Rooster & Owl Review - The DC Michelin Star You're Not Talking About Enough

As I go through this journey of working my way through every Michelin-starred restaurant in DC, I do have to hold myself back from doing too much research beforehand. I want the highlights and the lowlights of any meal to reveal themselves to me in the moment. But even so, sometimes it’s hard to avoid what’s buzzy in town when you’re a part of forums where fine dining is discussed.

As such, in the last year or so in the DC area, the dominant names have been Jont and Albi. Elcielo seems to get a lot of praise too.

But I can remember a few years back when Rooster & Owl was on the tips of people’s tongues. Now to be fair, that’s not an indication that the restaurant has declined in quality or misstepped in any way. Rooster & Owl has managed to retain its Michelin star since being awarded one in 2021. Chef and owner Yuan Tang was a semifinalist for a James Beard award for Mid Atlantic Best Chef last year. And if my visit was any indication, Rooster & Owl is still operating at a very high level.

I made my way to Columbia Heights for my early evening reservation. As is typical for me, I arrived twenty minutes before my reservation; the monkeypaw in my life is that I’m very consistently never late but oftentimes I’m way too early. No worries at all because at the time, the restaurant was pretty empty and I’m sure they weren’t too upset to start getting into their flow. At least that’s what I’ll tell myself to avoid just waiting around like a goof outside the restaurant for an extra twenty minutes for no reason.

The dining room isn’t huge. I’d say maybe a total capacity of thirty to forty people for a single turn. I was led to my table which for its orientation had me choosing between a seat that would have me staring at a wall all night or the opposite seat which would give me a pleasant view of the kitchen through a bookshelf partition as well as the hustle and bustle and energy of the restaurant throughout the night. The choice was easily made! Though the table was a bit squeezed in there so there was definitely a bit of slithering and gut sucking as I sat down and a shameless cheat of the table away from me to give me room to breathe. Note to self: find my hotel’s fitness center tomorrow morning.

Shortly after being seated my waitress introduced herself (her name unfortunately went in one ear and out the other because I think I have some disease or affliction that prevents me from registering someone’s name the first time around—a shame because she was an excellent waitress that did a noble job of fielding my annoying questions throughout the night about how such and such was prepared, or the inspiration behind so and so). She walked me through the Rooster & Owl menu concept: four courses with four choices in each course section, with the option to add any dish as an additional course for fifteen more dollars. I presume one could add on multiple courses if they’d like at fifteen dollars a pop, but as we’ll get to soon, that would be madness and I highly advise against it.

Before any of my courses arrived, the bread (and butter)! Quickly becoming a tried-and-true measure of a restaurant’s chops—I mean, honestly, what restaurant in their right mind thinks they can get a Michelin star without having bread (and butter) that slaps; the hubris of some people! Rooster & Owl’s bread (and butter) did not disappoint. A pineapple bun served with scallion butter. Look at that butter. Simply beautiful. Pineapple buns I have since learned are popular in Hong Kong. They don’t contain pineapple. The namesake comes from the candied sugary glaze that tops the bun. That sugary sweetness mixed with the sharp scallion and the creamy, melty butter was a perfect trio. Like The Musketeers or The Lord of the Rings or the Jonas Brothers.

My first course of the night was Rooster & Owl’s take on cacio e pepe. Stay with me on this: slices of Bartlett pears, shards of tête de moine, tossed in a parmesan and black peppercorn emulsion. The sweetness of the pear cuts through the nutty funkiness of the cheese (for reference: tête de moine is a Swiss cheese similar to that of Gruyère or maybe even an Emmental) and the black peppercorn gives a gentle backnote of heat. It was like a pleasant fruit salad.

A unique take on a very classic favorite. Though cacio e pepe purists do exist. And they are oftentimes very angry folk. To Rooster & Owl’s credit it’s quotation-marked on the menu to point to the fact that cacio e pepe is a shorthand for the character of the dish: an artist’s interpretation, if you will.

Next up was the Parisian gnocchi, which was accompanied by some beautifully crisp chanterelle mushrooms, and a foamy cremini velouté. It all sat atop a scallion purée. This dish was a strong punch: a savory blend of very mushroom-forward elements.

The Parisian gnocchi was soft and airy, melting delicately in your mouth. Having come from an Italian household I wasn’t familiar with the Parisian varietal. But I did learn that this version of gnocchi does not contain potatoes but rather pâte à choux, a French dough often used as the basis for éclairs. I found these gnocchi to be much more supple and pillowy than its Italian counterpart, and it was complemented nicely by the cremini velouté foam.

Alongside the gnocchi dish was a fried Japanese yam dish I didn’t order. It came “compliments of the chef” and the rest of the team at Rooster & Owl. I was greatly appreciative as any person would be at being offered free food. I do want to stress though that my opinions on that dish or any dish at Rooster & Owl or the experience overall that night is not influenced by the offering.

I didn’t notice that any other table was offered any free dish, and so I suspect without knowing of course their intent that they saw me taking notes in a notepad (which I know can come off performative, but is honestly the easiest and quickest way for me to get my thoughts on the page without the distraction of whatever’s happening on my phone; I try to be as present as possible during the meal). Again, I appreciate the gesture, but I was also well on my way to being a fan of Rooster & Owl by that point anyway.

So with that said: fried Japanese yams? Yes, and they were presented with some small dollops of lime yogurt and topped with paper-thin slices of apple. Some red onions were also in there. People who know me know raw onions are not my thing but I powered through and forgot about their presence. And that’s a big step for me, so please clap. I believe the Japanese yams were tossed in nam prik pao chili paste. I also noticed some slivers of red chiles, which could have just been remnants of the paste.

