La Piquette

One of the best place in town.
Every thing is extremely fresh.
Francis has a fantastic touch for flavors. Dishes come quickly.
Do not hesitate, just go. Make a reservation since it is overbooked everyday

Tried LP for #RWDMV.
Reason (s) why I chose La Piquette: 1) I heart french bistros; 2) Their resto week menu had a lot of offerings; and 3) Any mention of Daniel Boulud influence and I’m sure to try it.
This is Chef Layrle’s second restaurant in DC. His first is Bistro L’Epic which I have yet to try. LP is the casual sister resto of BLE.
By the time our 8:30pm reservation rolled around, they were sadly out of the black bass and Wellfleet oysters so I will have to defer trying those items another time.
We ordered the following:
Apps —
*1. Cod Croquette — a play on fish and chips, but with a meaty helping of a croquette w/​tartar sauce + salad greens
2. Assiette de Jambon de Bayonne — bayonne ham, fried pork belly, and cornichons over salad greens
3. Moules Frites — mussels + shoestring fries
Entrees —
1. 8 oz. Steak Frites — baseball steak cut and cooked to perfection (medium rare), shallots, red wine reduction, pomme paille + shoestring fries
*2. Lapin en Gibelotte — fall-​off-​the-​bone braised rabbit, Sauvignon Blanc, linguini, light cream and basil
Dessert —
1. Mango Sorbet
2. Gâteau à l’Orange
*Must-​Try/​Have:
1. Their complimentary house-​made bread is bomb — crusty on the outside and soft on the inside. They serve it in a nice crisp brown bag w/​olive oil for dipping.
2. Their frites are seriously addicting! I think they flash-​fry them.
3. I really enjoyed the rabbit pasta dish. It was well-​balanced in flavor and the portion of the linguine was just enough not taking away from the light cream sauce or the tender rabbit. YUMBOREE!
I was genuinely satisfied with the overall quality, authenticity, and portion of the food. I also preferred the more casual ambience. Service was a bit slow between courses hence why I docked 1 star, but it didn’t ruin our overall dining experience. I would still like to come back and try the black bass since that’s apparently their star dish.
Tips:
1. LP is directly across from 2 Amy’s. They validate parking if you park in the shopping center garage around the corner where the Giant is located.
2. Every single table was full during our visit. The tables are a bit close together, but that is part of the charm in my opinion. If that’s not your cup of tea, I would opt to be seated by the bar where the tables provide more elbow room OR you’ll just have to hope the table’s convo next to you doesn’t overpower yours.

This was a great experience. First, after 7pm you can park at the Giant and they will validate. They have a changing menu so if you want something check and see ahead if it’s on the menu. I wanted escargot, settled for sea urchin. All good. The menu was good, the sauteed mushrooms were amazing. The pork belly not so much. It was breaded and fried and just wasn’t what I wanted. The service was excellent. I cant remember her name, but she was France. Highly recommend it.

La Piquette is worth going out of your way for! Before you even consider something else… the Lamb T-​Bone is an absolute must-​have! We started with the oysters — they are very fresh! My husband ordered the fois gras and raved about it! We also had a charcuterie plate and it was well presented, good portion of meat and cheese. The Steak Frites are very «standard» and there are so many wonderful things on this menu, it’s worth exploring something new!
We don’t live in the neighborhood, but this is worth the trip up!
HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

A quaint neighborhood french restaurant that hits quite above its status. The technical prowess of the kitchen is prodigious. The petit plaques (small dish) are a great way to mix a variety of the excellent fares without going overboard. The fish fares are quite good but for me, the game fares like the rabbit or venison are the personal favorites. I’ve had luck getting consistently good service sitting at the bar. If you live nearby, this should be on your regular dining pick.

I had a fantastic salmon dinner at La Piquette. Chef de cuisine Francis orders it fresh from Denmark I believe. Chef Oscar made my meal — salmon over spinach with pommes de terre purée, though I substituted the potatoes with perfectly cooked haricots verts. It was a meal I could have eaten in my hometown San Francisco, or in France where fish is almost always moelleux like butter.
The apple tart was on an equally high standard — paper thin slices of apple on the most delicate of crusts with a small scoop of deliciously unacidic kalamanzi sorbet.

There are so many great restaurants in the Cathedral Heights area now that La Piquette can’t afford to be overpriced with mediocre service.
I gave this place a second chance after a so-​so experience the first time. Unfortunately, I left feeling that I had definitely overpaid for the food my wife and I received. For example, the mussel soup doesn’t have mussels in it… go figure.
The service was not up to par either. Nobody asked us how our meal was and nobody asked if we wanted another drink (we did).

Worth making a special trip to the neighborhood for this restaurant. Consistently great, interesting food.
Everything that I’ve had there in my few visits has been excellent. Atmosphere is lovely and the upper bar area is a good place for appetizers and drinks.
It’s hard not to fill up on bread before the meal comes since the bread is simply divine, but try to save room for dessert.
Good place to take friends to show them what cool stuff there is in Cathedral Heights.

This is the crown jewel of French Bistro cooking in DC. The Chef/​Owner Francis Layrle works over every authentic detail of this bistrot. Make time to enjoy your meal. Let your mind take you away like you are eating in France. Order your French food memories and you will be transported by the food and hospitality of food and staff. La Piquette needs to be on your DC area foodie bucket list!

