Restaurateur Jerry Hollinger (The Daily Dish and the Dish & Dram) delivered downtown Silver Spring an Art Deco-styled American chophouse and raw bar celebrating local farmers, watermen, and purveyors. A black truffle vinaigrette-dressed beet salad or shrimp-and-pork belly toast adorned with homemade kimchi are good ways to start, followed by Rohan duck confit, homemade spinach ricotta ravioli, halibut filet atop summer succotash, and luxe lineup of steaks like A6 wagyu strip loin. Augment dishes with underwater add-ons like butter-poached crab, lobster, jumbo shrimp, and fried oysters. The Sinatra-like space near the Fillmore also has a robust bar program starring New York Sours and fig-sage rye cocktails. Opt for a la carte or a summer tasting menu starting at $32 for two courses.

Former NFL player-turned-talented chef Tobias Dorzon brought a fancy fusion restaurant to his hometown of Hyattsville, Maryland last fall. Hermès plateware balances early hits like jerk short ribs with curry pea risotto and shaved carrots, a namesake salad slathered in a house citrus dressing that begs to be bottled, charbroiled oysters decorated in Cajun butter, and bacon jam-topped deviled eggs. A section of pastas like a decadent fettuccine flecked with creamy crab and jalapeno speak to Dorzon’s culinary training in Sicily. Sizable mains include whole fried snapper or grilled branzino finished with garlic chips. The wide-reaching menu also plays up a small, yet strong, selection of sushi rolls.

Colin McClimans and Danilo Simic, the culinary duo behind Logan Circle’s super-seasonal mainstay Nina May, tacked on a Chevy Chase destination for fish, vegetables, and meats sourced from the American coastline. Opal puts a wood-fired oven to work to bake baller breads and roast all sorts of proteins. Menu highlights include chilled gazpacho amplified with Maryland crab; ricotta dumplings with brown butter, English peas, and fiddlehead ferns; mushroom risotto; bright salads bursting with peak produce; and pan-seared scallops studded with cannellini beans, bacon, and watercress. A circular bar sending out smoked Sazeracs anchors an 80-seat dining room surrounded in stone and exposed beams. Jay-Z made a surprise visit for brunch this summer.

Mount Rainier’s pandemic-era arrival for artsy American comfort foods has solidified its status as a neighborhood gem. Here Bar Pilar alum Jesse Miller sends out stellar Southern dishes like buttermilk-fried green tomatoes with shrimp remoulade, meaty gumbos, slow-roasted rabbit and biscuits, spreadable pots of chicken liver mousse, crabby deviled eggs with chile relish, collard greens cooked with ham, and family-style helpings of brisket or pork chop platters. A lively weekend brunch brings warm bowls of shrimp and grits to the table both indoors and out across its stylish patio. Delicate, vintage plateware is one of many callbacks to the era when the restaurant space was part bank, part sewing machine factory. 

Considered the standard-bearer for Lao cuisine in D.C., Thip Khao comes from mother-and-son chefs Seng Luangrath and Boby Pradachith. Their Columbia Heights standby continues to satisfy heat-seekers with a menu full of fermented fish sauce, a heavy dose of chiles, offal, and cured meats. Hit orders include crispy tamarind-glazed wings, grilled pork shoulder with lemongrass, and a fiery Lao papaya salad. The restaurant is open 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Monday with carryout, indoor dining, and outdoor service across a cozy tented patio (90-minute limit with a $20 deposit charged via Tock).

Perry’s has long been an under-the-radar reliable spot for sushi, and with rising chef Masako Morishita at the helm since last fall, the revitalized Adams Morgan restaurant is generating lots of attention for her flavorful Japanese creations. Standout starters included grilled broccoli rabe in a miso-garlic butter, a fiery Fuji apple salad with a kick from Korean gochujang, garlic edamame dumplings hidden under a snowy blanket of parmesan. The deep-fried shrimp katsu burger with togarashi tartar is also not to miss. The sleek, wood-framed restaurant with a strong sake collection continues to host one of D.C.’s best drag brunches on weekends. Morishita’s brand new Japanese breakfast service shows up on sporadic Saturdays.

