Happy Saturday, squad! I know I’ve been over-indexing on dinner club posts lately, but that’s been happening for two reasons—1) I’ve been trying a lot of new restaurants lately that I’ve wanted to share and 2) I’m trying to build out this section of my site so that whether you’re a local or a visitor, you have a library of restaurant ideas to choose from when you’re in need of a suggestion. I’ll plan to update these posts as I make repeat visits and take more photos.
As I mentioned when I first started this series, I was inspired to write these posts by my real life dinner club—each month, Julie, Taylor, and I meet up on a Friday for drinks and dinner at a new-to-us place. We take turns picking the restaurant and it’s been such a fun way to work on my DC restaurant bucket list. It’s a great way to have a monthly standing date with friends—it’s probably the best club I’ve ever been in!
Last Friday, we had our February dinner club meeting at Iron Gate, which is definitely my new favorite restaurant in DC!
Located on a quiet street right near Dupont Circle, Iron Gate is an upscale Mediterranean tapas restaurant that has the warmest, most welcoming atmosphere. I didn’t snap that many photos since it was dark and wanted to enjoy my time with friends, but when you walk into the restaurant, the first room is a gorgeous bar that feels extremely spacious since it has a super high ceiling. To access the main dining room, you pass through a beautiful garden patio. I can only imagine how amazing the garden patio is in the summer—it’d be such a nice space to enjoy a weekend brunch al fresco.
Because we went to Iron Gate in the dead of winter, we (obviously!) ate inside. The main dining room had a wonderful roaring fire and the kitchen is partially open, so it felt super cozy. The service was great and we always had what we needed.
The menu at Iron Gate changes based on the season, but everything we had was amazing—so whatever you order is bound to be delicious. We started with the batter fried halloumi and, as you guessed, fried cheese is always a winner. We then ordered a bunch of dishes to share family-style—spiced baby carrots, caramelized ricotta gnocchi, mushroom risotto, caciocavallo stuffed meatballs, and grilled dayboat scallops. What I loved about this meal is that we all left satisfied, but no one was stuffed. Everything we ate was so good—I would order all these exact items again.
We finished off the night with dessert—we ordered the chocolate mousse, carrot cake sundae, and the crispy yeast doughnuts with an orange glaze. The latter were above and away the best doughnuts I’ve ever had. They were small doughnut holes, so we were given a bowl of them, and they were melt-in-your-mouth delicious.
I can’t wait to get back to Iron Gate—I’m already strategizing all the occasions on my calendar this year I can suggest it as the perfect restaurant!
