THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Mio Awards

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Mio Restaurant Review:

This lively Vermont Avenue NW restaurant offers authentic Latin American food and cocktails, such as mojitos, caipirinhas and margaritas. Owner Manuel Iguina and chef Wilo Benet showcase Puerto Rican fare, and both have cooked in Puerto Rican establishments. They present what they call “La Cocina Abierta,” or “The Open Kitchen.” What that means for patrons is that they can enjoy Benet’s cooking, a mix of Latin, classical French, Thai, Chinese and Spanish, all with a Puerto Rican focus. Lunches offer calamari and ceviche, and risotto with roast pig, plus sandwiches and share plates. Dinners, of course, focus on heartier fare, including salmon crusted with white quinoa, fried whole red snapper with fried plantains, and grilled pork tenderloin. The place is also the setting for “lechon Fridays,” which is when diners can literally pig out. Desserts are exotically enticing: white chocolate mousse with a Cabernet sauce, a dulce de leche mousse, and a guava cheesecake among others. The atmosphere is so easygoing that folks make this an after-hours destination, resulting in a very active bar scene.