For my 20th anniversary, I’m feeling nostalgic. Hence the inclusion of so many veteran restaurants in this collection. By far my biggest annual dining guide to date, with 77 reviews, this year’s survey includes a new list of 10 classic restaurants, along with a hall of fame celebrating standard-bearers. I’m also looking ahead. I hope many of the promising newcomers, some flagged in my Top 10 list, continue to advance the cause of great eating in and around Washington. All the restaurants have been visited in the past year and were selected to represent a range of choices; a number were previously featured in my monthly roundups of favorite places to eat. If you’re not seeing one of your choices here, feel free to tell me about it, understand I had to stop somewhere — and be patient. I still have a lot more reviews in me.
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2019
Top 10
1
Seven Reasons
Enrique Limardo creates vibrant odes to Latin America.
Small plates $13-$20, medium plates $19-$29, large plates $45-$120
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Seven Reasons gives you many more than that to dine there
It’s a jungle in there. Three floors tall, Seven Reasons is crawling with greenery, to which chef-owner Enrique Limardo plans to add more, possibly a big tree. “Nature is going to take over the place,” vows the city’s best ambassador for the foodways of Latin America. Golden, one-bite, cheese-filled arepas are a tip of the hat to Limardo’s native Venezuela. Same for the skate-stuffed plantain ravioli, a blast from his past as the recipient of his grandmother’s Sunday cooking. Limardo studied architectural and industrial design before devoting himself to restaurants; that translates to some cool sights. Behold his fried octopus tentacle, dusted with trendy charred onion “ash” and set on interlocking yellow rings of liquid ahi amarillo. Or a tostada dressed with pink folds of swordfish belly, glimmering orange rice and caramelized black sesame seeds and all but hiding the julienned green mango beneath the party of flavors. Argentine steak marinated in garlic, lime zest and Worcestershire sauce before being breaded and fried comes with precise dots of avocado puree spiked with serrano. Other Milanese seem drab in comparison. Vegetarians are gladly received with such dishes as cauliflower tartare and a roasted sweet potato made dramatic and delicious with crimson beet puree and an almond-chipotle vinaigrette. (Limardo is promising something other than an election to think about next year: a month-long vegan menu.) Isn’t the space cool? Aren’t the servers lovely? Doesn’t everyone look happy to be here? When I think of it, there are dozens of reasons to pick this restaurant for your next dining adventure.
202-290-2630
Dinner Tuesday through Sunday
Small plates $13-$20, medium plates $19-$29, large plates $45-$120
75 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
2
Rooster & Owl
Yuan Tang packs flavor and fun into every one of his dishes.
Dinner $65 per person, bar a la carte: $12-$26
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At Rooster & Owl, the strange becomes the wonderful
Few chefs cook outside the box like Yuan Tang. When’s the last time you had meatless larb or pig ear seasoned as if it were a Buffalo chicken wing? Do you care? You should, because as strange as some combinations sound, they make wonderful sense in your mouth. That larb, a riff on a Laotian salad, features shiitakes jazzed up with lime leaves and Thai chiles and slicked with a dressing of tamarind, hazelnut oil and lime — divine. Braised in pho broth and fried to a crackle, that zesty pig ear gets mixed with kohlrabi and peanuts and striped with ranch dressing — fun! Ravioli stuffed with roasted carrots seasoned with miso and draped with walnut pesto would taste at home in an Italian standard-bearer, save perhaps for the pickled blueberries on the plate. And instead of a cheese course, Rooster & Owl offers brie custard with shortbread that’s a ringer for a Ritz cracker. (Birthdays are acknowledged with cake pops in owl jars.) Four courses for $65 is fair admission for fabulous food and smart service. The dining room is by comparison subdued, but the leather chairs are comfy, and a recently designated private space for 10 is sure to call to gastronauts. Were you expecting mints with the check? Tiny robot-shaped gummies flavored with raspberry and prosecco are more this animal’s style.
202-813-3976
Dinner Tuesday through Saturday
Dinner $65 per person, bar a la carte: $12-$26
74 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
3
Pineapple and Pearls
There’s technique behind the fun at Aaron Silverman’s tasting-menu room.
$325 per person including beverages, bar dining $150 not including beverages
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Pineapple and Pearls makes fine dining a blast
“We’re going to have a lot of fun tonight,” predicts a server at the city’s most upbeat fine-dining lair. Moments later, one of his colleagues is at our table giving us a master class in martinis (unlike Bond, he stirs the drink, preserving its mouthfeel), and a couple of perfect bites appear: a Barbie-size wedge of beef tallow pie and fresh-from-Staten Island escargot sharing a pastry puff with liquefied herbs. The hours fly by in the heady company of “breakfast for dinner” — French toast made savory with blue cheese, foie gras and a downy hedge of black truffle — and grilled lamb and spicy merguez atop a tiny grill, with pots of housemade harissa and chimichurri, a lofty “summer cookout.” Fear not. The dishes are apportioned to leave you receptive to more. Blackened monkfish étouffée delivers a glorious taste of New Orleans; 150-layer lasagna yields a fanciful Italian American construction project finished with a seafood-rich fra diavolo. Desserts — sticky toffee cake with black chestnut ice cream, chocolate bonbons with toasted hazelnuts — are multiple little sensations. From the comfortable mid-century modern chairs to prepaying the bill ahead of your visit, no detail is too small for owner Aaron Silverman and crew. Many high-end restaurants send guests home with a gift from the kitchen. This one forwards a donation to World Food Program USA to feed hungry kids instead. Everybody wins, and the waiter’s sunny forecast turns out to be spot on.
202-595-7375
Dinner Tuesday through Saturday
$325 per person including beverages, bar dining $150 not including beverages
72 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
4
Métier
A chef’s underground space beckons with exceptional flourishes and extraordinary flavors.
Seven courses $200
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Grace and brilliance: That's Eric Ziebold's Métier
The pinnacle of fine dining in Washington tends to involve moving from one room to another during the night, tasting menus that blend old ideas with the new, tableside service, a sense of humor and the luxury of quiet. Métier offers all those frills and more in an underground space that opens with drinks and hors d’oeuvres in an intimate salon and continues in a dining room graced with old paintings, well-spaced tables, a candlelit chandelier and a view of the talent in the kitchen. A highlight reel from September would start with a brilliant chilled carrot consommé so clear you can read through it. (For proof, its glass bowl is set on a “place mat” cut from the pages of The Post.) A few dishes pair first-rate if familiar ingredients with exceptional flourishes: garden-fresh basil broth with sauteed branzino and a Dijon mustard sorbet with grilled Virginia lamb loin. Other combinations find chef-owner Eric Ziebold making a sauce before your eyes or reminding you he’s as adept at Japanese cooking as he is at French. Garnished with a pale green sorbet ignited with yuzu-chile paste, cubes of lightly fried, melt-in-the-mouth tofu set in hot smoked tomato water will go down as one of the most extraordinary things I ate all year. The chef’s equal in the pastry department is Anne Specker. Gianduja chocolate torchon with corn milk ice cream and a side of the best churros in memory has me seeing stars — four, to be precise.
202-737-7500
Dinner Wednesday through Saturday
Seven courses $200
65 decibels / Conversation is easy
2019
Top 10
5
The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm
Tarver King's escape is the best reason right now to hit the road.
Dinner $110; Sunday supper $75
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At the Restaurant at Patowmack Farm, inspiration is right outside
Before a summertime dinner at one of the best reasons to hit country roads, I didn’t know sunflower buds, with a flavor like artichokes, made delicious fried snacks or that the best way to bring out the flavor of beef is to cook it in its own tallow. Also: Bread dipped in charcoal-infused oil is something special. Shame on me for skipping out last year. Tarver King is one of the Mid-Atlantic’s best chefs, and his restaurant on a hill in northern Loudoun County benefits from 18 acres of pantry: a surrounding farm. Everyone eats the same menu, and everything tastes better under a tent with a bucolic view. Picture oysters on the half shell ignited with a chile vinaigrette aged for six years in a whiskey barrel from Catoctin Creek. Imagine a tiny lemon squash leaning on a perfect bite of swordfish in anchovy-soy sauce. Delight in an elegant pavlova, followed by “candy shoppe flavors,” including Turkish delight and lavender caramels. I never put ketchup on meat — except here, where the “squash-chup” is exceptional with allspice and mushrooms, following an 18th-century recipe. One or two Sundays a month, the kitchen explores another cuisine with a multicourse supper: November will take diners to India and Japan. Thrill seekers, take note.
540-822-9017
Dinner Thursday through Saturday, brunch weekends, monthly Sunday supper
Dinner $110; Sunday supper $75
69 decibels / Conversation is easy
2019
Top 10
6
Poca Madre
Victor Albisu's playful take on Mexican fine dining is better than ever.
Small plates $12-$32, large sharing plates $46-$110
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Poca Madre starts to sparkle
If you want to chart how far this Mexican hideaway has traveled since it opened, ask for the charred cabbage. Singed leaves might not sound like a game-changer, but they sure taste like one when they’re arranged with spoonfuls of shredded oxtail “jam” on a pale green, heat-packing mole that fairly pulses with cilantro, mint and ground seeds. My point: Vegetables are getting starring roles, and meat is being used more like a garnish. Indeed, one of the most enticing ceviches here revolves around mango compressed with chiles and lime and finished with candied Fresno pepper and dark splotches of charred habanero oil, an accent chef-owner Victor Albisu likes so much he says, “I put it on everything,” even eggs at breakfast. The chef has a playful side. “Everything” infladita stuffs smoked whitefish in delicate fried tortilla cups, and panko-crisped halibut gets slipped between a steamed bun slathered with chipotle cream. It’s a Filet-O-Fish, sí, but superior in every way to the one at McDonald’s. If there’s one dish Albisu says he can’t take off the list, it’s fried chicken set on a much-improved black mole enriched with foie gras. All the dish needs is a sparkling salad to counter the decadence, and that it gets, along with excellent blue corn tortillas. Has it been a while since your last visit to the moody dining room? Never tried the restaurant, whose service keeps pace with the kitchen? You’re missing out. Poca Madre is at the top of its game.
202-838-5300
Dinner daily
Small plates $12-$32, large sharing plates $46-$110
70 decibels / Conversation is easy
2019
Top 10
7
Mama Chang
The latest from Lisa and Peter Chang celebrates the family's women.
Small plates $10-$14, family-style plates $17-$40
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Mama Chang knows how to cook
Writing valentines to restaurants always worries me. Will the establishment feel free to coast after a rave review, or will readers experience the same thrills I did? I needn’t have fretted about entrepreneurs Lisa and Peter Chang’s latest, and possibly greatest, enterprise, which opened March 8 (fittingly, on International Women’s Day). Seven months on, the tribute to the cooking of Lisa, a professional chef, and Peter’s mother, a former farmer in central China, is as mouthwatering as it’s ever been. The list of dishes that propelled Mama Chang to the No. 1 spot in my spring dining guide, including sweet potato noodles tossed with pork and mustard greens, grew longer with the recent addition of some fresh ideas: springy morsels of chicken blasted with black pepper sauce, warm-spiced pork belly paired with tea-stained eggs, and custardy scrambled eggs dressed up with tomato and pearly shrimp. Even spinach stir-fried with garlic impresses me with its sheen and faint crunch. Cooking isn’t the only thing driving me to this tidy, 200-seat retreat in Fairfax. The service is attentive, the wine list shows thought, and as big as the dining room is, acres of light wood and open-sided booths make for a comfortable roost while you feast.
703-268-5556
Dinner daily, lunch daily, dim sum weekends
Small plates $10-$14, family-style plates $17-$40
74 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
8
Three Blacksmiths
The Rappahannock County gem adds another day to its beguiling dinner party.
$128 per person
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Three Blacksmiths invites more to the table
It just got easier to dine at the smallest best restaurant in the region. Co-owners Diane and John MacPherson added a chef and expanded their hours to include Wednesday night in their beguiling, 20-seat dining room in Rappahannock County. Otherwise, those fortunate to have visited before can expect a scene similar to dinners past: five courses offered at a single seating by the same people who prepared the meal. Farmers let the restaurant know what they have on Sunday. The staff noodles ideas on Tuesday before writing a menu. The only constant from week to week: “The food has to be simple, honest, delicious and beautiful,” says John, a chef. Hence a summertime ode to tomatoes served fresh, charred, in a consommé and as a roasted pâté. And scarlet tenderloin rounded out with golden pommes Anna, charred cucumber relish and a pale yellow onion soubise. Lovely nibbles and sublime desserts start and finish the dream, narrated in part by Diane, the gracious general manager. Coming soon: black walnut custard tart with compressed apples and smoked yogurt. And maybe goat from a local purveyor in Madison. Plenty of restaurants serve delicious food in attractive spaces. Three Blacksmiths suggests you’re enjoying dinner in the home of friends — friends with superb taste.
