The November Hit List: Moon Rabbit, The Royal, Jam Doung Style, and More

For frozen margaritas and bubbly skillets of enchiladas, in a setting that vibes more like Khruangbin’s album Con Todo El Mundo, with some Wes Anderson Texas kitsch mixed in, versus the usual Beach Week-rager aesthetic. Other favorites include shrimp fajitas, generously basted with Old Bay butter, and served with house made flour tortillas. Also trust on the cantina pupusa, stuffed with Chihuahua cheese, and stacked with cabbage, salsa rojo, and smoked brisket, alongside a Sotol & Topo — a classic pairing in the making.

Dining status: Patio dining is open for reservations, takeaway and delivery are also available. 

Two time Jame Beard Award semifinalist Kevin Tien has returned to open Moon Rabbit; a modern vision of Vietnamese cuisine, rooted in traditions passed down by his family, and in his upbringing in Lafayette, La.,  as well as more unfamiliar dishes usually encountered in Northern Virginia’s Eden Center, a mecca for the region’s Vietnamese diaspora. Early highlights include kobujime scallop crudo — raw scallop cured in kombu leaf,  served in a chilled Thai tom kha coconut broth; and grilled prawns dressed in garlic and Thai basil butter, served with muoi ot xanh sua dac, a creamy green chili sauce from rural Vietnam made with sweetened condensed milk, Thai green chiles, and scallions.

Dining Status: Indoor dining is open for reservations. 

When you’re in the mood for sumptuous pastas, without the pomp of downtown Gucci Gulch, look for the hand-painted Amalfi blue signage, and mural of soccer legend Diego Maradonna, along Sherman Avenue at this Columbia Heights trattoria. Chef Andy Clark (ex-San Lorenzo, Red Hen, and Fiola) has perfected owner Antonio Ferraro’s Neapolitan family recipes, and developed his own signature dishes. For red-sauce enthusiasts, house made paccheri with slow-cooked meat sauce is hard to beat. The ravioli filled with pear, pecorino, and basil, dressed in brown butter and black pepper, is not to be missed. And their superlative roast chicken, dry-cured overnight and slow roasted in its own fat, is revisioned for the fall with figs, pancetta, and roasted beets.

Dining Status: Patio dining is open for reservations.

From the outside, the Royal may appear merely to be an adorable coffee house, but you would be remiss if you don’t stop in for an afternoon arepa and Paloma, or stick around past nightfall for an aji daiquiri with seared redfish, served over coconut lime rice, grilled cabbage, and a smoky buttered seafood nage. And yes, that’s a wood-fired parrilla behind the counter, used to great effect for charred corn and ember-roasted leeks, served with crispy pork belly. Owners Paul Carlson and family have channeled their mother’s Columbian heritage and their experiences growing up abroad with the Foreign Service  into a Latin inspired day-to-night cafe that’s peerless in the District.

Dining Status: Patio and indoor dining are open for reservations, takeaway and delivery are also available.

Since we’ve made it to proper oyster season, you may be overdue for a visit to Hank’s, pioneering chef Jaime Leeds’ stalwart institution for mid-Atlantic seafood. Platters are replete with oysters and middleneck clams on the half shell, chilled jumbo shrimp, seafood ceviche, mussels escabeche, and chilled Maine lobster. For brunch, consider their interpretation of San Francisco’s Hangtown fry, a classic egg dish of fried oysters and smoked bacon. Head to the Wharf location for marina-front views, or to the original Dupont location for people-watching.

Dining Status: Patio dining is open for reservations, takeaway and delivery are also available. Wharf location also has dining by reservation.

Great Wall had been put up for sale in February, mostly because chef Yuan Chen spent several months recuperating at home following a hot-oil accident while working behind the wok. Then it closed due to the pandemic. But months later, he and his wife May Kuang resurrected the restaurant. And thank goodness. Glistening málà wontons and silky mapo tofu are a must. Consider boiled fish with sour mustard greens for an exceptional, spicy, savory  soup. And enjoy bites of sweet eggplant in Sichuan garlic sauce for momentary relief from the málà special menu’s rousing, hot-and-numbing flavors. More info here.

Dining status: Available for takeaway only.

Look to Japan’s Daikaya Group for long-simmered, aromatic ramen broths, with top-grade noodles, custom made in Sapporo for their restaurants. Hatoba is perhaps their most visually striking installment, and with generous seating; you’ll be thankful for this once the first cold snap arrives and crowds descend in unison onto every ramen shop. Unique to Hatoba is their vegan tomato curry ramen, a delicate and citrusy yuzu shio ramen, and the briny red miso and clam ramen. There’s also yakisoba with pork belly or blue crab to further complicate your decisions.

Dining Status: Patio and indoor dining are open for reservations, takeaway and delivery are also available.

Janet Stedman and her mother Pinkie have served some of the finest jerk chicken and traditional Jamaican stews from their beloved North Capitol Street eatery for the past 20 years. The daily special, a plate of chicken curry or brown chicken stew, with richly seasoned rice & peas and perfectly cooked cabbage, remains one of the best deals in town. Also consider stewed oxtails, and fried fish escovitch. With the grill roaring, and pots boiling all day, it is an inferno inside; fortunately with cooler temperatures outside, they are now open later (until 8 p.m.) for your dinner needs. More info here.

Dining Status: Available for takeout and delivery.

Dupont’s cherished dimly lit cellar cocktail bar & steakhouse has moved service outside to its spacious, gravel filled, bamboo and ivy covered rear garden. There is happy hour seven nights a week (all night on Mondays), steak specials on Sundays, and bottomless brunch available on weekends. Whether it’s wagyu culotte steak and a martini, tuna tartare and a Saturn, or the crab omelet and bloody Marias, Bar Charley is here for it.

Dining Status: Patio dining is open for reservations.

Even seven years after its opening, neighbors still call the fire department because they smell something burning on the corner 14th & Q Streets NW … when it’s nothing more than Etto firing up their wood-burning oven, where they produce some of the most tender and beautifully scorched pizzas in town. Seasonal menu additions include butternut squash agrodolce with sheep’s-milk ricotta, sausage & rapini pizza, and braised lamb with stewed French lentils, all cooked in said oven. Anchovy lovers will rejoice in their watercress Caesar salad; and the autumn crostata,  with spiced honey crisp apples and raspberries, is not to be missed — even if everything is to go right now. More info here.

Dining Status: Available for takeaway and delivery.