Restaurateur Jerry Hollinger (The Daily Dish and the Dish & Dram) delivered downtown Silver Spring an Art Deco-styled American chophouse and raw bar celebrating local farmers, watermen, and purveyors. A black truffle vinaigrette-dressed beet salad or shrimp-and-pork belly toast adorned with homemade kimchi are good ways to start, followed by Rohan duck confit, homemade spinach ricotta ravioli, halibut filet atop summer succotash, and luxe lineup of steaks like A6 wagyu strip loin. Augment dishes with underwater add-ons like butter-poached crab, lobster, jumbo shrimp, and fried oysters. The Sinatra-like space near the Fillmore also has a robust bar program starring New York Sours and fig-sage rye cocktails. Opt for a la carte or a summer tasting menu starting at $32 for two courses.

Colin McClimans and Danilo Simic, the culinary duo behind Logan Circle’s super-seasonal mainstay Nina May, tacked on a Chevy Chase destination for fish, vegetables, and meats sourced from the American coastline. Opal puts a wood-fired oven to work to bake baller breads and roast all sorts of proteins. Menu highlights include chilled gazpacho amplified with Maryland crab; ricotta dumplings with brown butter, English peas, and fiddlehead ferns; mushroom risotto; bright salads bursting with peak produce; and pan-seared scallops studded with cannellini beans, bacon, and watercress. A circular bar sending out smoked Sazeracs anchors an 80-seat dining room surrounded in stone and exposed beams. Jay-Z made a surprise visit for brunch last summer.

With Eater DC’s 2019 Chef of the Year Peter Prime no longer involved, his sister Jeanine Prime pushed the long-awaited culinary ode to their native Trinidad past the finish line in spring 2022. St. James, named after the bustling district in Trinidad’s capital, Port of Spain, breathes life into brick-lined Quarter + Glory’s former home. At 2,800 square feet, the remodeled space is almost three times larger than its Bib Gourmand-designated sibling Cane, which focuses on Caribbean street foods. Small and large-format dishes that pay homage to the melting pot port city include West Africa’s callaloo, a stew full of leafy greens, Trini-style Chinese steamed buns stuffed with spicy pork, and curry crab. A vast collection of imported rums lined along the soaring mirrored bar help build fragrant and floral cocktails like a hibiscus highball.

Mount Rainier’s pandemic-era arrival for artsy American comfort foods has solidified its status as a neighborhood gem. Here Bar Pilar alum Jesse Miller sends out stellar Southern dishes like buttermilk-fried green tomatoes with shrimp remoulade, meaty gumbos, slow-roasted rabbit and biscuits, spreadable pots of chicken liver mousse, crabby deviled eggs with chile relish, collard greens cooked with ham, and family-style helpings of brisket or pork chop platters. A lively weekend brunch brings warm bowls of shrimp and grits to the table both indoors and out across its stylish patio. Delicate, vintage plateware is one of many callbacks to the era when the restaurant space was part bank, part sewing machine factory. 

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 is open 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Monday with carryout, indoor dining, and outdoor service across a cozy tented patio (90-minute limit with a $20 deposit charged via Tock). The family’s Northern Virginia staple Padaek recently settled into a new Arlington home.

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; and 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 runs Spicebird, a Southeast Asian takeout out of Makan featuring savory spice-rubbed roast chicken and sides. Head to underground sibling Thirsty Crow for a tasty bar bites menu.

Perry’s has long been an under-the-radar reliable spot for sushi, and with Eater’s 2023 Chef of the Year Masako Morishita at the helm, the revitalized Adams Morgan restaurant is generating lots of attention for her flavorful Japanese creations. Standout starters included grilled broccoli rabe in a miso-garlic butter, a fiery Fuji apple salad with a kick from Korean gochujang, garlic edamame dumplings hidden under a snowy blanket of parmesan. The deep-fried shrimp katsu burger with togarashi tartar is also not to miss. The sleek, wood-framed restaurant with a strong sake collection continues to host one of D.C.’s best drag brunches on weekends. Morishita’s new Japanese breakfast service shows up on sporadic Saturdays.