540-987-5105
Dinner Wednesday through Saturday
$128 per person
70 decibels / Conversation is easy
2019
Top 10
9
Anju
The Korean gastropub replaces Mandu in Dupont Circle.
Dinner mains, $18-$32
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At Anju, a mother’s classics meet a chef’s twists
Think all fermented cabbage tastes the same? Try the kimchi aged 100 days at this youthful Korean gastropub and let’s talk. The powerful nose and distinctive tang alone set it apart from everything younger. Anju rose from the literal ashes of Mandu in Dupont Circle, also created by chef Danny Lee, and the successor couldn’t be more family-oriented. His mom, Yesoon Lee, is the keeper of tradition in the kitchen, and his wife, Natalie, designed the inviting, two-story space. The banchan — pickled cucumbers stuffed with carrot and chives, crunchy sauteed bellflower root and more — are terrific, as are the steamed, seared, super-juicy dumplings stuffed with ground pork and buttered kimchi. Should you eat or drink the egg custard? The bowlful, carpeted with minced garlic, is so silken and slippery, it’s hard to tell. Heading up the kitchen is executive chef Angel Barreto, formerly of the delicious Chiko, and a talent to watch. His twists on tradition share space on the small script with Mama Lee “classics.” Braised chicken and potatoes in a spicy, honey-sweetened red gravy are as soothing as a call from home.
202-845-8935
Dinner daily
Dinner mains, $18-$32
76 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
10
Thamee
Mother and daughter invite you to explore the flavors of Myanmar on H Street.
Dinner mains $18-$25
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Thamee tells a captivating story
Washington has enjoyed tastes of Myanmar before, but never like Thamee, where chef Jocelyn Law-Yone has a story for seemingly every dish on the menu. Catfish noodle curry is a soup she recalls waking up to, and enjoying again after school, back in her native Yangon. That bit of background makes the bright yellow mohinga, garnished with banana stems, even more enticing. My personal favorite on the list: shaved pickled ginger tossed with spiced peanuts, crisp cabbage and lime juice. Then again, maybe it’s the marriage of pork belly and pickled mango, a union of what the people of Myanmar refer to as “the best meat” and “the best fruit,” says Law-Yone, a former teacher whose daughter and co-owner, Simone Jacobson, is also a generous guide to the cuisine. Don’t get too attached to the above. Thamee’s menu changes this month, and for the broader. The owners are adding stuffed grilled eggplant, fried chicken Mondays and large plates, including sugar-cane-glazed duck with naan and dipping sauces. Sure, there’s milk tea to sip, but visitors can also wash back a meal with something bolder, maybe pork-fat-washed rye whiskey with jaggery caramel and fish sauce tincture. Billed as the Edward, it resembles a funky old-fashioned. Little details make big impressions: The food is presented on tabletops bearing digital reproductions of fetching textiles from Myanmar (also known as Burma), and bills are dropped off inside miniature coconuts. Above all, Thamee wants you to explore and have fun. “Happy Caturday,” Jacobson welcomed me one recent weekend — in an outfit stamped with feline designs.
202-750-6529
Dinner Wednesday through Monday, brunch weekends
Dinner mains $18-$25
72 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
All-Purpose
Two locations continue to put out top-notch pies and so much more.
Pizzas $16-$20, other items $4-$22
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All-Purpose is the pizza parlor of your dreams
It’s the pizza parlor of your dreams and a considerate place to boot: Whatever your reply to “sparkling or still?” gets you gratis house-filtered water, the drinks aren’t priced like concert tickets and the bookends to a meal are as interesting as the main event. Showered with fried garlic slivers, roasted broccoli rises from a puddle of sweet and sassy bell pepper sauce. In-season fruit might be roasted and robed in zabaglione. You’ve likely come for the handsome, deck-oven-cooked pies decorated with terrific toppings. Pickled jalapeños, housemade chorizo, local corn and streaks of crema made for a rousing recent special. (I can’t believe I ate the whole thing, counting a refrigerator raid.) The younger of the two outposts, featuring a garden patio, sits on the Capitol Riverfront. The original in Shaw, dressed with tile floors and timbered ceiling, wears its scruff well. Both are all-around awesome.
1250 9th St. NW (Shaw); 79 Potomac Ave. SE (Riverfront)
202-849-6174 (Shaw); 202-629-1894 (Riverfront)
Dinner daily, brunch weekends
Pizzas $16-$20, other items $4-$22
83 decibels / Extremely loud
2019
Top 10
Alta Strada
Alta Strada's better, often lighter, parmesans and pastas are a soothing tonic.
Dinner mains, $18-$28
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Italian-American staples with a contemporary flare
“During times of unrest — political, economic — food has a way of soothing us,” says chef-owner Michael Schlow. No dish at his neighborhood Italian restaurant addresses the issue better than his chicken Parmesan. Forget the oversauced, heavily cheesy stereotype. Schlow’s version is built for today. The breading — panko ground with bread crumbs, rosemary and thyme — is a mere veneer, while the sauce picks up brightness from San Marzano tomatoes, garlic and basil. And the cheese (mostly Parmesan, a bit of mozzarella) comes across as a suggestion rather than a shout. Hearty? Yes. Heavy? The $22 entree is just right on a cold night, better with a vegetable rather than pasta. Schlow says he’s not trying to duplicate anyone’s Italian American memories; who dares compete with mama? He just wants to make “one of the best versions you’ve ever had” of, say, veal marsala or shrimp piccata. The former relies on cremini instead of button mushrooms, plus a dry marsala, and the latter, bright with lemon and capers, slips in a white bean puree for a creamy mouthfeel. Sunday might be the best night to visit. That’s when bottles of wine are half-price.
202-629-4662
Dinner daily, brunch weekends
Dinner mains, $18-$28
75 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Annie’s Paramount Steakhouse
The Dupont Circle institution remains an LGBTQ haven after 70-plus years.
Sandwiches and dinner mains, $12-$33
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Annie's is a throwback — and beloved for good reason
Annie’s is about as contemporary as a VCR, as complex as a Hungry Man frozen entree. Even owner Paul Katinas, nephew of the dearly departed namesake, says, “We’ve never been one to follow a trend.” The menu is a lot of fried snacks followed by common American comfort food. Does it matter? For more than seven decades, the Dupont Circle mainstay has been an LGBTQ haven, a feat the James Beard Foundation recognized this year in naming Annie’s an American classic. Know before you go: The cocktails are big, crab bites are the best start, weekend hours are round-the-clock, and the signature bull in the pan — juicy sirloin tips sauteed with bell peppers — makes a satisfying rib-sticker. Annie’s quick and chummy service makes up for any culinary misfires. “Can I have the coconut cream pie?” my companion asks a waiter. “Only if I can have a bite of it!” he cracks back.
No website
202-232-0395
Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily
Sandwiches and dinner mains, $12-$33
80 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Artie’s
Even at 300 seats, it feels like a neighborhood restaurant.
Dinner mains $14-$42
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Artie’s pleases everybody, daters and families alike
Want to feel wanted? Take your appetite here, where a chorus of hellos greets customers and bartenders introduce themselves (and ask for your name in return). Part of the local Great American Restaurants group, Artie’s, 34, acts more neighborly than that sounds or its nearly 300 seats suggest. The knowing and chipper service is accompanied by generous takes on American favorites: crab cakes shaped from little more than jumbo lump; 24 ounces of blushing, bone-in prime rib (Thursday through Saturday) served with a loaded baked potato; a many-layered apple pie. The dining rooms call to families and date nighters alike. Managing partner Garland Dillard has a motto: “Today not tomorrow,” meaning “everything is important” in the restaurant experience. So baby-changing tables are in all the restrooms, and everyone on staff is cross-trained. Servers spend time in the kitchen and at the front door, to see how cooks and hosts do their job, and vice versa. All-American Artie’s is all right by me.
703-273-7600
Dinner daily, lunch weekdays, brunch weekends
Dinner mains $14-$42
74 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Bad Saint
Chef Tom Cunanan keeps things creative in Columbia Heights.
Dinner mains $16-$40
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Bad Saint still serves up Filipino fun — and reservations, too
Did the pope elope? Just asking, since this tiny, sepia-toned treasure started taking reservations this year. Until Bad Saint came along, lechon, lumpia and sisig were pretty much the extent of what Filipino restaurants dished out hereabouts. Chef Tom Cunanan changed that with a menu that showcased shrimp fritters, spiky (and loud!) with shredded vegetables, and braised goat trumpeting lemongrass, chiles and charred coconut. He made us all fall for crab fat, too. My current fixation: a peppery stir-fry of crisp white bok choy, snap peas and dried shrimp. Not all seats are created equal, I learned the hard way (literally). Hope to sit up front, where there’s at least a window view or a single padded perch looking into the open kitchen. Or at a booth in the middle. The rear of the room is basically plate-size stools along a narrow ledge inches away from a mirrored wall: uncomfortable — and yes, you’ve got ginisang gulay in your teeth.
No phone
Dinner daily
Dinner mains $16-$40
80 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Banh Mi DC Sandwich
Every creation at this Virginia shop deserves repeat consumption.
Sandwiches $4.65-$6.50
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Vietnamese sandwiches you'll want to eat over and over
The world has gifted us fabulous sandwiches — New Orleans’s muffuletta and Spain’s bocadillo come to mind — but if push ever came to shove-in-my-mouth, banh mi would find me opening widest. The classic Vietnamese sandwich is the reason for the inevitable line inside this suburban market. Good thing the team takes requests quickly and the assemblers work fast, because patience is a challenge when you’re hungry and the air is fragrant from fresh-baked bread. Two dozen possibilities force difficult decisions, but I’ve yet to encounter a filling I wouldn’t repeat. Last visit found me ferrying home banh mi stuffed with dill-flecked fish cakes; moist shredded pork; springy sugar cane shrimp; and ruddy, slightly sweet barbecue pork, everything encased in a warm, shattering baguette with pickled julienned vegetables, cilantro and jalapeño. Wash back your bundle with a tropical smoothie (I go for jackfruit), and use any wait to check out the other Vietnamese goods on display. One taste of the crisp beef jerky, and you’ll never go back to Slim Jim.
No website
703-205-9300
Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily
Sandwiches $4.65-$6.50
66 decibels / Conversation is easy
2019
Top 10
Barmini by José Andrés
The avant-garde cocktail experience connected to Minibar never ceases to amaze.
Cocktails $18, cocktail flight $95
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It's better drinking through science at Barmini
Drinks? Drinks! is more like it at the mod lounge adjacent to the four-star, avant-garde Minibar. Sure, you can order a la carte, but for serious fun, reserve the two-hour cocktail flight, a series that goes down like a trip around the world. The journey commences with a welcome of ever-changing punch (cherry heering on my visit) and pivots to a daiquiri elevated with an absinthe rinse and a float of whipped passion fruit. Bar manager Ismael Barreto says it takes up to a year to train staff to become full-fledged bartenders. Given the science behind the drinks — the fog that dissipates to reveal a sorbet with the profile of a Brazilian caipirinha, the cedar burned tableside to flavor a glass of tequila and orange peel — a customer can understand. And marvel. When’s the last time you had a drink segue from blue to purple? That happens when lime is added to shochu tinted with butterfly pea flower for the Japanese-inspired cocktail Divine Wind. Coolest of all, the drinks taste as great as they look. It helps to eat something with the parade of liquids. The kitchen obliges with lush salmon tartare cradled in glossy parker house buns and impossibly light miniature waffles that crack open to reveal foie gras — also peanut butter and honey. PB&J for discerning hipsters.
202-393-4451
Dinner and late night Tuesday through Saturday
Cocktails $18, cocktail flight $95
72 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Bombay Club
The Indian mainstay near the White House pays attention to the particulars.
