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Very Best Restaurants: Morrison-clark Inn

Very Best Listing | Very Best by Cuisine | Very Best by Location

Morrison-clark Inn **
Washington, $$

Insulated from the rush of traffic on Massachusetts Avenue by floor-to-ceiling lace curtains, this small Victorian dining room provides welcome respite from the urban hustle. Susan McCreight Lindeborg's nurturing cuisine, restrained and mostly Southern inspired, goes well with the surroundings. When Lindeborg offers her interpretation of a foreign dish, the result is something that may well have been made following a recipe brought back by a globetrotting aunt. Or if Asian ingredients are used in a dish, the chef justifies their inclusion by citing Morrison-Clark's proximity to Chinatown.

Even if you choose another first coursesuch as scalloped oysters with country ham or shrimp served over creamy gritsprecede it with the uniformly excellent soup of the day, served in a dainty cream-soup cup. Inspired by the stuffed ham that is one of Maryland's regional treasures, Lindeborg once offered a rabbit loin stuffed with a mixture of long-cooked greens. The delicate, moist loin is now stuffed with cornbread and sauced with bourbon, a dish that has become this chef's signature. And few will need any urging to finish the various vegetables that garnish the main courses. Recent accompaniments of glazed onions and gratin of celery root, leeks, and potatoes nearly upstaged a leg of lamb with shallot-cassis sauce.

Morrison-clark Inn , 1015 L St. NW, Washington; 202-898-1200. Open Monday through Friday for lunch and dinner, Saturday for dinner, Sunday for brunch and dinner. MapIt!

QUALITY: ****Excellent; *** Superior; **Very Good; * Good
PRICE RANGE: $$$= Very Expensive; $$ Expensive; $=Moderate; ¢=Inexpensive

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