Michelin will officially announce its 2022 star designations for DC area restaurants on Wednesday, May 4. But the international restaurant guide has been slowly releasing new additions to its book—sans stars (yet)—since December. Today, it announced four new local winners of its Bib Gourmand award, handed out to restaurants that offer “good food at a moderate price” (in Michelin terms, that is around $40 for a three-course meal).
Daru, the H Street Corridor destination from Rasika alums Dante Datta and Suresh Sundas, is described as an “attention grabber,” and wowed Michelin’s team of anonymous inspectors by taking “classic Indian cuisine in a novel direction.” Downtown DC’s Dauphine’s, from the team behind the Salt Line, is praised for “pretty people,” “tantalizing cocktails,” and “chef Kristen Essig’s immense skills as she prepares a delicious tapestry of New Orleans dishes.” And two restaurants on Petworth’s Upshur Street make the cut: the tiny ramen joint Menya Hosaki and Honeymoon Chicken, which slings fried chicken buckets, sandwiches, and snowballs in the old Slim’s Diner space.
The Bib Gourmand list tends to see more changes from year to year than the list of one- to three-starred restaurants, which include tasting rooms like the Inn at Little Washington (the area’s only three-star spot) and Capitol Hill’s soon-to-reopen Pineapple & Pearls. Last year, six places were added to the Bibs, including Mount Pleasant bakery/dining room Elle, Petworth institution the Hitching Post, and Columbia Heights Malaysian hit Makan. While nine places were removed from the Bib Gourmand group last year, no District restaurants lost stars in 2021.
In a statement, international Michelin Guide director Gwendal Poullennec says: “Washington DC rarely disappoints the MICHELIN Guide inspectors, and this 2022 selection lived up to its lofty standards.”
Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