Dinner mains $14-$36
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Three decades in, Bombay Club still tastes like luxury
Warm spices greet you at the double doors, which lead to a modest bar and the dining room, where ceiling fans, plants and sepia-toned photographs of British colonial rule amount to a historical stage set. More than three decades after the Bombay Club debuted near the White House, tandoori salmon remains the best-selling dish, though it’s not even listed on the menu. It’s easy to see why: A squeeze of lemon renders goodness perfect. Indeed, the standouts tend to be seafood dishes (every meal should begin with some version of crab masala, fragrant with curry leaves), although few cuisines can match Indian for meatless dining. Shaved coconut and mustard seeds lift broccoli from the routine, and dal makhani — cooked over low heat for up to a day with cream, garlic, tomatoes and ghee — offers luxury in every spoonful. The kitchen, under executive chef Nilesh Singhvi, cares about the particulars. The papadum snaps like few others, the raita reveals a distinct tang, and hot heads will appreciate tender chicken spread with green chiles, cilantro and onion. The last dish is a favorite of Hillary Clinton, among the many boldface names who have broken naan here.
202-659-3727
Dinner daily, lunch weekdays, Sunday brunch
Dinner mains $14-$36
74 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Brothers and Sisters
At Brothers and Sisters, an all-day menu is particularly noteworthy for fabulous desserts.
Dinner mains $13-$55
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This is not your ordinary hotel restaurant
This being a trendy hotel restaurant — the lobby of the Line hotel in Adams Morgan, flanked by two bars — there’s cavatelli with ragu made with minced vegetables and a burger with an egg and pork belly on it. Erik Bruner-Yang’s all-day menu seems to check all the current boxes, from “toast” to tuna, as in crudo jolted with ginger in a splash of coconut milk. Asian touches abound; yuzu aioli is a better dunk than ketchup for fries. But the main reason to drop by is Pichet Ong. The former architect is the pastry chef, and I’ve never had anything less than dreamy from him. Ong draws inspiration from Chinese pantry staples — ginger, tea, rice — and favorite childhood sweets. He says he was thinking of Maltesers candies when he created his “Brooklyn” cake: a dome shaped with devil’s food swollen with espresso, banana pudding, salted caramel and vanilla cream. His desserts, including a matcha cake with berry mousse, are blessedly restrained in their sweetness. Ice creams are presented on chewy rice flour wafers: Go for pistachio, veined with crushed candied nuts. You may wait (and wait) to be seated and wait (and wait) for a drink to find its way to you. But you’ll never be disappointed to order “just dessert, please.”
202-864-4180
Breakfast, lunch, dinner and late nights daily
Dinner mains $13-$55
74 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Buck’s Fishing & Camping
This is the place to go when you want something familiar and fabulous.
Dinner mains $16-$39
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Buck’s brings dining down to earth
Every food critic I know has a “Cheers,” a place they frequent when they’re not on the clock, typically because the food is familiar and the staff makes it easy. For years, my few nights off found me in the honey-lit dining room of this casual American restaurant with a handsome communal table and a canoe suspended from the rafters. I pretty much know I’ll be getting the wood-grilled pork chop or the fish of the day, flanked by some interesting accompaniments, or splitting the prime hamburger and a Caesar salad with my significant other. Call me a creature of habit. Dessert is either the most comforting buttermilk chocolate cake around or a book at Politics & Prose next door. My sole complaint, and the reason I’m inclined to “cheat” these days with Johnny’s Half Shell: Buck’s needs to woo me with some new tricks on its menu.
202-364-0777
Dinner daily
Dinner mains $16-$39
75 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Buena Vida
The massive, multi-level Mexican destination excels in food and setting.
Dinner mains $12-$29
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It's true: At Buena Vida, life is indeed good
Having wooed us with his native Balkan food at Ambar restaurants, Ivan Iricanin turned his attention to Mexico, where he recruited a consultant in chef Gerardo Vazquez Lugo, whose family runs Restaurante Nicos in Mexico City. Three dining experiences spread across 8,000 square feet: a breezy diner on the sidewalk level, a tropically inspired rooftop bar and, in the middle, the second-story Buena Vida, an expanse of tiles, basket lights and open kitchen. Lush raw tuna and juicy pineapple share their bowl with an electric citrus sauce and nutty chia seeds. Lamb, braised until knives aren’t necessary, resonates with spicy, smoky and slightly sweet chiles. Proof that soup can be “dry” and delicious: sopa seca — vermicelli noodles cooked with roasted chiles, garlic and chicken stock. This restaurant sweats the small stuff. No need to put your purse or bag on the floor; treelike stands do the job.
703-888-1259
Dinner daily, brunch weekends
Dinner mains $12-$29
73 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Cane
Don't miss the wings and stackable tiffin boxes at this tiny Caribbean-influenced outpost.
Dinner mains $19-$44
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Small and mighty does the trick at Cane
Cane marks the return of Peter Prime, who introduced us to his Caribbean-influenced fare at Spark at Engine Company 12 in Bloomingdale and counts among his mentors the late Michel Richard. Based on the memories of Prime’s youth, Cane is a good thing in a small wrap, 33 seats in a narrow dining room that doesn’t take reservations. Jerk wings were part of Spark’s attraction and remain so here. Prime marinates the chicken in allspice and habanero before smoking the wings over pimento wood and grilling them to order. Pepperpot is a feast of Guyanese origin that Prime and his family enjoyed at Christmas. Brisket, beef tendon and oxtail are pressure-cooked to softness with cinnamon, thyme and orange peel. To eat the loose stew is to understand its holiday role and to make quick work of it. The menu has its lighter moments, too. There may be no more alluring whole fried fish in town than Cane’s snapper escovitch, strewn with a kaleidoscope of sliced pickled chiles, herbs and flowers. The tight quarters are one reason for the tiffin boxes, stackable metal containers used to transport two multipart, shareable entrees. “Herbivore” rounds up three changing vegetable curries. “Omnivore” consists of chickpea and potato curries, plus beef and chicken stews, tender and terrific.
202-675-2011
Dinner Tuesday through Saturday
Dinner mains $19-$44
80 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Centrolina
At Amy Brandwein’s CityCenter restaurant, you’ll pass the pastas — and everything else — around the table with delight.
Dinner mains $22-$42
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Centrolina brings joy, now more than ever
Everybody at the bar of my favorite landing spot in CityCenterDC seems to be reviewing their meals. “I could eat this salad breakfast, lunch or dinner,” a woman tells her date. Sliced Asian pear with walnuts, honey and lemon is definitely a round-the-clock kick. Next to me, a guy glued to a bowl of steaming egg soup declares it to be “just like my grandmother’s.” Lucky grandson. Amy Brandwein’s cooking elicits raves, mine included. Her wood-fire-kissed scallops and squid are an ocean of love, and her pastas run to such joys as whole-wheat “rags” draped with rabbit ragu and perky olives. And the alley outside is richer with the recent addition of Piccolina, her tiny all-day cafe. Meanwhile, a redo of her osteria and mercato is expected to be finished at the end of November. Look for a private, 30-seat dining room; a market with more sauces, spreads and seasonal delicacies; and up to 10 more stools at the bar — more elbow room for amateur critics!
202-898-2426
Dinner daily, lunch weekdays
Dinner mains $22-$42
78 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Charleston
Cindy Wolf’s cooking remains as strong as her restaurant’s unerring sense of hospitality, year after year.
Three to six courses $79-$124
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Charleston is a beacon of grace in Baltimore
In 2005, when chef Cindy Wolf and co-owner Tony Foreman turned their Harbor East restaurant into something resembling a home with grand taste, they also changed the way customers ordered. Out went a la carte, and in went a tasting menu that gives diners free rein to create their own three- to six-course meal from the more than two dozen dishes on the list. Wolf still offers some of the finest cooking in the Mid-Atlantic. Her favorites — lobster soup laced with curry oil, grilled French quail enhanced with peaches in summer — are likely to become yours, and if Wolf gets tired of serving fried oysters, which she has been making since the ’90s, she also says “I’d be run out of town” if she took off the cornmeal-crusted bivalves enriched with cayenne mayonnaise. Frying and sauce-making are arts here, and meatless dishes are being recognized as never before. To taste the chanterelle mushroom tart is to taste a bestseller — and tarragon, shallots, garlic and more in the accompanying “snail” butter. “I will cook until the day I die,” says Wolf. The niceties start with delicate cheese puffs and pile up throughout the evening, with wine from Foreman’s impressive, French-heavy cellar and a respectable cheese cart. The dishwashers must be careful; the china is Bernardaud. All of which compels me to say: Just give her the long-awaited James Beard award for best chef in the Mid-Atlantic already!
410-332-7373
Dinner Monday through Saturday
Three to six courses $79-$124
65 decibels / Conversation is easy
2019
Top 10
Chiko
The chefs behind Chiko on Barracks Row add breathing room and lunch to their second location.
Dinner mains $8 -$18, snacks $3
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A Chinese-Korean alliance expands to Dupont
Just like the original fast-casual attraction on Capitol Hill, it’s a little Chinese, a little Korean and a lot delicious. Co-owners Scott Drewno and Danny Lee have another hit on their hands with their Dupont Circle spinoff, which benefits from all they learned on Barracks Row. There’s more space for the cooks to slice and dice before service, and the tables are free-standing rather than bolted to the floor, resulting in easier seating for groups in particular. Fans can count on finding the pork and kimchi pot stickers and cumin lamb stir-fry, plus some fresh ideas: cold noodles slicked with chile oil and crunchy with roasted peanuts, and a riff on shrimp toast that pairs wedges of crisp buttered ciabatta with springy diced shrimp in XO sauce. Dunk, dunk away. A perch at the four-seat, reservations-only counter puts you face to face with the cooks and pretty much gives you a taste of the whole menu. “I’ll be your sherpa tonight,” says a master of the wok. Then he entertains customers with a tiered tray of salads and other nibbles before offering chopped brisket and furikake butter on steamed rice and a finale of coconut custard with candied almonds and lime zest. The cherry on top of all the fun: Unlike its sibling, the offshoot does lunch.
202-331-3040
Dinner daily, lunch weekdays, brunch weekends
Dinner mains $8 -$18, snacks $3
76 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Chloe
Chef Haidar Karoum might have a second calling as a travel agent.
Sharing plates $12-$33
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Near Nationals Park, Chloe brings a world of flavors
One way to see the world is to book a table at Chloe. Roasted sweet corn spritzed with lime and scattered with queso fresco puts me on a street corner in Mexico City. Springy Bavarian sausage with vinegary sliced potatoes and mustard whisks me to Oktoberfest. Sumac-sprinkled hummus decked out with roasted mushrooms and slivered buttered almonds has me dreaming of the Middle East. Dessert is as delightful as any small plate before it. My pet of the moment is manchego cheesecake on shredded phyllo and crowned with a lemon-quince sorbet. The long list of hits, served in a light-filled room by genial guides, has only gotten better since chef Haidar Karoum set up shop near Nationals Park. My past two visits, he was nowhere in sight, a compliment to the cast who cook and plate as if he were front and center. Drinks? Dates? Just a bite? Chloe is great for any occasion.
202-313-7007
Dinner daily, brunch weekends
Sharing plates $12-$33
75 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Clarity
This is the kind of multifaceted destination you don’t expect in the suburbs.
Dinner mains $25-$37
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Clarity is a taste of the city in Vienna
One thing customers say they like about Jon Krinn’s Vienna destination: “It’s a D.C. restaurant that’s not in D.C.,” says the chef-owner. He’s a people-pleaser; listening to his guests has netted them cooking classes, tasting menus, private dining space, even a bourbon program. A late-summer dinner left me smiling. Testaments to Krinn’s talent: herbed shrimp interlocked above a froth flavored with smoked scallops, and ruddy venison with curried okra and charred sweet peppers. Isn’t it nice that his father bakes all the bread, just like when the son headlined at 2941 restaurant? The caveat: Clarity’s menu changes, every single day. So don’t expect to see a favorite dish next time. If some compositions taste as if they could use more time to rehearse, most compel you to clean your plate. Desserts by Liese Armstrong enjoy mass appeal. I’d recommend her chess pie with mango ice cream and vanilla shortbread, except it will have been replaced by the time you read this. Did I mention Clarity is also a tease?
703-539-8400
Dinner daily, lunch Tuesday through Friday
Dinner mains $25-$37
76 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Convivial
Cedric Maupillier just keeps inventing at this friendly French-American spot.
