Corduroy

Tom Power built Corduroy's reputation on a deceptively simple foundation: seasonal sourcing, French technique, and soups that multiple critics singled out as among the most accomplished in the city. The restaurant occupied a converted townhouse at 1122 9th Street NW, across from the Washington Convention Center in the Mt. Vernon corridor, and its interior reflected the same considered restraint as the cooking — bright wood, soft lighting, white tablecloths, and dark accents that kept the room formal without tipping into stiffness. The menu operated in the New American idiom, drawing on local farms and applying classical French discipline to whatever the season offered. Power's bar program extended that philosophy downstairs, where a three-course tasting menu priced at $30 gave the counter a distinct identity from the main dining room — a format that drew regulars who wanted the kitchen's range without committing to a full evening. Dishes that appeared in that rotation included ceviche, soup courses, sea scallops, and pistachio bread pudding, a lineup that illustrated Power's preference for precision over spectacle. Critical coverage positioned Corduroy firmly in Washington's upper tier of independent restaurants. Reviewers described it as one of the city's most accomplished tables, with particular praise directed at the consistency of execution across price points — a quality that kept the dining room relevant through more than a decade of a rapidly shifting D.C. restaurant scene. The combination of a serious kitchen and a genuinely accessible bar menu was relatively uncommon at that register, and it gave the restaurant a broader audience than its white-tablecloth setting might have suggested. Corduroy closed permanently on June 29, 2024. For the period it operated, it held a specific and well-documented place in Washington's dining culture: a chef-driven room where technical skill was applied without theatrics, and where the bar counter offered one of the more honest value propositions in the city at that level.