What restaurant opening are you most excited about?
ANN LIMPERT: From fish tacos to cheeseburgers to fried chicken and mac and cheese, I’ve loved pretty much everything I’ve eaten from Shaw’s Mélange. I’m excited to see what chef/owner Elias Taddesse has in store for the Bridge District, when he opens a bigger version of the restaurant this year.
JESSICA SIDMAN: I can’t believe I’m saying this, but two of the restaurants I’m most excited about are steakhouses. For starters, I’m looking forward to Taco Bamba chef-founder Victor Albisu’s boutique steakhouse Electric Bull in Vienna, which will specialize in lesser-seen cuts of meat, elevated egg dishes, and a bountiful raw bar. I’m also interested to see what Jônt/Bresca chef Ryan Ratino does at Ox & Olive, a “contemporary gothic” steakhouse and martini bar coming to the former Reverie space in Georgetown. He’s talked about mini Chicago-style beef brisket hot dogs, an individually garnished shrimp cocktail, and milk chocolate soft-serve with steak fries.
IKE ALLEN: Rye Bunny seems like it will be a really fun return for Jon Sybert and Jill Tyler, who just closed Tail Up Goat in December— I’m intrigued by the comfort food menu and counter service. Plus, the Palestinian restaurant Ayat coming to within lunching distance of the Washingtonian office is thrilling.
What restaurant do you want to see get more attention this year?
ANN: It’s easy to take time-worn restaurants for granted. Take a place like Crisfield, the Silver Spring seafood room that felt like it’d be around forever—until it closed last year. So let’s hear it for the old-timers: Vace, La Refuge, Peking Gourmet Inn, Huong Viet. All are either pushing or past 40 years old, and they’ve stuck around for a reason.
JESSICA: There are so few actual hidden gems left in the social media era, but I think there are a number of places that have been consistently serving their neighborhoods for so long that we almost forget about them. Still, they have staying power for good reason. I’m thinking about places Fish in the Neighborhood in Park View, Mandalay in Silver Spring, Banh Mi DC Sandwich in Falls Church, or Taqueria La Placita in Hyattsville. Admittedly, I’m overdue to revisit some of these places!
IKE: Meats and Foods has a really fun, offhand, scrappy feeling that I don’t get from a lot of restaurants in DC— and not a single item on the menu currently is over $10. Scott Mcintosh and Ana Marin started it over a decade ago, so if you live in the neighborhood, you already know, but it’s a lowkey place with irregular hours, so it still flies under the radar a bit. I also think Taqueria Sabor Mixteco, which a team of Mexican restaurant veterans opened last year on a Wheaton sidestreet, is dishing out some of the best Oaxacan food around.
What trend would you like to see in 2026?
ANN: As hard as it has been for restaurants this past year, it remains tough to be a diner without deep pockets. I’d love to see more homegrown, value-minded neighborhood spots like Eebee’s and Juneberry Garage crop up, especially in neighborhoods that are not Shaw and Union Market.
JESSICA: Simple things done well. We are coming out of a period of maximalism and fixation on vibes and aesthetics. That can be fun, but I think something very basic executed at a high level will outshine the gimmicks every time. My dream menu would have, like, two or three items on it, but they would be done to absolute perfection.
IKE: Blue-plate meals or “depression specials” at otherwise normally priced restaurants. Pared-down lunchtime specials or deliberately simple dishes could be a good way to allow more people to access a pricey restaurant and minimize the cost of ingredients. Plus, simplicity can be beautiful. There’s a reason we still turn to a slice of cheese pizza, a pupusa, or a burger, even when there are more elaborate things available.
What trend do you hope goes away?
ANN: I am thrilled we have a Minetta Tavern. And also a 7th Street Burger. Now can we chill out with the NYC replicas?
JESSICA: This is more of a pet-peeve than a trend, but I’m disturbed by how often I go to a nice restaurant and then they don’t have any hooks in the restrooms. (Worse yet: broken hooks.) Do I put my purse on the floor? Hold it awkwardly? I’ve been surprised how often this simplest of amenities is neglected. Please, please, please, restaurants, make sure you have hooks in the restrooms and bonus points for secondary low hooks that are more accessible to those with wheelchairs (or children, as the case may be). While you’re at it, check the hooks under the bar too, eh? You simply cannot have too many hooks, or put them in too many places.
IKE: The MAHA-fication of beef tallow and bone marrow. I like these ingredients just fine, but now I second-guess them and wonder if they’ve only been added to menus to cater to seed-oil-phobic Trump staffers.
What are your predictions for the DC restaurant industry this year?
ANN: I think (I hope) the weekday daytime dining scene will keep getting better, with interesting lunch specials, idiosyncratic breakfast joints, and cool all-day spots like Sook, Rose Previte’s Compass Rose replacement.
JESSICA: I hate to be a downer, but I think this is going to be another rough year for DC area restaurants. In many ways, 2025 was a year of chaos: mass federal layoffs, tariffs, tipped wage drama, an immigration crackdown, the longest government shutdown in history. I think 2026 will be a year of caution. Restaurant owners are tiptoeing into the year, bracing for economic uncertainty. I’ve talked to at least a couple restaurant and bar owners who are holding off on pursuing new projects because they feel things are going to get worse before they get better.
IKE: For years, we’ve had great Salvadoran, West African, Pakistani, Bolivian, Nepali, and more in the suburbs, often in strip mall spaces that immigrant small business owners could afford to rent. I hope and expect more of these under-represented cuisines to crop up in DC proper in the near future. How about a Nigerian suya spot on Capitol Hill, or a Peshawar-style karahi grill on U Street?
What’s your New Year’s eating-out resolution?
ANN: To take my kid out to eat with me more, even if she only orders fries for dinner.
JESSICA: My job tends to be very focused on what’s new, but I want to revisit more of the oldies but goodies. I think we tend to take for granted some of the places that have been around for ages, but they won’t stick around forever if we never go back to them.
IKE: I want to try more places in Prince George’s County, which is underrepresented in DC restaurant coverage, including my own.
Jessica Sidman covers the people and trends behind DC’s food and drink scene. Before joining Washingtonian in July 2016, she was Food Editor and Young & Hungry columnist at Washington City Paper. She is a Colorado native and University of Pennsylvania grad.
Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
Ike Allen covers politics, food, culture, and transportation in DC and writes the monthly Hidden Eats column for the magazine. He grew up in DC.
