Southern National makes a great evening

👋 Greetings and salutations. This week my girlfriend and I ate at Southern National before attending Write Club , the monthly "combative philanthropic literary bloodsport" at Dad's Garage.

The big picture: If you haven't visited chef Duane Nutter (formerly of One Flew South) and restaurateur Reggie Washington's Georgia Avenue restaurant, which opened last summer, make plans to do so.

Zoom in: The menu's New Southern. My girlfriend ordered the herb-buttered broiled redfish. I ate the tandoori cauliflower atop cashew creamed couscous, mushrooms, spinach and cucumber tomato relish.

• For appetizers, we opted for the spring mix salad, superbly roasted harissa carrots and golden beets, and the stop-me-before-I-order-another-serving of jalapeno johnny cakes.

The vibe: Floor-to-ceiling curtains break up the space punctuated with a wraparound, underlit bar.

• The service was excellent; our server was accommodating when we requested to substitute the side of smothered turkey green beans for a vegetarian option (in this case, the kung pao vegetables).

Of note: I entrusted the bartender to mix a nonalcoholic drink based on simple ingredients: lemon, carbonation and something spicy. They succeeded.

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