In the Where to Eat: 25 Best series, we’re highlighting our favorite restaurants in cities across the United States. These lists will be updated as restaurants close and open, and as we find new gems to recommend. As always, we pay for all of our meals and don’t accept free dishes.
2Fifty Barbecue
Riverdale Park | Barbecue, Salvadoran
As at any good barbecue restaurant, the smell of wood smoke announces 2Fifty Barbecue before you enter the doors to the casual dining room. The owners, Debby Portillo and Fernando González, moved from El Salvador to Maryland with a custom smoker in 2018, selling plates of barbecue at farmers’ markets before opening this location and one in Washington, D.C., proper. Fans order ahead for plates of tangy, South American-inflected Texas barbecue that often sells out before the day is through. Don’t miss the tender prime brisket, smoky ribs or chicken quarters, all with a side of craveable macaroni and cheese. It’s a perfect spread to take to nearby Riverdale Park on a nice day. KORSHA WILSON
4700 Riverdale Road, Riverdale Park, Md.; 240-764-8763; 2fiftybbq.com
Albi
Navy Yard | Mediterranean, Middle Eastern
Albi, which means “heart” in Arabic, is the chef Michael Rafidi’s love letter to the foods of his Palestinian American childhood. The kitchen is dominated by a coal-fire hearth, which sends fragrant wafts of smoke out to the dining room alongside Mr. Rafidi’s inspired takes on Levantine classics such as hummus (topped with crab and charred ramps), kebabs (skewered morsels of date-glazed duck and foie gras) and grape leaves (stuffed with rockfish, green tomato and preserved lemon). The passion of the place is also on display in the wine list. Packed with classic gems and deep cuts from all over the world (with particular emphasis on the Middle East), the charming wine list has sections, like “#Unapologeticallyclassicwhitewines,” and “‘Donnie Darko’ Reds,” that make even the biggest wine snobs crack a smile. MELISSA CLARK
1346 Fourth St. SE, Washington, D.C.; 202-921-9592; albidc.com
Baan Siam
Mount Vernon Square | Thai
If there is ever a silver lining to a restaurant closing, as 14th Street’s beloved Baan Thai did in 2019, it is the chance that it might one day return in a fresher but familiar form. Enter Baan Siam, a pandemic baby now approaching its fourth birthday. Don’t bother flipping through the chef Jeeraporn Poksupthong’s multi-page menu in search of pad kee mao or pad see ew — you won’t find them here. Instead, revel in the Northern Thai dishes she built a following around at her old Logan Circle spot and now expertly prepares in the sprawling kitchen of her Mount Vernon Square restaurant, like the exemplary khao soi, a curry in the brightest shade of marigold, teeming with fall-off-the-bone chicken and crowned with a Medusa-esque tangle of fried egg noodles. Those seeking the balance of sweet, sour and fiery flavors that is a hallmark of Thai cooking will find it abundant in dishes like the green mango salad strewed with peanuts and a sprightly salad of fried lotus root and plump grilled shrimp. TANYA SICHYNSKY
425 I Street NW, Washington, D.C.; 202-588-5889; baansiamdc.com
Bostan
Arlington | Uyghur
You can add Bostan’s chicken and lamb skewers to the list of great kebabs out there: juicy, hot-from-the-coals, heady with cumin. But what makes these kebabs truly special is everything you order to go along with them, dishes like saozi, supple flat noodles in a tart, red-tinted broth; rangpiza, a cold noodle dish sparked with chili oil; and the beef-and-onion stuffed flatbread called goshan. The owners, Mirzat Salam and Zulhayat Omer, started serving traditional Uyghur cuisine in this Arlington, Va., strip-mall after coming to the United States in 2019, where they ultimately joined the waves of immigrants fleeing war and persecution granted asylum in Northern Virginia over the decades. Bostan is one of a handful of Uyghur restaurants in the area; a second location opened in Herndon late last year. BRETT ANDERSON
3911 Langston Boulevard, Arlington, Va.; 703-527-2026; bostanuyghurcuisine.com
Bresca
14th Street Corridor| Bistro
Bresca, the chef and owner Ryan Ratino’s tribute to Parisian neo-bistros, is the rare restaurant where avant-garde, technique-heavy dishes are approachable and fun. Slices of kanpachi crudo are fanned in a semicircle like a perpetual Tilt-a-Whirl, while an amuse bouche that resembles a whole black truffle is actually a charcoal-dusted gougère stuffed with truffle-scented Mornay sauce. Even the cocktails show up in whimsical vessels like the Bee’s Knees served in a glass bee adorned with a fresh sprig of baby’s breath. Diners can order à la carte or from a prix fixe menu — or go all out and splurge on a tasting menu at Jônt, Bresca’s spendy upstairs sibling. KORSHA WILSON
