Photo courtesy of ARP
Ada's on the River dining room.
Last week, venerated Washington Post restaurant critic Tom Sietsema announced he’s saying farewell to his position at the newspaper after 25 years, the longest-running restaurant critic in the position.
(His predecessor, Phyllis Richman, was at the helm for 24 years, and in gratitude for a glowing early review, the Inn at Little Washington named one of its inn rooms after her.)
Before he left The Washington Post, the newspaper published Sietsema's 26th fall dining guide, where he rounded up "The 40 Best Restaurants In and Around D.C."
One Alexandria restaurant made the cut: Ada’s on the River. The waterfront restaurant, located at 3 Pioneer Mill Way in Old Town Alexandria, opened in early 2021 and is an Alexandria Restaurant Partners venue. Ada’s draws inspiration from the pioneering spirit of Ada Lovelace, a 19th-century mathematician and innovator.
"This is the biggest and most grandiose project we've done to date," said Dave Nicholas, a partner with Alexandria Restaurant Partners, when it opened. The restaurant is popular, earning five stars from 4,287 reviews on OpenTable.
Brandon Whitestone oversees ARP's restaurants as culinary director and has been with the restaurant group since 2018.
Photo courtesy of ARP
Brandon Whitestone, culinary director at ARP
At the heart of the kitchen is a live-fire hearth, imparting smoky complexity to custom-aged prime meats, fresh seafood and unexpected creations like signature grilled salads.
Here’s what Sietsema had to say about Ada's on the River:
“We’re grazing on sassy charred chicken thighs on pieces of house-baked flatbread when a server passes by with a drink beneath a smoke-filled glass cloche. Ada’s on the River likes to play with fire.
“Smoke adds a nice dimension to food,” says Brandon Whitestone, culinary director for Alexandria Restaurant Partners, a collection of 10 establishments. “I think we’ve been hardwired from cave times” to appreciate it.
All I know, as my focus moves from plate to Potomac River, is that Ada’s is the exception to the rule about good views canceling good cooking in tourist zones.
Here we are in Old Town Alexandria, eating interesting food delivered by servers whose cheer you want to clone.
Conceived as a steakhouse in 2021, Ada’s has morphed into a seafood draw since, Whitestone says. Go for swordfish sauced in mustard cream and framed in charred Brussels sprouts.
Definitely add a side of the many-layered, crisp and golden potato pave. Still, the No. 1 seller is the hamburger. The sandwich, based on an onion brioche roll, revels in details: ground dry-aged chuck meat, Taleggio cheese, thick-cut bacon, barbecue sauce and smoked onion (of course).
No one goes hungry here, where the portions tilt generous. Dinner’s pork chop on a mound of roasted grapes, shallots, bacon and jalapeño was a welcome sight at lunch the next day.
The interior is open and airy; the exhibition kitchen lets guests and cooks see and be seen. Ada’s subscribes to the “unreasonable hospitality” theory promoted by Will Guidara, the former co-owner of the esteemed Eleven Madison Park in New York. Look forward to a personalized card on your table if you’ve mentioned a special occasion.”
Read Sietsema’s entire story here in The Washington Post. Follow Sietsema on his personal website here.