Owner/chef Candice Mensah’s roving West African venture Hedzole opened a permanent home in a small Northwest space that formerly housed Social Kitchen last year. A daughter of Ghanaian immigrants, Mensah was born in D.C. and grew up in Alexandria, Virginia. Hedzole debuted in 2019 and quickly amassed a loyal following at farmers markets in Northern Virginia and D.C. Longtime favorites that made their way to D.C. include her take on stewed oxtail over Ghanaian waakye and groundnut (peanut) soup, red red with fried plantains, and coconut or jollof rice. Customizable bowls offer lots of room for vegans, too. Hedzole can seat 12 inside and 20 across its patio, or go the delivery route.

An intimate, 21-seat Japanese tasting room emerged last March in the treasured Palisades space occupied by omakase institution Sakedokoro Makoto up until 2018. Eight-course tasting menus from master chef Minoru Ogawa vary on any given night, depending on seasonality and what he can get his hands on, but the common thread throughout each meal is luxe wagyu beef imported from Japan. The reservation-only restaurant ($150 per person) is open for dinner service from Tuesdays through Sundays. Opt to augment courses with caviar and uni add-ons or sake pairings ($65). Kappo is the brainchild of Ogawa and co-owners Wilder and Adrian Williams, whose sushi menu at Shaw standby Zeppelin is designed by Ogawa.

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. Chef’s tasting menus ($158) can be augmented with seasonal delicacies like luxe winter truffles. The fast-growing team behind two-Michelin-starred tasting room Jônt upstairs just opened a new restaurant in Fort Lauderdale and expands to LA this year.

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.

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 ($95 per person) — now available restaurant-wide — include four courses and optional sommelier-picked wine ($65) or “sans alcohol” ($45) pairings.

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 with a Michelin star. Crowned best chef in America at the James Beard Awards in June, Rubba first attracted D.C. critics’ attention as the former chef at Hazel and 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 $70 selected wine pairing goes with a $105 meal. Reservations are available here.

Causa named for Peru’s iconic national dish, sailed into Blagden Alley in August 2022 with an ambitious, prix-fixe format that aims to capture the bounty of the South American country in one sitting. The anticipated fine-dining venture with a newly crowned Michelin star joins Amazonia, its color-soaked, more casual counterpart with lots of skewers. At Causa, six-course menus ($125) send diners on a seafaring voyage along the Peruvian coastline and into the Andes Mountains. The intimate space with just 22 seats lends itself to an immersive, personalized experience led by Peruvian-born chef and co-owner Carlos Delgado.

Salvadoran chef-owner Mauricio Arias turned his former Columbia Heights Italian eatery Ossobuco into a color-soaked destination for vibrant ceviches, al pastor tacos, mahi mahi tostadas, churros, bright salads, and spicy margaritas last spring. Maiz 64 alum Cristian Saucedo helped Arias execute the Mexican cuisine pivot, which includes making tortillas with imported corn flour from Mexico. A bar splashed with “Soup of the Day: Tequila” neon signage sends out creative cocktails like a “Naked in Tulum” with Aperol, mezcal, and passion fruit. Arias is also behind Rinconcito Café and Tortino in Shaw.

The team behind Georgetown’s acclaimed cocktail bar L’Annexe added a sophisticated, 100-seat brasserie next door last December that pays homage to Parisian nightlife with foie gras beignets, green asparagus with yellowtail tartar, classic French roast chicken with frites, ultra-rich black truffle risotto, a parade of bubbly Bellinis, and Old Fashioneds built with duck fat-washed rye. Opulent finales include a “Grand-Cru chocolate” millefeuille with pistachio cream and chilled soufflé. Renowned French chef Gilles Epié — the youngest chef to receive a Michelin star at age 22 (in 1980 at Le Pavillon des Princes) — was most recently at the helm of the five-star Turtle Bay Resort in Oahu, Hawaii, and the former Montage Beverly Hills before that. His star-studded Rolodex of guests have included former French and U.S. presidents, Princess Diana, and Robert De Niro.

Partners Gerald Addison and Casey Patten (Grazie Grazie) brought hand-tossed pies and nostalgic Italian fare to Midtown Center last fall. The red-sauced tribute to Patten’s nonna and her many Sunday suppers centers around pizzas, antipasti dishes like calamari, burrata, and arancini balls, and hearty bowls of pasta. A dreamy bar lined with family photos sends out Italian wines, elderflower spritzes, and Negronis three ways. The restaurant seats about 80, in addition to an outdoor bar geared towards downtown’s 9-to-5 happy hour set. A glam lounge called Grazie Mille just arrived next door.