Four years in, fine-dining vet Yuan Tang continues to seamlessly unite global cuisines across four-course seasonal tasting menus at his Michelin-rated mainstay on 14th Street NW. Options right now include a tzatziki salad with honeydew and Calabrian chili; foie gras-filled banh mi with Nueske’s bacon; “cacio-e-elote” with charred corn and queso fresco; and goat cheesecake. For a splurge-worthy add-on to the $95-per-person meal, go for Royal Ossetra caviar with creative fix-ins, brown butter steamed buns, and Champagne ($135). Tang’s local restaurant group grew this spring with the arrival of family-friendly Ellie Bird in Falls Church.

An intimate, 21-seat Japanese tasting room emerged in March in the treasured Palisades space occupied by omakase institution Sakedokoro Makoto up until 2018. Eight-course tasting menus from master chef Minoru Ogawa vary on any given night, depending on seasonality and what he can get his hands on, but the common thread throughout each meal is luxe wagyu beef imported from Japan. The reservation-only restaurant ($150 per person) is open for dinner service from Tuesdays through Sundays. Opt to augment courses with caviar and uni add-ons or sake pairings ($65). Kappo is the brainchild of Ogawa and co-owners Wilder and Adrian Williams, whose sushi menu at Shaw standby Zeppelin is designed by Ogawa.

For his sophomore project in D.C., Eater DC’s 2021 Chef of the Year Elias Taddesse remixes American soul food with remixes American soul food with East African spices at a year-old carryout counter near Howard University. The anticipated follow-up to the Ethiopian chef’s acclaimed burger bar Mélange, which is currently looking for a new location, offers fiery pieces of fried or char-grilled chicken, black cumin cornbread, doro wat-spiced macaroni and cheese, and turmeric-tinged coleslaw, mashed potatoes drizzled with timiz peppercorn gravy, and collard greens braised with smoked turkey and Ethiopian spices. Open for takeout and delivery at 11:30 a.m. six days a week (closed Mondays).

Situated between Dupont Circle and Adams Morgan, Anju serves Korean bar food with a refined touch from the restaurant group behind casual hit Chiko. James Beard Award-nominated chef Angel Barreto leads a kitchen that plates up standouts ranging from pork and kimchi mandu (dumplings) and smoky gochujang-glazed fried chicken with white barbecue sauce to a seafood fried rice (bokum bap) and seared ribeye galbi boards. Weekend brunches bring on breakfast sandwiches and a grit bowl that riffs on juk.

This family-run underground lounge landed in Dupont last spring with a star cast of Thai talent behind the wheel. Former sushi chef Billy Thammasathiti brings the heat with quail egg wontons, fiery papaya salads, boneless duck laap, and spicy beef or pork skewers, plus experimental orders like Parmesan-dusted egg noodles with tom yum herbs, bacon, and roasted chili jam or bite-sized calamari dressed with garlicky salt. Andy Thammasathiti of Baltimore’s Mayuree Thai Tavern whips up passion fruit daiquiris and Sichuan baijiu cocktails behind a racy, red-lit bar fit for Bangkok. Billy’s aunt Satang Ruangsangwatana, of Fat Nomads supper club fame, also contributes destination dishes like khao soi. The 50-seat lair swings open at 4 p.m.; reserve a seat or order takeout or delivery.

Chef Rob Rubba puts vegetables on a pedestal, so Oyster Oyster’s presence in Shaw is somewhat ideal for diners who don’t eat meat but still want to enjoy an avant-garde tasting menu with a Michelin star. Crowned best chef in America at the James Beard Awards in June, Rubba first attracted D.C. critics’ attention as the former chef at Hazel and partnered with Estadio owner Max Kuller on this venture — which prioritizes sustainability with a dedication to sourcing from hyperlocal farms and mills. Think: a bird’s nest of fried celery root wrapped around a morsel of smoked tofu and shiitake chip cookie for dessert. A $70 selected wine pairing goes with a $105 meal. Reservations are available here.

