Thursday, March 20, 2025

Dinner at Vera Cocina & Bar, a new, hip Restaurant Blending Mexican and Lebanese Cuisine in North East Washington DC, March 2025






At the suggestion of Fuad, Fuad Issa, Maureen Kelly, Annette Schiller (Ombiasy Public Relations and Wine Tours) and I had dinner at Vera Cocina & Bar in Washington DC downtown.

Vera Cocina & Bar is a hip two-story place in DC North East, off New York Avenue, with a large ground-floor lounge plus bar and a dining room, with another lounge and bar, upstairs. There are 5 different areas where you can have dinner. We had dinner upstairs in the main dining room. On the weekends, the kitchen is open until after midnight (2:00 am).

Vera Cocina & Bar is a fusion restaurant, blending Mexican and Lebanese cuisine. Vera takes its name from Veracruz, the port city in Mexico, where Lebanese immigrants began arriving in waves in the late 1800s and incorporating traditions. I can’t think of another kitchen in Washington that combines Mexican and Lebanese cooking.

We all liked the industrial-chic ambiance, with cactuses standing sentinel between a bank of windows and a banquette made of cinder blocks, a design detail common in Lebanon, says co-owner Nayef Issa. Ropes hang from the high ceiling, outfitted with skylights, while green tiles soften the back of the bar.

We were by far the oldest patrons in the restaurant and possibly the only ones drinking wine. Vera has a long list of cocktails and a tiny list of wines. But there is also the option of bringing your own wine from your cellar, which we did. Vera allows guests to bring up to two bottles of wine with a $35 corkage fee per bottle.

Fuad brought a bottle of Crémant de Bourgogne to start with and I brought Château Beau-Site 1994 from Saint-Estephe, which was, unfortunately, beyond its prime, but still a pleasure to drink.

There is a 90-minute time limit on all reservations for parties of 1-2, and a 120-minute time limit for parties of 3 or more, which according Tom Sietsema of the Washington Post is rigorously enforced. We were there, on a Friday at 6:30 to 9:00, the restaurant was basically empty when we arrived and maybe 3/4 full when we left. But this was 5 hours before the kitchen closed.

The food menu is short and interesting. Lebanese-Mexican fusion dishes like Falafel Tacos, Hummus Burritos, and the Shawarma Al Pastor have become popular items in the Mexican food culture, which Annette and I enjoyed very much on our recent visit of Katharina Schiller and Diego Mozyninho Paz in Mexico City. 

See:  15 Days in Mexico City, at Diego and Katharina's Apartment, December 2024: Daily Facebook Postings

We will be back soon, probably with Katharina and perhaps Lorelei.

Arriving





Dinner





Food








Wine



Leaving - We Will Be Back






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