When it came time to choose where I’d eat during the recent World Fantasy Convention—and you know me, I hate to waste a meal on a hotel restaurant—my number one choice was Rose’s Luxury, judged by Bon Appétit as 2014’s best new restaurant in America. Getting the chance to eat there represented a different sort of challenge than most popular restaurants I’ve been to, which have involved using my Internet-fu to snag a table the instant reservations for the date I needed became available online.

Rose’s Luxury, however, doesn’t take reservations. Which results in the kind of wait one Yelp reviewer recently experienced: “We waited in line approximately 1h45m before putting our name down. After that was another 2h30m wait to get a table.” And another, who waited even longer: “I waited about 5 hours for a table on a Saturday night, starting from lining up outside at 4:30 to being seated around 10:00pm.”

There seemed to be only one way to avoid that kind of wait—arrive around 90 minutes before the restaurant opens, guaranteeing you’ll be part of the first seating. That will keep wait time to a minimum. I was up for standing outside the restaurant before it opened—hey, I had no problem getting to Franklin BBQ three hours before it opened, so 90 minutes was nothing to me—but would I find others foodies at WFC who’d think the experience worth the wait?

I did!

Here I am with Rajan Khanna, Jenn Reese, Liz Argall, Greg van Eekhout, and Barry Goldblatt after we’d ordered and eaten EVERY FREAKING DISH on the menu that night.

But let’s go back in time, and see how the night began …

We arrived Thursday at 3:59 p.m., as I hoped we would, and were the first in line. But we weren’t alone for long. Within 15 minutes, half a dozen other parties had joined us, and while we chatted with each other about what had brought us there, others came until the line stretched farther than I could see.

There are two doors at the front of the restaurant, one in use, the other not, and around halfway into our wait, this sign was placed outside the nonfunctional one, signaling that the folks at Rose’s Luxury were our kind of people.

But then, I already knew that, because the roof garden table—the only table in the restaurant which can be reserved—only allows exceptions to its cancellations policy in the event of “extreme inclement weather, zombie apocalypse, or activation of the third fully functional Death Star.”

Oh, yes. Definitely our kind of people. (But sadly, roof garden season was over, which meant that waiting was not.)

At precisely 5:30, the doors opened, and we were quickly seated, having waited a mere 90 minutes, with friends I’d’ve been hanging out with back at WFC anyway, so as far I was concerned, it was no big deal. From our table, I had a clear view of Rose’s Luxury’s House Rule #1, which I had to ask our server Patrick to clarify before I knew whether or not I’d be able to honor it.

I guess it comes down to being willing to admit that you’re not always the biggest fish in the pond. And, yeah, I can live with that.

We told our server we intended to sample everything on their menu—with six of us we felt we could handle that—and then we were off!

We started with warm bread accompanied by wildflower honey, butter, and poppy seeds, which was a wonderful way to begin what would turn out to be an amazing meal.

Which was followed by …

Sliced beef crudo, mustard oil, sea salt, and watercress

Even the vegetarians (well, some of them) were tempted.

Tarkill Creek oysters with green apple and wasabi granita

Wow! An unexpected and refreshing combination.

Pork sausage, habanero and lychee salad

We ordered two of these, one with vegetarian sausage, and what you see above is the carnivores’ version … before we were instructed to mix it up. The complex flavors delivered tons of umami and was perhaps my favorite dish of the night.

Whole grilled quail with Fall greens and mulled cider glaze

A tough dish to slice and dice among the six of us, but worth the effort.

Charred broccoli with Caesar dressing and white anchovies

Made me want to head home to char vegetables.

Classic cacio e pepe

Perfectly peppery.

Martelli spaghetti with tomato, spicy lobster, and mint

Just the right amount of spice, not overpowering the lobster.

Sfoglini rigatoni with parmesan cream and breadcrumbs—plus white truffle!

We were advised that for a $20 supplement, we could have white truffle shaved over this dish. And how could we not?

Groan …

Liz Argall, white truffles, and me

We passed the dish around so we could each breath deeply of that white truffle aroma. Here you see Liz inhaling, while based on my expression, I went a bit manic.

Caramelized cauliflower, Greek yogurt, “and some other stuff”

Not sure what “and some other stuff” was, as my palate isn’t sufficiently educated, so all I can say is, the combination of flavors was delicious.

Honey glazed carrots, marscapone, matzoh meal and dill

The first time in memory that a chef other than a family member has used matzoh meal in a dish. (That I know of, anyway.)

Fried rice salad with Asian pear, raw cabbage and country ham

Deliciously crunchy.

Smoked brisket, white bread, horseradish crème fraîche, and slaw

Repeat after me: Horseradish crème fraîche. Horseradish crème fraîche.

Lemongrass-shellfish stew, fennel salad and garlic bread

Filled with baby octopus, mussels, shrimp, and plenty of spice.

And about those shrimp …

Give me a creature with its head still attached—in this case a shrimp—and you can guarantee that head will end up in my mouth.

And with that, we moved onto the dessert. Once more, we said—bring everything! To eat those shared desserts, we were given old timey souvenir spoons.

I got James Garfield.

Goat’s milk stracciatella, raspberries, spicy meringue

The first of four amazing desserts. And watch out—that spicy meringue had quite a kick to it.

English pea cake, mint curd, pistachio, and buttermilk

That list of ingredients on the menu had us doubtful, but trust me—it was one of the best desserts any of us had ever eaten. We were transported! I’d return to Rose’s Luxury just to make a meal out of this and that lychee salad.

Asian pear-butterscotch “napoleon”

Tasty, but it wasn’t fair asking it (or any dessert really) to compete against that English pea cake.

Foie gras French toast, cinnamon toast ice cream

Do I really have to add anything to that menu description?

This was followed by something extra, which we were told came courtesy of our server …

Smoked celery mascarpone and granita

Nothing more to do but pay the bill, which came with one final treat—chunks of sesame brittle.

As good as the food was, the service was even better. Now I understood what Chef Aaron Silverman meant when he said, “I just want to make people happy.”

In case the dishes above don’t convince you that you should get to Rose’s Luxury as soon as possible, know this—earlier today, Eater DC named it the Washington D.C. Restaurant of the Year.

What are you waiting for?