and a savory, slightly spicy sauce, as well as swimming in a rich, incredibly umami broth. The skate may have been the single best thing I put in my mouth all year -- I'm going to be devastated when it falls out of season and rotates of the menu, but I'm also super excited to come back and sample Elle's next...

I wasn't sure what to expect here. This is in the middle of Mt Pleasant, but is apparently hard to get into, so we had early reservations. The restaurant used to be a bakery, and they still have the bakery signage in front of the building. It's surrounded by laundromats, dollar stores and the like.

The beer menu has some local brews, which is nice. I had a Berliner Weisse from Right Proper, a DC brewery, which is a weak and fairly sour beer that is pretty much like a Berliner Weisse in Germany. The menu is ... eclectic. The dishes are combinations of diverse ideas, but they turn out very nicely! The maple marinated feta comes with grilled brown bread, I'm not sure I'd call it toast exactly. It's thick and very good. Maple and feta cheese isn't something I'd normally expect to see together, but they work very well. Grilled asparagus is more sauce than asparagus - which I like - and likewise has a variety of ingredients in the sauce. The corn flower tagliatelle was probably the weakest dish we had, but still quite good. The chickpeas almost had the consistency of breakfast cereal - quite crunchy! The kimchi toast seems to be the flagship dish, and it was also very good, with lots of sweetness to balance out the kimchi. For dessert, we had upside-down strawberry grit cake, which was quite nice, and sour cherry pie, which was so good we got some slices to go. They have about five or sixed baked items you can get to go, and during the daytime they serve sandwiches like a deli.

More recently, we had grilled brown bread with cultured butter, sauerkraut, and Doritos spread. You wouldn't expect sauerkraut and Doritos spread to go well with toast but they do! We also got grilled gem lettuce - also a lot better than it sounds. The sole disappointment was the Comté tart which was just too cheesy. The last appetizer was the barbeque carrots which were outstanding. Our main courses were black pepper cavatelli which was solid but not spectacular, and fried tempeh katsu which was AMAZING. It was kind of like a fish sandwich for people like me who don't normally eat fish. Finally, we wrapped up with a delicious morsel of honey goat cheesecake.

The service was quite good always as well. So, this is definitely...

Elle is the latest hipster coffee shop to land in Washington, DC and it has a lot of things going for them to make them a stand out shop. Here's how they will stand out:

1. Creating the best pastries in the city: Ever been to a coffee shop with great coffee, but sub par pastries? Not Elle. The creators of Paisley Fig opened Elle so you know the pastries are out of this world...and they are! They have world class scones, delicious biscotti, and one of the best muffins I've ever had- banana bran muffin. It was just the right size, perfectly moist (sorry if you hate that word), and it did NOT include nasty raisins (who likes raisins any way?!).

2. Revitalizing history: They opened in the historic bakery called Heller Bakery in Mt Pleasant NW. Rather than completely changing its essence, they turned it into another, more modern bakery with even better pastries.

3. Creating a mindful atmosphere: The moment you walk in, you are taken back by the subtle atmosphere they create. The tiles on the floor match the brick walls. As you roam through the large space, you'll notice small mirrors and other decor that create an inspiring and inviting atmosphere any hipster would drool over. Even the wooden stools at the bar and wall tables match!

Other things to note:

1. The restrooms are in the basement. They have two gender neutral bathrooms with fun rabbit wallpaper inside. Just follow the sign to the "powder room."

2. Their coffee is good!

3. The owner is very nice, engaged, and should be proud of a beautiful cafe she's opened.

4. They have full bar service with a good cocktail menu.

The only thing to be mindful of:

1. Although they have plenty of outlets (check below the bar), they do not have WIFI. After hearing the owner's vision to create a space for people to connect face to face, you're sold. However, when you check the network there is one that says "Elle Guest," setting the expectation they do have WIFI. They do not.

Elle is a welcome addition to not only the DC coffee shop scene, but the DC food scene. Here's to hopefully decades and decades of serving the Mt Pleasant and greater Washington,...