This beloved Brooklyn import smashes the city’s stuffy steakhouse conventions with a menu at this Union Market tavern that gives vegetables equal billing. Butter-packed biscuits with pimento cheese have become the stuff of legend, and a salmon collar practically melting under a butter-lemon bath has drawn a cult following over the past five years. Ax-handle ribeyes and pork chops are priced by the ounce for communal feasts. Like sibling spot Le Diplomate, St. Anselm built nifty dining nooks on the street during the pandemic that are here to stay. Stephen Starr’s blockbuster NYC bistro Pastis is slated to join St. Anselm in the budding industrial complex soon.

The team behind Georgetown’s acclaimed cocktail bar L’Annexe added a sophisticated, 100-seat brasserie next door last December that pays homage to Parisian nightlife with foie gras beignets, green asparagus with yellowtail tartar, classic French roast chicken with frites, ultra-rich black truffle risotto, a parade of bubbly Bellinis, and Old Fashioneds built with duck fat-washed rye. Opulent finales include a “Grand-Cru chocolate” millefeuille with pistachio cream and chilled soufflé. Renowned French chef Gilles Epié — the youngest chef to receive a Michelin star at age 22 (in 1980 at Le Pavillon des Princes) — was most recently at the helm of the five-star Turtle Bay Resort in Oahu, Hawaii, and the former Montage Beverly Hills before that. His star-studded Rolodex of guests have included former French and U.S. presidents, Princess Diana, and Robert De Niro.

Venezuelan chef Enrique Limardo’s follow-up to scene-y, tropically appointed Seven Reasons brings the West End a new fine dining venue for Mediterranean-Latin fusion full of surreal plating and modernist technique. Sturdy staples like a moussaka cigar — with crispy phyllo dough, smoked eggplant, ground lamb, and goat-manchego cream — and fried Spanish octopus with Amazonian chimichurri anchor the rotating dinner menu. Go a la carte or choose the omakase tasting experience at the chef’s counter (currently 16 to 22 bites) that has a Michelin star. A soaring white bar lined with soft cranberry stools sends out sharply conceived cocktails with Mediterranean ingredients like Greek olives, truffle honey, and limoncello. The team expanded its West End portfolio this spring with the opening of Spanish-themed TheSaga in the Ritz-Carlton.

Partners Gerald Addison and Casey Patten (Grazie Grazie) brought hand-tossed pies and nostalgic Italian fare to Midtown Center last fall. The red-sauced tribute to Patten’s nonna and her many Sunday suppers centers around pizzas, antipasti dishes like calamari, burrata, and arancini balls, and hearty bowls of pasta. A dreamy bar lined with family photos sends out Italian wines, elderflower spritzes, and Negronis three ways. The restaurant seats about 80, in addition to an outdoor bar geared towards downtown’s 9-to-5 happy hour set. A glam lounge is coming soon next door.

After a long pandemic pause, CityCenterDC’s polished seafood showpiece made a triumphant 2022 comeback with a menu full of remixed Chesapeake classics like fluke-flanked ceviche and smoked rockfish dip served in shells. The Conrad hotel’s glassy, 3-year-old restaurant, originally headlined by celebrity chef brothers Bryan and Michael Voltaggio, reemerged with No Goodbyes alums Ria Montes and Sean Tew at the helm. Estuary 2.0 casts a wider menu net across the largest estuary in the nation, the Chesapeake Bay, with Maryland crab hush puppies dressed with yuzu aioli, steamed Virginia clams with furikake butter, white peppercorn tagliatelle, seasonal sorbets, and sourcing from local growers like Moon Valley Farm. Hungry tables should consider its expertly-fried whole fish and Roseda Farm bone-in rib-eye.

