A spotlight from Barracks Row
Rose's Luxury
Aaron Silverman's Capitol Hill townhouse — the lychee salad, the Pop Rocks mousse, and a Michelin star built on making people happy
We're not in the restaurant business. We're not in the hospitality business. We're in the making people happy business.
— Aaron Silverman, Chef, Owner & Creative Director
A townhouse on Barracks Row
Aaron Silverman — named for his grandmother Rose — opened Rose's Luxury in a converted Capitol Hill townhouse in the fall of 2013.
The Washington Post handed the room three stars almost immediately, and by 2014 Bon Appétit had crowned it Best New Restaurant in America. Silverman won the James Beard Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic award in 2016, and Rose's has carried a Michelin star in every D.C. guide since.
The making-people-happy business
Silverman treats the making of dinner as an ensemble sport: cooks, servers, and bartenders all contribute dishes, edits, and ideas, and the room's warmth is a designed thing, not an accident.
The menu shape-shifts weekly, but the mission — making people happy — is quoted in every profile of the place, including the TED talk he gave on it.
The oldest corridor in Washington
Barracks Row is the oldest commercial corridor in Washington, a two-block stretch of 8th Street SE that grew up alongside the Marine Barracks in the early 1800s.
Today it is Capitol Hill's most walkable eating strip; Rose's sits mid-block in a slim townhouse next to sister restaurants Little Pearl and, a few doors down, Pineapple and Pearls.
Order this
The dishes that made Rose's Luxury
Pork sausage, lychee & habanero salad
The dish that made the restaurant famous — sweet lychee, crumbled pork sausage, coconut milk, peanuts, and chile. It has never left the menu.
Fusilli with sweet-pea cream
A lighter counterweight to the lychee salad — a spring pasta with feta and mint that shows the kitchen's Italian side.
Strawberry mousse with Pop Rocks
Silverman's most-photographed dessert: layered berry mousse hiding a crackling snap of Pop Rocks — a small joke every table gets to land together.
Good to know
Rose's Luxury, answered
How does ordering work?
Rose's is prix fixe: everyone at the table picks two dishes, and the kitchen paces them for the room. Order across the menu rather than doubling up.
How do I get a reservation?
Reservations open one month ahead on Resy at 12:00 PM sharp — set an alarm; the room fills within minutes.
What if I strike out?
The upstairs bar takes walk-ins. Arrive at 4:45 PM on a Friday for the best odds.