Bresca

Bresca opened in September 2017 on the busy 14th Street strip in Logan Circle, and it was Ryan Ratino's first solo restaurant. It earned a Michelin star and has held it since 2019. The building is worth understanding, because it explains the cooking: directly above Bresca sits JONT, Ratino's two-Michelin-star tasting counter, and the bistro downstairs shares its kitchen discipline without the tasting-menu formality. The dining room splits the difference too, mixing the warmth of a neighbourhood restaurant with special-occasion polish - splashes of gold, a living moss wall - and the food pairs French technique with local and international ingredients in dishes like a foie gras negroni topped with Campari gelee.

The bar is a draw in its own right, and the non-alcoholic drinks are made with the same attention as the cocktails rather than being kept on a separate, lesser card. Washingtonian, listing the restaurant among DC-area bars and restaurants with great non-alcoholic cocktails, pointed readers at the nonalcoholic section of the high-concept Myths & Legends cocktail menu and singled out the Citronnade a la Menthe, which combines a cardamom-lemon cordial with mint. That drink is a riff on the mint lemonade of southern France, and it is the one to order if you want to understand what the bar is doing. Alongside it the list has carried a Pear Collins, built on zero-proof gin with pear, lemon and ginger beer, and a non-alcoholic Old Fashioned riff made with American malt, orgeat and aromatic bitters - which is the harder trick, because an Old Fashioned has nowhere to hide without the spirit.

Practical notes. Bresca serves dinner only, Wednesday through Sunday, closed Monday and Tuesday, with both a la carte and tasting options; service starts at 5.30pm midweek and 5pm on Friday and Saturday. Because the cocktail list is themed and changes, the specific zero-proof drinks rotate with it - the Citronnade has been the constant, and it is worth asking the bar what else is on rather than assuming last season's list. Reservations are effectively required at weekends, and the bar seats are the flexible option for walk-ins.