By DCist contributor Josh Kramer

Who needs a cellphone camera when you have a pen and paper? Drawn to Flavor highlights local dishes and drinks in vivid watercolor. In these posts, Illustrator and journalist Josh Kramer tries to honor all the energy and creativity that goes into making food beautiful and delicious.

There are few reliable pillars of fine dining in Washington D.C.

One of them is undoubtedly CityZen in the Mandarin Oriental hotel (1330 Maryland Ave SW). After ten years, the restaurant is closing for good on December 6.

I went last week in part to cross it off the “bucket list” before it’s too late, and also to bring this column the magic of a six-course tasting menu designed by Chef Eric Ziebold, formerly of Thomas Keller’s the French Laundry.

Like many places, the restaurant features “modern American” cuisine. However, Chef Ziebold’s imaginative application of formal techniques to the best seasonal ingredients is greater than the sum of its parts. My favorite dish was the Poached Maine Lobster Cassoulet.

I found this course to be very smart: Dashi, made from fish and seaweed, is refined to a consommé for the broth, and its flavors are married to the delicate lobster and oyster mushrooms. Red and white beans and Carrots á la Grecque complete its resemblance to a typical french cassoulet.

CityZen, you will be missed. Next month, something messier.

Josh Kramer