A wood-burning oven imported from France is the workhorse inside Amy Brandwein’s Italian cafe in CityCenter, an everyday alternative to Centrolina, her dressier osteria across the street. Last summer, the five-time James Beard Award finalist added twice as many seats, seasonal spritzes, and more wood-fired capabilities to roast all kinds of vegetables, seafoods, and meats like ribs and pork and lamb sausages. A daily pastry program produces quiche and phenomenal focaccia, and the 10-layer eggplant Parmesan remains a best-selling showstopper. Eating light is painless, too, from charred Napa cabbage to a carrot-and-bulgur wheat bowl with cauliflower, raisin, and pistachio. Order takeout online or get delivery via Caviar from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.

This inventive, nearly year-old restaurant for H Street NE aims to reimagine the history of the African diaspora through the lens of a fictional character named Alonzo Bronze. Owner Keem Hughley, a hospitality vet and native Washingtonian, plants the project inside the former three-story home of Smith Commons. A 26-foot bar on the first floor offers a large cocktail menu with spirits from all over the world. Bronze’s opening dream team includes wine consultant Nadine Brown; Barmini alum and Hanumanh mixologist Al Thompson; and Brooklyn native and acclaimed Afro-Caribbean chef Toya Henry. Highlights include braised oxtail with pappardelle; coconut basmati and bamboo rice; kanpachi crudo; charred yuzu squid skewers; and a guava cheese doughnut. Hughley has ties to nearby Maketto, D.C. chef Erik Bruner-Yang’s hip hotspot for Taiwanese fried chicken, dim sum, and crystal shrimp dumplings.

Michelin-starred chef Johnny Spero (Reverie) brought a slice of Spain’s buzzy Basque country to D.C.’s Capitol Crossing complex last fall with the splashy debut of seafood-heavy Bar Spero. The well-traveled chef makes good use of a fire-fed grill to prepare everything from elegant Spanish turbot to meaty pork from the Shenandoah Valley. The raw bar is stocked with whatever Spero can get his hands on—including Nantucket scallops, oysters, clams, mussels, shrimp, or lobster—and doesn’t limit itself to marine life (see: a beautiful beef tartare). Compliment the entire meal with sesame sourdough from Maryland’s buzzy new bakery Manifest. A neon-lit bar serving cocktails, wines, and regional beers on tap joins a soaring, blue-toned dining room filled with wooden four-tops and built-in booths. Reserve a table online.

Chef David Deshaies (Unconventional Diner, Central) and business partner Eric Eden unveiled their soaring, “glam Italian” restaurant in the shiny new Capitol Crossing development last fall. The flashy showstopper, framed with shimmering Missoni drapes and abstract art, has amassed a fast following for pizzas crisped to perfection in a gold-plated oven, a 40-layer lasagna that begs to be photographed, and Florentine steaks fired up on an imported grill from Spain’s Costa Brava region. Other highlights include generous orbs of saffron-accented arancini, grilled cabbage adorned with creamy beurre blanc and glistening trout roe, mini shots of duck ravioli served in claw-footed vessels, and polished cocktails from D.C. bar vet Micah Wilder. Starting at 5 p.m., fight for a spot at its scene-y bar to order a spot-on Negroni and decadent espresso martini. Reserve a seat in the dining room or order takeout and delivery. The team doubled down on Capitol Crossing this spring with the opening of multi-part Japanese stunner Love, Makoto.

This is the flagship restaurant for Daikaya Group, D.C.’s foremost experts in ramen. The ground floor houses a first-come, first-served ramen shop that imports bouncy noodles from Sapporo. On the second level, its experimental izakaya gives chef Katsuya Fukushima a platform to present playful dishes like a new wagyu beef tartare with rice crackers and kimchi, a classic fried eggplant and miso rice ball, or a beloved mentaiko (spicy cod roe) burrata with orange zest and grilled toast. During the pandemic, the company put considerable thought into takeout and delivery, which remains an option. Customers can order par-cooked noodles for a quick nuke in the microwave, or uncooked if they want to boil their own. The entire Daikaya Group portfolio, which tastes and looks more polished than ever these days, includes Tonari next door, Bantam King nearby, and Haikan in Shaw.

