Walk past Georgetown’s Donahue without the address, and you could easily miss it, save for the suited greeter who opens the door. The luxury lounge, which opened late in March, has no prominent signage—just 12×6 metal letters on the black door frame to signal a downward set of stairs. Those familiar with the area might associate the way in with the long-running exclusive club Smith’s Point, which operated there until 2017.
The descent reveals three rooms with distinct personalities. In the words of its owners, Donahue is part “trendy speakeasy” bar (they have one of Georgetown’s six tavern licenses), part “gastro champagne lounge,” and part “intimate fine dining in a relaxed environment.”
The restaurant is a project years in the making from two former employees of the Fabio Trabocchi Restaurant Group — beverage director Luca Giovannini and sommelier Cesar Varela — and restaurateur Noe Landini, who collectively bring expertise from local restaurants like Bar Deco, Fiola Mare, and Del Mar. They say they’re not looking to recreate the bar’s past, but instead hope to hone an experience that’s “exclusive without being too exclusive,” says Giovannini.
“You often have only two hours to stay at a restaurant, but ours is more of an extension of your living room,” he says. “Start with an aperitif, stay for a bite or the tasting menu, after-dinner drinks, dessert. We’re going to take care of everything from A to Z. You know when you get there, but you don’t need to know when you’re leaving.”
That isn’t to say that you can’t come in just to have a cocktail. But, as vaccination rates go up in D.C., the team says the space — designed by architect Ernesto Santalla — is meant to encourage lingering (and socializing, once it’s safe to do so), at any of the high tops, low tables, and intertwined couches in the lounge, or the six tables in the main dining room. Indoor dining is currently the only option, though bar seating has yet to open; a patio off the lounge will open later this year.
The menu, which you can order from any room, doesn’t skimp on glitz. The kitchen prepares caviar and crème fraiche, oysters, and seafood towers with lobster and snow crab ($90-$160) by Junction Bakery & Bistro’s James Duke and executive chef Antonio Burrell, who oversees the kitchen. Burrell also creates a five- or seven-course tasting menu that changes weekly. Many of the plates can be ordered a la carte, buoyed by snacks like Iberico ham aged 36 months, cheese and charcuterie, and late-night desserts.
After working at Agua 301, Redwood, and Masa 14, Burrell prides himself on unconventional pairings and takes cues from New American methods with “traditional French cooking amped up to the nth degree” and Asian flair. For a foie gras dish, he uses strawberries prepared five different ways — including pickled, gelled with sesame koji powder, and freeze-dried — and a berry sorbet around a traditional French foie gras. Another plate with king crab and asparagus ricotta tortellini is topped with salmon roe, a kaffir lime butter sauce as thick as buttercream, and yolk from a 62-degree egg.
“When Luca ate the king crab, he looked at me and said, ‘I think I’m going to cry,’” Burrell says. “I knew I had the job after that. Those are two dishes that will never go off the menu.”
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A wraparound bar serves more than a dozen champagne varieties ranging from $100-$400 and Prohibition-era cocktails by Giovannini. Some mix rum and fruit flavors like passionfruit or pineapple, and a gin infused with kumquats and lemongrass amps up the usual tonic. The bar’s namesake drink combines elderflower, rose-infused vodka, and, of course, bubbles.
Varela’s list of wines and champagnes also includes “chambongs”—a fancier version of a beer bong—and heavily marked down bottles of expensive bubbles during brunch, which Donahue just tested for the first time last weekend. “The concept is very social,” says Varela. “At the beginning, we’re just getting through opening during COVID times. But eventually, we want people to feel that there is a relationship we are hoping to build.”
For now, the dining room remains at 50 percent capacity. Make reservations on Tock.
Donahue is located at 1338 Wisconsin Avenue NW. Hours are 5 p.m. to midnight, Wednesday through Sunday. Brunch hours, as of now, are 11 a.m.-4 p.m. on weekends.