1906 14th Street NW, Washington, D.C.; 202-518-7926; brescadc.com
Casa Teresa
Downtown D.C. | Spanish
Rubén García was a longtime top lieutenant of the Spanish American chef José Andrés, the person most responsible for bringing high quality tapas and Spanish-influenced molecular gastronomy to the Washington area. Casa Teresa, the first restaurant Mr. García opened after striking out on his own last year, raises the bar yet again. The menu is filled mainly with traditional Spanish dishes, but they are treated with a level of technical proficiency and whimsy not normally afforded pa amb tomàquet, croquetas de jamón or Basque cheesecake. This cooking will make you fall in love with Spanish food all over again. Take time to peruse the wine director Sarah Vanags’s Spanish drinks selection, which focuses on women winemakers. BRETT ANDERSON
919 19th Street NW, Washington, D.C.; 202-856-7979; teresadc.com
Ethiopic
H Street Corridor | Ethiopian
D.C. has long had an abundance of Ethiopian restaurants — and everyone has their favorite — but Ethiopic on a bustling section of H Street is one of the most modern examples of just how much Ethiopian cuisine is a key part of local dining. The owners Samuel Ergete and Meseret Bekele opened the glossy dining room in 2010 and it has since become a staple in the area, a place to meet friends for a meal of classics like doro wat, tibs and timatim salad on springy, tangy injera bread, alongside glasses of honey wine. KORSHA WILSON
401 H Street NE, Washington D.C.; 202-675-2066; ethiopicrestaurant.com
Kuya Ja’s Lechon Belly
Rockville | Filipino
Kuya Ja’s specialty is in its name: pork belly that condenses the appeal of Filipino-style whole roast pig into a rolled roast redolent of lemongrass and garlic, with skin too crisp to break with just one whack of your fork. The pork belly is available with atchara (basically spicy Filipino papaya kraut, if you’re unfamiliar) in a sandwich, on a bed of rice or in combination with another of the co-owner and chef Javier Fernandez’s meats, which you should not ignore. The lechon may be what first brought crowds to Kuya Ja’s, but there are plenty more reasons to trek to this fast-casual strip mall storefront in suburban Maryland, including desserts from Gwenie’s Pastries, run by Stella Fernandez, Mr. Fernandez’s sister. BRETT ANDERSON
5268-H Nicholson Lane, Rockville, Md.; 240-669-4383; kuyajas.com
Lapis
Adams Morgan | Afghan
This homey Afghan restaurant is more than just a great place to eat tender beef kofta stewed with root vegetables and flatbreads stuffed with onions and leeks spiked with cilantro, it’s also a taste of home for the chef Shamim Popal. Ms. Popal fled Afghanistan and came to Washington, D.C., in 1987. Here, she is making the dishes she remembers from her upbringing. The Popal family also operate the excellent Lutèce in Georgetown and the new Pascual on Capitol Hill, but Lapis feels like their family home. KORSHA WILSON
1847 Columbia Road NW, Washington D.C.; 202-299-9630; lapisdc.com
Maketto
H Street Corridor | Cambodian, Taiwanese
Entering the sleek space at Maketto offers a bit of a choose-your-own-adventure: the dining can serve as an all-day cafe, a great option for group dinners or business lunches, and single diners sometimes even open their laptops to work while enjoying a coffee. On warm evenings, the back patio feels like a dinner party. The menu offers delicious and surprising mash-ups of Cambodian and Taiwanese cuisines like Gruyère dumplings with hearty Chinese chili, wok-charred lo mein noodles with roasted pork and satisfying baos. KORSHA WILSON
1351 H Street NE, Washington, D.C.; 202-838-9972; maketto1351.com
Mama Chang
Fairfax | Chinese
Peter Chang is one of the region’s most celebrated chef-restaurateurs. Mama Chang is a testament to the fact that he did not achieve this status alone. The menu pays tribute to Mr. Chang’s main sources of support and inspiration: Ronger Wang, his mother, and Lisa Chang, his wife and business partner, who is also an accomplished chef. Since opening in 2019, the restaurant has introduced dishes, many inspired by the home cooking of Mr. Chang’s native Hubei province, that have gone onto the menus at the Chang family’s 16 other restaurants in the area. Standouts include fish ball and lamb soup, lychee pepper chicken and a stew filled with sweet potato noodles, sour cabbage and pork. Eating this dazzling food at this elegant Northern Virginia restaurant, lined with comfortable booths and blond wood surfaces, feels like an occasion. BRETT ANDERSON
