Top rated food near me open now

Where to go now for tender chicken parm, fiery papaya salads, Mid-Atlantic delicacies, and more

by Updated Oct 11, 2022, 4:14pm EDT

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With a D.C. restaurant industry bouncing back from a lengthy pandemic, going out to eat now comes with a semblance of normality. The Eater 38 offers a selection of defining culinary destinations that showcase the diversity of D.C. (and its many suburbs). Some of D.C.’s most cherished restaurants that weathered the pandemic through takeout are finally able to show off their best sit-down spreads and prix-fixe menus in person. Restaurants on this map must be open for at least six months. For the most exciting new restaurants in town, check out the heatmap.

For the fall 2022 refresh, new additions to the 38 include: Bammy’s, for waterfront oxtail and fry breads from an acclaimed Trinidadian chef; Estuary, for a polished place for locavores at CityCenter DC; and Mariscos 1133, for citrusy ceviche in Logan Circle.

The following restaurants, while definitely still worth a trip, are leaving the 38: No Goodbyes, Officina, and Reverie (currently closed).

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Note: Restaurants on this map are listed geographically.

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2Fifty Texas BBQ (Multiple locations)

For D.C. residents, sampling the most tantalizing brisket inside the Beltway requires a drive into Riverdale Park, Maryland. Fernando González and Debby Portillo, the couple that own and operate 2Fifty, pay homage to Central Texas by using oak smoke to develop a dark bark on fatty hunks of prime and American wagyu beef that jiggle on the chopping block. Beef ribs, pulled pork, sliced turkey, and St. Louis-style ribs are all available, too. Daily specials like brisket tacos and barbecue pupusas give the kitchen a creative outlet. Sides like red kidney beans braised with brisket, caramelized pineapple, and coleslaw interspersed with raisins nod to the owners’ Salvadoran heritage. Diners can preorder for pickup Wednesday through Saturday with the option to dine there or take it to go. Last year, 2Fifty expanded into D.C. with a small stall inside Union Market.

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Considered the standard-bearer for Lao cuisine in D.C., Thip Khao comes from mother-and-son chefs Seng Luangrath and Boby Pradachith. Their Columbia Heights standby continues to satisfy heat-seekers with a menu full of fermented fish sauce, a heavy dose of chiles, offal, and cured meats. Hit orders include crispy tamarind glazed wings, grilled pork shoulder with lemongrass, and a fiery Lao papaya salad. The restaurant opens Wednesday to Sunday (5 p.m. to 10 p.m.) with carryout, indoor dining, and outdoor service across a cozy tented patio (90-minute limit with a $20 deposit charged via Tock). For small plates and tiki cocktails from Minibar alum Al Thompson, consider its Shaw sibling bar Hanumanh.

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At this Malaysian restaurant in Columbia Heights, chef James Wozniuk navigates a balance of pungent, spicy-sweet, and funky umami flavors that vary in intensity but never veer out of control. Wozniuk’s condiments — sambal made from bird’s eye chiles, palm sugar, tamarind, and fried anchovies; appetite-piquing pickled limes with prune and golden raisin; peanut-based satay sauce — assert themselves in an array of rice and noodle dishes. The bar mixes complex tropical cocktails, like a blackstrap rum and pineapple Jungle Bird, that vie for attention. Order takeout or delivery online. Tables are available in a breezy dining room or on a patio. Wozniuk also just unleashed a brand new bar bites menu at underground sibling Thirsty Crow.

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Inside a narrow, dark basement underneath an ice cream shop in Mount Pleasant, Martha Dear owners Tara Smith and Demetri Mechelis serve a style of Greek pizza that’s unlike anything else in D.C. Mechelis mans a domed oven that fires round, naturally leavened pies studded with salty Mediterranean cheeses; the white pizza boasts crumbly myzithra and hard kefalograviera, while Mechelis’s take on pantzarosalata dots the classic roasted beet and yogurt salad with candied hazelnuts and herbs. Slices of exceptionally soft chocolate olive oil cake bring brownie batter to mind, albeit one made with a first-press fat sourced from one of Mechelis’s uncles in Greece. Pre-order online for carryout or snag a no-reservations seat inside or out on Wednesdays to Sundays.

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This versatile, basement-level shop is part of a three-piece project from chef Darren Norris that includes a penthouse cocktail bar and zen middle floor for shabu shabu. At Shibuya Eatery, Norris’s team prepares sushi rolls, sashimi, and nigiri that incorporate North Pacific blue fin tuna and yellowtail flown in from Tokyo’s Tsukiji Fish Market. There are also succulent short rib skewers grilled over binchotan charcoal, build-your-own bento boxes, and donburi bowls. Noodles brim with hot or cold dashi, chopstick-thick udon, or matcha tea-green soba. Walk-ins are welcome in the 15-seat basement, top-floor Death Punch bar, and outdoors, which all serve the same food menu. Call for pickups, order delivery through third-party apps, or reserve a seat on Resy.

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Maydan sets an Arabic table with communal plates like zucchini baba ghanoush, chicken shish taouk kebabs, and ribeye seasoned with blue fenugreek, all complemented by an array of condiments such as toum, tahina sauce, and zhug. In addition to a dining room built around a theatrical wood-burning hearth, Maydan covered the alleyway leading to its doorway with patterned carpets that add an inviting touch to its outdoor setup. Owners Rose Previte and Mike Schuster (Compass Rose) secured future homes in Fairfax (opening this fall) and Clarendon (opening in 2023) for their Middle Eastern, family-style menu offshoot born at Maydan. The name has been changed from Tawle to Kirby Club.

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U Street NW’s old Chi-Cha Lounge transformed into a stylish Peruvian hotspot last year with a focus on comforting Criollo food and other dishes that speak to culinary influences from Japan and China. Standout starters include teriyaki wings, sizzling shrimp (gambas al ajillo), and ribeye yakitori. Any of its tangy ceviches are likely to impress, but the hit since day one is the “Mercado” (a mixed medley of fried calamari, rocoto chile base, mahi mahi, and fried plantain chips). Chef Cristian Granada carves out room for creativity with one-off specials like lobster ceviche, delicacies like grilled beef hearts, and use of daring Andean ingredients. A leafy bar oozing Amazonian rainforest vibes makes its own chicha morada, which gets turned into a syrup for a frothy, lavender-colored take on a pisco sour.

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Descend a set of stairs to discover this longstanding West African gem in Shaw. Chef-owner Prince Matey draws inspiration from his grandmother’s Ghanaian recipes while creating flavors that cater to native Washingtonians. Slow-cooked seafood okra is a destination dish, but Matey’s hearty egusi soup, jollof rice, and red red (stewed black eye peas in palm oil) are also not to miss. Much of the menu goes well with his expert preparations of goat, oxtail, and fufu — Ghana’s doughy starch staple made of mashed plantain flour. Diners in the know flock here for one of the top vegan dishes in town: an off-menu garden egg stew.

