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Very Best Restaurants: Pesce

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Pesce *
Washington, $$

Chef David Craig's seafood cuisine is simply too good not to get a third star this year. Beyond his technical proficiency, Craig's talent lies in his ability to decide when to embellish the main ingredient and when its pure flavor should be left to shine in the simplest of preparations.

In his composed dishes, Craig's fish are presented atop different stews of mixed vegetables. These little ragouts are so good that one is tempted to order one or another by itself as an individual course. But when used as the garnish and sauce for the seafood, a splendid alchemy occurs: The natural sweetness of cod is thrown into relief when teamed with a braise of root vegetables, or the assertive flavor of whole red mullets is tamed by pairing it with a mixture of green lentils and savoy cabbage stewed with slivers of ham. The chef could probably turn his imagination to creating new recipes for frog's legs, but his good taste tells him that they would never be better enjoyed than when classically sauteed in butter with garlic, parsley, and lemon.

At night, David Craig's three-star cooking is handicapped by being served in a clattery, bare-brick-walled cafe, whose 50 chairs accommodate well over 100 customers in the course of the evening. Newcomers owe it to themselves to try Pesce at lunch when the restaurant's soft-spoken diplomatic and international business clientele provide enough tranquility to allow one to fully enjoy some of the best seafood cookery in the city.

Pesce , 2016 P St. NW, Washington; 202-466-3474. Open Monday through Saturday for lunch and daily for dinner. MapIt!

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

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