The restaurant's clientele included such notables as Warren Beatty, Ronald Reagan, Robert Redford, Ted Koppel and Frank Sinatra.
[3] Dominique's was considered “as (far as) Washington restaurants go, as good a place to see — and to be seen — as any.”[3] It was known for its “culinary exotica” such as alligator, llama, and hippopotamus,[3] and its annual races on Bastille Day for their wait staff.
[3] Naval Mehre reopened Dominique's, with D’Ermo, at the Watergate complex at 600 New Hampshire Avenue, NW across from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
[4] In 1979, 29-year old United States Department of the Interior herpetologist C. Kenneth Dodd wrote a letter to D’Ermo, on official stationery, asking that Pennsylvania rattlesnake be removed from the menu because it was an endangered species.
When the report appeared, and Interior Secretary Cecil Andrus found out what happened, he was furious (Dominique's was his favorite French restaurant).