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Chef Ryan Ratino’s buzzy bistro on lower 14th Street NW whips up prix-fixe dinners filled out by tuna crudo with Calabrian chile, wild fennel, makrut lime and foie gras gateau with pistachio, strawberry, celery, and anise. The ambitious chef, who’s among the youngest to ever earn a Michelin star, also incorporates a vintage French duck press gifted by gourmet supplier D’Artagnan into a theatrical tableside offering. A boundary-pushing bar program spearheaded by beverage director Will Patton is also not to miss, earning the team an “Exceptional Cocktails Award” from Michelin this year. Seasonal tasting menus start at $84 (reserve via Resy).

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Situated between Dupont Circle and Adams Morgan, Anju serves Korean bar food with a refined touch from the restaurant group behind casual hit Chiko. James Beard Award-nominated chef Angel Barreto leads a kitchen that plates up standouts ranging from pork and kimchi mandu (dumplings) and smoky gochujang-glazed fried chicken with white barbecue sauce to a seafood fried rice bokum bap and seared ribeye galbi boards. Weekend brunches bring on breakfast sandwiches and a grit bowl that riffs on juk.

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At this hip reboot of Georgetown classic Cafe Bonaparte, chef Matt Conroy adopts a French appreciation for market produce to ensure that every ingredient shines on the plate. Parisian gnocchi and grilled octopus are among the seasonally rotating, “neo-bistro” dishes available in its casual and cozy dining room. Reservations for a chef’s table tasting menu ($90 per person) include four courses and a view of the kitchen; the tasting menu is also now available restaurant-wide ($85 per person). Now open on Mondays.

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Chef Rob Rubba puts vegetables on a pedestal, so Oyster Oyster’s presence in Shaw is somewhat ideal for diners who don’t eat meat but still want to enjoy an avant-garde tasting menu. Food & Wine’s Best New Chef for 2022, who first attracted D.C. critics’ attention as the former chef at Hazel, partnered with Estadio owner Max Kuller on this venture — which prioritizes sustainability with a dedication to sourcing from hyperlocal farms and mills. Think: a bird’s nest of fried celery root wrapped around a morsel of smoked tofu and shiitake chip cookie for dessert. A $60 selected wine pairing goes with a $95 meal. Reservations are available here.

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Chercher Ethiopian Restaurant & Mart

Tucked inside a quaint Shaw row house, this decade-old D.C. institution for Ethiopian food is known for its standout vegetarian, meat, and vegan platters and owner Alemayehu “Alex” Abebe’s discerning standards for beef. The affordable and unpretentious hideaway draws a steady stream of regulars for its injera and other Ethiopian staples and imported beers. One of its longtime fans is now-celebrity chef and Top Chef judge Kwame Onwuachi, who made a point to squeeze in a visit during a quick trip to D.C. this year. A second Chercher debuted in downtown Bethesda in 2018.

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This flashy Mexican restaurant from Oaxaca-born, Mexico City-based chef Alam Méndez Florián entered Logan Circle’s competitive dining landscape last fall, instantly piquing interests with tangy ceviches, cactus salads, cilantro-and-tomatillo margaritas, marinated octopus roasted over coals, and expert applications of its namesake ingredient with the use of a gas-fired comal up front. Blue corn from the Mexican state of Tlaxcala builds a tortilla for a suckling pig terrine taco, while a crunchy tostada relies on yellow corn to balance a medley of veggies on top. Head below to a candle-lit mezcal den to pair rare pours with grasshopper tacos. Brunch is available, too.

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Chef Marjorie Meek-Bradley smashes the city’s stuffy steakhouse conventions with a menu at this Union Market tavern that gives vegetables equal billing. Her butter-packed biscuits with pimento cheese have become the stuff of legend, and a salmon collar practically melting under a butter-lemon bath has its own cult following. Ax-handle ribeyes and pork chops are priced by the ounce for communal feasts. Like sibling spot Le Diplomate, St. Anselm built nifty dining nooks on the street. Stephen Starr’s blockbuster NYC bistro Pastis is slated to join St. Anselm in the budding industrial complex.

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Jeremiah Langhorne’s focus on researching Mid-Atlantic recipes, deploying hearth-fueled cooking, and working with local purveyors has paid off with national accolades from Michelin and the James Beard Foundation. The Dabney ditched takeout earlier than many local hotspots, now focusing on six-course tasting menus ($170 per guest) that require advanced planning for anyone hoping to snag a reservation in Shaw. Customers can expect to find dishes like an Appalachian apple stack cake flanked with foie gras and aged Rohan duck cooked over embers. Indoor and outdoor reservations are released in two-week blocks, with an a la carte menu at the bar.

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Mexico-born restaurateurs Alfredo and Jessica Solis (El Sol, Mezcalero, and Anafre) gave Logan Circle a color-soaked seafood spot that bounces all around Latin America. Mariscos, which means “seafood” is Spanish, opened in February with a treasure trove of fresh fish, crustaceans, and bivalves prepared various ways (raw, fried, and grilled). Made-to-order citrusy ceviches, jicama slaw-topped oyster po’boys, Caribbean-style lechon, and other Latin dishes harken back to Alfredo Solis’s days running downtown’s Ceiba for Passion Food group. A 12-seat bar sends out a pisco sour, caipirinha, mojito, and other Latin-hopping cocktails that follow the food’s lead. A Coronarita — a Corona bottle draining into a frozen margarita — keeps summer in swing all year. Book a patio or indoor booth seat online.

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It’s well known that New Orleanians cock an eyebrow when anyone who tries to translate the Crescent City’s iconic cuisine in another place, but veteran New Orleans chef Kristen Essig’s uniquely capable hands help Dauphine’s spin dishes worthy of the Crescent City herself. Essig’s dedication to sourcing items like light and crispy po’boy bread from Leidenheimer Baking Company in New Orleans means that dishes like the Peacemaker po’boy (roast beef debris plus fried oysters) taste authentic; fried hogs head cheese suggests a knowledge of Louisiana cuisine that steps beyond just the greatest hits. The sauerkraut and cracklins on the sharable duck jambalaya demonstrates that Essig’s knowledge runs deep enough that she can veer from tradition in welcome and thoughtful ways.

