Enrique Limardo wants to take diners on a trip around the world at his new restaurant Seven Reasons. The 14th Street spot’s co-owner and executive chef is fusing ideas from his Venezuelan heritage and international cooking assignments.
His Duck Magret with Salsa Verde, for example, is a dish he says was inspired by the idea of a Mexican who gets lost in Dubai. Limardo serves up a duck breast seasoned with sumac and other Middle Eastern spices, and combines it with his take on a Mexican salsa verde that he makes from tomatillo, cilantro, avocados, and lime juice.
And his decadent dessert Coconut Delirious pays homage to the beaches of Limardo’s childhood, offering seven different layers of coconut flavor sculpted into a white, sandy beach. It’s got branches made out of chocolate and white chocolate truffles resembling pearls. Coconut custard, coconut ice cream, lemon jelly, and a chocolate sphere complete the dish.
“For me it’s very important to rediscover my roots as a South American, but also I pull different approaches from everywhere just to make it fun,” Limardo says, adding that it’s important to show Latin culture “in a different way, not in a better way” for D.C.’s adventurous palates.
The 90-seat, three-level restaurant that Limardo co-owns with his business partner Ezequiel Vázquez-Ger opened Tuesday in what used to be Piola, a pizzeria on 14th Street Northwest. A patio seating another 35 diners is expected to open in a couple of months—the restaurant itself measures 3,700 square feet.
Born in Caracas, Limardo trained in Peru, Colombia, and Argentina. Locally, he’s culinary director of Chicken + Whiskey farther down 14th Street and served as executive chef of the acclaimed Venezuelan-inspired Alma Cocina Latina in Baltimore.
Limardo started his professional career two decades ago, working as a line cook in Spain at several places, including Michelin-starred eateries El Celler De Can Roca in Girona and ABaC Restaurant in Barcelona. He switched gears once he moved to the Ramón Freixa restaurant in Barcelona as its pastry chef.
From there, he moved onto The Cliff restaurant in Barbados, serving as chef advisor, then jetted to a resort in Cancun, Mexico to helm La Tortuga as executive chef. After that, he worked as executive sous chef in Hong Kong at a restaurant inside the luxurious Mandarin Oriental and later as a line cook in Dubai at the Burj Al Arab Jumeirah hotel. And as a private chef, he was based in Venezuela, but worked in Abu Dhabi, New Zealand and other far-flung spots.
“It’s the only way that for me, a chef can learn,” Limardo says of all his maneuvering. “You have to move around and learn from every single culture, but you have to be there to understand the culture—the real flavors.”
Drawing on that extensive background, some meals at Seven Reasons play around with tradition.
Limardo’s Ravioli de Chucho (skate fish ravioli) offers a modern take on a Venezuelan fish stew lasagna called pastel de chucho (skate fish tart). It’s traditionally made of sweet plantains, fish, sofrito, and cheese.
“The way he twists it is that instead of doing a tart, he does it inside a ravioli that’s made with a plantain,” says co-owner Vázquez-Ger. It might be nontraditional, he says, “but when you taste it, you say, ‘Whoa, this is exactly what I had when I was a kid.’”
Under the snacks portion of Seven Reasons’ menu, Limardo offers Cassava Bread with Jungle Spice, a jam he made with sugar, spices and processed ants, among other items. There’s Cauliflower Tempura made with mango chutney, purple cabbage, pepita cassava crumble, and rosemary gel. The Whole Wagyu Coulotte contains roasted marble potato, tomato cumin sauce, heart of palm, and chimichurri—the 60-ounce feast feeds three or four people. And the Cheese Arepitas are made with raw sugarcane syrup.
The 10 drinks on the cocktail menu were created by bar manager Josue Gonzalez, most recently a bartender at St. Anselm and Michelin-starred Bresca. The lineup features drinks made with rum, pisco, sake, shochu, mezcal, and tequila, and they’re infused with fruits, vegetables, and spices from the Amazon.
One is The Star of Venezuela, which mixes Venezuelan rum, star fruit, lime, and allspice—it’s billed as a refreshing, crisp, and enchanting drink. And then there’s the Latin-inspired Noche Morada, made with mezcal, cilantro-infused pisco, fresh pineapple, chicha morada, and lemon. Cocktails are priced between from $14- $17.
The restaurant’s minimalist, low-lit interior features concrete and exposed brick walls decorated with faux ivy and plants all over to channel the Amazon rainforest. And they’ll add to the green as the restaurant matures.
“The green is going to actually grow like a real plant … so if you’ve been here a month you’re going to see more and if you’ve been here for six months, you’re going to see more, because the idea of the restaurant and Enrique’s food is everything going to continue to grow in a natural way,” Vázquez-Ger says.
Seven Reasons is located at 2208 14th St. NW. Open Tuesday-Thursday 5:30 p.m.-11 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 5:30 p.m.-midnight; Sunday 5:30 p.m.-11 p.m.
7R_FOODMENU_APRIL15 by Lori McCue on Scribd
7r Dessertmenu Letter April15 by Lori McCue on Scribd
