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La Betty opened without an announcement last Friday, giving Mount Vernon Triangle a first taste of what the family behind one of D.C.’s top bakeries has in store for dinner.
The restaurant from the Velazquez family (Baked & Wired, A Baked Joint) is starting out with a limited menu that smartly integrates its expertise in all things dough. After welcoming its first walk-ins last weekend, the no-reservations restaurant opted to close Monday and today to let the crew recuperate. It will re-open for dinner at 5 p.m. tomorrow.
One of the shared plates at La Betty (420 K Street NW) is a bread basket from A Baked Joint that comes with sourdough, seeded wheat bread, Parker House rolls, and honey butter. The base of a roasted root vegetable galette entree is a flaky vegan pie crust.
“We grew up eating chicken pot pie. We wanted to do something that had that coziness to it,” says co-owner Tessa Velazquez, whose mother, Teresa, leads recipe development for the family businesses.
After announcing a mid-March opening last month, Tessa Velazquez was tight-lipped about specific dishes La Betty would serve but teased that the menu would be packed with simple comfort foods that referenced Teresa Velazquez’s German and Irish ancestry.
The limited menu reflects those ideals with the inclusion of deviled eggs and corn dogs (beef or veggie) to start and entrees such as panko-breaded chicken schnitzel and currywurst with hand-cut fries.
For dessert, La Betty is offering two treats from the Baked & Wired cookbook that aren’t usually sold at the bakery: a flourless chocolate cake and a two-layer cheesecake (one airy, one dense) with blueberry sauce and graham cracker shards.
La Betty is running limited hours (5 p.m. to 10 p.m.) but will eventually close at midnight. It will soon be open six days per week, every day but Tuesday. Brunch is expected to start sometime in the next six weeks.