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Venezuelan chef Enrique Limardo’s follow-up to scene-y, tropically appointed Seven Reasons brings the West End a new fine dining venue for Mediterranean-Latin fusion full of surreal plating and modernist technique. Sturdy staples like a moussaka cigar — with crispy phyllo dough, smoked eggplant, ground lamb, and goat-manchego cream — and fried Spanish octopus with Amazonian chimichurri anchor the rotating dinner menu. Go a la carte or choose the 10-course, omakase tasting experience at the chef’s counter that just picked up a Michelin star. A soaring white bar lined with soft cranberry stools sends out sharply conceived cocktails with Mediterranean ingredients like Greek olives, truffle honey, and limoncello.

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Chef Elias Taddesse dresses freshly ground Maryland beef patties with brown butter aioli to make a cheeseburger as fine as any that can be found around the District, but that’s just an entry point to Mélange. Ethiopian spices stored in translucent containers inside the ordering counter in Mt. Vernon Triangle clue customers into more inventive options that mix up Taddesse’s East African heritage, haute cuisine background, and nostalgia for American drive-thrus. Do not miss the National, a berbere-marinated and dry-spiced fried chicken sandwich reminiscent of doro wat stew. Takeout pints of ice cream in simple flavors like milk or toast are also exceptional. Walk in or order online. Eater DC’s 2021 Chef of the Year will expand to Shaw this fall with a fried chicken-focused takeout and delivery operation called Doro Soul Food.

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At this roomy Thai restaurant in Mt. Vernon Triangle, chef Jeeraporn Poksupthon has a kitchen worthy of her skill and ambition. Poksupthon led large catering kitchens in Thailand before she helped usher a wave of chile-fueled Northern and Northeastern cooking into D.C. at now-closed Baan Thai in Logan Circle. At Baan Siam, she’s playing the hits — creamy, crunchy, and complex khao soi; tapioca skin dumplings with ground chicken, peanuts, and sweet fermented radish; all sorts of spicy-sweet salads — while exploring sour-leaning dishes from her home country’s interior and ultra-hot curries from the South. Order for pickup or in-house delivery here, or reserve a table for indoor or outdoor dining here.

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After a long pandemic pause, CityCenterDC’s polished seafood showpiece made a triumphant comeback in March with a menu full of remixed Chesapeake classics like fluke-flanked ceviche and smoked rockfish dip served in shells. The Conrad hotel’s glassy, 3-year-old restaurant, originally headlined by celebrity chef brothers Bryan and Michael Voltaggio, reemerged with No Goodbyes alums Ria Montes and Sean Tew at the helm. Estuary 2.0 casts a wider menu net across the largest estuary in the world, the Chesapeake Bay, with Maryland crab hush puppies dressed with yuzu aioli, decadent shrimp toast with lobster butter sauce, squash disguised as dan dan noodles, and sourcing from local growers like Moon Valley Farm. Hungry tables should consider its expertly-fried whole fish and Roseda Farms bone-in ribeye. Playful surprises include build-your-own sundaes comprised of caviar, ice cream, and mini black sesame waffle cones.

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A wood-burning oven imported from France is the workhorse inside Amy Brandwein’s Italian cafe in CityCenter, an everyday alternative to Centrolina, her dressier osteria across the street. This summer, the five-time James Beard Award finalist added twice as many seats, seasonal spritzes, and more wood-fired capabilities to roast all kinds of vegetables, seafoods, and meats like ribs and pork and lamb sausages. A daily pastry program produces quiche and phenomenal focaccia, and the 10-layer eggplant Parmesan remains a best-selling showstopper. Eating light is painless, too, from charred Napa cabbage to a carrot-and-bulgur wheat bowl with cauliflower, raisin, and pistachio. Order takeout online or get delivery via Caviar from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.

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H Street’s cool cafe, streetwear shop, and, now, record store, continues to stay relevant over five years in thanks to a loyal following for its Taiwanese fried chicken, dim sum, crystal shrimp dumplings, and lo mein topped with pork shoulder and chicken confit. Prolific D.C. chef Erik Bruner-Yang wasted no time when the pandemic hit, launching ambitious crowdfunding system Power of 10 to put restaurant workers back on the job and feed communities in need at the same time. Book a table or order pickup and delivery online. Maketto’s incoming H Street NE sibling Bronze will explore Afrofuturism through food in the old Smith Commons space.

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Dante Datta and Suresh Sundas, a respective drink expert and chef who met while working together at Rasika West End, reunited under one roof last summer with an anticipated Indian restaurant and cocktail bar at a corner just south of H Street NE. At Daru, which just landed on New York Times’s coveted top 50 restaurants list, Sundas likes to combine Northern and Southern Indian cooking styles with some unorthodox touches. That includes za’atar olive naan, chicken tikka tacos, chimichurri chutneys, or grilled chicken reshmi kebabs with a hint of blue cheese. Datta and bar manager Tom Martinez, both alums of now-closed Columbia Room, collaborate on inventive riffs on classics. Book a seat online for service after 5 p.m. or order takeout and delivery for both lunch and dinner.

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Chef David Deshaies (Unconventional Diner, Central) and business partner Eric Edens unveiled their soaring, “glam Italian” restaurant in the shiny new Capitol Crossing development last fall. The flashy showstopper, framed with shimmering Missoni drapes and abstract art, has amassed a fast following for pizzas crisped to perfection in a gold-plated oven, a 40-layer lasagna that begs to be photographed, and Florentine steaks fired up on an imported grill from Spain’s Costa Brava region. Other highlights include generous orbs of saffron-accented arancini, grilled cabbage adorned with creamy beurre blanc and glistening trout roe, and mini shots of duck ravioli served in claw-footed vessels. Starting at 5 p.m., fight for a spot at its scene-y bar to order a spot-on Negroni and decadent espresso martini. Reserve a seat in the dining room or order takeout and delivery. Lunch recently joined the mix, too.

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Business lunchers, beware. Anyone who orders a Spanish gin and tonic will likely find themselves thirsty for an eminently refreshing refill. Chef Pepe Moncayo, a Spaniard who spent a large chunk of his career cooking in Singapore, oversees this Michelin-starred Iberian-Japanese melting pot that makes people feel welcome in many ways. There’s $45 bento boxes available weekdays from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. An omakase version handpicked by the chef is $65 (with a beverage pairing for $35). At dinner, opt for a 10-course omakase for $128. Tapas range from patatas bravas to duck rillete gyozas, and a la carte large plates offer yellowfin tuna with shiso pesto or paella studded with smoked eel.

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Since opening over 20 years ago, José Andrés’s mega Mediterranean complex in Penn Quarter has amassed a devoted fan base for crispy Brussels sprouts with coriander seed and barberries, impressive kebabs, billowing pita breads, and Greek yogurt cheesecakes. Chef Michael Costa offers family-style tasting menus for $70 a person; a “meze ora” (4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday) includes $6 pide and $10 cocktails. There’s also a four-course meze brunch with rosé flights, too ($85 for two).

