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A D.C. Ramps Heat Map: Where to Eat Them NOW

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Aside from more enjoyable, warmer weather and open, sprawling patios, spring in DC means something else for restaurants: a whole new crop of fresh produce to work with. And one tell-tale sign that spring is here is the abundance of ramps in local dishes.

A member of the onion family, ramps are milder, but pack a garlicky punch. Fanned out on display or for purchase at farmer's markets, they might look like scallions at first glance. But upon closer inspection, fatter green leaves are more obvious along with an occasional purple tint on the stalks.

On menus across the city, ramps are being pickled, grilled whole, sautéed and turned into sauces to top meats and fishes. Note that most restaurants will only have ramps on their menus for a short period of time, usually April through Mid-May, and many of the dishes are subject to a limited supply — it might not hurt to call ahead. Here are 21 restaurants in DC that are serving ramps right now.
-Marissa Bialecki

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Letting the ramps shine on their own merits, 1789 serves them grilled with North Carolina black bass and chickpea, fennel and fish fritters and a spiced yogurt sauce.

701 Restaurant

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Start out dinner with an entire medley of spring onions in 701’s sunchoke soup. The soup comes with a composition of pickled ramps, roasted cipollini onions and shallot puree.

Ardeo + Bardeo

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Diners can choose between a meat-based or vegetarian dish with their ramps at Ardeo+Bardeo. A slow-roasted, suckling pork belly dish with clam bellies and country ham comes with ramps in three forms: whole grilled ramps, sautéed sliced ramp bottoms and a ramp salsa verde. For the vegetarian crowd, there’s a black pepper fettucini served with asparagus tips, smoked ricotta and a 63-degree egg. The pasta is tossed with the ramp salsa verde.

Acadiana

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Using the whole ramp, chef Brant Tesky turns the green tops into a chimmichuri served atop a grilled New York strip steak with new potatoes and peas. The white bottoms of the ramps are whipped into a mousse and stuffed into morel mushrooms that also accompany the steak.

Art and Soul

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Customers can have their ramps in cocktails and entrees at Art & Soul. Ramp tops and pickled ramps are served with creamed geechie boy grits. And a ramp pickle comes with the “Rampson” cocktail, a seasonal take on the Gibson made with Catoctin Creek Watershed gin and house sparkling cider.

At Azur, the recently opened restaurant from Chef Frederik de Pue, grilled cobia with new potatoes, clams, pickled ramps and a chorizo sauce grace the seafood-centric menu.

Bibiana Osteria & Enoteca

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Chef Nick Stefanelli puts ramps into two entrees on his spring menu: a stuffed quail with salt-roasted salsify and ramps, as well as a risotto served with mushrooms and a ramp pesto.

Black's Bar & Kitchen

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Available as a dinner special, diners can opt for a pan seared salmon with caramelized pineapple, sweet potatoes, gulf shrimp and a ramp green curry.

BLT Steak

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BLT Steak is going all out by offering a special tasting menu of ramp dishes and cocktails for $70 per person. The four-course menu starts with a spring pea soup with a mini crab cake and ramp gribiche (a French mayonnaise-based sauce that contains chopped hard-boiled eggs, cornichons, herbs and occasionally capers). Following the soup are a pan seared hamachi with hakurei turnips, green onions and grilled ramps, a kobe flat iron steak with a chanterelle mushroom ficasse, ramps and fingerling potatoes and lastly a selection of cheese with a ramp chutney. To go for the full ramp experience, diners can also order a “Lady & the Ramp” cocktail (a spin on the traditional Martinez cocktail) made with gin, dry vermouth, maraschino and angostura bitters, garnished with Vermouth-poached ramps.

Blue Duck Tavern

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Chef Sebastien Archambault serves a house smoked trout with potato salad, ramps and spiced pecans as an appetizer.

Bourbon Steak Washington DC

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Using two hallmark ingredients of spring, chef John Critchley serves a seared Hawaiian big eye tuna filet with both ramps and nettles.

Cashion's Eat Place

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For an appetizer, diners at the Adam’s Morgan locale can start dinner with a lightly smoked pork belly served with ramps, wild cress, egg and pickled sunchokes.

Fiola da Fabio Trabocchi

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Chef Fabio Trabocchi has added ramps in seafood dishes throughout the menu. A Chesapeake soft shell crab comes with ramps, Benton bacon and brown butter. Or patrons can sample the Spanish baccala carpaccio served with bright grapefruit and cucumber, ramps and smoked caviar. For an entrée, Trabocchi pickles ramps and serves them with Spanish branzino, Fire River oysters, braised leeks and more smoked caviar.

Firefly

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Pickled ramps are the focus for chef Todd Wiss. He serves them as garnishes on charcuterie boards, as well as in his goat cheese gnocchi with braised goat.

The Grille At Morrison House

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For an appetizer, chef Brian McPherson serves up a ramp and Yukon gold potato soup with crispy Serrano ham and a potato and pickled ramp hash.

Chef Haidar Karoum has worked ramps into two dishes at Proof: a chilled green garlic soup with a relish of poached shrimp, grilled ramps and Marcona almonds, as well as a sautéed trout entrée with ramps, asparagus, maitake mushrooms, horseradish and shallots.

Creamy burrata is contrasted with the bite of pickled ramps and a ramp pesto plus black walnuts at Ripple.

