Tom Sietsema isn’t an easy food critic to please. So when we read this write up in the Washington Post by him about RIA NE’s newest restaurant, we were beyond happy to see that he agrees with everything the residents up here have been saying all along! It is a “gem” in our neighborhood. Here are some finer points from his article:

an oasis formed with white brick walls, a beechwood bar, tabletops printed robin’s-egg blue and skylights that pull in the sun by day.

the crostini dressed with tapenade, cucumber and smoked trout rillettes — a nice nibble for two — and a swirl of squid-ink-tinted pasta whose uni butter and pickled chilies make for a dish that’s at once rich and racy. Crisp chicken thighs pick up some punch from green olives and pickled lemon; tender braised pork shoulder counters any nip in the air. Along for the ride with the meat is that saucy staple of tapas bars, patatas bravas. Pistachio upside-down cake yields a not-too-sweet ending.

It’s a fitting name for a roost that encourages first-timers to become regulars as it raises the bar in an under-served neighborhood.