J&G Steakhouse: Washington DC

By steak Tuesday August 25, 2009

WASHINGTONPOST.com Tom Sietsema July 29, 2009

There I was, lunching on vivid Indian flavors in Penn Quarter earlier this month, when a friend texted me from the city’s newest steakhouse in the just-opened W Hotel.

“DISASTER!!” he typed from his table at J&G Steakhouse, which takes its name from Jean-Georges Vongerichten, the famous French chef with 22 restaurants in his global portfolio.

“Oh no! I’m eating there tonight!” I shot back, eager for more details from one of the most discerning meat lovers I know.

“Good luck. Jean-Georges is actually here,” he teased from within strolling distance. “Suffice it to say the best part of lunch was the J&G steak sauce so I could cover up the vapid Ore-Ida shoestring fries.”

Suffice it to say I did not show up for my reservation that night with lofty expectations. The lobby of the W Hotel, which diners navigate on their way to the restaurant, was packed and noisy with after-work revelers. I couldn’t help but notice that the bank of elevators leading to the rooftop bars was fronted with velvet ropes, burly guys in suits and clots of people hoping to imbibe high in the sky. When I finally found my dining companions in the crowd, one of them, who’d expressed interest in an after-dinner drink upstairs, said his curiosity was met by a smile and little encouragement from a staff member: “It will take you a month to get a reservation.”