Ramps have been appearing in a number of pasta specials at Ristorante Posto, including stinging nettle ravioli with ramps and gnocchi with ramps and sundried tomatoes.

In contrast to the myriad pasta and ramps dishes on the map, diners craving an Asian dish with ramps can head to Zentan. A miso smoked cod is served with sautéed ramps, pickled radish and a miso mustard.

Pizzeria Orso

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Chef Will Artley has been adding ramps to special seasonal pizzas at this Falls Church neighborhood restaurant.

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1789

Letting the ramps shine on their own merits, 1789 serves them grilled with North Carolina black bass and chickpea, fennel and fish fritters and a spiced yogurt sauce.

701 Restaurant

Start out dinner with an entire medley of spring onions in 701’s sunchoke soup. The soup comes with a composition of pickled ramps, roasted cipollini onions and shallot puree.

Ardeo + Bardeo

Diners can choose between a meat-based or vegetarian dish with their ramps at Ardeo+Bardeo. A slow-roasted, suckling pork belly dish with clam bellies and country ham comes with ramps in three forms: whole grilled ramps, sautéed sliced ramp bottoms and a ramp salsa verde. For the vegetarian crowd, there’s a black pepper fettucini served with asparagus tips, smoked ricotta and a 63-degree egg. The pasta is tossed with the ramp salsa verde.

Acadiana

Using the whole ramp, chef Brant Tesky turns the green tops into a chimmichuri served atop a grilled New York strip steak with new potatoes and peas. The white bottoms of the ramps are whipped into a mousse and stuffed into morel mushrooms that also accompany the steak.

Art and Soul

Customers can have their ramps in cocktails and entrees at Art & Soul. Ramp tops and pickled ramps are served with creamed geechie boy grits. And a ramp pickle comes with the “Rampson” cocktail, a seasonal take on the Gibson made with Catoctin Creek Watershed gin and house sparkling cider.

Azur

At Azur, the recently opened restaurant from Chef Frederik de Pue, grilled cobia with new potatoes, clams, pickled ramps and a chorizo sauce grace the seafood-centric menu.

Bibiana Osteria & Enoteca

Chef Nick Stefanelli puts ramps into two entrees on his spring menu: a stuffed quail with salt-roasted salsify and ramps, as well as a risotto served with mushrooms and a ramp pesto.

Black's Bar & Kitchen

Available as a dinner special, diners can opt for a pan seared salmon with caramelized pineapple, sweet potatoes, gulf shrimp and a ramp green curry.

BLT Steak

BLT Steak is going all out by offering a special tasting menu of ramp dishes and cocktails for $70 per person. The four-course menu starts with a spring pea soup with a mini crab cake and ramp gribiche (a French mayonnaise-based sauce that contains chopped hard-boiled eggs, cornichons, herbs and occasionally capers). Following the soup are a pan seared hamachi with hakurei turnips, green onions and grilled ramps, a kobe flat iron steak with a chanterelle mushroom ficasse, ramps and fingerling potatoes and lastly a selection of cheese with a ramp chutney. To go for the full ramp experience, diners can also order a “Lady & the Ramp” cocktail (a spin on the traditional Martinez cocktail) made with gin, dry vermouth, maraschino and angostura bitters, garnished with Vermouth-poached ramps.

Blue Duck Tavern

Chef Sebastien Archambault serves a house smoked trout with potato salad, ramps and spiced pecans as an appetizer.

Bourbon Steak Washington DC

Using two hallmark ingredients of spring, chef John Critchley serves a seared Hawaiian big eye tuna filet with both ramps and nettles.

Cashion's Eat Place

For an appetizer, diners at the Adam’s Morgan locale can start dinner with a lightly smoked pork belly served with ramps, wild cress, egg and pickled sunchokes.

Fiola da Fabio Trabocchi

Chef Fabio Trabocchi has added ramps in seafood dishes throughout the menu. A Chesapeake soft shell crab comes with ramps, Benton bacon and brown butter. Or patrons can sample the Spanish baccala carpaccio served with bright grapefruit and cucumber, ramps and smoked caviar. For an entrée, Trabocchi pickles ramps and serves them with Spanish branzino, Fire River oysters, braised leeks and more smoked caviar.

Firefly

Pickled ramps are the focus for chef Todd Wiss. He serves them as garnishes on charcuterie boards, as well as in his goat cheese gnocchi with braised goat.

The Grille At Morrison House

For an appetizer, chef Brian McPherson serves up a ramp and Yukon gold potato soup with crispy Serrano ham and a potato and pickled ramp hash.

Related Maps

Proof

Chef Haidar Karoum has worked ramps into two dishes at Proof: a chilled green garlic soup with a relish of poached shrimp, grilled ramps and Marcona almonds, as well as a sautéed trout entrée with ramps, asparagus, maitake mushrooms, horseradish and shallots.

Ripple

Creamy burrata is contrasted with the bite of pickled ramps and a ramp pesto plus black walnuts at Ripple.

Posto

Ramps have been appearing in a number of pasta specials at Ristorante Posto, including stinging nettle ravioli with ramps and gnocchi with ramps and sundried tomatoes.

Zentan

In contrast to the myriad pasta and ramps dishes on the map, diners craving an Asian dish with ramps can head to Zentan. A miso smoked cod is served with sautéed ramps, pickled radish and a miso mustard.

Pizzeria Orso

Chef Will Artley has been adding ramps to special seasonal pizzas at this Falls Church neighborhood restaurant.

Related Maps