The peach-and-green dining room at this McLean hot spot feels more Palm Beach than Crescent City, but chef/owner David Guas still sprinkles touches of his native Louisiana into some of his dishes. Take his dinner menu’s sole pasta (just called “The Pasta”), which stars nubs of crawfish and a fabulously bright, creamy sauce. “I’m not doing anything mysterious,” Guas says of the glaze, but the fact that he makes typically strong ingredients—anchovies, raw and black garlic, Dijon mustard, lemon, and a whole lot of salt—taste so smooth and harmonious feels like some kind of magic.
