Nazca Mochica

Washington DC

Peruvian Restaurant

$$$$

PERMANENTLY CLOSED

Dupont Circle’s contemporary, two-story Peruvian outpost is drawing crowds, with each floor suited for a different experience. Downstairs, a lounge and bar outfitted in lots of wood (on the polished bar, the walls, the smooth and hard curved stools, the carved geometric planters housing succulents in pools of overhead light) is about snacks and pisco-focused cocktails. Keep things standard with a pisco sour or go a little more playful with a lychee piscotini (lychee-hibiscus pisco, honey, crystallized hibiscus, lychee) or ginger-mint chilcano (mint-ginger-lemongrass pisco, lime, ginger ale, simple syrup, ginger, Angostura bitters). Upscale takes on typical street food and ceviches make nice cocktail compliments (stylishly plated grilled octopus tentacle; steamed buns with pork belly). Upstairs, in a minimalist dining room, larger plates are fired in an open kitchen helmed by chef Roberto Castre for a menu that blends traditional Peruvian mains, like lomo saltado (sautéed beef tenderloin), with plates with more of an updated intrigue, like duck confit with sweet potato glaze, sautéed corn, potatoes and “leche de tigre” (a hot, citrusy ceviche broth).