Maison Bar à Vins is an antidote to DC’s bright, shiny, celeb-chef obsessed dining scene. The latest jewel box of a restaurant from the team behind Lutéce and Pascual—people who seem constitutionally incapable of getting it wrong—sits in a former Adams Morgan row home that spent three decades as the Cuban nightclub Habana Village. The space underwent a two-and-a-half-year renovation that restored the building’s Victorian bones, and the first floor still unfolds like a parlor-level home, anchored by a 12-seat bar with art deco lighting and stools that feel lifted from Weimar Berlin. Anyone who appreciates Lutèce and Pascal’s penchant for biodynamic wines will find plenty to love on the list here, which runs over a thousand vintages long. There’s also an excellent by-the-glass selection. On the cocktail side, the Maison Martini, shaken with melted butter and gin as pine-scented as a Christmas tree, is served alongside a tiny silver bowl of ice that keeps two blue cheese olives and a sidecar of extra martini perfectly chilled. But while Maison Bar à Vins bills itself as a wine bar, the food alone is worth a visit. The smoked eel croquettes, exceptionally creamy and topped with a thin sliver of singed eel, are a standout. For something more substantial, the brioche stuffed chicken is theoretically big enough to share, but the crunchy brioche and buttery chanterelle mushrooms could turn the most communal-minded diner into a food hoarder. Whatever you do, don’t leave without trying the chocolate tart, a densely packed triangle topped with a glaçage miroir that gives it an almost light-reflecting surface and a silky, yet extremely rich middle that leans to the bittersweet.