DC restaurants entice palates with top chefs and cuisines reflective of the city’s diversity, like Love Makoto, Mi Vida and Kappo.
What’s New
Summer in DC brings warmer temperatures and new restaurants. Revitalized menu offerings from top local chefs are sure to provide a delightful taste of summer.
Tokyo is the inspiration behind the Japanese food hall Love Makoto, located on Massachusetts Avenue. The restaurant from internationally acclaimed chef Makoto Okuwa and Unconventional Diner co-owners Eric Eden and chef David Deshaies features sushi, a robata grill and Hiya Izakaya/Japanese bar.
Alfresco Tap and Grill recently opened in Adams Morgan and serves traditional American cuisine, of pizza and burgers made with fresh herbs picked from the green roof.
Shouk opened its fifth location in Georgetown, bringing an Israeli menu of plant-based, certified kosher street foods.
New to the Dupont neighborhood, Golden Age serves exquisitely crafted cocktails including old-fashioned and Paloma. Owner Jeff Cole's inspiration behind the bar is the “Golden Age” of cocktails reached during the late 19th and early 20th century.
Opening Soon
Georgetown is set to gain the popular Osteria Mozza from the Los Angeles area.
A Michelin star chef, Nancy Silverton is partnering with Stephen Starr, who is behind some of DC’s most coveted restaurants Le Diplomate and St. Anselm. Osteria Mozza will serve fresh pasta and wood-fire pizza and feature a market where you can purchase canned Italian products.
Starr will also duplicate New York City’s Meatpacking District’s scene-y bistro, Pastis in DC’s Union Market in 2023. The new site will provide a glamorous backdrop for a French menu filled with beef bourguignon, sardines, escargot and weekly specials like decadent dover sole and duck confit.
In addition to the current vendors at Western Market, there are more restaurants opening soon. Enjoy a Greek-Middle Eastern menu from Alitiko, Lucky Danger, which will bring popular Chinese-American options to patrons, and The Bussdown, a Pan-African kitchen.
Replacing popular bar Columbia Room, Death & Co is set to open in fall 2023.
The New York bar has locations in Denver and Los Angeles. Visitors can expect high-quality cocktails and mocktails.
A New York City art-nouveau-styled brasserie, La Grande Boucherie is opening
an outpost in the historic Federal-American National Bank building near the
White House. The New York City location was featured recently on the Sex and the City reboot and exhibits authentic French dishes with an emphasis on seafood. Restauranteur Emil Stefkov, of The Group NYC, will also open a Japanese restaurant called Washoku Room and an indoor/outdoor Italian trattoria called Olio é Piu at the same location.
An ambitious 25,000-square-foot culinary marketplace is on the way to downtown DC. The Square (1875 I Street, NW) is located inside International Square, the complex above the Farragut West Metro station and is expected to open in spring 2023. Unlike a traditional food hall with individual vendors, it will be collaborative, with the in-house butcher and bakery furnishing several stalls and shops.
Reagan National Airport will soon have new dining and drinking options coming
in late 2023. The new restaurants include Local brewery Atlas Brew Works, Half Moon Empanadas and Cava Mezze grill.
Recent Additions
French Eatery Petite Cerise recently opened and is only a few blocks from the convention center. Owners' chef Jeremiah Langhorne and business partner Alex Zink also the owners of the Dabney pulled inspiration for the restaurant from their travels to France. Guests can start their mornings by visiting the coffee bar and indulging in a French pastry.
The newest Mi Vida has opened in Penn Quarter and is serving up Mexican-inspired cuisine. The Penn Quarter location is the third restaurant with a menu that includes their most popular menu item guacamole and agave cocktails.
Baja Tap, a restaurant in Adams Morgan serves cuisine inspired by California dishes. You can try a taco tower and fried plantains. Diners can also catch live music performances weekly.
On the corner of 16th and U, Baby Shank is the newest restaurant for sushi chef Noriaki Yasutake. Diners can indulge in French menu items such as Bavette Steak and Fish & Chips sushi.
Cool off during the hot days of summer with ice cream from New York based ice-cream maker Van Leeuwen. Located at Union Market, customers can choose from 30 flavors.
Capitol Hill’s newest restaurant Coastline Oyster Co. is an all-day seafood house and raw bar. Menu items include fresh oysters, Old Bay hand-cut fries, and shrimp po boy. To accompany your seafood dish select your beverage of choice of local beers on draft or enjoy bottomless mimosas on the weekend. If you dine on a Wednesday, enjoy a live musical performance.
PLANTA Queen, a vegan restaurant that started in Canada recently opened on New Hampshire Avenue. Executive chef David Lee who also works at the Bethesda PLANTA Queen location combines his fine-dining experience with vegan Asian-influenced dishes such as bang bang broccoli and mushroom bao. Customers can indulge in weekly deals such as disco & dumplings. On Friday after 5 pm you can buy a $20 dumpling platter.
The Peach Cobbler Factory, sells a wide array of desserts. Enjoy your cobbler with ice cream or try a sweet cinnamon roll or one of the 12 flavors of banana pudding.
TheSaga, located inside the Ritz-Carlton, serves modern Spanish food. Chef Enrique Limardo and business partner Ezequiel Vázquez-Ger have created a menu that is “Spain meets Latin America”. TheSaga serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and has an extensive drink menu.
A favorite among locals, Andy's Pizza moved and opened a larger location in the Shaw neighborhood. The new location has a patio, full bar, and a soda machine that dispenses highballs. While pizza is the most popular menu item, other items include charred broccolini and buffalo wings.
Ivy City’s newest restaurant Vera serves Mexican and Lebanese cuisine. The
two-story restaurant is named after Mexico’s historic port city Veracruz. Diners can enjoy oyster ceviche, Lamb Birria and caffeinated cocktails.
Kappo is an exclusive reservation-only Japanese tasting room. The eight-course tasting menu is curated by master chef Minoru Ogawa. Menu offerings include wagyu beef imported from Japan and special cocktails created by Corey Landolt.
New at the Wharf, Milk & Honey Café is a New Orleans-style eatery serving a Southern brunch that features award-winning shrimp and grits, chicken and waffles, Rum Chata French toast, and other slow-cooked, mouth-watering favorites.
Georgetown’s newcomer Villa Yara serves Lebanese cuisine. The restaurant’s name is inspired by a fictional character based on the famous Lebanese singer Fairouz. Menu items include rakakat jibneh (cheese rolls) and meat pies.