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Daikaya 1F + Daikaya, The Izakaya 2F

This is the flagship restaurant for Daikaya Group, D.C.’s foremost experts experts in ramen. The ground floor houses a first-come, first-served ramen shop that imports bouncy noodles from Sapporo. On the second level, its experimental izakaya gives chef Katsuya Fukushima a platform to present playful dishes like a new wagyu beef tartare with rice crackers and kimchi, a classic fried eggplant and miso rice ball, or a beloved mentaiko (spicy cod roe) burrata with orange zest and grilled toast. During the pandemic, the company put considerable thought into takeout and delivery, which remains an option. Customers can order par-cooked noodles for a quick nuke in the microwave, or uncooked if they want to boil their own. The entire Daikaya Group portfolio, which tastes and looks more polished than ever these days, includes Tonari next door, Bantam King nearby, Hatoba in Navy Yard, and Haikan in Shaw.

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Tucked inside a historic bank building, Penn Quarter’s opulent, all-day hotel brasserie that unveiled right before the pandemic has really hit its stride. Tourists and locals alike come for a consistently impressive raw bar selection, pristine cocktails, and all-day omelettes engineered with beautifully buttery Vaughan Cheese. Decadent bar bites like puffy gougères or a bright bowl of caviar and cucumber with fresh potato chips are discounted during its weekday “Banker’s Hour” deal. The stately space now extends outdoors onto a year-round patio garden terrace. Take a trip to the depths of the bank for martini service and a half-smoke Rickey at Silver Lyan, the experimental cocktail lair from world-famous bartender Ryan Chetiyawardana.

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James Beard award-winning chef Vikram Sunderam plays liberally with spicy chiles and sour fruits to make Rasika one of the most celebrated Indian restaurants in the country. His palak chaat, a fried baby spinach dish decorated with sweet yogurt, tamarind, and date chutney, has inspired imitators around town. Dal makhani slowly simmered in a decadent, buttery gravy. Both the Penn Quarter flagship and its West End sibling are ideal venues for vegetarian diners, too.

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When NYC-import Sushi Nakazawa opened in the Trump International Hotel right after José Andrés stormed out of a contract in the same location, it became the most controversial sushi bar in D.C. (Fortunately for the restaurant, the clocktower-topped hotel is now a Waldorf Astoria and will soon welcome a Bazaar by José Andrés.) The 20-course, nigiri-sushi omakase stuns in the expert hands of “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” chef Masaaki Uchino. There’s no dinner menu, which leaves more time to linger over an impressive list of Japanese whiskey and sake. The most coveted seats are at the 10-seat sushi bar that offers the best view of the action.

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Matt Adler’s decidedly unmodern tribute to classic red sauce joints takes diners on a well-worn path that carefully steers clear of the contrived. Dishes heavy on nostalgia, quality ingredients, and technique are served in a red banquette lined, vintage photo-laden dining room that buzzes with hospitality and delight. Tender chicken parm with a light breading gets tucked under a zingy marina, hunky garlic bread arrives with a bowl of four-cheese sauce for dipping, and shrimp scampi gets splashed with house-made limoncello. Drinks, like a Manhattan with an amaretto rinse, receive equally attentive treatment. Keeping with theme, the menu is surprisingly affordable. Adler recently revealed plans to open a second location in Maryland’s Pike & Rose complex.

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Anyone who’s followed Kevin Tien’s career in D.C. restaurants should know well enough to order crudo and fried chicken wherever he’s cooking. At Moon Rabbit, like at short-lived Emilie’s and nationally regarded Himitsu, Tien delivers on those signatures with aplomb. At the modern Vietnamese restaurant inside a luxe hotel on the Southwest Waterfront, he also serves a five-spice foie mousse tart with tamarind onion jam and cornmeal-fried catfish dressed with pea leaves and fermented mustard greens. A newer banh hoi dac biet order for the table loops in woven noodles, lemongrass pork, salt and pepper shrimp, and short ribs. On the lighter side, a papaya salad gets a sweet kick from lychee. The sleek bar sends out spins on a Boulevardier and espresso martini engineered with chicory drip coffee.

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Albi chef Michael Rafidi manipulates smoke with a master’s touch, sending out dishes from the wood-burning hearth at his high-end Levantine restaurant that have a way of commanding a diner’s full attention. The Maryland native’s Middle Eastern menu tweaks dishes to incorporate peak produce — see the smashed pumpkin labneh or apple and pear fattoush for fall — but the snack-sized lamb kefta kebabs speared on cinnamon sticks should never go out of style. A lengthy wine list full of hard-to-find Eastern Mediterranean labels, cocktails, and desserts all rise to the occasion. An a la carte menu joins a newer multi-course option featuring lamb meat pie and swordfish dolma, pita with spreads, and larger plates like chermoula black bass. The feast is $150 for food; wine pairings are priced at $75 or $115. For something more affordable, head next-door to sibling bakery and cafe, Yellow, which will expand to Georgetown this fall.

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Partners Gerald Addison and Chris Morgan made a huge hire this spring at their waterfront Caribbean mainstay with the addition of Eater DC’s 2019 Chef of the Year Peter Prime. The Cane alum brings his native Trinidad and Tobago to the table with a revised menu full of signature doubles (fry breads), smoked jerk wings, grilled oxtail, whole fried snapper escoveitch, stews, and duck or chickpea curries. A family-style menu ($75) is also available. Sit down for a creamy, rum-packed painkiller cocktail on the patio, or place an order for takeout.

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The “home-style” Chinese restaurant in Peter Chang’s portfolio pays tribute to the women that influenced the legendary former embassy chef, with fiery dishes that call back his childhood in the Hubei province of central China and his home life in Virginia. Chang, a master of numbing spice, has woven in Sichuan and Hunan techniques into a menu of vegetable-heavy plates, dim sum, and family-style orders. There’s dine-in seating across its plant-filled, zen dining room in Fairfax. Order takeout here or get delivery via Uber Eats. The famed Chinese chef just planted roots in Dupont Circle with the opening of Chang Chang, his first-ever D.C. restaurant.

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Tiny Nasime feels like a restaurant you might stumble on while wandering the corridors of Tokyo, with its intimate atmosphere and small, convivial sushi counter. But the daily prix fixe menu reaches beyond sushi (that said, its otsukuri sashimi course is universally pristine). For $95, find a selection of six carefully prepared courses (plus dessert) with seasonal touches, usually including something grilled, something fried, and a communal soup or stew (broiled lamb chop and a duck and mushroom udon, for example, both figure on the current menu). Largely a two-person operation led by chef/owner Yuh Shimomura, service is consistently sunny and personable. During the pandemic, the restaurant ventured into high-end bento boxes, available for $48 per person.

