Michelin obsessives, you’ve got some new reservations to make. The French tire company/ culinary arbitor announced today that it’s adding three new restaurants deemed “recommended” to its DC guide. There’s Pascual, the Mexican restaurant from the Lutece crew near H Street; Amparo Fondita, Christian Irabien’s cheffy Mexican place in Dupont; and Cucina Morini, the coastal Italian-inspired hotspot in Mount Vernon Triangle.
Earlier this year, Michelin announced five other recommended restaurants: Moon Rabbit, Omakase@Barracks Row, Mita, Balos Estiatorio, and Almeda (the latter closed at the end of August).
While the list of Michelin’s starred restaurants and more casual Bib Gourmands—determined by a team of anonymous inspectors—won’t be released until later this year (date TBA), these could hint at what’s to come on that elite roster. And the news suggests that perhaps it’ll be a slow year for the DC list. By this time in 2023, Michelin had announced 18 new “recommended” restaurants. Just four of them made the official list that winter: Causa and Rania received one star, and La Tejana and Yellow were awarded Bib Gourmands.
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.