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; and 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.

After a long pandemic pause, CityCenterDC’s polished seafood showpiece made a triumphant 2022 comeback 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 nation, the Chesapeake Bay, with Maryland crab hush puppies dressed with yuzu aioli, steamed Virginia clams with furikake butter, white peppercorn tagliatelle, seasonal sorbets, and sourcing from local growers like Moon Valley Farm. Hungry tables should consider its expertly-fried whole fish and Roseda Farm bone-in rib-eye.

This inventive restaurant for H Street NE aims to reimagine the history of the African diaspora through the lens of a fictional character named Alonzo Bronze. Owner Keem Hughley, a hospitality vet and native Washingtonian, plants the project inside the former three-story home of Smith Commons. A 26-foot bar on the first floor offers a large cocktail menu with spirits from all over the world. Bronze’s opening dream team includes wine consultant Nadine Brown; Barmini alum and Hanumanh mixologist Al Thompson; and Brooklyn native and acclaimed Afro-Caribbean chef Toya Henry. Highlights include braised oxtail with pappardelle; coconut basmati and bamboo rice; kanpachi crudo; charred yuzu squid skewers; and a guava cheese doughnut. Hughley has ties to nearby Maketto, D.C. chef Erik Bruner-Yang’s hip hotspot for Taiwanese fried chicken, dim sum, and crystal shrimp dumplings.

Dante Datta and Suresh Sundas, a respective drink expert and chef who met while working together at Rasika West End, reunited under one roof with an anticipated Indian restaurant and cocktail bar at a corner just south of H Street NE. At Daru, which 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.

Michelin-starred chef Johnny Spero (Reverie) brought a slice of Spain’s buzzy Basque country to D.C.’s Capitol Crossing complex last fall with the splashy debut of seafood-heavy Bar Spero. The well-traveled chef makes good use of a fire-fed grill to prepare everything from elegant Spanish turbot to meaty pork from the Shenandoah Valley. The raw bar is stocked with whatever Spero can get his hands on—including Nantucket scallops, oysters, clams, mussels, shrimp, or lobster—and doesn’t limit itself to marine life (see: a beautiful beef tartare). Compliment the entire meal with sesame sourdough from Maryland’s buzzy new bakery Manifest. A neon-lit bar serving cocktails, wines, and regional beers on tap joins a soaring, blue-toned dining room filled with wooden four-tops and built-in booths. Reserve a table online. After suffering fire damage, Georgetown’s dearly missed Reverie makes a triumphant comeback in February.

This is the flagship restaurant for Daikaya Group, D.C.’s foremost 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 (Cafe) next door, Bantam King nearby, and Haikan in Shaw.

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 is slowly simmered in a decadent, buttery gravy. Both the Penn Quarter flagship and its West End sibling are ideal venues for vegetarian diners, too.

Superstar chef and global humanitarian José Andrés fulfilled his decades-long dream of opening a restaurant inside downtown’s historic Old Post Office Pavilion last February. His Beverly Hill-born Bazaar checked into the newly minted Waldorf Astoria with a parade of avant-garde delights like “Jose” tacos topped with ibérico ham, gold leaf, and caviar; tortilla de papatas “new way” topped with potato foam; Chinese steamed bun with pork belly; and bite-sized “cotton candy foie gras” made famous in LA. Chesapeake Bay delicacies also show up in an artsy array of a la carte snacks and tapas. The two-level stunner puts a glossy Jamón carving station on full display upon entry alongside dry-aged smoked fish and poultry.

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 and antipasti dirty martini, receive equally attentive treatment. Keeping with theme, the menu is surprisingly affordable. Adler also runs a second location in Maryland’s Pike & Rose complex.

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 coal-fired mushroom hummus for spring — but the snack-sized lamb kefta kebabs speared on cinnamon sticks should never go out of style. Cocktails, desserts, and a lengthy wine list full of hard-to-find Eastern Mediterranean labels 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 $125 for food; beverage pairings are priced at $75 or $125. A chic cocktail-and-dessert lounge called Saha just arrived next door. For something more affordable, head to next-door sibling bakery and cafe, Yellow, which expanded to Georgetown with fiery pies at night.

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 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 planted roots in Dupont Circle with the opening of Chang Chang, his first-ever D.C. restaurant with a recently supersized menu. A shiny new Peter Chang arrived in McLean last fall.