3251 Blenheim Boulevard, Suite 101, Fairfax, Va.; 703-268-5556; mamachangva.com
Mita
Shaw | Latin American, Vegan, Tasting Menu
In Mita’s hushed, gray-hued dining room, warmly accented in tonal browns, the Latin American, vegetable-based cuisine of Miguel Guerra and Tatiana Mora arrives in neon bursts, with bold flavors to match. Orbs of vibrant watermelon form a jewel-toned mosaic with fermented carrots and cilantro; marinated orange-fleshed squash and a ruffle of crispy kale are liberally but carefully drizzled with pungent mole. For dessert, a cherry blossom-themed confection in dazzling pink jubilantly mixes rhubarb with strawberry and yuzu. If you’re vegan-curious or even vegan-resistant, Mita’s tasting menu will win you over. This is plant-based cuisine in fireworks mode: playful, incandescent and instantly appealing. MELISSA CLARK
804 V Street NW, Washington, D.C.; 202-929-7792; mitadc.com
Moon Rabbit
Penn Quarter | Modern Vietnamese
Kevin Tien is a Vietnamese American chef from Cajun Country. Those bare facts help explain many of the flavors found in the string of well-regarded restaurants he has opened in Washington, but they only begin to capture the breadth of the cooking at Moon Rabbit. Mr. Tien co-owns this latest, most fully realized restaurant with Judy Beltrano, its co-chef, and Susan Bae, the pastry chef whose desserts you don’t want to miss. The food is playfully creative, but their cooking chops are serious, as evidenced by dishes as varied as boudin-stuffed quail, luscious green curry sponge cake and pâté chaud worthy of Antonin Carême. That this collective is showcasing such excellence so close to the Capitol somehow makes everything all the more delicious. BRETT ANDERSON
927 F Street N.W.; 202-525-1446; moonrabbitdc.com
Oyster Oyster
Shaw | Tasting Menu
Many restaurants take sustainability seriously, but few are as rigorous as Oyster Oyster. The chef Rob Rubba’s ever-changing, hyperlocal tasting menu celebrates both fungi and bivalves, exemplars of sustainable foodways that in his hands are also thoroughly delicious. Mushrooms play the bigger role, whether roasted and topped with verdant spring onions or simmered in a dusky, woodsy stew thickened with potatoes. Oysters, which get a pass on an otherwise plant-based menu since their cultivation is beneficial to the ocean, sometimes appear coyly, hidden under gossamer sheets of radish with herb oil, and other times overtly, layered with watermelon and crunchy peanuts. Even the candle holders are crafted from recuperated oyster shells, and whatever is left in your water glass goes to grateful plants, like a tip for nature itself. MELISSA CLARK
1440 Eighth Street NW, Washington, D.C.; no phone; oysteroysterdc.com
Pascual
Capitol Hill | Mexican
Dining at the breezy and low-key Pascual is an exercise in appreciating contrasts. Here, the chefs Matt Conroy and Isabel Coss deftly showcase the breadth of flavors and textures of Mexican cuisine. A meal may start with a citrusy aguachile studded with herbs and edible flowers or tuna crudo with an aji amarillo chile sauce, before moving into smoky lamb neck barbacoa or a half chicken, both cooked over the kitchen’s wood fired grill and served alongside homemade tortillas. The fideos negros, a rice dish made with a huitlacoche cream is delicate while also highlighting the funk of the corn fungus. Cocktails and agua frescas follow the same principle, incorporating spice, salt, smoke and citrus into drinks that are just as interesting as the dishes they accompany. In Mr. Conroy and Ms. Coss’s hands, it all tells a cohesive (and delicious) story. KORSHA WILSON
732 Maryland Ave NE, Washington, D.C.; 202-450-1954; pascualdc.com
Perry’s
Adams Morgan | Japanese
