This Caribbean carryout in Silver Spring sells tacos and bowls that show off charcoal roasted jerk chicken, jerk shrimp, and shredded oxtails. Owner Jason Miskiri enlists his Guyanese mother to make roti for curry chicken, and snapper is available jerked or fried. Sauces come in flavors like jerk mumbo, pepper, and “hot angry.”

An outpost of the home-style Spanish restaurant that José Andrés’s ThinkFoodGroup introduced inside its New York food hall replaced the Jaleo on Bethesda Row in May. Huevos rotos — runny fried eggs served over fried potatoes and jamón, blood sausage, or skinny chistorra sausage — can please a crowd. Customers who seek a deeper understanding of the foods that make Andrés nostalgic will want to try fabada Asturiana, a meaty white bean stew, or arroz a la Cubana, a plate of rice, lacy fried eggs, and ibérico pork sausage served with sweet tomato sauce. Start meals off with three types of sangria, kalimotxo, or a gin and tonic. Finish them with with a “burnt” Basque cheesecake.

No Goodbyes gives the Line hotel a central, all-day restaurant that places a premium on Mid-Atlantic sourcing. The wood-burning hearth that used to fuel Spoken English is now responsible for roasting pickled beets in a surprising summer salad that includes humongous berries, candied walnuts, and a green goddess dressing that folds in smoked honey and lots of basil. Chef Opie Crooks, who led kitchens at A Rake’s Progress and Woodberry Kitchen for Spike Gjerde’s restaurant group, is running his own show for the first time. He’s serving fried green tomatoes with a spicy cheese dip, sorghum-glazed bacon steaks, and braised short ribs in a tangy French hunter sauce made from demiglace and lots of mushrooms.

Restaurateur Med Lahlou has doubled down on the 14th Street NW corridor by placing a colorful new pizzeria next to sibling osteria Lupo Verde. Southern Italian street snacks steal the show at the bustling newcomer decked out in hand painted tiles and Italian flags. The open kitchen is well equipped to handle a full house. An early favorite is the $20 carbonara pizza topped with pecorino cream, pork cheek, black pepper, and an egg yolk for every slice. Chef Juan Olivera trained in Italy to perfect his panuozzo sandwiches stuffed into bread made from pizza dough. To start, go with a generous burrata dollop that’s plated next to bright, bruleed melon chunks topped with a ribbon of 24-month prosciutto.

This stylish new Italian restaurant in Shaw sells pasta made on-site from a chef who has worked in Michelin-starred restaurants in Tuscany. Indecisive diners can opt to go the prix fixe route, with options for three courses ($50) or five $75. Co-owner Louie Hankins, who also runs jungle-themed rooftop bar, El Techo, and taco joint Rito Loco next-door, teamed up with brothers and Naples natives Giovanni and Salvio Ippolito on the project. Seating sections include a patio, breezy bar, and romantic dining room dotted with crystal glassware, candlesticks, soft blue seating, and shimmering gold accents.

Longstanding D.C. restaurateur Ashok Bajaj (Rasika, Bindaas, Sababa) introduced this modern French replacement to the Oval Room with a fresh backdrop of pop art, mirrored tiles, and a bigger bar where customers can sample a strong wine list. Tyler Stout, formerly executive chef at Troquet on South in Boston, says he’s shooting for a Michelin star with creative first courses like kanpachi crudo featuring green strawberry, lime, and rhubarb consomme. Traditional French fare includes a beef tartare topped with foraged greens and salmon coulibiac in puff pastry. Juicy Barberry duck breast is an early winner dressed with sour cherry, confit leg pressé cannelloni, hakurei turnip, and foie gras jus.

On opening night, August 3, Daru fielded a line down the block of customers eager to sample the “Indian-ish” cooking and thoughtful cocktails from chef Suresh Sundas and bar expert Dante Datta. The co-owners, who met nearly a decade ago while working together at Rasika West End, had been steadily building anticipation for Daru for the past two years with a series of pop-ups and events. Try Sundas’s reshmi kebabs, featuring an undercurrent of blue cheese in the marinade and a sour cherry sauce on the side, and sip a hari daiquiri with clarified kefir and herb syrup that tastes like green chutney.

Former ThinkFoodGroup chief operating officer Hollis Silverman owns this family-friendly Italian place in Eastern Market with an antipasti bar that stocks salumi by the ounce. Chef Katarina Petonito, a St. Anselm alum, leads a kitchen that extrudes fresh pasta out of bronze dies to make dishes like a bucatini cacio e pepe and a spaghettini and colatura (cured anchovy sauce). Large, shareable plates include a whole grilled branzino showered with herbs, and a pork Milanese cutlet served with a snap pea and mint salad. Draft wines are $10 by the glass, $28 for a half-carafe, and $50 for a whole liter. As of September 1, La Collina requires proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID test for indoor dining.

Rising pop-up chef Masako Morishita took over the the kitchen at one of D.C.’s favorite wine bars this summer, installing a Japanese comfort food menu that loops in lots of memories from her native Japan. Items in Navy Yard and Shaw include a McDonald’s-inspired wagyu teriyaki burger, savory cabbage pancakes, and the same doctored sardines recipe her mom makes overseas. The bar from award-winning sommelier Brent Kroll previously served small snacks and rotating menus to go along with cheeky themed wine menus, but Morishita marks its first executive chef hire.

This enormous seafood house and wood-burning grill signifies the start of a boom in Buzzard Point, the waterfront neighborhood rising around D.C.’s pro soccer stadium that connects the Wharf development to Navy Yard. Fish & Fire Food Group, the company behind Ivy City Smokehouse and sustainable-minded purveyor ProFish, tapped executive chef Benjamin Lambert to lead the project. For Chesapeake crab lovers, he’s delivering crab dip-stuffed doughnuts — dusted in Old Bay, naturally — and roasted oysters bathing in miso-crab compound butter.

Cathal Armstrong, the Dublin-raised chef behind pan-Asian Kaliwa and bygone fine-dining favorite Restaurant Eve, named his new Arlington pub after his grandparents. The fish and chips, served with seven sauces, is a callback to Eamonn’s Dublin Chipper in Old Town. Corned beef sandwiches are presented as an appetizer, while main courses include a braised lamb shoulder shepherd’s pie and a crispy pork belly served with a side of mashed potato and kale colcannon.