George Clooney's favourite restaurant in Washington DC - allegedly

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Washington DC, USA: The best new restaurants in the US capital

It’s in the hot new restaurants that the movers and shakers in Washington will be doing their plotting this election year. Alex Spillius suggests where to find food that’s as good as the gossip.

It is election year in Washington, and among those probably hoping for another Barack Obama victory are the city’s restaurant owners.

They might never admit to any bias, but such is the enthusiasm for eating out of the modish couple currently occupying the White House that few in the trade would want to see them go. A local foodie website has estimated that no fewer than 30 restaurants or diners in the capital have been visited by the President or his wife, Michelle, since his inauguration in January 2009. The manager of Eatonville, a modern Southern-cuisine venue and favourite of the First Lady, reported that for several weeks after her first visit, customers requested reservations in the very seat she graced.

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Indeed, it pays for barmen and restaurant managers in Washington to stay on top of the news. “You need to be aware of what is going on around town,” says Laurent Menoud, maître d’hôtel at Café Milano, a Georgetown establishment that after 20 years retains its status as the city’s number one place to be seen by night. If a regular walks in who has just left the White House in unhappy circumstances or, by contrast, has just landed a television interview with the president, it is his business to know. “I also know who will not like to sit near to whom – usually it is to do with politics, sometimes it might be to do with a divorce. It helps to get these things right,” he says.

Dishes such as the home-made strozzapreti with lobster and the pan-fried Kobe beef are first-rate, and the desserts are sumptuous. But competition for the most coveted tables at Café Milano, numbers 100 to 104, can count for more than what goes on the plate. If James Kimsey, the founder of AOL, can’t reserve table 100, which can be seen by everyone entering the restaurant, “there is something like a diplomatic incident”, says Laurent.

Recent – and less-demanding – visitors have included the senior White House aides David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett, and Madeleine Albright, the former secretary of state. Bill Clinton, a regular when president, still chooses to dine at Café Milano when back in town and he works the room as if he were still in residence down the road. King Abdullah of Jordan drops in here during every visit to town, as did his father, King Hussein. In warmer weather, you might well find yourself next to Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, plus security detail, at their favourite spot on the patio.

It is said that Washington is Hollywood for the ugly, and New Yorkers and Los Angelenos never tire of mocking the capital for its provincial ways and unglamorous political types. But Café Milano is among the exceptions that prove the rule. Musicians or film stars shooting in the capital or basking in the glory of an invitation to the White House often make Café Milano their dinner destination. Those have included George Clooney, Jennifer Aniston and Bradley Cooper, the star of the Hangover films, who worked as a waiter at the restaurant while a student at Washington’s renowned Georgetown University.

Strangely, neither of the Obamas has yet dined there. Perhaps they decided to bless newer restaurants with their custom. Perhaps they are just saving their visit for what they hope will be that second term in the White House.

Café Milano
A Georgetown fixture and still the city’s best people-spotting venue. Wide-ranging Italian menu allows casual diners to get away with $40 (£25) per head, but spending double that would be easy.
3251 Prospect Street NW (202 333 6183; cafemilano.net).