10 New Restaurants in the DC Area We’re Excited About This Month

Bagel Uprising

The small-batch, locally boiled and baked bagels from Del Ray’s Bagel Uprising are now available at a second location in Ballston. Along with your typical schmears and Ivy City smoked salmon, find bagel sandwiches like the “Del Ray-chel,” with turkey and melted Swiss, or a BLT with avocado.

Cafe Monet

This new eatery at the McLean Project for the Arts serves a menu of refined Gallic dishes like Niçoise salad, quiche, and steak frites along with brunch, smashburgers, and cocktails. All proceeds go to the arts education nonprofit.

Catahoula

In May, Thomas Malz and Rachel Sergi brought a raucous bayou energy to Navy Yard. Their place incorporates the high and low of Cajun and Creole cooking: broiled oysters and Paul Prudhomme’s prime rib, but also po’ boys, crawfish boils, and Bourbon Street–style frozen cocktails. A big green cast-iron shaker behind the bar turns out Ramos gin fizzes.

District Larder Co.

Matt Sperber, formerly of Any Day Now, Momofuku, and the Salt Line, is a charcuterie enthusiast. In May, he opened this full-service Petworth delicatessen, where he makes his own salami, mortadella, capicola, and half-smokes. You can also order from an upscale American dinner menu a few nights a week in a small back dining room.

Farooj Abo Alabed

The Northern Virginia outpost of this Lebanese chicken chain, which has locations across the Middle East, has already generated plenty of hype for its flattened charcoal-grilled half chickens and crispy shawarma wraps.

The Grace

Sanjay Mandhaiya, the chef behind Pappe and Karravaan, bought the space formerly occupied by the cocktail bar the Passenger last year. He’s just turned it into an American gastropub that deviates significantly from the Indian and Silk Road cooking of his other DC projects.

Hank’s Pasta Bar

For her revival of this modern build-your-own pasta concept atop Old Town’s Hank’s Oyster Bar, Jamie Leeds tapped chef Darren Norris, who’s best known for his Japanese cooking at places like Shibuya Eatery. DIY your own bowl or go for set dishes such as mafalde with sausage and broccoli rabe, or pistachio pesto fusilli with garlic butter shrimp.

Kuro Listening Bar

In May, Georgia Avenue near Petworth got a somewhat unlikely addition: a Japanese-style listening bar. You’ll find a hi-fi system, carefully chosen records spinning, fancy cocktails, and Japanese American bar bites.

Little Birdie

The team behind Matt & Tony’s All Day Kitchen + Bar, a popular brunch place in Del Ray, have opened this spot across the street. The star is the fried-chicken sandwich—optionally chili-dipped—served on a Japanese milk bun topped with garlic pickle slaw, but the menu also incorporates share plates, salads, and cocktails.

Pho Thìn

It’s not often that we get a whole new style of pho in the DC area. Pho Thìn, a Hanoi-born chain that specializes in garlicky wok-seared rib-eye pho, landed here in April. The huge strip-mall space is often mobbed and has sometimes sold out of broth be-fore closing time. Try coming for breakfast—it opens at 9.

This article appears in the July 2026 issue of Washingtonian.

Ike Allen

Staff Writer

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.