The Hot List: 10 Restaurants Around DC We’re Loving Right Now

Chef Kitima Boonmala’s comfortable new Thai spot has set Chevy Chase DC abuzz, bringing the flavors of galangal, coriander, and Thai chilies to a stretch of Connecticut Avenue that needed an injection of spice. The “midnight fried rice,” with Chinese sausage, shrimp, and shrimp-fat butter, is as good of a late night snack as you’d think. And don’t skip the “enhancements” recommended by the chef for each main dish— a preserved-radish-and-egg scramble alongside her exemplary beef massaman curry; and a crisp sausage-and-cucumber salad with her deeply roasted red curry cabbage.

Dupont has a swank new boutique hotel, the Sixty DC, and with it, a swank new Mediterranean restaurant from Toronto restaurateur Hanif Harji. The menu is wide-ranging—there are bright salads, handmade pastas, and rustic meats—but its heart is with seafood. Oysters grilled and topped with chili butter, parmesan, and breadcrumbs are fabulous, and there’s a fun riff on prosciutto and melon made with tuna belly instead of ham. Pay attention to the attached card of daily catches, which on our visit included sweet, plump shrimp dressed with all they needed—lots of lemon and butter. And there are nice bookends in cocktails like the Acqua Verde, made with vodka, salted cucumber, and kiwi, and desserts like a Basque cheesecake with marmalade.

With the entire Silk Road as his canvas, chef Sanjay Mandhaiya has plenty of cuisines to work with: Indian, Persian, Moroccan, Turkish, Tibetan, Georgian, Eastern European, and beyond. Some are stronger than others here: we love Mandhaiya’s take on mast-o-musir—Persian shallot-and-yogurt dip—served with the same warm seeded naan that arrives at your table gratis. And cauliflower Manchurian, itself an Indo-Chinese fusion dish of dubiously Manchurian origin, is sweet, spicy, gingery, and crisp. Cocktails like “A Phool for You” capture the layered flavors of the ancient trade route as well as anything from the kitchen does.

Japanese tasting menus are having a moment, but this isn’t another sushi omakase. Chef-owner Urara Iwasaki, an alum of Izakaya Seki and wagyu-centric Kappo (she also happens to be an international flight attendant), serves an eight to 10 course meal full of homestyle dishes elevated with high-end ingredients. While the seasonal menu changes often, some early highlights included a Japanese seabass with yuzu kosho vinaigrette, dashi jelly, and caviar as well as a deep-fried lotus root “sandwich” stuffed with minced Japanese pork and wagyu. An upstairs sushi counter will open this fall, and in the meantime, the patio offers a more casual menu of fusion rolls.

Chef Elias Taddesse is known for brilliantly infusing American comfort food with Ethiopian flavors. Here, he consolidates his burger joint Melange and fried chicken hit Doro Soul Food into one arty Shaw space, just around the corner from the 9:30 Club. He’s also added Moya, a taco menu. Grab a seat at the indoor/outdoor bar and order from all three concepts—a classic cheeseburger, stellar fried-cod tacos, and fiery, berbere-red chicken tenders. Don’t overlook sides like black-cumin cornbread, injera-topped mac and cheese, and cooling potato salad.

To snag a seat at this Tokyo-style cocktail bar hidden inside the Watermark Hotel, you might have to solve a riddle on the bar’s Instagram page or hunt down a piece of origami with a QR code (or… just Google “Naisho Room reservations”). Entering the restaurant is its own maze; Let’s just say the security guy wears a “Gym Trainer” shirt. But the gimmicks give way to a sexy space with skyline views, weekend DJs, and excellent cocktails, such as a bourbon-and-melon-liqueur concoction with spicy ginger beer. The limited Japanese food menu is full of luxe touches, but you can’t go wrong with the handrolls or a boneless stuffed chicken wing served under a cloche with a cloud of smoke.

This snug cocktail bar hidden in an alleyway off the H Street corridor was recently named one of Bon Appetit’s best nine bars of 2025. No wonder: at a time when so few bars and restaurants feel original, there’s nothing like this place. The menu fuses Asian and Latin American flavors in delightful ways, whether an espresso martini made with sesame horchata or a concoction of gin, mezcal, pandan, and coconut channeling Taipei’s night markets. The snacky menu is also fun, from the extra-crackly “big chip” with tomatillo salsa or a root-vegetable tamale with Japanese curry. Whatever you do, don’t miss the Baked Alaska shaved ice for dessert.

Supisa “Boom” Teawboot opened her hit Woodley Park Thai restaurant Donsak in 2022. In March, she launched this pretty, minimalist dining room in a McLean stripmall. Sure, you’ll find all the American Thai restaurant standards—including excellent tom kha soup and curry puffs—but don’t sleep on the less common dishes: a single croquette of minced shrimp and pork, spicy larb made with Brussels sprouts, and a southern Thai pork belly stew called moo hong, which comes with a bao bun for dunking. Also great: cocktails such as a pineapple daiquiri tempered with Aperol and a guava margarita.  

The sequel to “Indian-ish” hit Daru is a colorful and funky ode to Indian street foods. Chef Suresh Sundas, an alum of Rasika, turns crispy lotus root into an addictive chaat with dabs of sweet yogurt, green chutney, and tamarind, while upgrading kulcha flatbread by stuffing it with duck and topping it with sour cherry compote, yogurt, and trout roe. You’ll also see some of his Nepalese roots in dishes like wagyu buckwheat momo in a slurpable consommé. The bar, overseen by co-owner and cocktail talent Dante Datta, is just as much a draw as the kitchen. Among our favorite drinks: the frozen jackfruit-and-ginger Junglebird and an umami-rich dirty martini with an achar pickle brine.

This New York noodle-and-dumpling shop, made famous by the late Anthony Bourdain, recently opened a takeout-only location out of Alexandria ghost kitchen facility Four Mile Food Co.. Early sales have surpassed those of the family-owned chain’s 16 other locations, selling out at times. Turns out the hype is worth it, especially when it comes to the signature hand-ripped spicy cumin lamb noodles. The thick, chewy ribbons are slicked in a tingling chili oil that packs flavor, not just heat. Northern Chinese-style boiled dumplings plumped with spicy and sour pork and cabbage hardly need a dressing, though we will gladly take the soy-and-black-vinegar sauce. And no order is complete without the garlicky smashed cucumber salad.