Pascual

The 2024 arrival of this lovely Capitol Hill place marked an exciting full-circle moment for chef-couple Isabel Coss and Matt Conroy—they’d worked in some of New York City’s best-known Mexican restaurants before opening the French-ish bistro Lutèce in Georgetown. Getting a table here can still be a worthwhile challenge. Large platters such as the lamb-neck barbacoa with ayocote beans and tortillas are superb, but vegetable-centric dishes have impressed us even more on recent visits: a bowl of fideo noodles with inky huitlacoche and maitake mushrooms; a salad of slivered chayote squash and Asian pears with nutty guajillo oil; and, of course, a mighty guacamole platter with hefty tostadas and an array of salsas, smoked fruit, and veggies en escabeche.