Dinner mains $18-$29
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Creativity helps Convivial shine in a competitive market
Times are tough. Competition is fierce. Diners want ever more, and chef Cedric Maupillier responded by introducing weekday lunch hours to his light-filled dining room. They’re considerate ones to boot: 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Yes, there’s a juicy cheeseburger with fab fries, but consider some of his more creative expressions. One is a baguette spread with Plugra butter and split cornichons, followed by a generous application of pale pink, delicately sweet Madrange ham from France. Sharing the plate are sensational housemade potato chips whose seductive tang and earthiness come from vinegar mixed with dried powdered mushrooms. Another draw, and a strapping one at that, puts braised pork butt and broccoli rabe atop whole-wheat pasta. On a lighter note, there’s excellent skate wing amandine splayed over crushed potatoes and green beans, better at night only because I might throw in a paloma to precede it and wine to follow.
202-525-2870
Dinner daily, lunch weekdays, brunch weekends
Dinner mains $18-$29
75 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
The Dabney
Jeremiah Langhorne’s ode to the region showcases prime ingredients.
Small plates $14-$28; family style plates $65-$105
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The Dabney brings depth and technique to Mid-Atlantic cuisine
En route to an ideal dish, chef Jeremiah Langhorne says he considers three things: seasonal ingredients, regional connection and the 10-foot-long hearth that dominates his open kitchen. All three pillars are in his refined Maryland crab soup. The tomatoes are lightly smoked for depth. Crab is added just before serving. The role of oyster cracker is played by okra, dusted with cornmeal and quickly fried. The bowl is perfect. There’s more where that comes from at the warmhearted Dabney: drinks of distinction, dips that keep you dunking, house-baked bread that finds you mopping, red peas bulked up with ham, and baked Virginia (think Alaska, but with peanut ice cream). Langhorne is a chef’s chef who never lets ego get in the way of prime ingredients. Yes, it’s loud and reservations are a challenge, but let me share my M.O.: Show up when the doors open for a shot at a bar stool.
202-450-1015
Dinner Tuesday through Sunday
Small plates $14-$28; family style plates $65-$105
80 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Del Mar
Fabio Trabocchi’s celebration of seafood is the Wharf’s most enchanting, indulgent and comforting restaurant.
Tapas $10-$26, mains $30-$34, large plates and paellas, $28-$195
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Del Mar sings a siren song of Spain
If you stuck to ordering anything red at this Spanish temple of haute cuisine, you’d do just fine. Make that thin slices of chorizo, served with bread that shatters at first bite; silken peppers swollen with crab and served in a moat of liquid sea urchin; maybe a glass of rosé to wash back the meal, along with any cares. Then again, you owe it to yourself to try some mussels, served in a tin and punched up with vinegar, and whatever fish is being offered. Simply grilled sea bass is divine in the company of a sprightly salad and a pot of romesco. The rooms are as beautiful as anything from the kitchen, which also makes superlative paella, and the attention is first-rate. But of course: Fabio and Maria Trabocchi stand behind the best restaurant at the Wharf.
202-525-1402
Dinner daily, lunch Tuesday through Friday, brunch weekends
Tapas $10-$26, mains $30-$34, large plates and paellas, $28-$195
78 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
El Sapo Cuban Social Club
Come for the pork and seafood, stay for the churros served with lemon whipped cream.
Dinner mains $22-$28, dishes for two $52-$56
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Merriment is on the menu at the lively El Sapo Cuban Social Club
It took him almost two decades, but Raynold Mendizábal is finally serving the food of his homeland. “I wanted to be a chef first, a Cuban chef second,” says the vision behind Urban Butcher in Silver Spring and this jumping dining room where a guitar player strums, cocktails show up in big coconut shells and glass garage doors roll up in good weather. Diners have friends in seafood and pork (and the servers who present them). Salt cod fritters are marvels, crisp and greaseless; roast pork is cooked to collapse and delicious with bitter orange and crisp panes of skin. The chef’s go-to main is mine, too: oxtails marinated in rum, hot peppers and soy sauce and finished with oregano and orange. The filling food doesn’t leave much space for dessert, but trust me: Sugar-dusted churros with lemon-lightened whipped cream are worth your while. One of the few downsides is the din. Elsewhere is better for a heart-to-heart or a catch-up with grandparents. Then again, this is a restaurant that makes you want to shout for joy, clap your hands or beat the conga drum at the entrance. Color me guilty.
8455 Fenton St., Silver Spring (entrance on Wayne Street)
301-326-1063
Dinner and happy hour daily
Dinner mains $22-$28, dishes for two $52-$56
85 decibels / Extremely loud
2019
Top 10
Elle
Fun and flavor have brought a lot of attention to Mount Pleasant.
Dinner mains $16-$30
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Elle offers a worthy bite any time of day
Was it obvious that food critics from all over the country were eating at the same table earlier this year? I hope we didn’t give ourselves away, what with all the plate swapping and picture taking. Then again, plenty of other customers were doing the same thing at the bustling Elle, where executive chef Brad Deboy continues to make some of the most delicious food in town. Warm biscuits served with house-smoked lamb bacon and pimento cheese? Be still our hearts. Scallops with fried black wild rice and an XO sauce coaxed from scallops, garlic and more? Let’s order another round. When the byline from Boston tipped a bowl of porky pozole verde into her mouth and caught her comrades laughing, she interrupted her slurping only to say, “I’m not apologizing.” My only regret was that it wasn’t me finishing the last of the broth, electric with lime, jalapeño and cilantro. Deboy definitely knows how to win over people who like the taste of meat but want to cut back. One of his excellent toasts suggests liver but uses madeira-flavored confit mushrooms, and one of his very good pastas is zesty with a “sausage” of fermented chickpeas fired up with fennel seed, garlic and chiles. No reservations? The green marble bar is a cozier alternative to the snug dining room. I never exit without a loaf of bread from the bakery case. For the road, it’s walnut-sage.
202-652-0040
Breakfast and lunch daily, dinner Wednesday through Monday
Dinner mains $16-$30
76 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Et Voila
You can't go wrong with the waffles, mussels with fries and an especially luscious hamburger.
Dinner mains $19-$36
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Classic, well-executed dishes keep a Belgian veteran ticking
My mom is such a fan that she requested this Belgian restaurant in the Palisades for her 90th birthday, where she would have ordered waffles (“the best!”) had only they been served at night. Me? I go for the superlative steamed mussels in a double-decker pot, the top of which is used for empty shells. My current pick involves a base of creamy red curry, resonating with lemongrass and ginger. But the stars of the show are the plump Dutch-style mussels themselves, which chef-owner Claudio Pirollo buys from a Belgian family in Maine. Eaten with crisp golden fries, the best around, the mussels make a joyful meal for just under $25. No one-trick pony, the restaurant checks off a number of boxes. Its hamburger is a tower of juicy Oregon beef and glossy toasted bun; its desserts run to such lovelies as floating island; and if you’re looking for privacy, this charmer, renovated two years ago, offers spaces in three sizes, my favorite of which is the tall, 10-seat chef’s table in the rear.
202-237-2300
Dinner daily, lunch Tuesday through Friday, brunch weekends
Dinner mains $19-$36
73 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Fancy Radish
The plant-based favorite from a Philadelphia team will make you rethink things like BLTs and fondue.
Small plates $12-$19
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Fancy Radish establishes its roots on H Street NE
No restaurant has more fun with vegetables than this joyful green dining room, whose every plate is so full of flavor, even the meat eaters in the crowd forget that every bite is plant-based. Fancy Radish might be the last place you’d expect to spot a charcuterie board, but look, ma, no ham! Instead, the spread embraces curls of carrots spiced like pastrami, smoked tofu in the role of a pâté and shredded kohlrabi, “creamy” as egg salad. Grilled corn, celery and peppers play well together in a warm salad topped with a crisp celery root fritter (one is not enough), and the reason you see so many noodles on the tables is because the dan dan noodles, numbing with Sichuan pepper, rock. Tofu paved with chermoula gets a dramatic contrast in smoked eggplant puree. The sips are great, as are the sweets, with summer captured in fine little sour cherry turnovers.
202-675-8341
Dinner Tuesday through Sunday
Small plates $12-$19
78 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Filomena
The 36-year-old Georgetown restaurant offers quality — and so much quantity.
Dinner mains $31-$50
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Filomena takes generosity to the extreme
The soup of the day could fill a tureen, and the pounded veal chop paved with tomato sauce and mozzarella is the size of a steering wheel. Trust me, you won’t go to a drive-through after a meal at this 36-year-old basement restaurant in Georgetown. Fortunately, there’s quality behind the quantity. A barge of fried calamari proves tender and crisp, and a brick of lasagna Bolognese could pass for home cooking. Owner JoAnna Filomena Chiacchieri says the portion sizes are reminiscent of those of her Ohio upbringing: “People worked harder in those days.” Need an icebreaker? No other restaurant in town acknowledges holidays and special occasions like this one; come December, every inch of space seems devoted to red garlands, silver tinsel and life-size plastic reindeer. Sure, you might hear “Happy Birthday” sung (over and over) during a meal, but there’s a good chance of a celeb sighting, too. The point: Filomena isn’t Olive Garden. It’s dearer.
202-338-8800
Dinner and lunch daily
Dinner mains $31-$50
75 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Fiola Mare
Everything is deliciously refined at Fabio Trabocchi's waterfront restaurant in Georgetown.
Dinner mains $22-$65
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This glamorous Italian seafood destination doesn't hold back
Up rolls a cart with a school of fish on ice, and onto our table goes sea robin on a giant silver, octopus-shaped platter. But not before our choice of fish has been carved into sashimi (and lit with ginger) and chopped into tartare (and spiced like ’nduja) back in the kitchen. The two-part appetizer makes a swell impression, like so much else at Fabio Trabocchi’s deluxe Italian seafood restaurant on the Georgetown waterfront. Even the dishes that everyone else does seem more refined in the hands of executive chef Anton Bolling. Spaghetti and clams (razor, Manila and surf) looks as if Prada styled it — along with the server’s dashing suit. Trout shares its plate with a corn-and-almond salad and rich corn juice fragrant with truffle paste. Looking for a vegetable to round out your meal? Spring for glossy sauteed spinach or the caramelized eggplant, sticky and delicious with (trend alert!) black garlic molasses. “Fabio’s favorite,” says a waiter. Your loss if you leave before dessert. Fiola Mare serves a dream of a tiramisu, crowned with chocolate sorbet and a dark chocolate tuile. Over the top, perhaps, but also elegant.
202-525-1402
Dinner daily, lunch Tuesday through Friday, brunch weekends
Dinner mains $22-$65
76 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Flamant
The bungalow gets an added dining room, making its luscious dishes more accessible.
Small plates $9-$14, large plates $22-$56
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Flamant blurs the line between Antwerp and Annapolis
Frederik De Pue prefers to take the road less traveled at his 65-seat bungalow-style restaurant in West Annapolis. When diners suggest he offer crab cakes, the chef responds with crab twists: Maryland blue crab and a suggestion of cilantro wrapped in thin pastry and fried to shatter in your mouth. “I like to be different than others,” says De Pue. His idea of a burger is duck confit flavored as if it were duck a l’orange and served with blue cheese and fabulous fries. Tile fish, spinach flan and leek “spaghetti” are a trio made more fascinating by the broken tomato dressing added at the table. “Eat them together,” a server coaches. The menu defies easy labeling; all I know is, I want one of everything on the list, which might include such luscious combinations as shredded braised pork on thin corn blini. (The crunch comes from pig tails.) The drinks are top-shelf, the service runs warm and knowledgeable, and a Nordic vibe prevails in the rear dining room, set off with skylights, animal-hide rugs, a fireplace and shelves of canned goods. Psst: The chef is known to gift his peach jam and pickled vegetables to patrons celebrating a special occasion.
410-267-0274
Dinner Tuesday through Saturday, lunch Tuesday through Friday
Small plates $9-$14, large plates $22-$56
84 decibels / Extremely loud
2019
Top 10
The Hitching Post
Chef Barry Dindyal kept the Southern favorites and added some of his own.
Mains $16-$28
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The Hitching Post still draws neighbors, five decades on
Fried chicken with a side of Luther Vandross? Count me in. Time mostly stands still at this 52-year-old Southern draw in Petworth, which changed hands seven years ago but retains the neighborly spirit instilled by original owners Al and Adrienne Carter, who now live above the dining room and bar they turned over to chef Barry Dindyal. His menu kept the crowd favorites, including pork chops and fried whiting, and grew to embrace his taste for Indian food. Hence the fried spinach with sweet yogurt and tamarind chutney, a hat tip to a previous employer, Rasika in Penn Quarter. Entrees come with a choice of two sides, making them good deals. The coleslaw and potato salad merit blue ribbons. And because Dindyal keeps pork out of the pot, his vegetarian customers can enjoy the collards, too.
