$10,000 Bottles of Wine and VIP Entrance at Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steak House

Yet another steakhouse is opening in D.C. on Friday, aiming to serve the District’s most posh residents.

As the second restaurant to open in the luxe CityCenterDC (following the recent debut of Daniel Boulud's DBGB Kitchen and Bar), Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steak House includes houndstooth curtains, an elevator between the restaurant’s three floors, and a secret underground entrance into the lower dining room for “certain VIPs.”

Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steak House also has locations in cities like Boston and Las Vegas, and the restaurant group's more casual Del Frisco’s Grille already resides on Pennsylvania Ave. NW and in Rockville.

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Executive Chef Scott Kroener sits at one of the dark walnut tables.

One offering unique to the CityCenterDC location is a $160 surf-and-turf for two: a 16 oz. cold-water Australian lobster paired with a 16 oz. barrel-cut filet mignon—“an ungodly piece of meat,” says chef Scott Kroener—carved tableside.

For appetizers, the steakhouse will also serve caviar, chilled octopus with gigante beans, tomatoes, olives, capers, and lemon ($18), and wagyu beef carpaccio ($16). On- and off-the-bone filet mignon, prime ribeye, and prime strip are Del Frisco’s three most popular steaks.

Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steak House aims to live up to the motto “Do right, fear no man,” Kroener says. “If you do the right thing by the beef and you buy great product, cook it with care, you serve it in an immaculately clean dining room, with great hospitality, how are you going to beat that? It seems like really low-hanging fruit that would be easy for everyone to get, but it’s not.”

The 1,200-bottle wine selection, overseen by Wine Director David O’Day, features a number of unique direct imports, in addition to a section that reflects what O’Day calls a “who’s who of Napa” and a rack just for the $8,000 to $10,000 bottles.

The restaurant itself is also massive—18,000-square-feet and 400 seats in total, which includes two dining rooms, two bars, an outdoor patio, and a boardroom. Kroener anticipates that the upper bar will be less crowded, as the bar downstairs attracts most customers. “The upstairs bar is like the speakeasy bar that nobody knows about because you walk in the front door and you’re like, 'Pow! It’s poppin’, right here. I don’t need to go anywhere else,'” he says. The upper bar also overlooks the lower bar.

Perhaps in keeping with the "female-friendly" steakhouse trend, this is also the first Del Frisco’s location with a “gender-neutral” green-and-gold color scheme (the color of money). The dining room also features dark walnut tables (no white tablecloths) and marble accents to evoke D.C. monuments. A light fixture on the upper floor is made from 12,500 bronze shapes—all hung individually—to represent the flow of the Potomac. Even the power outlets that line the underside of the bars apparently have symbolism, meant to emphasize “power dining."

The upstairs bar overlooks the lower bar.

The upstairs bar overlooks the lower bar

Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House, 950 Eye St. NW; (202) 289-0201; delfriscos.com

Photos by Jamie Slater