At this point I think it’s worth mentioning: Rooster & Owl really does not shy away from creating complexity in their dishes. There’s a lot of harmony at play as some seemingly texturally incongruent elements of the plate come together and somehow it just works. Chef Tang and team really have developed a strong mastery of finding the bounds and stepping over it to explore where else they can jam in complementary flavors.

Nowhere else was that more apparent than the Japanese yams. Though I will say, I got a lot of heat on that dish. If you are someone who enjoys the company of spicy foods, by all means. To my less dragon-breathed among us, keep that in mind when making your choice. I was very glad I got to try the dish. It was a superb addition to the meal.

Next up was a curious unfolding of events. When ordering initially I had already locked in the short rib Diane and hasselback potato as my main course. That was a no brainer.

But this is the part of the meal where I was most intrigued by the other options to explore getting an additional course. So I asked for a recommendation from my unnamed waitress (again, my fault; not her’s) between spaghetti fra diavolo with blue crab and tea-smoked duck. I was happy to go with either, which is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it technique the indecisive among us employ when we don’t know how to make a decision: just let the wait staff decide for you. Her recommendation was the spaghetti fra diavolo, because the fra diavolo is spicy, and the duck is “a bit meat and potatoes” if you will, which is an especially funny framing because I had already locked in the actual “meat and potatoes” option in the short rib Diane and hasselback potatoes.

What emerged from this chain of events is a reclamation of the throne for the classic meat and potatoes dishes among us. Good God in Heaven and on Earth. This short rib dish was astounding. Don’t get me wrong, the presentation is somewhat basic. It’s meat and potatoes after all, but the flavor was enough to make me consider doing a tiny jig in my seat.

I had to remind myself several times that that was not steak on my plate. It was short rib. And every bite I took of it I was amazed. I have to presume sous vide and pan seared is the culprit here, but I’ve never been able to get a short rib cooked at home to come even close to what this was: tender and juicy without the typical shreddiness of a braised short rib. That must be quite a lengthy sous vide to get the collagen broken down enough to honest-to-God make me forget it wasn’t a steak on my plate. Utterly delicious. Meanwhile the potato was a perfectly round disc that was creamy on the inside and crunchy on the outside. It reminded me of a potato pavé without all the fussiness. The meat and potato dish was THE highlight of the night, for sure.

Following that act was the spaghetti fra diavolo at a point in the meal where I’m already pretty stuffed. There was nothing wrong with this course per se. It just didn’t speak to me in the same way the other courses did. The squid ink pasta was tossed nicely with the Calabrian chilies, and there was a pleasant richness from what I gathered was uni butter from the dish introduction. But ultimately, I succumbed to the last few bites and had to push it away. I told myself if I didn’t, they’d have to roll me back to my hotel in Alexandria and I don’t think it’s all downhill so that would have been a challenge for the unlucky staff member who pulled the short straw.

As stuffed as I may have been there is always room for dessert. There’s a second stomach for dessert. It’s just science. I ordered the pumpkin pie—another quotation-marked entry on their menu. This time it’s because what arrived at my table was a deconstructed pumpkin pie.

I have to say: I love a good deconstruction. I don’t know what it is. But it gets me every time. Throw the dish at a wall and pick it up off the floor to serve to me and call it deconstructed, and I’ll post it on Instagram for sure. I feel like I’ve talked a lot about other restaurants in a review about Rooster & Owl which is probably a little unfair, but Massimo Bottura had a deconstructed lemon tart at Osteria Francescena that was borne from that exact scenario. Food fell off the plate on to the floor and he loved the look of it, so he started serving it in his restaurant that way: a cheeky nod to his irreverence. And ever since I saw that on Chef’s Table in college, I’ve been a fan of deconstruction dishes.

The pie was excellent. There were a few choice additions to the deconstruction that I wouldn’t typically associate with a pumpkin pie: hibiscus and pomegranate pears. I suspect the hibiscus was in the syrupy mix at the bottom of the dish, while the pomegranate pears were in chunks underneath the gelato. Around the rim of the dish were candied pumpkin seeds which offered an interesting crunch. And then of course a pumpkin purée and a wafer-y cracker-y crust. There was a lot of speculation clearly on this dish because at this point I was pretty zonked out, but I think I’m directionally in the right ballpark. Whatever it was, it was harmonious as parts of a whole. A good way to cap a wonderful evening.

I was really impressed with my experience at Rooster & Owl. I think it still remains one of the most consistent Michelin star offerings in DC. I’d be curious to see how their menu changes seasonally to get a sense of how they push the boundaries of their menu in other seasons, but for my money I was very happy.

I should note: that money is another thing worth mentioning. At least at this point in time in November 2025, Rooster & Owl has started offering a discounted weeknight rate. That’s what I got in on and it’s frankly impossible to beat the experience I got for the price I got it at. I have no indication of whether that’s the new Rooster & Owl standard long term, but if not get there while the gettin’ is good.

My reflection on my way home (via Uber, not rolling down 14th Street) is that Rooster & Owl deserves their place in the conversation. The complexity of their dishes is insane. The breadth of their menu is impressive. I visited at least three different continents during my meal, and each one held its own mastery of its intended cuisine. And at a price point you simply do not see any more in fine dining. Rooster & Owl is doing something right, and I hope the right people are taking notice.