202-726-1511
Dinner daily, lunch weekends
Mains $16-$28
70 decibels / Conversation is easy
2019
Top 10
I Ricchi
Christianne Ricchi is a daily presence at her downtown Tuscan restaurant.
Dinner mains $18-$40
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After 30 years, I Ricchi still offers the personal touch
There’s no single secret to a business lasting 30 years. But chef-owner Christianne Ricchi credits her Tuscan restaurant’s milestone to this: “We pay attention.” While it has grown to include more private dining space, I Ricchi looks pretty much how it did when it opened. Vines crawl around the butter-colored walls, and the oven, imported from Italy, remains a focal point. More important, the food remains delicious. Plenty of places serve fried calamari, but few make such an impression with so few ingredients: fresh seafood dredged in flour, crisped in clean oil and seasoned with nothing more than salt (although the tangy tomato sauce alongside makes a great dip). Come to think of it, a lot of dishes serve as role models: robust minestrone, enough for two; tagliarini adorned with a garden of vegetables and sweet little clams; veal chop pounded to plate-size, breaded and fried; and the divine, not-too-sweet tiramisu. The food tastes personal because it is; “from bread to gelato,” almost everything is made from scratch, says Ricchi, a daily presence. Meanwhile, her loyal staff feel free to be themselves. “Beep! Beep!” one says, signaling the arrival of an entree.
202-835-0459
Dinner Monday through Saturday, lunch weekdays
Dinner mains $18-$40
70 decibels / Conversation is easy
2019
Top 10
Il Pizzico
Enzo Livia’s restaurant has been satisfying Rockville neighbors for almost 30 years.
Dinner mains $17-$29
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Il Pizzico gives diners what they want: simple, good cooking
Hoping to be home at night, Enzo Livia opened his business — 29 years ago — as an Italian deli. A year in, customers told the Sicilian native they wanted to linger, and he turned the Rockville storefront into a first-come, first-served restaurant. Here’s to squeaky wheels and the chef who listened to them. Il Pizzico is a checklist of what diners want from a neighborhood restaurant. Bread, served with black olive tapenade, is warm. The dining rooms are softly lit and soundproofed. The cooking — sweet corvina kissed with lemon butter, bucatini tossed with pancetta and a kicky tomato sauce — is devoted to good ingredients, simply handled. The icing on the torta is suave service. “It’s been a good run so far,” says Livia. Here’s to decades more, and to the hope that the aioli-striped salmon croquettes and lemon cake with limoncello gelato — pure sunshine — live on.
301-309-0610
Dinner Monday through Saturday, lunch weekdays
Dinner mains $17-$29
70 decibels / Conversation is easy
2019
Top 10
The Inn at Little Washington
“Worth a special journey”? Thanks to Patrick O’Connell, of course it is.
$248 per person
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The stars align at the Inn at Little Washington
Coming off its Michelin coup last year (three rare stars!), the inn could be forgiven for resting on its laurels. But chef-owner Patrick O’Connell isn’t the type. The latest: He’s turning Little Washington’s post office into a bakery-cafe and adding a glass conservatory, with space for 90, to his tavern building across the street. With luck, both ideas should be ready next year. Meantime, the tried-and-true has only gotten better in the plushest of settings. The latest Good Earth menu is a particular flight of fancy. Among the best tartares out there is a mince of green beans from the inn’s garden next to a splotch of tomato vinaigrette, and a ruddy, rosemary-seasoned filet of beet (you read that right) lets vegetarians delight in the steakhouse experience. Creamed spinach shows up in a tiny pastry boat; barely there onion rings are sized for Barbie and Ken; and aren’t the pommes souffles scrumptious? First-timers should opt for the Enduring Classics menu. There’s a reason the herbed lamb loin with Caesar salad ice cream lives on here. The duo is sensational. Familiarity breeds contentment, but with plenty of visits under my belt, I lean toward the seasonal menu. Over summer it featured “star-kissed” bigeye tuna (flavored with juniper) alongside foie gras (cured in Courvoisier) in a tin wreathed in seaweed. Funny. But also fabulous. This being the inn, the contents in the can are splashed with black truffle vinaigrette.
540-675-3800
Dinner Wednesday through Monday
$248 per person
70 decibels / Conversation is easy
2019
Top 10
Jaleo
José Andrés’s tapas pioneer revels in consistent small plates and a buoyant vibe.
Small plates $3-$26, large plates and paellas $40-$65, tasting menus $55-$95
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Every night, Jaleo means fiesta
I know, I know, I’ve been singing its praises seemingly forever. But if there’s a better, all-purpose, more consistent place to eat in the heart of the city, I have yet to taste it. Specializing in Spanish tapas, the most senior of José Andrés’s restaurants has all demographics covered, from sworn carnivores and dedicated vegetarians to diners in search of deals. Respectively, those customers should check out housemade chorizo with olive oil-enriched mashed potatoes; the salad of apple, fennel and manchego cheese; and the three-course, pre-theater, Thursday-through-Sunday menu for $30. Then again, a patron can leave the choices to the kitchen with a sampling of popular dishes, starting at $55. Most impressive of all is how Jaleo continues to live up to its name after a quarter-century in business. Party on, amigos!
202-628-7949
Dinner daily, lunch weekdays, brunch weekends
Small plates $3-$26, large plates and paellas $40-$65, tasting menus $55-$95
77 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Johnny’s Half Shell
Forget the flavor of the minute and try Ann Cashion’s time-honored favorites.
Dinner mains, $27-$39; $2.50 per oyster, $29 per dozen
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If there’s a table open at Johnny’s Half Shell, grab it
Here’s where you’re most likely to find me on a rare night off, and not simply because I can get to Adams Morgan from home in about the time it takes to inspect my fridge and pronounce it bare. Co-owner Ann Cashion knocks balls out of the park with her Southern-minded cooking, be it crisp chicken wings paired with a cool dip, bright with tarragon, or a sweet-smoky grilled lobster whose kale-streaked spoonbread is reason enough to order the entree. No one makes a more elegant clam chowder or a richer crab cake than Cashion, whose weekend-only potatoes Anna should be required eating for food enthusiasts. The chocolate angel food might be tough, but caramel sauce comes to its rescue. A curved raised bar plays the role of a village pub and overlooks the brick-and-blue dining room, where co-owner John Fulchino glad-hands like a pol. Half Shell is full bliss.
202-506-5257
Dinner daily, oyster bar open at 4 p.m.
Dinner mains, $27-$39; $2.50 per oyster, $29 per dozen
83 decibels / Extremely loud
2019
Top 10
Kaz Sushi Bistro
Kaz Okochi serves impressive small plates and top-quality sushi.
Small plates $8-$17, sushi tasting plates $18-$43, rolls $5-$12, omakase $80-$120
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Kaz Sushi Bistro remains a choice retreat
Nostalgia drew me back to Kaz Okochi’s retreat near George Washington University. Two decades is an achievement, and I wanted to see how the Japanese eatery compared with its current competitors. While the chef-owner is more often in the dining room than behind the sushi counter these days, his small plates remain impressive. The best combinations are hot: clam tempura dipped in green tea salt, cabbage pancake drizzled with a barbecue sauce, and silken egg custard with foie gras and shrimp. Here for sushi? Okochi buys everything but his tuna whole before breaking down the fish in-house. Omakase (“chef’s choice”) is the path of least resistance and offers a taste of the market’s best. With luck, your little feast might include amberjack sparked with yuzu and ginger, lobster bound with wasabi mayonnaise, and striped bass with a dot of intense tomato, the last combination underscoring the chef’s interest in Europe. For dessert, make it tiramisu — tinted a shade of spring with green tea, and a lovely marriage between East and West.
202-530-5500
Dinner Monday through Saturday, lunch weekdays
Small plates $8-$17, sushi tasting plates $18-$43, rolls $5-$12, omakase $80-$120
69 decibels / Conversation is easy
2019
Top 10
Kinship
Eric Ziebold's dinner party as a restaurant will make anyone feel right at home.
Plates $13-$38, sharing plates $25-$80
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Expect a warm welcome at Kinship
Great chefs tend to be frugal. Look at Eric Ziebold, who buys baby lamb for its rack and saddle, which he features at the exclusive Métier, then uses the lesser parts here at its street-level sibling. Long story short: Order the liver and onions, a runaway hit that pairs slices of roseate liver, a crown of golden tempura onion rings and a gastrique made with lamb kidney, heart and bacon. Fear not. You don’t have to like innards to love Kinship. Ziebold and company also do lovely things with chicken and fish. Chicken confit plumps crisp phyllo rolls, circled with a marmalade of eggplant and red peppers. Sauteed porgy sails to the table on a pale yellow emulsion of grapes and almonds, the plate dressed up with racy little chorizo puffs that make gougeres seem dull. “Summer is my favorite season,” says Ziebold, schooled by Thomas Keller. An icy welcome of herbed tomato granita and a finish of sweet corn chiboust, light as a souffle and presented with basil-blackberry ice cream, has us lapping up the sentiment.
202-737-7700
Dinner daily
Plates $13-$38, sharing plates $25-$80
73 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Kith/Kin
Whether you are familiar with Afro-Caribbean cooking or not, Kith/Kin’s dishes will delight you.
Dinner plates $15-$32, large plates $29-$65
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Kwame Onwuachi is cooking up a cuisine entirely his own
Not since the much-missed Wazuri delighted us with lentil-banana-mussel salad and braised lamb draped in peanut sauce in Dupont Circle has a restaurant so thoroughly delivered on the Afro-Caribbean experience. The name? Kin represents family and tradition and Kith stands for friends and improvisation, says chef Kwame Onwuachi, the culinary ambassador behind some of the most engaging food in the city. Like a lot of chefs, he’s riding the “everything spice” bandwagon with one of his salads: multihued carrots scattered with savory granola and atop a habanero-hot puree of the smoked vegetable. Love the look. Dig the fire. Unlike his peers, the Bronx native with ties to Jamaica, Nigeria and elsewhere is offering combinations many of us haven’t seen in too long, or ever. Monkfish sits in a zesty red stew with a white ball of fufu. Shaped from cassava and green plantain flour, fufu is what West Africans know as a “swallow” meant to eat with the main event. My kind of sponge. Goat, my favorite red meat, shows up in one of the liveliest green curries around, while tamarind tames the sweetness in pecan pie. People who are well versed in African cooking are coming to the hotel dining room in droves, first on mission patrol, later with family in tow, says Onwuachi, 29. He says nothing gives him greater pleasure than to see “a twinkle in the eyes of parents” who share his ancestry and a love for well-made tradition, which this is — and my clean plate proves.
202-878-8566
Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily
Dinner plates $15-$32, large plates $29-$65
72 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Komi
With Johnny Monis at the helm, just sit back and enjoy the ride.
$165 per person
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Komi’s wonders never cease
Johnny Monis doesn’t deal in foie gras or Frette linens. First-timers to his modern Greek restaurant might be surprised to be seated at a bare wood table in a spare dining room. But then the food starts coming — always a bite of steamed brioche shimmering with orange trout roe, followed in summer by a bite of watermelon sealed in fig honey and a pickle fritter garnished with peach — and there’s no question you’re immersed in fine dining. Any menu comes at the close of dinner, so the many courses are all surprises. And utter delights. String beans and sweet crab star in an unforgettable salad, ravioli with corn places you right in a summer field, and grilled amberjack collar is seasoned as if the fish were shawarma. Regulars know to pace themselves for the main event, sometimes lamb shoulder trailed by pillowy housemade pita and a swarm of delicious condiments. Huckleberry sorbet and a sourdough waffle bring the night to a lovely conclusion. Get the eclectic wine pairing if only to enjoy more face time with some of the most engaging hosts anywhere.
202-332-9200
Dinner Tuesday through Saturday
$165 per person
75 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
La Betty
Its classy comfort food includes corn dogs, chicken schnitzel and cheesecake.
Dinner mains $15-$26
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La Betty brings the family dinner into the 21st century
A state fair could learn something from the model corn dogs here. Stouffer’s could take a lesson from the twice-baked potato. From the family that brought good coffee and pastries to Georgetown with Baked & Wired and better bread to Mount Vernon Triangle with A Baked Joint comes a welcoming restaurant that bridges the gap between fast-casual and fancy. The drill: “food you might have at home or from a good cook at a dinner party,” says Tessa Velazquez, the operations manager whose mother, Teresa, is the talent behind the dreamy deviled eggs, model chicken schnitzel and Washington’s best cheesecake. Paved with sweetened sour cream, the wedge is flanked with a house-baked graham cracker to scoop up the berry garnish du jour. (Go elsewhere for ribs, though. La Betty’s can be dry.) Teresa’s husband, Tony, and son, Zak, get credit for the place’s look, inspired by family trips to Berlin. African mahogany covers the ceiling; indirect lighting casts a glow over the interior, outfitted with a handsome communal table. The restaurant is based on the chef’s German-Irish grandmother, says Tessa, but could be anyone: “We all have a Betty in our lives, someone who makes a kick-ass dinner.” In Washington, that’s her mom.