Ascending the stairs at Perry’s, the unassuming Japanese restaurant from the chef Masako Morishita, means entering a world where Japanese dishes meet Mid-Atlantic ingredients, resulting in mash-ups that are as surprising as they are fun. The shrimp katsu burger looks like a fast-food fish sandwich, but tastes even better thanks to a tender shrimp patty, tartar sauce made with togarashi seasoning and squishy milk bread. A tofu “ricotta” with local roasted peaches and sliced serranos, or tempura fried squash blossoms stuffed with a miso béchamel, makes a great addition to a spread of nigiri, expertly prepared by the chefs behind the sushi counter. Also, not to be missed: the rooftop patio overlooking Columbia Road. KORSHA WILSON
1811 Columbia Rd NW, Washington, D.C.; 202-234-6218; perrysam.com
Pupuseria Mamá Emilia
Rockville, Md. | Salvadoran
Salvadoran food is tightly knit into the fabric of the local culture. Elsy Claros — whose mother, Emilia Cruz Lopez, ran a pupuseria in El Salvador — played a role in spreading the cuisine across the metro area, with the pupuserias she opened with her sisters. Mamá Emilia ups the ante. Ms. Claros opened the restaurant with the help of her daughter, Ericka, in 2022. There are traditional pupusas, oozing cheese, frijoles and chicharrón. But there are also pupusas with fillings that include shrimp, mint and kale. There are nearly 30 different styles, all served hot and freshly blistered, starting at breakfast, when you’d be well served ordering the signature item with eggs, in a red sauce that rivals the best enchilada gravy. BRETT ANDERSON
785 Rockville Pike, Suite H, Rockville, Md. ; 301-605-7063; facebook.com/PupuseriaMamaEmilia/
Rasika
Penn Quarter and West End | Indian
A lot of restaurants are worse for wear after nearly two decades in business, but Rasika, chef Vikram Sunderam’s, game-changing, fine-dining Indian restaurant that opened in 2005, still purrs with a full dining room most nights. Devotees of Mr. Sunderam’s cooking visit the West End location or the original in Penn Quarter near the National Mall for crispy fried spinach with sweet yogurt in the palak chaat or the buttery black cod (which are both classic D.C. dishes at this point), but the selection of naans and meat dishes like the chile-heavy lamb roganjosh are also spectacular. KORSHA WILSON
633 D Street NW; 202-637-1222; and 1190 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, D.C.; 202-466-2500; rasikarestaurant.com
Reveler’s Hour
Adams Morgan| Italian American
Perhaps you are one of those people who believes an urban neighborhood is incomplete without a contemporary Italian American trattoria where the food is exceptional but the setting and prices (at least by current big-city standards) make it suitable for all occasions. Reveler’s Hour serves this role in Adams Morgan. The frequently changing menu is filled with pleasantly familiar, subtly erudite dishes. There is a Caesar salad, though it could be made with escarole or kohlrabi, and if you go hungry for chicken, hope that it’s fried and drizzled with saffron hot honey. The ricotta cavatelli Bolognese arrives with a healthy shaving of two-year aged Parmesan, while the caramelized onion-Gruyère arancini is accompanied with the smart suggestion to pair it with amontillado sherry. This is food worthy of admiration, but humble enough to recede into the background of a night to remember. BRETT ANDERSON
1775 Columbia Road NW, Washington, D.C.; no phone; revelershour.com
St. James
U Street | Modern Caribbean
Near the nightlife of the U Street corridor, this trendy restaurant is evidence of a younger, newer D.C. dining crowd that wants easygoing and delicious. The menu plays the hits of Trinidadian cuisine with dishes like tender roti, dense cassava dumplings, spiced aloo and chaat pies with slightly sweet fried bread, but also offers modern takes on Caribbean ingredients like the delicate and evergreen-colored callaloo soup garnished with lump crab meat. The atmosphere is fun and service is friendly making it a great spot to enjoy happy hour or a casual dinner. KORSHA WILSON
2017 14th Street NW, Washington, D.C.; 202-695-8620; stjames-dc.com
Tail Up Goat
Adams Morgan | New American
Nine years in, Tail Up Goat has hit an incredible stride, managing to create an atmosphere where dinner is both casual and feels like an event at the same time. Once you’ve settled in, you’re given a nonalcoholic shot of a shrub (made in house, of course) to prepare you for the chef Jon Sybert’s menu of globe trotting dishes, which combines Mediterranean, Mid-Atlantic and Caribbean ingredients. Curry-spiked lamb ribs are so tender that servers will hand you a wet wipe and encourage you to eat them with your hands. In April, the team at Tail Up Goat announced that the space will close at the end of the year, so hurry and capture this special moment in D.C. dining while it’s still around. KORSHA WILSON