One of my favorite spots in DC. Excellent food, wine, and service every time! Highly recommend!

One of my favorite hidden gems — the bread is amazing… like you’re in France! The calamari is NOT breaded and the best I have ever had! The chocolate mousse desert is heavenly too!!!

A very charming bustling neighborhood bistro; but I think success has not helped it
On our last visit — we waited 30 minutes for someone to take our order (we had reservations) another 30 minutes for appetizers to arrive
And then the waiter brought one wrong entrée
Maybe (hopefully) it was an off night
The dishes were still great

After a relatively unpleasant Sunday brunch experience, I was thrilled to hear back from the owner apologizing which was really nice. I must say, a kind approach after a not-​close-​to-​perfect experience makes things smoother. I definitely will give another try to this cute French café that is located a block away from home.

La Piquette is better than most of the bistros on the Rive Gauche. Delicious, subtle, and with that indefinably great feel of a neighborhood restaurant… cozy, clubby, home away from home. It is worth a trip just for the baguettes, but as you swoon over the bread, order the saffron mussel soup, if it is on offer, or the pâté, or the duck, or, well, you get the picture. Really great authentically French food, in an atmosphere tres sympathique.

La Piquette, whose chef and owner is the former chef at the French embassy, is the most authentic French restaurant in DC. It’s a small place, crowded at peak hours, but that only adds to the feeling of authenticity– you’d find the same peak hour rush in France. *Coming here is the next best thing to a plane ticket to Paris– this establishment is truly French, rather than Americanized French.*
The food at La Piquette is superb. Our duck was perfectly cooked and the tarte tatin (apple tart) is a must have– light, flaky and delicious. Service was attentive, but a bit gruff (that’s properly French!), until we ran into another server whom we knew well from another establishment. After that, we were showered with attention (also very French– get to be known, and you’ll be treated like family.)
We enjoyed our conversation with the chef-​owner after dinner– his warmth added to the pleasure of the evening.
We look forward to returning to La Piquette and urge others to seek out this gem of French fare.

I came to La Piquette for brunch on a Sunday morning with my fiancé and his family. The restaurant is so cute and has a great French vibe. I had a cappuccino, which was delicious, and I also ordered a croissant (I was feeling very sassy!) which comes with some amazing preserves, and it was the absolute perfect way to start this brunch! They also provide a bread basket which admittedly if I’d known I wouldn’t have ordered the croissant, but I was glad I did! Carbs on carbs! Ha!
My fiancé ordered the beef tar tar for an appetizer and it was fantastic! This is always a favorite of his (and mine!) and this one was to-​die-​for! For my entrée I ordered the Eggs Benedict. To be totally honest, I did not love this dish. Well, for one they accidentally forgot the ham, so I had to request it, but in general it was just ok. The rest of the dishes were great, though.
I’ll definitely come back to this place and have another croissant and cappuccino and try out another one of their brunch items!

Considering the other mediocre choices in the area (apart from 2 Amy’s), this place is really lovely. I’m writing this review in part because my boyfriend and I are often the youngest people here by like 20 years – which is too bad, as I wish more people would check it out! I think is it too-​well-​kept of a secret. The food is wonderfully authentically French. Dinner is great for a date-​night splurge, and brunch is affordable and delicious (as a long-​time resident of the neighborhood, I’ll take this brunch over Café Deluxe every. single. time.). Come here!

La Piquette is a nice addition to the neighborhood. The menu is classic but not boring. The wine list is nicely varied. The Entrecôte Frites is truly delicious. And it’s priced fairly. If La Piquette has an area for improvement, the desserts are quite nice but not terribly inspired. All in all, La Piquette is a very pleasant dining experience.

Solid french food in a neighborhood-​y atmosphere. This is the second time that I have eaten at La Piquette and I love that the food is simple, flavorful and well-​cooked. We have gotten the beet and leek salad twice now, although the artichoke may have been my favorite. The charcuterie plate is ample and comes sliced perfectly thin. We also ordered a half liter of the house wine and were more than pleased with the quality. Finally, we got the duck a l’orange to share and swapped out the mashed potatoes for the fries (sooo good). The kale with cranberries underneath was the prefect green to accompany a meal consisting of duck and fries (hello, new years resolutions… i.e. eat more duck!).
FYI: Plate sizes have actually gotten larger since I last visited. We shared the 3 appetizers and 1 main between 3 adults and left full and happy!

La Piquette has a really cute outdoor space and has a great brunch. My friend and I went here because 2Amy’s wasn’t yet open, and it turned out to be a great choice. We both went for the Croque Madame — in it’s most prosaic form, a ham and cheese sandwich with an egg on top. But at La Piquette, it is elevated to an art form. The thinly sliced ham is sandwiched between two delicious pieces of bread which are absolutely coated in crispy, bubbly, broiled cheese, all topped with a perfectly lightly cooked egg. Every bite was pure delight. I didn’t think the bacon was that great, but the coffee and complimentary bread were also both very good. It’s kind of pricey, which might be the only thing that stops me from going back. But man, that broiled cheese… maybe I will!