202-408-8000
Dinner Wednesday through Monday
Dinner mains $15-$26
75 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
La Limeña
Sure, there's charcoal chicken, but that's only the beginning of the journey.
Dinner mains $9-$21
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Travel to Cuba and Peru by way of Rockville
It’s possible to be in two places at once. Doubt me? You haven’t eaten at the lively, family-run Rockville storefront whose menu offers the cooking of Cuba and Peru. You’ll crave chicken before you’ve even been seated, having been teased by the flock on display near the glass-fronted entrance. Rubbed with cumin and garlic and charcoal grilled, the chicken is a mash note to Lima, even more so in the company of yucca fried so the outside is crisp and the center fluffy. Havana is nicely represented by winy, tomato-sweetened shredded beef, a classic ropa vieja served in an edible basket of plantain slices. The black beans could use more oomph, and tilapia isn’t my first choice for tiradito, a cross between sashimi and ceviche amped up here with pureed celery, shrimp and hot sauce and subdued with sweet potato cooked in orange juice. But the scores outnumber the slips. Picture frothy pisco sours; croquettes made luscious with chicken, cilantro and rice; and spirited rice pudding, swirled with port-swollen raisins. The young servers couldn’t be more vigilant. Nod when they drop by, armed with squirt bottles, if you want more (wild) green or (mild) yellow chile sauce — flavor boosters that will turn you into a Peruvian fan if you weren’t already.
301-424-2733
Dinner and lunch daily
Dinner mains $9-$21
75 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
La Piquette
A French native brings passion and precision to his cozy yet buzzy bistro.
Dinner mains $24-$55
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La Piquette serves food worth lingering over
Francis Layrle is used to cooking for discerning palates. At the French Embassy, the Gascon native fed seven ambassadors. “I was doing what I wanted to do: looking for the best products,” says the chef, who arrived in 1973 and took over this kitchen near Washington National Cathedral five years ago. “Now, same thing: I’m looking for the best products.” When he can get it, there’s Dover sole, procured, he says, from “two little boats” that fish the waters in northern Denmark. Amish farmers from Pennsylvania bring him young carrots, watercress, delicate goat cheese and parsley root, which Layrle likes to use in soup. “I love vegetables,” he says, and a recent salad confirms: Sliced golden beets, tangy leeks and sumac-dusted yogurt make for an interesting concert. Diners, many of them neighbors, head to the cozy bistro anticipating boudin blanc with soft roasted apples, juicy lamb T-bone steak, floating island. Then they linger, despite the cramped tables and the clamor. “There’s magic in the place around 6:30,” says Layrle, “a buzz that’s hard to explain.” The staff seems to know most everyone by name, people are air-kissing, and isn’t it nice to be served warm bread and see champagne, the real deal, offered by the glass? Magic indeed.
202-686-2015
Dinner daily, lunch Tuesday through Friday, brunch weekends
Dinner mains $24-$55
74 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Le Diplomate
The perennial favorite serves textbook examples of the cuisine’s trademark dishes.
Dinner mains $18-$52
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Le Diplomate is a convincing piece of France on 14th Street
As many as 2,000 diners pass through this 300-seat behemoth on weekends. The numbers (and noise!) are impressive, but no more remarkable than the French cooking. If you’re on the hunt for textbook-perfect escargots, shellfish towers or beef bourguignon, step inside, preferably to the light-filled rear garden room facing the sidewalk. The fluffy rolled omelet is in a class by itself, so well-executed that chefs in the Philadelphia-based Starr Restaurants group cycle through to learn. Minor things yield major dividends. Kids are entertained with menus they can color on, and the house-baked breads, including Paris-worthy baguettes, are basically a course in themselves. “Are you enjoying the flavors?” a server asks. Plates subsequently scraped clean of lamb couscous and apple tarte tatin must make executive chef Greg Lloyd as joyeux as his audience.
202-332-3333
Dinner daily, lunch friday, brunch weekends
Dinner mains $18-$52
84 decibels / Extremely loud
2019
Top 10
Little Serow
Johnny Monis’s second restaurant rewards the adventurous with funky flavors and VIP treatment.
$54 per person
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Little Serow will fire you up about Thai food
“Is it really that good?” a stranger asks me outside. He has never been to the tiny Thai creation of Komi chef Johnny Monis, but tonight’s the night and he knows he has to stand in line for a shot at the first seating when the shade goes up — at exactly 5:30. “Do you eat meat, nuts and fire?” I ask the man. He nods, and I tell him he’s in for a treat. Little Serow doesn’t customize its family-style menu for anyone; diners need to go into the pistachio-green bunker with an open palate. But the rewards are rich. Dinner begins with cut vegetables for dipping in a funky dip of salted fish and green chile and typically ends with a luscious little sweet, maybe a coconut chew. The rest of the night might find recipients grooving on slices of pork sausage shot through with tropical herbs; chicken “bits” (liver included) in a salad that takes you to the edge with its fire; fried tofu, peanuts and a fistful of mint tossed in a spicy coconut dressing; and whiskey-bathed, dill-seasoned pork ribs whose meat falls off the bone at the touch of a tine — or finger. The lovely servers encourage you to dig in and get messy. I should have corrected the stranger on the sidewalk. Little Serow isn’t merely good, it’s great.
No phone
Dinner Tuesday through Saturday
$54 per person
85 decibels / Extremely loud
2019
Top 10
Makeda
The Alexandria restaurant excels at what you know but expands on what you don't.
Dinner mains $9-$17, combo dishes $26
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Makeda takes Ethiopian food to unexpected places
No, not all Ethiopian restaurants are cooking from the same set of recipes. Take Makeda, its name a reference to the biblical Queen of Sheba. While the storefront does a nice job with the dishes you can find at the competition — sambusas stuffed with lentils or ground beef, the chicken stew known as doro wat — chef Senait “Mimi” Tedla ventures outside the box with such novelties as kategna. Based on tangy injera, kategna is red with a combination of oil and awaze, Ethiopia’s answer to hot sauce, and white with crumbly cottage cheese. Your hands will get messy, but your stomach will be happy. Kitfo is as ubiquitous as Amharic in Ethiopian restaurants. Whereas the pack serves only spiced beef tartare, however, the arty Makeda offers an enlightened version featuring minced tuna lubricated with olive oil, fragrant with cardamom and fiery with mitmita. The service hasn’t improved much since my original review. It’s still hesitant. But the vegetarian dishes are as compelling as ever, and the $25 Taste of Makeda is a platter full of fun detours. Cubed lean beef tossed with shredded garlicky collards and eaten with folds of injera is an especially nice landing spot.
571-312-7606
Dinner and lunch daily
Dinner mains $9-$17, combo dishes $26
69 decibels / Conversation is easy
2019
Top 10
Marcel’s
Robert Wiedmaier’s flagship French restaurant specializes in luxurious civility.
Four to six courses $75-$155
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If you need tranquility, you need Marcel’s
One of the best antidotes to the incivility of Washington: dinner in the dining room named for owner Robert Wiedmaier’s son, soon to turn 21, just like the French-inspired restaurant. My original review of Marcel’s reads much like today’s. A meal unfolds leisurely and luxuriously with the help of servers better dressed than you are, a generous scoop of caviar topping your amuse-bouche, thick linens across the tables and background music that you notice but that never takes away from conversation. The most exciting change? A kitchen with more girl power. (Three of the four sous-chefs are women.) The format lets you order four to six courses from the range of the menu. Consider scallops topped with diced pear and trailing precise dots of sour apple gel; scored foie gras displayed on peach cremeux and pâte brisee; arctic char teetering above bright, two-toned pepper coulis; and a venison chop with quenelles of sweet potato puree and a garnish of huckleberries — haute stuff right through dessert.
202-296-1166
Dinner daily
Four to six courses $75-$155
64 decibels / Conversation is easy
2019
Top 10
Market Lunch
Obey the rules, and you’ll be rewarded with textbook fried fish, top-notch pancakes and more.
Mains $5-$27
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Two D.C. institutions: Market Lunch and its lines
An institution as vital to Washington as those buildings lining the Mall, Market Lunch inside Eastern Market has fed and watered customers since 1978. Fans go for the tender blueberry-buckwheat pancakes at breakfast and fried fish or crab cakes — or both — come lunch. They also know there’s probably a line trailing from the counter, where owner Tom Glasgow dispenses advice and accepts only cash. Posted rules conjure a brusque New York deli but make possible a perch around the single tall table. (“No reading of newspapers or laptops when we are crowded,” goes one.) The crab cakes, crusty on the surface, hint of dry mustard and cayenne. The centers are so creamy, you hardly need tartar sauce, although the housemade condiment is lovely. Dredged in cornmeal, rockfish and whiting turn gold, crisp and steamy after a swim in canola oil. Platters and combination plates come with bread and two sides; hand-cut french fries and collards made sans meat tend to round out my meals. Expect to find locals and tourists, worker bees and VIPs, at one of the most democratic draws in town.
202-547-8444
Breakfast and lunch Tuesday through Sunday
Mains $5-$27
77 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Maydan
Rose Previte’s carnival of a restaurant just keeps getting better.
Small plates $6-$22, large plates $35-$48
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At Maydan, the cooking is on fire
Can you make a meal from condiments? This firelit hideaway from Rose Previte (Compass Rose) suggests it’s possible. Really, the only way to improve on Maydan’s harissa, tahina, chermoula, garlic whip and tomato jam would be to add floppy flatbread from a clay oven. Done! Of course, there’s more to explore: dishes influenced by Morocco, Lebanon, Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East, many of which appear on the $75 fixed-price menu designed for groups. Spring for herbed-and-honeyed halloumi and a mash of charred eggplant and tomatoes. Fall for the sizzling shrimp, crazy-good with dried lime and chile. Is the shredded cabbage with dried mint a lot saltier than last time? It is. But I take solace in a bowl of zesty and creamy chickpeas pushed by my bartender. “I don’t even want to tell you how much butter is in there,” she says. Book well in advance or be prepared to stand in line. The only thing I can guarantee is a good time.
202-370-3696
Dinner daily
Small plates $6-$22, large plates $35-$48
76 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Minibar by José Andrés
This team of chef-wizards will delight and amaze you -- for a price.
$275 per person, not including drink pairing
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Minibar takes fun into the future
The day I get too jaded for Minibar is the day I turn in my taste buds. Of all the progressive restaurants out there, this one, set in a food lab with a new curved cherry wood counter that brings you closer to a legion of cooks, is the headiest. The menu consists of almost 30 small dishes, many of them wonderful, all of them thought-provoking. Danishes are sweet, right? Not at Minibar, where the pastry is flavored with truffles and lemon and presented as a saucer that’s light as air. The kitchen spins airy-crisp “chicharron” from freeze-dried soy sauce (then tops the curls with a guacamole sharpened with wasabi) and cranks beautiful greens out of a little snow machine, resulting in the season’s most exhilarating salads. Rosemary sprigs are burned on a little rock formation that includes snails sharing their shells with ham consommé and tapioca, a flavor designed to evoke Catalan rice. Baby corn is transformed into tablespoons of the most exquisite risotto imaginable, gilded with caviar and gold leaf. Guests move from dining room to the adjoining Barmini for dessert, where a Suessian “tree” displays desserts, including “leaves” made from caramelized yogurt and lemon verbena and a marshmallow “caterpillar” sweetened with passion fruit. The parade of food will definitely make you laugh and possibly make you cry — tears of joy, of course.
202-393-0812
Dinner Tuesday through Saturday
$275 per person, not including drink pairing
73 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Nostos
The food and scenery will transport you far from the Tysons location.
