I have hope for downtown Washington, and I have Rubén García to thank for my optimism.
A longtime chef with ThinkFoodGroup, led by the man who needs no introduction, José Andrés, García left shortly ahead of the pandemic to open his debut restaurant in November. It’s called Casa Teresa, and it’s named for the Spanish native’s great-grandmother.
One of several reasons for my bullishness is the location. The restaurant shares a building with the Square, the enticing new food hall near Farragut Square, whose vendors in the cheery complex include jamon and churros stalls from García, 45, and his business partner, Richie Brandenburg.
End of carouselAnother rationale for pulling out the cava is a menu that mixes traditional Spanish plates with some personal recollections from García. As at the veteran Jaleo in Penn Quarter, Casa Teresa injects a little whimsy into a meal. Do diners need instructions for eating bread with tomatoes they crush themselves and gloss with olive oil and airy sea salt? Maybe not. But just in case, a little card comes with every order of the Catalan classic pa amb tomàquet.
Some dishes show off choice-shopping. It’s hard to say no to the attendant wielding a sharp knife behind the rolling ham cart when the object of their fascination, soon to be yours, is ham from Iberian pigs, raised on a diet of acorns that explains the nutty flavor. The pigs’ fat, meanwhile, is silken and truly melts on the tongue. The combined taste and texture prove very seductive. From the water, specifically the Cantabrian Sea, come meaty and sweet anchovies with a slick of olive oil to balance their salinity. “You haven’t tasted anchovies before,” or so the menu suggests. The menu is right.
The more rustic the dish, the more I’m inclined to try it. Think coarse pork sausages made with the shoulder and jowl of the pig and served with lightly caramelized navy beans and pork belly. If a dish is linked to the maternal figures in García’s life, get it as well. The golden chicken croquettes, based on a recipe from his mother, are exceptionally creamy and flavorful; the chef’s use of milk and chicken stock in the filling helps. His grandmother gets credit for the tubes of pasta stuffed with roasted pork and shredded chicken and presented under a blanket of pungent Los Cameros cheese. Eating the rich combination explains why it’s typically a winter dish, served around Christmas.
The chef’s great-grandmother, Teresa Espinosa Moreno, is rewarded with her name on the restaurant, and her painted likeness is on display near the bar. García was 6 when she died in 1984, but he has memories of her presiding over the kitchen, “the warmest room in the house,” and where he started to cook. Teresa wore several hats, says García. She was also an activist who brought attention to women’s rights and was jailed for three years as a suspected communist during the reign of dictator Francisco Franco.
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Women figure large here. Wine director Sarah Vanags is happy to point you in the direction of something sip-worthy from a list that focuses on female wine producers.
García worked 16 years for ThinkFoodGroup, where he estimates he helped open nearly 30 restaurants, including the original Minibar by José Andrés. While he considers his former colleagues “family,” he says he was also “tired of other people’s ambitions. I wanted to go back to my roots.” The refocus included a distinct look for his maiden restaurant, whose 120 or so seats include a bar, a sunken room next to the kitchen for private gatherings of up to 18 revelers (ask for Teresa’s Table) and a quarry’s worth of tile throughout the interior.
García uses oak to fuel his fire, “the way we cook in Spain,” he says. Oak burns clean and doesn’t alter the flavor of whatever is being grilled. Sure enough, the flat iron steak tastes mostly of juicy beef and cilantro, from the accompanying vivid mojo verde. (Good luck trying not to eat all the double-cooked french fries.) The octopus, arranged on its plate as if for an art exhibition, is creamy inside and crisp from bite to bite; nearby, halved potatoes are bright green with herb sauce and brick-colored with mojo rojo.
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The menu devotes a section to vegetables, some of which incorporate meat as a grace note. Beef fat flavors the slow-cooked potatoes with garlic and parsley, and sobrasada (spreadable chorizo) provides the delightful spark atop the whole roasted onions, drizzled with honey and so soft that segments fall off at the touch of a knife. I rarely eat here that I don’t ask for the velvety, bordering-on-black piquillo peppers, as intense as any I’ve eaten in America or abroad and more delicious when there’s Spanish guitar in the background.
Really, the lone disappointment throughout my survey was whole roast chicken, splayed on its platter as if it were sunbathing and without the deep flavor or succulence of the other shareable dishes.
You’ll want to indulge in the Basque cheesecake. I know, I know, it’s as ever-present on dessert menus as bots on dating apps, but take it from someone who has eaten scores of the dessert with the blackened surface and even bakes it at home for dinner parties to great applause. Casa Teresa serves the best version I’ve encountered. The tang of goat cheese helps, as does a pool of not-too-sweet walnut sauce. “That is magic,” says a friend after tasting the cheesecake, which a host insists we try with a sip of sherry. (Bend my rubber arm. The fortified wine gilds the lily.) The second-best ending is the flan, little more than eggs and condensed milk embellished with a tuft of boozy Chantilly cream.
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Yet another incentive for dining here is three hours of free parking in the building after 5 p.m. weekdays and all day on weekends.
García says he likes challenges. Luring diners downtown is a big one. While he’s looking back with his latest project, the chef is open to seeing Casa Teresa evolve. Right now, it feels like the right restaurant at the right time in the right place.
Casa Teresa
919 19th St. NW. 202-856-7979. teresadc.com. Open for indoor dining 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Prices: appetizers $5 to $20, main courses $18 to $120 (for shareable 30-ounce rib-eye steak). Sound check: 73 decibels/Must speak with raised voice. Accessibility: No barriers to entrance; ADA-compliant restrooms.
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