Tuesday night, the Michelin Guide announced its 2023 list of starred restaurants in a new fashion: a YouTube-streamed ceremony out of New York City, hosted by Adam Richman, who once attempted to drink a six pound milkshake at Annapolis’s Chick & Ruth’s Deli on the Travel Channel’s Man vs. Food.
The show celebrated honorees in New York, Chicago, and DC. It featured instrumental music that recalled the urgency of Tom Cruise’s Scientology promo; copious teleprompter screwups; countless “You’re drunk!” admonitions from Richman to the crowd; and a whole lot of long, awkward pauses.
Before the starred restaurants were announced, Richman called out a few special awards. Ryan Ratino of 14th Street’s Jont and Bresca was anointed as a top young chef. “Can we give the Lollapalooza ’99 treatment and let him crowd-surf?” Richman implored, while waiting for Ratino to take the stage. “Reduce. reuse. recycle—get your ass on stage,” he begged, as the Inn at Little Washington’s Patrick O’Connell meandered up to claim his “Green Star“ sustainability award.
The biggest news of the night was the three cities’ sole new three-star restaurant: Smyth in Chicago, which is run by John and Karen Urie Shields. Before Smyth, the couple turned Chilhowie, Virginia restaurant Town House into a national dining destination. Alas, they’d been planning to open a restaurant in Georgetown after Town House’s closure, but wound up back in Chicago, where they’d met while working for the late Charlie Trotter.
There wasn’t a lot of movement on DC’s list of starred restaurants. Newcomers to the one-star crew were Shaw Peruvian dining room Causa and Rania, the glitzy Indian spot in Penn Quarter. One restaurant—Penn Quarter’s Japanese/Spanish Cranes—came off that list. Everything else remained the same, including a one star rating for Georgetown restaurant Reverie, which has been closed for over a year due to a fire. Our area still has one three-star restaurant (the Inn at Little Washington) and three two-star places (Minibar, Jont, and Pineapple and Pearls).
There was more upheaval on the Bib Gourmand list, which honors value-driven restaurants. There were two fresh DC entries: Mount Pleasant breakfast-taco spot La Tejana and Michel Rafidi’s Georgetown/Navy Yard cafe Yellow. But several eateries from the 2022 list were removed: Bidwell, Das, Fancy Radish (which recently closed), Federalist Pig, Jaleo, Ottoman Taverna, Pearl Dive Oyster Palace, Thip Khao, and Timber Pizza Co. Zaytinya, which came off last year’s list of Bibs, was reinstated this year.
Here are the 2023 starred restaurants, Bib Gourmands, and special awards:
Three Stars:
- The Inn at Little Washington
Two Stars:
- Jont
- Minibar
- Pineapple and Pearls
One Star:
- Albi
- Bresca
- Causa (NEW)
- The Dabney
- El Cielo
- Fiola
- Gravitas
- Imperfecto: the Chef’s Table
- Kinship
- Little Pearl
- Masseria
- Maydan
- Metier
- Oyster Oyster
- Rania (NEW)
- Reverie
- Rooster & Owl
- Rose’s Luxury
- Sushi Nakazawa
- Tail Up Goat
- Xiquet
Bib Gourmand Restaurants:
- Astoria
- Cane
- China Chilcano
- Daru
- Dauphine’s
- Elle
- Hitching Post
- Honeymoon Chicken
- Ivy City Smokehouse
- Kaliwa
- Karma Modern Indian
- La Tejana (NEW)
- Laos in Town
- Lapis
- Makan
- Maketto
- Menya Hosaki
- Oyamel
- Queen’s English
- The Red Hen
- Resident’s Cafe
- Sababa
- Sfoglina
- Stellina
- Taqueria Habanero
- Toki Underground
- Unconventional Diner
- Yellow (NEW)
- Zaytinya
Special Awards:
Green Star: Inn at Little Washington
Exceptional Cocktails Award: Daniel Todd of the Dabney
Sommelier Award: Sarah Thompson of Queen’s English
Outstanding Service Award: Guiseppe Formica of Fiola
Young Chef Award: Ryan Ratino of Jont and Bresca
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.
