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Welcome to Washingtonian’s Hot List! These are 10 restaurants our food team is particularly excited about right now. Every month, we’ll swap in and out new recommendations—old and new, fancy and casual—that we’ve visited recently and deserve your attention. While our 100 Very Best Restaurants ranking is still our ultimate guide to the DC area’s top dining destinations, this is a place where we’ll give you a real-time pulse check on the region’s eating and drinking scene.
Modern American • West End • 1010 New Hampshire Ave., NW
Philadelphia restaurateur Ellen Yin, who won the 2023 James Beard award for Outstanding Restaurateur, opened this jewel box of a restaurant stashed in a West End hotel in September. What it lacks in curb appeal—finding it requires a trip through a sterile lobby and an elevator ride—it makes up for in energy and charm, both in the room and on the plate. The menu features the same global-pantry sensibility as its Philly sibling: lovely slices of bluefin tuna are accented with rose harissa and fruity Taggiasca olives, fall-off-the-bone lamb ribs are glazed with vadouvan-scented barbecue sauce, and a Bavette steak arrives with a peanutty take on Romesco sauce.
Afghan • Glover Park • 2444 Wisconsin Ave., NW
The latest addition to DC’s Afghan food scene is a handsome Glover Park eatery focused on homestyle cooking from the owners of Arlington’s Kabobistan. Chef Hilal Rahim, a former diplomat, cooks classic lamb-shank topped, carrot-and-raisin-strewn kabuli palaw with sesame oil and serves up chapli kebab patties sizzling on cast-iron trays. But her menu also delves deeper into the catalog of lesser-known Afghan dishes—chainaki, a kind of lamb soup, is served in a tea kettle; the Bonjon Rumi special is a Russian-style layered Olivier salad with slow-cooked beef. Stay tuned: the superb, elaborate breakfasts served at Kabobistan will arrive here next month, too.
Afro-Caribbean • Southwest • 1330 Maryland Ave., SW
In 2020, rising star chef Kwame Onwuachi closed his hit Wharf restaurant Kith and Kin and moved back to his native New York. In September, he returned to our city a legit star, having launched Tatiana, the Lincoln Center restaurant that in 2023 the New York Times crowned #1 in the city. Here, Onwuachi’s Afro-Caribbean dining room is darkly lit, sexy, and the kind of place you dress up for. It’s pretty impossible to get into right now, but make it past the curtain of gold chains at the entrance, and there are rich rewards. Buttery blue crab is served in its shell alongside tiny plantain hoecakes and a terrific green sauce inspired by DC’s Peruvian chicken joints. Charbroiled oysters arrive with a red stew jam you’ll want to keep around for the whole meal. And a platter of smoky wagyu short rib is beautifully arranged with pickles, sauces, and lettuce for wrapping. This is some of the most thrilling, delicious food we’ve eaten all year.
Levantine/French • Union Market • 417 Morse St., NE (alley entrance)
You don’t have to wander too far into a Union Market-area back alley to find La’ Shukran: just look for the black-and-white striped landing and head upstairs. Hopefully, you have a reservation—they’re released for the week on Mondays and disappear fast—because everyone seems to be clamoring for one of the 53 seats at Michael Rafidi’s latest hotspot, which sits above his bustling cafe, Yellow. Rafidi is a chef with Palestinian heritage and a Maryland upbringing, and he is best known as the chef/owner of Albi, the Levantine dining room in Navy Yard. But earlier in his career he spent years overseeing the French Michael Mina restaurant RN74 in San Francisco (and later, the short-lived Mike Isabella restaurant Requin at the Wharf). Here, he taps into that experience, turning out escargot-topped hummus, fabulous steak kebabs au poivre, and fried rice laden with duck confit and garlic yogurt. Don’t miss the fried hot quail with tahini ranch, or the chili-laced gin-and-honeydew cocktail.
Italian • Adams Morgan • 1775 Columbia Road, NW
After participating in Restaurant Week for the first time this summer, this cozy Adams Morgan pasta and wine destination decided to keep around the option for a $60 three-course prix-fixe. Although you can still order a la carte, the multiple-choice menu has all the highlights, starting with a grilled mushroom panzanella salad or roasted cauliflower arancini. For the main course, pastas are a no-brainer here, whether it’s rigatoni with spicy pork ragu or bucatini with anchovy, pine nuts, raisins, and lemon breadcrumbs. Still, it’s worth the $7 upcharge to opt instead for the spicy-sweet fried half chicken glazed in hot honey with a crust of fennel seeds and fennel pollen. End with a simple dessert, particularly the olive oil cake with fig jam and not-too-sweet whipped cream.