Small plates $8-$18, large plates $23-$39
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Nostos brings you closer to the Greek islands
Greece remains on my bucket list. Meantime, I trek to Tysons for the sunshine and seafood I expect I’ll encounter when I make it to the cradle of Western civilization. If there’s a lighter taramasalata out there, I have yet to taste it. The restaurant’s whip of fish roe, lemon juice and olive oil, scooped up with warm pita, could pass for a cloud. Nostos is where I also come for whole fish, typically sweet-fleshed branzino, filleted by a server with surgical precision and presented with horta — pleasantly bitter boiled greens — and roast potatoes kissed with lemon and oregano. You’ll be greeted by someone who acts as if they’ve been expecting your company and led to a linen-dressed table where the walls are dressed with black and white photographs of fishermen or famous faces (Anthony Quinn mid-dance) from earlier times. Strategically placed olive branches and a palette of white and gray whisper “Greece,” as do lamb ribs propped up with smoky eggplant salad, and a wedge of tender orange cake. General manager Angela Pagonis says her family has a vision: “We want to bring Greece here.” Sure enough, meals at Nostos edge diners closer to the islands.
703-760-0690
Dinner Monday through Saturday, lunch Tuesday through Friday
Small plates $8-$18, large plates $23-$39
74 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Old Ebbitt Grill
The Victorian-inspired restaurant sets the bar for oysters, and does plenty more right, too.
Dinner mains $15-$37
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Old Ebbitt Grill keeps pulling them in, year after year
A menu with mass appeal and the Treasury as a neighbor help pull in the crowds: Seafood is the best bet, but it keeps company with burgers, chicken fettuccine and roasted cauliflower presented as a main course — and pretty much around the clock. As area director of operations David Moran says, the Victorian-inspired saloon and restaurant is “for everyone and every time.” Founded in 1856 and in its current location since 1983, Old Ebbitt sets the bar for oysters, which budgeteers can enjoy during twice-a-day happy hours and which come with an Oyster Eater’s Bill of Rights. The kitchen also does well by fried calamari, tossed with pickled cherry peppers, and crusty crab cakes, served with creamy coleslaw and hand-cut fries — impressive for a place that attracts more than 1 million visitors a year. Not every dish is a winner — shepherd’s pie tastes like meatloaf soup — but this business puts the customer first, be it with handsome salt and pepper shakers or a bartender who offers a handshake, asks your name and remembers it when you leave. No wonder it sold $33 million in food and drink last year, or that Graham Holdings Co. recently bought its parent, Clyde’s Restaurant Group. “We buy well-established businesses that are profitable,” says chairman Donald Graham, former CEO of The Washington Post Co., and “run by people who would like to remain.” Long live Old Ebbitt.
202-347-4800
Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily, brunch weekends
Dinner mains $15-$37
77 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Pesce
A down-to-earth dining room serves up soft-shelled crabs, skate and more.
Small plates $10-$16, sharing plates $26-$38
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There's no better fish house in Washington than Pesce
Before he came to Pesce in Dupont Circle five years ago, Andrew LaPorta was best known for his deep-fried pork shank at Biergarten Haus on H Street NE. “I was a meat guy,” he says. “I was scared to death. What was I going to do with fish?” Plenty of wonderful things, as diners would discover. Fried soft-shell crabs with a salad as sharp as anything I’ve encountered in Southeast Asia. Walleye in a crust of walnuts. Skate displayed on ruffled housemade potato chips. There’s no finer fish house in Washington than Pesce, where the menu is written on a roving chalkboard and the utensils bear the shapes of sea creatures. Old-timers will be pleased that LaPorta, who bought the restaurant from Regine Palladin two years ago, has retained some classics; the sardines, treated to butter and garlic on the grill, are as sublime as ever, as is the grilled calamari, which benefits from a marinade of thyme, rosemary and olive oil (and whose ink goes into the sauce). LaPorta wants customers to know Pesce is the opposite of snooty. “We want people to come in, hang out and not feel rushed.” Also: “no foams, no airs.” For real. The cooking is more about ingredients than ego, and if you’re looking for meat, you’re out of luck. LaPorta is all about fish these days. Lucky us.
202-466-3474
Dinner daily, lunch weekdays
Small plates $10-$16, sharing plates $26-$38
75 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Punjab Grill
Your eyes and stomach have lots to feast on at this sumptuous Indian spot.
Dinner mains $24-$38
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Punjab Grill has style but plenty of substance, too
Hands down, it’s the most sumptuous place to eat gol gappa in the city. Scan the interior — the marble bar inlaid with mother-of-pearl, the hand-carved wooden screens, the party room shimmering in mirrors — and you can see where owner Karan Singh sunk $5 million. But the modern Indian restaurant isn’t just a shiny bauble. Chef Jaspratap Bindra sees to it that the feast for the eyes extends to the plates: tiger prawns tingling with lemon, ginger and green chiles; goat biryani in a glass globe filled with onion-laced, saffron-tinted basmati rice; and breads of distinction. Fanciful displays occasionally trump flavor, and servers have a tendency to upsell diners with caviar and other supplements, but you have to admire a place that dresses its waitstaff in designer uniforms and etches its logo into the ice in your glass.
202-813-3004
Dinner daily, lunch weekdays, brunch Sunday
Dinner mains $24-$38
79 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Queen’s English
This Hong Kong-inspired spot in Columbia Heights has mastered its formula.
Dinner mains $13-$24
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Sometimes all you need is nice people and good food
2019 will go down as a great year for couples who run restaurants together. Aren’t we all eating up Mama Chang, Rooster & Owl, Thompson Italian and Queen’s English? The last combines the talents of chef Henji Cheung and host Sarah Thompson in a Columbia Heights dining room with fewer than 40 seats. You may have to wait for a table, but the owners make it worth the effort. Nice people bring interesting things to eat and drink. Steamed clams strewn with crumbled pork and smoky peppers are a delicious childhood memory for the chef, a native of Hong Kong. Lamb ribs seasoned with cracked peppercorns and countered with pickled red onions turn out to have an affinity for a naturally fermented Chilean wine suggested by a server. (Just like she says, it smells like an old book but delights with red berry flavors.) Hand-cut noodles are a must. White on one side and black on the other, they play well together in a dish of charred squid and Chinese celery. Fried rice is nothing like the usual sad carryout. Cheung makes his version special with, among other details, toasted dried shrimp and Chinese black mushrooms. Pop and mom know what they’re doing.
No phone
Dinner Tuesday through Saturday
Dinner mains $13-$24
74 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Rasika
Traditional or not, old or new, Vikram Sunderam’s food delights.
Dinner mains $14-$36
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Rasika sets the standard
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: No journey fascinates me more than India. In a nutshell, that explains my unabashed affection for the cooking at the crosstown siblings from veteran restaurateur Ashok Bajaj. While the restaurant scene has gained from more Indian competitors of late, no chef has surpassed Vikram Sunderam’s finesse or flavors. Rasika in Penn Quarter is the senior of the two, dressed in sheer curtains and featuring a chef’s counter backed by a wall of spices. New to the lineup: floppy-crisp dosa filled with shredded goat, diced beets with fresh coconut and curry leaves, and turmeric-kissed scallops brightened with a light lemon sauce. The breads at both rank among the best around; the same can be said of the service.
202-637-1222
Dinner daily, lunch weekdays.
Dinner mains $14-$36
75 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Rasika West End
The younger sibling to the Penn Quarter institution serves up a flashier vibe.
Dinner mains $14-$36
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On the West End, a Rasika in its own right
If I were writing a gossip column rather than food reviews, I’d probably have a standing reservation at the younger of the two Rasika restaurants. The list of repeat customers is basically a who’s who of politics (the Obamas, the Clintons, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner); business (Bill Gates, Howard Schultz); and assorted glitterati (Mick Jagger, Julia Roberts). Fortunately, the food turns heads, too. Rasika West End, where diners eat under a faux tree and Sunday brunch gets served, is the hipper of Ashok Bajaj’s similarly named draws. Pulling me in this season are a soft duck pâté with foie gras, peppery shrimp curry, and paneer stuffed with crushed nuts and served with a thick cloak of yogurt and spices. (But eggy French toast with minced chicken? I’ll pass.)
202-466-2500
Dinner daily, lunch weekdays, brunch Sundays
Dinner mains $14-$36
76 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Red Hen
Lucky are the Bloomingdale residents and visitors who can snag a reservation.
Dinner mains $19-$32
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Red Hen is the best kind of neighborhood restaurant
The model for the Red Hen wasn’t one restaurant, but the places Mike Friedman ate in as a younger chef: Zuni Cafe in San Francisco, Lucques in Los Angeles, River Cafe in London — “all owned by women,” he points out. The only question I had after my last meal in Bloomingdale was why it had been so long between visits. Red Hen is the ideal neighborhood community center, after all, dressed with a welcoming bar, lit with honey in mind and warmed by a wood-stoked oven that does wonderful things to chicken, among other dishes. Toast with Sicilian anchovies, radishes and sweet butter is a blissful Act 1. Follow it with pasta, maybe mafalde with melted leeks, wild mushrooms and herby bread crumbs. Reservations are hard to come by. The good news: Friedman says he keeps up to 40 percent of his tables for walk-ins and reminds us that the 18-seat bar is first come, first served.
202-525-3021
Dinner daily
Dinner mains $19-$32
81 decibels / Extremely loud
2019
Top 10
Rose’s Luxury
Aaron Silverman’s original now takes limited reservations.
Small plates $13-$15, pastas $18, family style $36
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Rose's Luxury remains full of surprises
Let everybody else serve fried green tomatoes. Rose’s Luxury uses a Japanese mandoline to make ribbons of the fruit — some raw, some pickled — then shapes them into an alluring “panzanella” with the support of croutons, anchovies and torn basil. Oysters on the half shell are as easy to find as robes at the Supreme Court. But when’s the last time you knocked back a brand called Happy (from Sapidus Farms in Virginia) and had them with a bracing granita fueled with Fresno peppers? Chef-owner Aaron Silverman and crew continue to come up with new tricks at his first and most famous restaurant on Capitol Hill. Monkey bread is upgraded with cheese and pepper: “cacio e pepe,” after the Italian pasta. The actual noodles in this two-story fun house are wonderful, too. Here’s hoping you get to twirl strozzapreti with a winning trio of ’nduja, honey and pecorino. Over summer, Silverman quietly launched a catering company, Roses at Home, that mines the menus of his restaurants, including the wine bar Little Pearl and the high-end Pineapple and Pearls. Already I’m plotting to have litchis, pork sausage, habanero and peanuts in the comfort of my own nest.
202-580-8889
Dinner Monday through Saturday
Small plates $13-$15, pastas $18, family style $36
80 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Sababa
The Israeli spot particularly succeeds with vegetables.
Small plates $7-$10, kebabs $14, large plates $20-$26
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It will make you feel far away, but Sababa is all about the here and now
When Ryan Moore tells you he’s into fermentation, he’s not kidding. The kombucha-obsessed chef counts about 65 hot sauces in his walk-in at Sababa, which features the vegetable-rich cuisine of Israel and other Middle Eastern countries, a repertoire of dishes that have been gathering steam at destination restaurants around the country. Never been? The hummus is divine, especially when topped with juicy braised lamb. And grilled chicken thighs make for a memorable kebab, presented on yellow rice framed with tomatoes and peppers. But the main reason I keep coming back is for the best bastilla in memory. A round of crisp phyllo bursts with potatoes, onions, nuts and mushrooms, spiced with cumin and cinnamon. This is one of the most joyful dishes around, and it’s vegetarian. The interior plays the part of a faraway restaurant, dressed with sails of cloth overhead, strategically placed palm fronds and lights that suggest it’s after 8. (The room is nicely dim.) Moore’s sense of humor slips into a new dish of cured lamb heart over sauerkraut made from shredded broccoli stems and mustard. Does it taste like the deli of your dreams? The play on pastrami aims to be.
202-244-6750
Dinner daily, brunch weekends
Small plates $7-$10, kebabs $14, large plates $20-$26
72 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Sfoglina
Fabio Trabocchi’s most approachable option is popping up in more neighborhoods.
Small plates $10-$26, pastas $19-$24, entrees $22-$28
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Sfoglina celebrates pasta, but that’s not where it ends
There are pasta houses, and there’s Sfoglina, Fabio Trabocchi’s glam response to our affection for Italian noodles. Both branches come with singular charms. The Van Ness original, watched over by chef Erin Clarke, counts a cozy pasta-making room that can go private at night; the downtown spinoff, helmed by chef Chris Watson, is dressed with a long stretch of bar where I could see myself becoming a regular. (Just open this month: a third location, in Rosslyn.) The menus are similarly delicious. Calling to me are agnolotti stuffed with herbed goat cheese and brightened with flowers, and shells that catch their topping of pancetta, escarole and sunny egg so that every bite delivers carbonara bliss. You’ll want to start with a drink and “nibble”: anchovies on buttered toast for something light, fluffy meatballs in a moat of polenta for something heartier. In the “not pasta” corner waits a crisp-edged veal cutlet, fragrant with sage. No room for dessert? Take something home. Chocolate cake with hazelnuts and chocolate ganache is a bar raiser — and a welcome sight during a midnight refrigerator raid.
