Casa Teresa – Washington DC

As the anchor restaurant for Washington DC’s food hall The Square, Spanish tapas restaurant Casa Teresa is the brainchild of chef Ruben Garcia. An el Bulli alum, Garcia previously served as East Coast head of culinary creativity for José Andrés’s company, then called ThinkFoodGroup, as well as supervising the avant garde minibar by José Andrés.

Rather than trying to emulate the chef’s tasting menu experience of minibar, or offer the same exact menu as Andrés’ more approachable and conceptually similar restaurant Jaleo, Casa Teresa feels like a homey restaurant in Barcelona, complete with recipes from “my mom” and “grandma.” Missing from the rustic experience are the charm and magic DC guests have learned to expect from Spanish restaurants under Andrés’s banner.