Thai • Georgetown • 1039 33rd St., NW
Chef Saran “Peter” Kannasute’s friendly new Thai eatery is a far cry from Kyojin, his glitzy sushi bar around the corner. Rimtang is a return to Kannasute’s roots in Thailand, and his mom, Prapit La Femina, is the head chef. Since they first conceptualized Rimtang, the menu has become more adventurous: panang curry and pad thai are here, sure, but the “Mama’s Signature Dishes” section is full of spicy preparations from Thailand’s northeast. Nam prik num is a fearsome but delicious green chile dip you scoop up with crispy chicharrones and raw vegetables. Khua kling, a dry ground pork curry fragrant with lime leaf, is only a smidge milder. And it’s safe to say that Rimtang is the only place in Georgetown to serve fermented fish entrail curry.
Lebanese • Vienna • 160 Maple Ave., W., Vienna
Could this sleek Lebanese dining room really have been a strip mall Chop’t just two years ago? But good looks aren’t the only reason the minimalist space is packed on a Monday night. For one, there are easy-drinking, well-balanced cocktails, like a classic Bee’s Knees and a not-too-sweet blueberry/coconut margarita. All of the menu is made for sharing. Pass around dips like rich labne pooled with gorgeous green olive oil, or a warm hummus with roasted pine nut, then move onto a zingy fattoush salad. Not all of the small plates nail it—the halloumi the server touted made an odd pairing with slabs of watermelon—but meats like charred lamb chops or juicy chicken were surer bets. The place is clearly a hit with the neighborhood: the night we visited, there were more birthday celebrations than a Chuck E. Cheese.
Mid-Atlantic • Old Town • 699 Prince St., Alexandria
The Hotel Heron—Old Town’s newest boutique hotel—opened this summer, along with its sleekly rustic dining room Kiln. The concept (ember-heavy mid-Atlantic cooking with a penchant for often overlooked ingredients) will sound familiar to fans of the Dabney in DC, but chef Matthew Maienstein—who worked his way up through Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s starry empire—has a fresh, artful vision all his own. Start with one of his crudos, like a terrific arrangement of cucumber and drum, the fresh water fish, draped with seaweed-scented yogurt. The entree not to miss is the lightly smoky half chicken (talon on, of course) served with bitter lettuce leaves for wrapping and a fabulous peanut mole. And don’t forget a cocktail here, including a sesame-scented refresher made from red bell peppers and gin.
Pizza • Takoma Park • 7050 Carroll Ave., Takoma Park
Just as we have reached the era of the $20 cocktail and $17 sandwich, now we have the $30 pizza (that will feed a few, not a crowd). At this new shop from former Seylou Bakery alums Charbel Abrache and Andrea Alvarez, you get what you pay for. Locally milled flour and carefully procured ingredients, sure, but also, that crust! The slightly sour rectangle pizzas (also served by the slice) nod to both Roman and Sicilian styles, and their bases, crisped in an olive oil-slicked pan, are at once chewy and airy. The straight-up pepperoni pizza is excellent, but the pies also stand up to a bigger crowd of toppings, including eggplant, cherry tomatoes, olives, and parmesan cream. For dessert, there are creative soft serve flavors, such as fig-leaf-and-orange.
Mexican • Takoma Park • 7056 Carroll Ave., Takoma Park
In the past year, Takoma Park’s Carroll Avenue has turned into quite the food destination—there’s the Vietnamese Muoi Tieu, Red Hound pizzeria, and now, this breakfast-through-dinner burrito spot. San Pancho comes from the couple behind nearby Cielo Rojo, the vegan-friendly Mexican cafe that recently moved into a larger space (also on Carroll Avenue). We head here for the terrific flour tortillas, which are imported from Mexico and swaddle burritos filled with proteins like spicy shrimp, carne asada, and chicken in mole sauce (order the “super” version, which adds guac’, cheese, and sour cream). In the morning, though, it’s all about the barbacoa breakfast torta on telera bread. Other great perks: the zingy avocado salsa that comes alongside the burritos, plus margaritas and non-alcoholic drink options like horchata and lemon/mint slushies.
