Miami might have better weather compared with Washington, but it’s no dining mecca. Just ask Loris Navone, the recently installed chef at the newly renovated Bibiana in downtown Washington. He comes from Casa Tua in Miami, “a tourist trap” where “all they want is carpaccio and salads,” says the Swiss-born Italian.

Ribollita might have been unthinkable in his last job, but not at Bibiana, where the Tuscan peasant dish, a lasagna-like layering of leftover bread, white beans and vegetables, calls to me on a cold winter day. Navone, 42, knows he couldn’t sell rabbit in Miami, either. Among the richer main courses is rabbit rolled up with an herbed frittata and served as a thick, glossy round atop sunchoke puree.