1099 New York Ave. NW (downtown); 4445 Connecticut Ave. NW (Van Ness)
202-525-1402
Dinner daily, lunch weekdays (downtown); dinner daily, lunch Tuesday through Friday, brunch weekends (Van Ness)
Small plates $10-$26, pastas $19-$24, entrees $22-$28
70 decibels / Conversation is easy
2019
Top 10
St. Anselm
Marjorie Meek-Bradley respects the beef but also the biscuits, seafood and side dishes.
Dinner mains $23-$48
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A steakhouse that's not just for meat eaters
My favorite steakhouse in Washington — and not just because of what comes off the grill or buttermilk biscuits with pimento cheese. Dressed as if a few generations of diners had been frequenting the place, breezy St. Anselm also aces its side dishes (shelling bean salad made me wish I could prolong summer) and offers an international wine list that’s playful and considered. Chef Marjorie Meek-Bradley treats fish and seafood with the respect accorded beef, pork and lamb. See: clams draped in chartreuse sauce and tuna framed with watermelon radishes and pickled chanterelles. If you’re here for meat, however, great for you. The chef does wonderful things with lesser cuts in particular. New to her menu is a superb skirt steak using Meyer’s beef from Colorado and lightened with a sungold tomato vinaigrette. P.S. The service rocks, and so do desserts. If you were going to design the ideal steakhouse, it might taste a lot like this.
202-864-2199
Dinner daily, brunch weekends
Dinner mains $23-$48
80 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Sushi Nakazawa
In the back of the Trump International Hotel, find an exceptional sushi counter.
Omakase $120 at a table, $150 at the counter
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Sushi Nakazawa amazes and excites
The most controversial sushi counter in Washington is one of its most fascinating. An import from New York, where a chef from the documentary “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” holds court, the spinoff at the back of the Trump International Hotel is in the superb hands of head chef Masaaki Uchino. The best place to catch his show is at his 10-stool counter. Guests are not offered a menu, just hot towels and drinks. Every course is a surprise. Some nights might launch with three bites of nigiri that show off salmon — sockeye whispering of smoke is a favorite — followed by aged scallop sushi that hides fire in its seasoning: yuzu kosho. Cured pickled gizzard shad, we learn, is among the most ancient sushi preparations, dating to the 18th century; we tease tiger prawns out of red shells to reveal warm, sweet and succulent flesh. While you’re consuming one dish, another is being prepared. Watching the cooks set up a flight of lean-to-fatty tuna, then marveling at their range of flavors, is akin to attending a master class at sea.
202-289-3515
Dinner and lunch Monday through Saturday
Omakase $120 at a table, $150 at the counter
61 decibels / Conversation is easy
2019
Top 10
Sushi Taro
Nobu Yamazaki directs a symphony of flavors at his six-seat counter.
Kaiseki tasting $100-$180 per person, omakase starts at $180
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At Sushi Taro, you’re in good hands
No area chef brings me closer to Tokyo than Nobu Yamazaki, whose performance at the six-seat wooden counter on the second floor is the culinary equivalent of a maestro directing an orchestra. Of all the area’s fine-dining venues, this one takes us on the most affordable journey: 10 courses, featuring classical and contemporary ideas, start at $180 a person. My last feast remains etched in my mind. First, a fluffy, one-bite pâté made with monkfish liver and sticky yam. Next, a Kumamoto oyster with banana and anchovy, a startling combination that the palate ultimately green lights. “Not very fresh,” the chef says, handing over slices of tuna the color of tar. His smile signals you’ll become a fan of fish pressed with dried tomato and aged for a couple weeks, resulting in a beefy texture and lovely tang. More old-school is rice bundled in persimmon leaf and hiding luscious cured butterfish. The meal unfolds like a good story, quiet moments followed by dramatic ones. The highlight is when Yamazaki and his co-chef, Masaya Kitayama, set out six black lacquer boxes, each holding the piscine equivalent of jewels, and ask which they can turn into sashimi or sushi. (With luck, the display includes the uncommon white-fleshed, snapper-like golden thread.) Toward the end of the parade comes what looks like a sandwich; in reality, it’s an airy “roll” with the texture of an ice cream cone filled with a treasure chest of indulgences, including black truffle and foie gras. Inspired. And fun. Snagging a reservation, on the other hand, is made challenging by a restrictive list of rules and a restaurant representative with the email charm of Kim Jong-Un. Get over the hump. It gets better — worlds better — once you’re in the hands of the chef.
202-462-8999
Dinner Monday through Saturday, lunch Monday through Friday
Kaiseki tasting $100-$180 per person, omakase starts at $180
73 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Tail Up Goat
The Adams Morgan favorite makes guests feel special.
Dinner mains, $24-$35
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At Tail Up Goat, try something new
Such a lovely rhythm this place has! You sit down and an invigorating shrub appears, something that tells you what time of year it is as you sip. You read the menu and delight in finding a course devoted to bread. A request for a wine pairing might result in a sherry next to a plate of kabocha squash striped with wild plum sauce — and isn’t it nice to encounter a meat-free composition that doesn’t look like a side dish, but a complete thought? (Wheat berries, goat feta and pistachios add to the appeal.) Tail Up Goat is the neighborhood restaurant more neighborhoods wish they had: welcoming, easy on the eyes, priced so you can drop by anytime and with a menu that encourages frequent visits. My last meal began with two-bite tarts filled with eggplant caponata, had me dreaming about an elegant, many-layered lasagna with shredded hen and Parmesan fonduta, and saw Michelle Obama slip through the door. Good taste, everywhere.
202-986-9600
Dinner daily, sunday brunch
Dinner mains, $24-$35
75 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Tavira
An Old World approach extends to the food and welcoming atmosphere.
Dinner mains $19-$27
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Two decades in, Tavira is still taking good care of diners
Chef Duarte Rebolo concedes that a restaurant in the basement of a bank building isn’t the most alluring spot for a meal. “It’s a challenge these days,” he says. A restaurateur has to have a good product and good service, “or forget it.” There’s no forgetting my last dinner at this rare source for Portuguese food, where a faux fire in the bar, a mural of the restaurant’s namesake town and solicitous waiters make everyone feel like honored guests. You’re here for the flavors of the Old World, so spring for the Portuguese experience, three courses for $20 (lunch) or $33 (dinner). A good game plan features potato-thickened, kale-green, chorizo-strewn caldo verde; grilled Cornish hen ignited with piri piri sauce and flanked with tiny potato chips; and flan sauced with caramel. Did I mention conversation is easy, parking is free, and my most recent server told me he has been with 20-year-old Tavira for 15 years? “The secret of my business,” says Rebolo, is “I take care of my people” — customers clearly included.
301-652-8684
Dinner daily, lunch weekdays
Dinner mains $19-$27
68 decibels / Conversation is easy
2019
Top 10
Thai Square
A new owner has upgraded the decor but not at the expense of the chef and menu.
Dinner mains $13-$18
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The interior now lives up to the food at Thai Square
Until it changed hands two years ago, Thai Square fit its name all too well. While the cooking was a sure thing, the setting was spartan. New owner Kris Panngern ordered up a redesign, showcasing tea pots and toys, along with brushstrokes of color that add the vibrancy of a Thai market. The fried fish cakes are springy as ever, and the lemongrass broth, punctuated with shrimp and straw mushrooms, retains its tang; Panngern changed the look, but not the previous owner’s chef. With almost 100 dishes to ponder, a cheat sheet helps. Remember the numbers 7, 17 and 68 on the menu. From the kitchen flow slices of minced pork and shrimp, edged in bean curd skin; nam sod, a porky salad ignited with ginger, red onion, Thai chile and lime; and glossy, honey-roasted duck with fried basil, one of the most popular dishes on the list. Just reading the description tells you why. Not every dish soars (the whole rockfish was dry last visit), but plenty more tends to fly off the plate in the new! improved! Thai Square.
703-685-7040
Lunch and dinner daily
Dinner mains $13-$18
73 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Thompson Italian
Whether you're dining on a date or as a family, this Falls Church eatery fits the bill.
Dinner mains $15-$29
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A couple marries charming decor and exciting Italian fare
Food critics are terrible at keeping secrets. It’s our job to dish about discoveries. Admittedly, my latest, from couple Katherine and Gabe Thompson, is hardly classified. All of Falls Church seems to want in on the place, charmingly decorated by Katherine with a nice assist from her artist-dad, the talent behind the pink neon in the bar and the paintings that double as sound sponges. The menu reads like a lot of other Italian spots but tastes more exciting. Fritto misto comes with hits of fried lemon and basil. Pork meatballs prove both fluffy and fiery. Pastas are rolled out in-house and include a winy lamb ragu over ricotta gnocchi that’s sure to call my name on the next brisk day. Perhaps you don’t want pasta. Chef Gabe delivers (again) with grilled arctic char over something seasonal, and the best hanger steak and smashed fried potatoes in Northern Virginia. (Creme fraiche spiked with fresh horseradish makes a killer condiment for the meat and spuds.) The couple are equals in the kitchen, where pastry chef Katherine turns out some of the most sublime cannoli, stuffed with housemade ricotta, and olive oil cake, treated to spirited golden raisins, for miles. If the service in these early months is tentative, it’s at least pleasant. Thompson Italian also manages to welcome families and dates. Think crayons and cocktails.
703-269-0893
Dinner Wednesday through Monday
Dinner mains $15-$29
74 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Unconventional Diner
Sure, chef David Deshaies cooks comforting classics, but watch what he does with a little inspiration.
Dinner mains $16-$89
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It’s the twists that make this diner unconventional
Yes, it’s unconventional. Your garden-variety diner doesn’t sheath fish sticks in tempura or present banana splits as three-bite ice cream cones. But that’s to be expected when an acolyte of the late Michel Richard, David Deshaies, is in the kitchen and shares his famous mentor’s sense of whimsy and good taste. Check out his supper menu: Deshaies hides his superb crab cake in a tumbleweed of spiky fried phyllo and gives shrimp and grits a Caribbean lilt with the help of plantains and pineapple. In his hands, chicken Parm is a thing of beauty — I love its bundle of housemade spaghetti, tossed in butter, Parmesan and chicken stock — and nachos are coaxed from dehydrated kale. Bet you can’t eat just one of the chips, stippled with avocado-lime sauce and cashews, lemon and bell pepper. Brunch is now served throughout the week: blueberry pancakes with candied ginger if you’re feeling like breakfast or a glorious Middle Eastern salad of quinoa, chopped kale and hummus if you want something brighter. The fun doesn’t stop with the food, served in a dining room dressed with graffiti, plants hanging above the exhibition kitchen and servers who seem to want nothing more than to make you glad you chose this place over the conventional competition.
202-847-0122
Dinner Monday through Saturday; lunch Sunday
Dinner mains $16-$89
73 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
2019
Top 10
Woodmont Grill
Among the attractions: Live music, large portions and service with a smile.
Dinner mains $18-$48
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An all-American restaurant that's all about pleasing
Notice anything different? This all-American chain added sushi in October, going so far as to install a dedicated raised kitchen in the dining room. A warm towel signals the imminent arrival of pressed sushi: a glossy rectangle of raw tuna atop a neat stack of pearly rice, creamy avocado and spicy tuna. Lit as if it were a casino and furnished with cozy booths the color of rare steak, Woodmont Grill aims to please. Omelets for dinner? Service with a smile? Double check. Every dish seems big enough for two. Hungry as you might be and delicious as they are, parts of them are likely to go home with you. Trust me, you’ll be glad to open your refrigerator the next day and find a high-rise fried chicken sandwich or a pork chop as thick as Ron Chernow’s “Grant.” Lunch hours run to 5 p.m., and nights are jazzy with musicians. Just remember to change clothes after chores or gym. Woodmont Grill is the rare restaurant to post a dress code.
301-656-9755
Dinner and lunch daily
Dinner mains $18-$48
72 decibels / Must speak with raised voice
Credit
Brooklyn cake from Brothers and Sisters by Laura Chase de Formigny, food styling by Lisa Cherkasky, production and photo editing by Jennifer Beeson Gregory, design and development by Madison Walls.
