Mike Isabella's latest place is a tribute to Greek cuisine, both traditional and modern. Smoky, wood-fired meats are a focus, as well as lemonade cocktails. The attached G restaurant serves up sandwiches by day and a tasting menu by night.

Doi Moi is the latest collaboration between Mark Kuller, Haidar Karoum and Adam Bernbach (Proof, Estadio), and fans of the group's work have been eager to see what they can do with Asian cuisine. Doi Moi serves dishes like khao soi gai (chicken and noodle curry) and other regional dishes from Thailand and Vietnam. The decor is primarily white, with accents brought back from Asia. Bernbach supervises the cocktail list at the restaurant and at 2 Birds 1 Stone, a basement bar.

Fans of Corduroy's Tom Power have waited for years for the chef to open another restaurant. They got one with Baby Wale, a more casual place serving up dishes like pupusas and a fine roast chicken. Baby Wale has an eye-catching design from Edit Lab at Streetsense.

Rising star chef Tim Ma has increased the profile of his Maple Ave restaurant in Vienna from relatively-unknown suburban restaurant to Northern Virginia Magazine's #1 restaurant in Virginia. Water & Wall is the chef's second restaurant, and it's bigger and dressier. Look for dishes like an Asian-influenced shrimp and grits, a Burmese bouillabaisse and some addictive, creme fraiche-spiked chicken wings.

It's the brewery D.C. has been waiting for. Neighborhood Restaurant Group's brewery, along with its accompanying restaurant, The Arsenal, came on the scene with a whopping 20 new, ambitious beers and food to match, like fancy tater tots and beef heart tartare.

Neighborhood Restaurant Group took one of D.C.'s oldest restaurants and made it their own. Iron Gate has a dramatic outdoor space, with a tree and vines climbing the walls. Tony Chittum's cooking leans Southern Italian and Greek, with a complementary wine program from sommelier Brent Kroll, and cocktails from Jeff Faile. There's a big ouzo selection, too. The restaurant is a la carte outdoors, and tasting menu-based inside.

Jeff Black's latest project is also the brainchild of chef Danny Wells. Republic specializes in oysters and seafood fare, and is also a destination for live music in Takoma Park. The eclectic design, much of it made from refurbished items like vintage couches and even engines made into lamps, is another standout feature of the place, which has a huge bar and spacious back patio.

Sure, it's a chain. But that hasn't quelled the anticipation over Joe's Prime Steak, Seafood and Stone Crab (one of the few places in Washington that specializes in that particular variety of crab). The restaurant is looking to establish itself as a new power spot, with its dramatic space and location, private dining rooms and other amenities.