1827 Adams Mill Road NW, Washington, D.C.; no phone; tailupgoat.com
The Dabney
Shaw | Mid Atlantic, Tasting Menu
Mid Atlantic cuisine sits at the intersection of the North and South, drawing on ingredients from the Chesapeake Bay and recipes created along its vast watershed. Jeremiah Langhorne, the chef and co-owner of the Dabney, gives this regional style of cooking the tasting menu treatment. The results — pork crépinette in a mustard green casing, bluefin tartar wrapped in nasturtium leaves, aged tilefish served in a hail of pumpernickel crumbs and benne seeds — are playfully creative, but earthier in their appeal than what’s found at other high-priced options permeating D.C. It’s also hard not to be entranced in this transporting dining room in the Blagden Alley historic district, dominated by the open kitchen’s blazing hearth. BRETT ANDERSON
122 Blagden Alley NW, Washington, D.C.; 202-240-2660; thedabney.com
The Duck & the Peach
Capitol Hill | New American
Opened in 2020, the Duck and the Peach’s sparse dining room in the shadow of Eastern Market calls attention to the star of the show (and the menu): a large, spinning rotisserie that looms in the open kitchen. The owner, Hollis Wells Silverman, and the chef, Katarina Petonito, serve excellent dishes using seasonal local produce, turning it into straightforward dishes with California influences. Tilefish is roasted and served with asparagus and a cream sauce, lemon risotto is topped with grilled local baby onions and the namesake dish, the rotisserie duck is showered with dressed local greens. It’s a modern take on Mid Atlantic cuisine that shows how much the region has to offer beyond its storied seafood. KORSHA WILSON
300 Seventh Street SE, Washington, D.C.; 202-431-1913; duckandpeachdc.com
Thip Khao
Columbia Heights | Laotian
Seng Luangrath spurred a D.C. renaissance in the herbal, funky, often spicy cooking of her native Laos when she opened Thip Khao in 2014. The stylishly casual cafe struck a chord with dishes like nam khao, a crispy coconut-rice salad with fermented pork, the slightly sweet beef jerky called sin, and red goat curry famous for its furnace-blast heat. The cocktails, which also draw on Laotian ingredients, are alone worth a visit, but they’re also smartly designed to complement the food. Ms. Luangrath has opened a number of well-liked Lao restaurants in the metro area, including two locations of Padaek in Northern Virginia, both worth seeking out. BRETT ANDERSON
3462 14th Street NW, Washington, D.C.; 202-387-5426; thipkhao.com
Z&Z Manoushe Bakery
Rockville | Levantine
The crust of Z&Z’s classic manoushe, covered in a forest green slick of olive oil and za’atar, is both tantalizingly chewy and thoroughly crisp, from the edge to the tip of each triangle-cut slice. If the quality and complexity brings to mind artisan pizza, you’re not alone. While the owners, Danny and Johnny Dubbaneh, are quick to point out Levantine flatbreads predate pizza, the brothers’ family-run business does operate a little like a pizzeria, with the many variations on its signature item — don’t miss the manoushe topped with tomatoes, cucumbers and toum — ordered to-go in cardboard takeout boxes. The cozy, four-table bakery is a step up from Z&Z’s farmers’ market beginnings, but it still belies the regional demand the Dubbanehs have helped to create for manoushe, with Z&Z products now available in grocery stores across the Mid Atlantic. BRETT ANDERSON
1111 Nelson Street, Rockville, Md., 301-296-4178; zandzdc.com
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Brett Anderson joined the Food desk as a contributor in July 2019. He was restaurant critic and features writer at The Times-Picayune, in New Orleans, from 2000 to 2019. He has won three James Beard awards, including the Jonathan Gold Local Voice Award, and was named Eater’s Reporter of the Year in 2017 for his reporting on sexual harassment in the restaurant industry.
Melissa Clark has been writing her column, A Good Appetite, for The Times’s Food section since 2007. She creates recipes for New York Times Cooking, makes videos and reports on food trends. She is the author of 45 cookbooks, and counting.
Tanya Sichynsky is an editor for the Food and Cooking sections of The Times and the author of The Veggie, a weekly vegetarian newsletter.
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