One of the best restaurants in DC my wife Jun and I had visited since we moved down from New York City was Reverie. We checked out the restaurant in June 2022, and were so impressed with the magical cooking from chef Johnny Spero that we decided this would be one of our go-to spots for dinner going forward. In a tragic course of event, the restaurant closed down due to a damaging fire. While working on re-opening his flagship restaurant, chef Johnny ran a more casual Bar Spero (which we also loved but unfortunately closed recently). Early this year, the revival of Reverie has finally come to fruition. We did visit Reverie 2.0 almost right after it opened to congratulate chef Johnny (and had a very delicious meal as expected) but I wanted to hold off my review until our second visit (generally, I would like to give a few months for a newly opened restaurant to work on any kinks). That second visit took place late last month, and I’m happy to report that Reverie 2.0 has already established itself as one of the premier dining destinations in DC.  

The new iteration of Reverie feels like a more grown-up version of its more free-wheeling original one, with a darker and more serene dining room. Just like its 1.0 version, the menu (currently priced at $255 per person) focuses heavily on seafood sourced primarily from the East Coast. The dishes also seem to have more visual panache, starting with a stunning presentation of diver scallop in edible shell with sunchoke and black trumpet mushrooms and Maine donut with eel as welcoming snacks. What I really appreciate from chef Johnny’s cooking is his ability to maximize the potential of seafood ingredients to great effects with other non-seafood sources. I was a huge fan of refreshing razor clam with tomato granitas that would’ve won over any seafood lover, and the best dish of the night for me was the dry-aged steelhead trout that was magnificent with the spicy kick of habanada pepper sauce.

One dish that we had in both visits and now seems to have quickly become a signature dish is the deep fried kokkotxas (a traditional Basque fish stew made with fish throats or cheeks) you can dip on saffron and parsley sauce. I would love any fish and chips lover to try it and opine on it; it certainly had our thumps up both times. If you are a potato lover, you would certainly savor one from Reverie with smoked butter and abalone liver sauce. Chef Johnny likes to use Carolina gold rice in his dishes and on our recent visit, it came with Maine lobster and egg yolk to provide luxurious flavor. The final savory course was Maine cod with marigold and hazelnut that wouldn’t have been out of place at any top-level seafood dining establishment. The desserts at Reverie were also memorable, starting with a wonderful sweet and savory combination of caviar and fromage blanc mousse. The second dessert was also a delightful one despite its simple-looking display, featuring banana tea ice cream with frozen sable on top.

Getting a reservation at Reverie wasn’t too challenging but the dining room has fewer seats than the previous iteration so advance planning is still recommended. As noted above, the dining space gives a more established fine dining aura with an open kitchen greeting the diners, similar to the vibe we got from Aska in Brooklyn (we would certainly love to see a collaboration dinner between these two restaurants at some point). The wine list is also designed to pair well with seafood dishes, skewing more toward white wines than red which I do wish to see more of in the future visits. I have no idea how difficult it is to re-open a restaurant after a devastating fire but if there is a chef with the talent and energy to pull it off, my vote is for chef Johnny. Jun and I are very excited to become a regular at Reverie 2.0 and wish all the best for the reincarnation of his culinary vision. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it turn into a top dining destination that people would travel to DC for.

Address: 3201 Cherry Hill Lane, Washington, DC 20007

KenScale: 8.5/10 (Jun’s Score: 8.5/10)

Website: https://www.reveriedc.com/

Reservation via OpenTable