RIS

Ris Lacoste's new restaurant is terrific. Food, atmosphere, service are all great, and it's not so expensive that you can't indulge on a regular basis. We had appetizers, entrees and a bottle of wine, but you can also buy the hamburger -- which will probably be our next trip.

We started out with gnudis -- a trendy new dish that apparently is the stuffing from a filled pasta without the pasta. Described in the menu as ricotta dumplings with eggplant and tomato fondue with spinach and crisp prosciutto, it was a very tasty starter, with the fondue cooked to almost a tomato-paste intensity of flavor. We also had the asparagus and gingered grapefruit salad with miso and sesame vinaigrette, which was an elegant and refreshing seasonal dish. The asparagus was not undercooked, remaining ever so slightly crunchy but also very tender, while the flavor combinations were, as always with Ris, fresh and well-balanced.

What stole the show was the lemon salt crusted soft shell crab, served with fava bean purree and onion jam. The crabs, fried to perfection, burst with flavor in the crust, including a whiff of cayenne pepper that lent it a little fire. The crabs were good-sized and the entree portion was quite ample. The accompaniments, which also included spinach in the entree portion, softened the sea and fire with some sweet vegetable notes. I had an excellent North Carolina grouper from the "Fish on Friday" menu, served with a lemon and sweet pea risotto and a tomato fondue that, in contrast to the one with the gnudis, was light as a feather. The fish was pan-seared and one of those thick, meaty fillets that only restaurants seem to get. We had a very nice and moderately priced white Burgundy (Aligote, Domaine A. and P. de Villaine, Bouzeron, 2007) with the meal.

Ris, who waited a long time to get her own place, seemed very happy that the restaurant on 23rd and L translated her vision of a place that was informal but very fine in its dining choices. As sous chef for Kinkead, she mother-henned a whole group of cooks who have gone on to start their own restaurants in DC and elsewhere. As executive chef for 1789 in Georgetown, she hosted Julia Child's 90th birthday party in 2002. For the last several years, she has raised money and made plans for this restaurant.

The decor is serene and welcoming. Some of the Zagat reviewers described it as bland, like a hotel, but they haven't spent enough time in hotels, because each detail in RIS -- the lamps, the chairs, the tables, the plates, the silver, even the restroom -- is carefully chosen and elegant, not ordered by the gross. It is not an echo chamber designed to create an artificial buzz -- you can actually conduct a conversation while eating.

The menu has some of the old standbys from the Kinkead days, such as the signature lamb shank, but as the crab dish shows, it will evolve with new creations from Ris's talented hands. It's definitely a keeper for us.