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2Fifty Texas BBQ (Multiple locations)

For D.C. residents, sampling the most tantalizing brisket inside the Beltway requires a drive into Riverdale Park, Maryland. Fernando González and Debby Portillo, the couple that own and operate 2Fifty, pay homage to Central Texas by using oak smoke to develop a dark bark on fatty hunks of prime and American wagyu beef that jiggle on the chopping block. Beef ribs, pulled pork, sliced turkey, and St. Louis-style ribs are all available, too. Daily specials like brisket tacos and barbecue pupusas give the kitchen a creative outlet. Sides like red kidney beans braised with brisket, caramelized pineapple, and coleslaw interspersed with raisins nod to the owners’ Salvadoran heritage. Diners can preorder for pickup Wednesday through Saturday with the option to dine there or take it to go. Last year, 2Fifty expanded into D.C. with a small stall inside Union Market.

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Thip Khao

Considered the standard-bearer for Lao cuisine in D.C., Thip Khao comes from mother-and-son chefs Seng Luangrath and Boby Pradachith. Their Columbia Heights standby continues to satisfy heat-seekers with a menu full of fermented fish sauce, a heavy dose of chiles, offal, and cured meats. Hit orders include crispy tamarind glazed wings, grilled pork shoulder with lemongrass, and a fiery Lao papaya salad. The restaurant opens Wednesday to Sunday (5 p.m. to 10 p.m.) with carryout, indoor dining, and outdoor service across a cozy tented patio (90-minute limit with a $20 deposit charged via Tock). For small plates and tiki cocktails from Minibar alum Al Thompson, consider its Shaw sibling bar Hanumanh.

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Makan

At this Malaysian restaurant in Columbia Heights, chef James Wozniuk navigates a balance of pungent, spicy-sweet, and funky umami flavors that vary in intensity but never veer out of control. Wozniuk’s condiments — sambal made from bird’s eye chiles, palm sugar, tamarind, and fried anchovies; appetite-piquing pickled limes with prune and golden raisin; peanut-based satay sauce — assert themselves in an array of rice and noodle dishes. The bar mixes complex tropical cocktails, like a blackstrap rum and pineapple Jungle Bird, that vie for attention. Order takeout or delivery online. Tables are available in a breezy dining room or on a patio. Wozniuk also just unleashed a brand new bar bites menu at underground sibling Thirsty Crow.

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Martha Dear

Inside a narrow, dark basement underneath an ice cream shop in Mount Pleasant, Martha Dear owners Tara Smith and Demetri Mechelis serve a style of Greek pizza that’s unlike anything else in D.C. Mechelis mans a domed oven that fires round, naturally leavened pies studded with salty Mediterranean cheeses; the white pizza boasts crumbly myzithra and hard kefalograviera, while Mechelis’s take on pantzarosalata dots the classic roasted beet and yogurt salad with candied hazelnuts and herbs. Slices of exceptionally soft chocolate olive oil cake bring brownie batter to mind, albeit one made with a first-press fat sourced from one of Mechelis’s uncles in Greece. Pre-order online for carryout or snag a no-reservations seat inside or out on Wednesdays to Sundays.

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Shibuya Eatery

This versatile, basement-level shop is part of a three-piece project from chef Darren Norris that includes a penthouse cocktail bar and zen middle floor for shabu shabu. At Shibuya Eatery, Norris’s team prepares sushi rolls, sashimi, and nigiri that incorporate North Pacific blue fin tuna and yellowtail flown in from Tokyo’s Tsukiji Fish Market. There are also succulent short rib skewers grilled over binchotan charcoal, build-your-own bento boxes, and donburi bowls. Noodles brim with hot or cold dashi, chopstick-thick udon, or matcha tea-green soba. Walk-ins are welcome in the 15-seat basement, top-floor Death Punch bar, and outdoors, which all serve the same food menu. Call for pickups, order delivery through third-party apps, or reserve a seat on Resy.

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Maydan

Maydan sets an Arabic table with communal plates like zucchini baba ghanoush, chicken shish taouk kebabs, and ribeye seasoned with blue fenugreek, all complemented by an array of condiments such as toum, tahina sauce, and zhug. In addition to a dining room built around a theatrical wood-burning hearth, Maydan covered the alleyway leading to its doorway with patterned carpets that add an inviting touch to its outdoor setup. Owners Rose Previte and Mike Schuster (Compass Rose) secured future homes in Fairfax (opening this fall) and Clarendon (opening in 2023) for their Middle Eastern, family-style menu offshoot born at Maydan. The name has been changed from Tawle to Kirby Club.

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El Secreto De Rosita

U Street NW’s old Chi-Cha Lounge transformed into a stylish Peruvian hotspot last year with a focus on comforting Criollo food and other dishes that speak to culinary influences from Japan and China. Standout starters include teriyaki wings, sizzling shrimp (gambas al ajillo), and ribeye yakitori. Any of its tangy ceviches are likely to impress, but the hit since day one is the “Mercado” (a mixed medley of fried calamari, rocoto chile base, mahi mahi, and fried plantain chips). Chef Cristian Granada carves out room for creativity with one-off specials like lobster ceviche, delicacies like grilled beef hearts, and use of daring Andean ingredients. A leafy bar oozing Amazonian rainforest vibes makes its own chicha morada, which gets turned into a syrup for a frothy, lavender-colored take on a pisco sour.

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Appioo African Bar & Grill

Descend a set of stairs to discover this longstanding West African gem in Shaw. Chef-owner Prince Matey draws inspiration from his grandmother’s Ghanaian recipes while creating flavors that cater to native Washingtonians. Slow-cooked seafood okra is a destination dish, but Matey’s hearty egusi soup, jollof rice, and red red (stewed black eye peas in palm oil) are also not to miss. Much of the menu goes well with his expert preparations of goat, oxtail, and fufu — Ghana’s doughy starch staple made of mashed plantain flour. Diners in the know flock here for one of the top vegan dishes in town: an off-menu garden egg stew.

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BRESCA

Chef Ryan Ratino’s buzzy bistro on lower 14th Street NW whips up prix-fixe dinners filled out by tuna crudo with Calabrian chile, wild fennel, makrut lime and foie gras gateau with pistachio, strawberry, celery, and anise. The ambitious chef, who’s among the youngest to ever earn a Michelin star, also incorporates a vintage French duck press gifted by gourmet supplier D’Artagnan into a theatrical tableside offering. A boundary-pushing bar program spearheaded by beverage director Will Patton is also not to miss, earning the team an “Exceptional Cocktails Award” from Michelin this year. Seasonal tasting menus start at $84 (reserve via Resy).

