Il Piatto

Owner Hakan Ilhan followed fancy French with casual Italian last year on the site of the former Mirabelle near the White House. “Our values have changed,” he told me after switching cuisines and lowering prices. The demand for fine dining was more than met by the city’s supply, he added.

Inside or out? It’s a toss-up when the weather’s on your side. Il Piatto (“the dish” in Italian) offers one of the most tempting outdoor dining spaces around. Bordered with greenery and shaded with umbrellas, the alfresco seating takes in the steeple of St. John’s Church and the top half of the Washington Monument: dinner and (a bit of) a show. Inside, Ilhan retained almost everything from Mirabelle but the linens on the tables: capacious semicircular booths, burgundy leather panels, lots of brass trim and lighting that’s as arty as it is practical.