Lutèce

This tiny Georgetown neo-bistro is everything we crave in a restaurant right now. Chef Matt Conroy’s cooking is elegant yet unfussy, simple but unexpected, and above all utterly delicious. You’ll be lucky to encounter luscious slices of bluefin tuna draped over slivers of kohlrabi in a spicy ’nduja aïoli, or charred napa cabbage dressed in a Caesar-like combo of tahini, Parm, and furikake. More memorable still: airy Parisian gnocchi in a scrape-the-bowl sauce of white miso and Comté cheese with oyster mushrooms and a surprise pop of preserved lemon. Equal credit goes to pastry chef Isabel Coss, whose unrivaled desserts include a honey semifreddo with crunchy “honey­comb” candy and curls of aged Comté shaved on top.