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Anju

Situated between Dupont Circle and Adams Morgan, Anju serves Korean bar food with a refined touch from the restaurant group behind casual hit Chiko. James Beard Award-nominated chef Angel Barreto leads a kitchen that plates up standouts ranging from pork and kimchi mandu (dumplings) and smoky gochujang-glazed fried chicken with white barbecue sauce to a seafood fried rice bokum bap and seared ribeye galbi boards. Weekend brunches bring on breakfast sandwiches and a grit bowl that riffs on juk.

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Lutèce

At this hip reboot of Georgetown classic Cafe Bonaparte, chef Matt Conroy adopts a French appreciation for market produce to ensure that every ingredient shines on the plate. Parisian gnocchi and grilled octopus are among the seasonally rotating, “neo-bistro” dishes available in its casual and cozy dining room. Reservations for a chef’s table tasting menu ($90 per person) include four courses and a view of the kitchen; the tasting menu is also now available restaurant-wide ($85 per person). Now open on Mondays.

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Oyster Oyster

Chef Rob Rubba puts vegetables on a pedestal, so Oyster Oyster’s presence in Shaw is somewhat ideal for diners who don’t eat meat but still want to enjoy an avant-garde tasting menu. Food & Wine’s Best New Chef for 2022, who first attracted D.C. critics’ attention as the former chef at Hazel, partnered with Estadio owner Max Kuller on this venture — which prioritizes sustainability with a dedication to sourcing from hyperlocal farms and mills. Think: a bird’s nest of fried celery root wrapped around a morsel of smoked tofu and shiitake chip cookie for dessert. A $60 selected wine pairing goes with a $95 meal. Reservations are available here.

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Chercher Ethiopian Restaurant & Mart

Tucked inside a quaint Shaw row house, this decade-old D.C. institution for Ethiopian food is known for its standout vegetarian, meat, and vegan platters and owner Alemayehu “Alex” Abebe’s discerning standards for beef. The affordable and unpretentious hideaway draws a steady stream of regulars for its injera and other Ethiopian staples and imported beers. One of its longtime fans is now-celebrity chef and Top Chef judge Kwame Onwuachi, who made a point to squeeze in a visit during a quick trip to D.C. this year. A second Chercher debuted in downtown Bethesda in 2018.

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Maïz64

This flashy Mexican restaurant from Oaxaca-born, Mexico City-based chef Alam Méndez Florián entered Logan Circle’s competitive dining landscape last fall, instantly piquing interests with tangy ceviches, cactus salads, cilantro-and-tomatillo margaritas, marinated octopus roasted over coals, and expert applications of its namesake ingredient with the use of a gas-fired comal up front. Blue corn from the Mexican state of Tlaxcala builds a tortilla for a suckling pig terrine taco, while a crunchy tostada relies on yellow corn to balance a medley of veggies on top. Head below to a candle-lit mezcal den to pair rare pours with grasshopper tacos. Brunch is available, too.

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St. Anselm

Chef Marjorie Meek-Bradley smashes the city’s stuffy steakhouse conventions with a menu at this Union Market tavern that gives vegetables equal billing. Her butter-packed biscuits with pimento cheese have become the stuff of legend, and a salmon collar practically melting under a butter-lemon bath has its own cult following. Ax-handle ribeyes and pork chops are priced by the ounce for communal feasts. Like sibling spot Le Diplomate, St. Anselm built nifty dining nooks on the street. Stephen Starr’s blockbuster NYC bistro Pastis is slated to join St. Anselm in the budding industrial complex.

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The Dabney

Jeremiah Langhorne’s focus on researching Mid-Atlantic recipes, deploying hearth-fueled cooking, and working with local purveyors has paid off with national accolades from Michelin and the James Beard Foundation. The Dabney ditched takeout earlier than many local hotspots, now focusing on six-course tasting menus ($170 per guest) that require advanced planning for anyone hoping to snag a reservation in Shaw. Customers can expect to find dishes like an Appalachian apple stack cake flanked with foie gras and aged Rohan duck cooked over embers. Indoor and outdoor reservations are released in two-week blocks, with an a la carte menu at the bar.

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Mariscos 1133

Mexico-born restaurateurs Alfredo and Jessica Solis (El Sol, Mezcalero, and Anafre) gave Logan Circle a color-soaked seafood spot that bounces all around Latin America. Mariscos, which means “seafood” is Spanish, opened in February with a treasure trove of fresh fish, crustaceans, and bivalves prepared various ways (raw, fried, and grilled). Made-to-order citrusy ceviches, jicama slaw-topped oyster po’boys, Caribbean-style lechon, and other Latin dishes harken back to Alfredo Solis’s days running downtown’s Ceiba for Passion Food group. A 12-seat bar sends out a pisco sour, caipirinha, mojito, and other Latin-hopping cocktails that follow the food’s lead. A Coronarita — a Corona bottle draining into a frozen margarita — keeps summer in swing all year. Book a patio or indoor booth seat online.

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Dauphine’s

It’s well known that New Orleanians cock an eyebrow when anyone who tries to translate the Crescent City’s iconic cuisine in another place, but veteran New Orleans chef Kristen Essig’s uniquely capable hands help Dauphine’s spin dishes worthy of the Crescent City herself. Essig’s dedication to sourcing items like light and crispy po’boy bread from Leidenheimer Baking Company in New Orleans means that dishes like the Peacemaker po’boy (roast beef debris plus fried oysters) taste authentic; fried hogs head cheese suggests a knowledge of Louisiana cuisine that steps beyond just the greatest hits. The sauerkraut and cracklins on the sharable duck jambalaya demonstrates that Essig’s knowledge runs deep enough that she can veer from tradition in welcome and thoughtful ways.

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Imperfecto

Venezuelan chef Enrique Limardo’s follow-up to scene-y, tropically appointed Seven Reasons brings the West End a new fine dining venue for Mediterranean-Latin fusion full of surreal plating and modernist technique. Sturdy staples like a moussaka cigar — with crispy phyllo dough, smoked eggplant, ground lamb, and goat-manchego cream — and fried Spanish octopus with Amazonian chimichurri anchor the rotating dinner menu. Go a la carte or choose the 10-course, omakase tasting experience at the chef’s counter that just picked up a Michelin star. A soaring white bar lined with soft cranberry stools sends out sharply conceived cocktails with Mediterranean ingredients like Greek olives, truffle honey, and limoncello.

