Scott Drewno at The Source

You could say I generally admired Scott Drewno’s Asian-inspired cooking at The Source by Wolfgang Puck. But I didn’t fall hard for it until he introduced his izakaya menu at the downstairs lounge. The menu’s inspiration came not from Drewno’s diminutive Austrian boss (or not just from said Teutonic restaurant tycoon), but from his tireless investigations into Asian cookery, including countless trips to Falls Church’s mom-and-pop eateries. Personally, I dig this back story, which makes me feel kind of cuddly about Puck’s celebrity-chef outpost on Pennsylvania Avenue NW. But not as much as I dig Drewno’s Korean-style short ribs with kimchi or his mini banh mi with country pâté, or his crispy chicken wings or his pork-belly steam bun, or his…

575 Pennsylvania Ave. NW (202) 637-6100

Photo by Darrow Montgomery