Superstar chef and global humanitarian José Andrés fulfilled his decades-long dream of opening a restaurant inside downtown’s historic Old Post Office Pavilion in February. His Beverly Hill-born Bazaar checked into the newly minted Waldorf Astoria with a parade of avant-garde delights like “Jose” tacos topped with ibérico ham, gold leaf, and caviar; tortilla de papatas “new way” topped with potato foam; Chinese steamed bun with pork belly; and bite-sized “cotton candy foie gras” made famous in LA. Chesapeake Bay delicacies also show up in an artsy array of a la carte snacks and tapas. The two-level stunner puts a glossy Jamón carving station on full display upon entry alongside dry-aged smoked fish and poultry.

Open since 2014, Spanish stalwart Ser continues to shine in its evolving Ballston neighborhood. It’s hard to go wrong with any of the 12-plus tapas on the list, but the tomato bread, gambas al ajillo, croquetas, and deep-fried eggplant are not to miss. Seafood, meat, or vegetable paella for two is another excellent choice, and for a dash of drama at the table, go big with a whole roast suckling pig. Other standouts include crab-topped lobster from the raw bar, gorgeous seasonal salads, and gazpacho when summer calls. Its Spanish co-owner Javier Candon infuses his own spirits, as seen in Ser’s superior gin and tonic. Joselito is its sister spot in Capitol Hill.

Matt Adler’s decidedly unmodern tribute to classic red sauce joints takes diners on a well-worn path that carefully steers clear of the contrived. Dishes heavy on nostalgia, quality ingredients, and technique are served in a red banquette-lined, vintage photo-laden dining room that buzzes with hospitality and delight. Tender chicken parm with a light breading gets tucked under a zingy marina, hunky garlic bread arrives with a bowl of four-cheese sauce for dipping, and shrimp scampi gets splashed with house-made limoncello. Drinks, like a Manhattan with an amaretto rinse and antipasti dirty martini, receive equally attentive treatment. Keeping with theme, the menu is surprisingly affordable. Adler also runs a second location in Maryland’s Pike & Rose complex.

Albi chef Michael Rafidi manipulates smoke with a master’s touch, sending out dishes from the wood-burning hearth at his high-end Levantine restaurant that have a way of commanding a diner’s full attention. The Maryland native’s Middle Eastern menu tweaks dishes to incorporate peak produce — see the coal-fired mushroom hummus for spring — but the snack-sized lamb kefta kebabs speared on cinnamon sticks should never go out of style. Cocktails, desserts, and a lengthy wine list full of hard-to-find Eastern Mediterranean labels all rise to the occasion. An a la carte menu joins a newer multi-course option featuring lamb meat pie and swordfish dolma, pita with spreads, and larger plates like chermoula black bass. The feast is $125 for food; beverage pairings are priced at $75 or $125. A chic cocktail-and-dessert lounge called Saha just arrived next door. For something more affordable, head to next-door sibling bakery and cafe, Yellow, which expanded to Georgetown with fiery pies at night.

The “home-style” Chinese restaurant in Peter Chang’s portfolio pays tribute to the women that influenced the legendary former embassy chef, with fiery dishes that call back his childhood in the Hubei province of central China and his home life in Virginia. Chang, a master of numbing spice, has woven Sichuan and Hunan techniques into a menu of vegetable-heavy plates, dim sum, and family-style orders. There’s dine-in seating across its plant-filled, zen dining room in Fairfax. Order takeout here or get delivery via Uber Eats. The famed Chinese chef planted roots in Dupont Circle last fall with the opening of Chang Chang, his first-ever D.C. restaurant with a recently supersized menu. A shiny new Peter Chang swings open in McLean this week.

Homegrown chain Hank’s Oyster Bar from chef Jamie Leeds dishes out mussels, fried clams, and seasonal ingredients in a festive, casual atmosphere. They even have their own variety of oyster cultivated for them. The neighborhood go-to serves its namesake on the half shell and other “ice bar” selections like peel ‘n eat shrimp or ceviche. From there, move on to a fabulous crab cake, shrimp po’boy, or best-selling lobster roll that’s also available for summer assembling at home. The Hank’s empire includes outposts in Dupont, the Wharf, and a recently-relocated Alexandria location.