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Mélange

Chef Elias Taddesse dresses freshly ground Maryland beef patties with brown butter aioli to make a cheeseburger as fine as any that can be found around the District, but that’s just an entry point to Mélange. Ethiopian spices stored in translucent containers inside the ordering counter in Mt. Vernon Triangle clue customers into more inventive options that mix up Taddesse’s East African heritage, haute cuisine background, and nostalgia for American drive-thrus. Do not miss the National, a berbere-marinated and dry-spiced fried chicken sandwich reminiscent of doro wat stew. Takeout pints of ice cream in simple flavors like milk or toast are also exceptional. Walk in or order online. Eater DC’s 2021 Chef of the Year will expand to Shaw this fall with a fried chicken-focused takeout and delivery operation called Doro Soul Food.

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Baan Siam

At this roomy Thai restaurant in Mt. Vernon Triangle, chef Jeeraporn Poksupthon has a kitchen worthy of her skill and ambition. Poksupthon led large catering kitchens in Thailand before she helped usher a wave of chile-fueled Northern and Northeastern cooking into D.C. at now-closed Baan Thai in Logan Circle. At Baan Siam, she’s playing the hits — creamy, crunchy, and complex khao soi; tapioca skin dumplings with ground chicken, peanuts, and sweet fermented radish; all sorts of spicy-sweet salads — while exploring sour-leaning dishes from her home country’s interior and ultra-hot curries from the South. Order for pickup or in-house delivery here, or reserve a table for indoor or outdoor dining here.

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Estuary

After a long pandemic pause, CityCenterDC’s polished seafood showpiece made a triumphant comeback in March with a menu full of remixed Chesapeake classics like fluke-flanked ceviche and smoked rockfish dip served in shells. The Conrad hotel’s glassy, 3-year-old restaurant, originally headlined by celebrity chef brothers Bryan and Michael Voltaggio, reemerged with No Goodbyes alums Ria Montes and Sean Tew at the helm. Estuary 2.0 casts a wider menu net across the largest estuary in the world, the Chesapeake Bay, with Maryland crab hush puppies dressed with yuzu aioli, decadent shrimp toast with lobster butter sauce, squash disguised as dan dan noodles, and sourcing from local growers like Moon Valley Farm. Hungry tables should consider its expertly-fried whole fish and Roseda Farms bone-in ribeye. Playful surprises include build-your-own sundaes comprised of caviar, ice cream, and mini black sesame waffle cones.

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Piccolina da Centrolina

A wood-burning oven imported from France is the workhorse inside Amy Brandwein’s Italian cafe in CityCenter, an everyday alternative to Centrolina, her dressier osteria across the street. This summer, the five-time James Beard Award finalist added twice as many seats, seasonal spritzes, and more wood-fired capabilities to roast all kinds of vegetables, seafoods, and meats like ribs and pork and lamb sausages. A daily pastry program produces quiche and phenomenal focaccia, and the 10-layer eggplant Parmesan remains a best-selling showstopper. Eating light is painless, too, from charred Napa cabbage to a carrot-and-bulgur wheat bowl with cauliflower, raisin, and pistachio. Order takeout online or get delivery via Caviar from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.

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Maketto

H Street’s cool cafe, streetwear shop, and, now, record store, continues to stay relevant over five years in thanks to a loyal following for its Taiwanese fried chicken, dim sum, crystal shrimp dumplings, and lo mein topped with pork shoulder and chicken confit. Prolific D.C. chef Erik Bruner-Yang wasted no time when the pandemic hit, launching ambitious crowdfunding system Power of 10 to put restaurant workers back on the job and feed communities in need at the same time. Book a table or order pickup and delivery online. Maketto’s incoming H Street NE sibling Bronze will explore Afrofuturism through food in the old Smith Commons space.

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Daru

Dante Datta and Suresh Sundas, a respective drink expert and chef who met while working together at Rasika West End, reunited under one roof last summer with an anticipated Indian restaurant and cocktail bar at a corner just south of H Street NE. At Daru, which just landed on New York Times’s coveted top 50 restaurants list, Sundas likes to combine Northern and Southern Indian cooking styles with some unorthodox touches. That includes za’atar olive naan, chicken tikka tacos, chimichurri chutneys, or grilled chicken reshmi kebabs with a hint of blue cheese. Datta and bar manager Tom Martinez, both alums of now-closed Columbia Room, collaborate on inventive riffs on classics. Book a seat online for service after 5 p.m. or order takeout and delivery for both lunch and dinner.

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L'Ardente

Chef David Deshaies (Unconventional Diner, Central) and business partner Eric Edens unveiled their soaring, “glam Italian” restaurant in the shiny new Capitol Crossing development last fall. The flashy showstopper, framed with shimmering Missoni drapes and abstract art, has amassed a fast following for pizzas crisped to perfection in a gold-plated oven, a 40-layer lasagna that begs to be photographed, and Florentine steaks fired up on an imported grill from Spain’s Costa Brava region. Other highlights include generous orbs of saffron-accented arancini, grilled cabbage adorned with creamy beurre blanc and glistening trout roe, and mini shots of duck ravioli served in claw-footed vessels. Starting at 5 p.m., fight for a spot at its scene-y bar to order a spot-on Negroni and decadent espresso martini. Reserve a seat in the dining room or order takeout and delivery. Lunch recently joined the mix, too.

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Cranes

Business lunchers, beware. Anyone who orders a Spanish gin and tonic will likely find themselves thirsty for an eminently refreshing refill. Chef Pepe Moncayo, a Spaniard who spent a large chunk of his career cooking in Singapore, oversees this Michelin-starred Iberian-Japanese melting pot that makes people feel welcome in many ways. There’s $45 bento boxes available weekdays from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. An omakase version handpicked by the chef is $65 (with a beverage pairing for $35). At dinner, opt for a 10-course omakase for $128. Tapas range from patatas bravas to duck rillete gyozas, and a la carte large plates offer yellowfin tuna with shiso pesto or paella studded with smoked eel.

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Zaytinya

Since opening over 20 years ago, José Andrés’s mega Mediterranean complex in Penn Quarter has amassed a devoted fan base for crispy Brussels sprouts with coriander seed and barberries, impressive kebabs, billowing pita breads, and Greek yogurt cheesecakes. Chef Michael Costa offers family-style tasting menus for $70 a person; a “meze ora” (4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday) includes $6 pide and $10 cocktails. There’s also a four-course meze brunch with rosé flights, too ($85 for two).

