Xiquet by Danny Lledó

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

A Name Rooted in Valencia

"Xiquet" (chee-KETT) comes from the Valencian phrase Xiquet de Casa — "house kid" — the nickname Danny Lledó's father and family used for him growing up in Valencia, Spain. That personal history is the foundation of everything at this Washington DC restaurant. Chef and Owner Danny Lledó is the son of a Valencian chef trained in France and a Portuguese cook and baker from the Bairrada region. Both parents shaped his palate: his father's refined Mediterranean technique, his mother's rustic, soulful baking. The restaurant is, in the most literal sense, his story told through food.

Before opening Xiquet, Lledó honed his craft at top Spanish restaurants including Taberna del Alabardero and Botín — the world's oldest restaurant — as well as José Andrés' Think Food Group. He is also the most awarded paella chef in America, holding eleven paella honors, six of them first-place finishes at competitions across the country, and a finalist at the prestigious Paella Valenciana de Sueca International Competition.

The Experience

Dinner at Xiquet unfolds across multiple floors. Guests are guided upstairs to an airy third-floor dining room, pausing at the open wood-fire kitchen where the chefs offer a brief introduction before the meal begins. The tasting menu runs to over 20 compositions rooted in the traditions of Valencia — a coastal region whose cuisine reflects warm climate, abundant agriculture, and plentiful fresh seafood, and which gave the world paella. The MICHELIN Guide describes the cooking precisely: "dill-cured bonito arranged with creamy, cool ajo blanco" leading to "crisped-skin turbot with smoked trout roe-studded beurre blanc," and rice preparations such as "Alicante-style rice with rabbit and mushrooms cooked over the hearth." The meal closes in an elegant second-floor mezzanine lounge with after-dinner drinks and sweet treats.

The wine list, recognized with Wine Spectator's Award of Excellence, is extensive yet focused, and the service team — shaped in part by Head Consultant Didier Fertilati, a veteran of three-Michelin-star houses including Le Moulin de Mougins and Fat Duck — brings the kind of warm, unhurried hospitality that makes a long tasting menu feel like an evening among friends rather than a performance.

Recognition

Xiquet has held a MICHELIN Star continuously since 2021 and earned MICHELIN's Sommelier of the Year Award in 2022. AAA has awarded the restaurant its Five Diamond rating — the highest in the travel authority's system — making Xiquet the only Five Diamond restaurant currently operating in Washington DC. In 2023, the DC Restaurant Association added the RAMMY for Best Formal Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year. For anyone seeking serious Spanish cuisine in the capital, this is the address.