The Hot List: 10 Restaurants Around DC We’re Loving Right Now - Washingtonian (2024)

This sleek, traditional restaurant joined DC’s chorus of exemplary sit-down Afghan restaurants in March and quickly became one of our top choices on M Street. The manti and aushak dumplings, dusted with dried mint, are as savory and delicate here as they are at the Masroor family’s Aracosia restaurants. And the spicy shinwari karahi, served over fluffy hunks of bread, might remind you pleasantly of American barbecue, with its aromatic smoked chicken and piquant, tomato-y sauce.

The family behind Los Hermanos in Columbia Heights cooks Dominican food capable of transporting you to a beach at Punta Cana, or a Bronx block party. In 2019, they opened Mecho’s Dominican Kitchen—with fast-casual chain ambitions—in a Northeast DC shopping center. But five years in, Mecho’s is still one of a kind. Make your own “bandera” platter with various rice-and-bean bases, rich braised and fried meats, and veggie sides like plantains and steamed yuca. Or opt for our favorite, the mofongo: three mounds of mashed fried plantains topped with silken, intensely garlicky mojo and your choice of protein (shrimp is particularly special).

Chef Kevin Tien has amped up his ambitions for modern Vietnamese cooking at the latest reincarnation of Moon Rabbit—originally at the Wharf, now in Penn Quarter—and it shows. Take the bò lá lốt, grilled ground beef traditionally wrapped in betel leaves. Here, the dish is upgraded with wagyu and perilla, plus a drizzle of fermented honey and labneh with chili oil for dipping. Meanwhile, kabocha squash turns into a star when paired with a sweet fermented red curry, plus a shower of crispy seeds and curry leaves. And crab rangoon is transformed into a creamy dip, gooey with robiola cheese and layered with pepper jelly. Unexpected savory ingredients make their way into both co*cktails and desserts, whether it’s a passionfruit drink with fish sauce or a green curry sponge cake with avocado sorbet. But we’re most impressed by pastry chef Susan Bae’s durian mousse dessert, which tempers the fruit’s funk and pairs it delightfully with white chocolate.

French-American bistro Mintwood Place, which closed in 2022 after 10 years, was known for its cozy vibe in a rustic, woodsy room. That’s just a memory now. Its light, airy replacement—all Turkish rugs, painted tiles, and off-white banquettes—couldn’t feel more different. What remains, though, is a neighborhoody feel, with warm and welcoming service (the place is still owned by restaurateur Saied Azali). The menu is filled with Greek, Turkish, and Persian-accented dips, mezze, and kebabs. High on our list right now: a salad of green olives with tons of fresh herbs and high-quality olive oil; a spread of whipped feta with honey and pine nuts, served with crusty bread; golden zucchini fritters with yogurt; and a homey platter of Greek roast chicken.

Some of the city’s most magical Mexican cooking is coming from the wood-fired hearth at this Capitol Hill charmer led by the powerhouse chef couple behind Georgetown neo-bistro Lutèce. Start with guacamole dusted in charred onions and avocado leaf, which is served with a colorful array of salsas, pickles, smoked fruit, and housemade tostadas on a lazy susan. The menu is stacked with unexpected hits—from a parsnip tamal with white mole to a bowl of seasoned rice topped with salsa macha and uni to a cool, bright chayote salad—and culminates with larger platters like on-the-bone lamb neck barbacoa over ayocote beans with heirloom corn tortillas. Save room for such desserts as a crackly cinnamon-sugar-dusted buñuelo with chocolate and caramel sauce for drizzling.

This colorful Oaxacan eatery just opened in March, but it’s got years of restaurant experience to back it up. Owner Juan Solano worked at some of DC’s earliest Mexican institutions—Enriqueta’s in Georgetown, Mixtec in Adams Morgan—and before that, ran a busy taqueria in Mexico City. Solano is originally from a small village in Oaxaca’s Sierra Mixteca, and if you look past the (very worthy) burritos and tacos on his menu here, you’ll find regional specialties like a charred, crispy tlayuda with house-made chorizo, and chileajo, an intensely savory pork-and-potato stew with toasted chile and garlic that’s a rarity in the DC area. Don’t miss Solano’s sweet mole either, or the dark morita salsa that comes with every order.