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Daikaya 1F + Daikaya, The Izakaya 2F

This is the flagship restaurant for Daikaya Group, D.C.’s foremost experts experts in ramen. The ground floor houses a first-come, first-served ramen shop that imports bouncy noodles from Sapporo. On the second level, its experimental izakaya gives chef Katsuya Fukushima a platform to present playful dishes like a new wagyu beef tartare with rice crackers and kimchi, a classic fried eggplant and miso rice ball, or a beloved mentaiko (spicy cod roe) burrata with orange zest and grilled toast. During the pandemic, the company put considerable thought into takeout and delivery, which remains an option. Customers can order par-cooked noodles for a quick nuke in the microwave, or uncooked if they want to boil their own. The entire Daikaya Group portfolio, which tastes and looks more polished than ever these days, includes Tonari next door, Bantam King nearby, Hatoba in Navy Yard, and Haikan in Shaw.

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Café Riggs

Tucked inside a historic bank building, Penn Quarter’s opulent, all-day hotel brasserie that unveiled right before the pandemic has really hit its stride. Tourists and locals alike come for a consistently impressive raw bar selection, pristine cocktails, and all-day omelettes engineered with beautifully buttery Vaughan Cheese. Decadent bar bites like puffy gougères or a bright bowl of caviar and cucumber with fresh potato chips are discounted during its weekday “Banker’s Hour” deal. The stately space now extends outdoors onto a year-round patio garden terrace. Take a trip to the depths of the bank for martini service and a half-smoke Rickey at Silver Lyan, the experimental cocktail lair from world-famous bartender Ryan Chetiyawardana.

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Rasika (Multiple locations)

James Beard award-winning chef Vikram Sunderam plays liberally with spicy chiles and sour fruits to make Rasika one of the most celebrated Indian restaurants in the country. His palak chaat, a fried baby spinach dish decorated with sweet yogurt, tamarind, and date chutney, has inspired imitators around town. Dal makhani slowly simmered in a decadent, buttery gravy. Both the Penn Quarter flagship and its West End sibling are ideal venues for vegetarian diners, too.

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Sushi Nakazawa

When NYC-import Sushi Nakazawa opened in the Trump International Hotel right after José Andrés stormed out of a contract in the same location, it became the most controversial sushi bar in D.C. (Fortunately for the restaurant, the clocktower-topped hotel is now a Waldorf Astoria and will soon welcome a Bazaar by José Andrés.) The 20-course, nigiri-sushi omakase stuns in the expert hands of “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” chef Masaaki Uchino. There’s no dinner menu, which leaves more time to linger over an impressive list of Japanese whiskey and sake. The most coveted seats are at the 10-seat sushi bar that offers the best view of the action.

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Caruso's Grocery

Matt Adler’s decidedly unmodern tribute to classic red sauce joints takes diners on a well-worn path that carefully steers clear of the contrived. Dishes heavy on nostalgia, quality ingredients, and technique are served in a red banquette lined, vintage photo-laden dining room that buzzes with hospitality and delight. Tender chicken parm with a light breading gets tucked under a zingy marina, hunky garlic bread arrives with a bowl of four-cheese sauce for dipping, and shrimp scampi gets splashed with house-made limoncello. Drinks, like a Manhattan with an amaretto rinse, receive equally attentive treatment. Keeping with theme, the menu is surprisingly affordable. Adler recently revealed plans to open a second location in Maryland’s Pike & Rose complex.

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Moon Rabbit DC

Anyone who’s followed Kevin Tien’s career in D.C. restaurants should know well enough to order crudo and fried chicken wherever he’s cooking. At Moon Rabbit, like at short-lived Emilie’s and nationally regarded Himitsu, Tien delivers on those signatures with aplomb. At the modern Vietnamese restaurant inside a luxe hotel on the Southwest Waterfront, he also serves a five-spice foie mousse tart with tamarind onion jam and cornmeal-fried catfish dressed with pea leaves and fermented mustard greens. A newer banh hoi dac biet order for the table loops in woven noodles, lemongrass pork, salt and pepper shrimp, and short ribs. On the lighter side, a papaya salad gets a sweet kick from lychee. The sleek bar sends out spins on a Boulevardier and espresso martini engineered with chicory drip coffee.

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Albi

Albi chef Michael Rafidi manipulates smoke with a master’s touch, sending out dishes from the wood-burning hearth at his high-end Levantine restaurant that have a way of commanding a diner’s full attention. The Maryland native’s Middle Eastern menu tweaks dishes to incorporate peak produce — see the smashed pumpkin labneh or apple and pear fattoush for fall — but the snack-sized lamb kefta kebabs speared on cinnamon sticks should never go out of style. A lengthy wine list full of hard-to-find Eastern Mediterranean labels, cocktails, and desserts all rise to the occasion. An a la carte menu joins a newer multi-course option featuring lamb meat pie and swordfish dolma, pita with spreads, and larger plates like chermoula black bass. The feast is $150 for food; wine pairings are priced at $75 or $115. For something more affordable, head next-door to sibling bakery and cafe, Yellow, which will expand to Georgetown this fall.

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Bammy's

Partners Gerald Addison and Chris Morgan made a huge hire this spring at their waterfront Caribbean mainstay with the addition of Eater DC’s 2019 Chef of the Year Peter Prime. The Cane alum brings his native Trinidad and Tobago to the table with a revised menu full of signature doubles (fry breads), smoked jerk wings, grilled oxtail, whole fried snapper escoveitch, stews, and duck or chickpea curries. A family-style menu ($75) is also available. Sit down for a creamy, rum-packed painkiller cocktail on the patio, or place an order for takeout.

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Mama Chang

The “home-style” Chinese restaurant in Peter Chang’s portfolio pays tribute to the women that influenced the legendary former embassy chef, with fiery dishes that call back his childhood in the Hubei province of central China and his home life in Virginia. Chang, a master of numbing spice, has woven in Sichuan and Hunan techniques into a menu of vegetable-heavy plates, dim sum, and family-style orders. There’s dine-in seating across its plant-filled, zen dining room in Fairfax. Order takeout here or get delivery via Uber Eats. The famed Chinese chef just planted roots in Dupont Circle with the opening of Chang Chang, his first-ever D.C. restaurant.

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Nasime Japanese Restaurant

Tiny Nasime feels like a restaurant you might stumble on while wandering the corridors of Tokyo, with its intimate atmosphere and small, convivial sushi counter. But the daily prix fixe menu reaches beyond sushi (that said, its otsukuri sashimi course is universally pristine). For $95, find a selection of six carefully prepared courses (plus dessert) with seasonal touches, usually including something grilled, something fried, and a communal soup or stew (broiled lamb chop and a duck and mushroom udon, for example, both figure on the current menu). Largely a two-person operation led by chef/owner Yuh Shimomura, service is consistently sunny and personable. During the pandemic, the restaurant ventured into high-end bento boxes, available for $48 per person.

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