New On Resy: D.C.’s Newest Restaurant Openings

DMV heavy-hitter Pattana Restaurant Group (Tiki Thai) is back, and this time they’re taking their high-wattage Thai street food concept to Oakville with Dok Khao’s fifth location. Like its popular predecessors, chef Porntipa “Pat” Pattanamekar’s menu runs on warmth and precision, from standouts like crispy whole branzino doused in tangy tamarind chile to staples like plump gyoza, bright larb gai, and Southern-style pad Thai backed by a secret family recipe. Through it all, seasonality remains the driver, with house-grown herbs complimenting verdant indoor greenery. 

Georgetown’s Wisconsin Avenue corridor has long leaned more reliable than thrilling — but Otto, which took over the 25-year-old Café Divan space earlier this year, is making the case for a reputation overhaul. The name is short for Ottoman, and the concept delivers on the reference: chef Kenan Atmaca, once the culinary force behind Turkish Airlines’ DO&CO, steps out of the galley and into neighborhood diners’ hearts with Anatolian mezze, house-baked pita, and soulful signatures paired with Mediterranean wines.

The 6,500-square-foot former Ekó House space in Rockville Town Square has found a promising new tenant — but don’t let the clean industrial design fool you — Fork & Kitchen is all about life’s comforts. The Southern-tinged all-day venture has been peddling stacks of pillowy pancakes, deliciously sticky mango-habanero wings, and pot pie stuffed with lobster and lump crab to eager locals since opening its sun-soaked doors. Don’t miss the generous weekday happy hour, when appetizers get the half-price treatment alongside $5 wells, drafts, and wines. 

James Beard Award-winning chef Carlos Delgado is behind this intimate Peruvian-Japanese handroll counter — and its 15-course Nikkei “Experience” reserved for just four lucky guests each night. The lineup showcases premium dishes like delicate sushi rice laced with uni and fresh fish in a tangy ceviche-like broth, melt-in-your-mouth sashimi, and more in a handsome space. Caviar-stuffed handrolls keep diners busy while Delgado assembles each bite with unmatched precision. 

After success in suburban Virginia, James Jang’s Ingle is weaving a sophisticated thread into the District’s increasingly lauded Korean dining scene. The sleek new 14th Street outpost trades DIY grilling for a high-gloss, hands-off experience, with staff manning tabletop flames as guests savor perfectly charred American Wagyu, refined appetizers, and seasonal banchan. Backlit by an arching mother-of-pearl tree — a Jang family heirloom — the broad marble bar acts as a visual centerpiece, shaking up a substantial list of classic cocktails to complete the fun and fancy date-night vibes. 

Thai-born chef and co-owner Eakachai “Sean” Promsiri named his restaurant after the Japanese word for sunrise, and the inspiration proved fruitful. Akeno, now with three locations across the DMV, keeps the focus on sushi and Japanese comforts here. The sashimi — silky uni flown in from Hokkaido, melt-in-your-mouth otoro, sweet spot prawn — is the opening move, while crave-worthy barbecue short ribs and katsu curry wait in the wings. 

Like a cocktail-fueled Russian doll, this swank speakeasy hides inside (h)ours at Manifest 002, the Erik Bruner-Yang hotspot stashed beneath Manifest 002 Union Market. Of course, after (h)ours appears much more complicated on paper. Behind a covert door lurks a sea of curving leather booths under a vaulted ceiling, a low-lit canvas for bar manager Michael Holiday Jr.’s imaginative, D.C.-inspired lineup — the Mumbo or Mild doesn’t miss — paired with equally creative bar bites and a soundtrack that leans unapologetically loungey. 

This ambitious extension to KJ Hughes’s Adams Morgan original is the ultimate multi-hyphenate. Poised at the intersection of lifestyle, community, and craft, Manifest blends a high-end barbershop and boutique with an intimate culinary hideaway. Slip down the spiral staircase into (h)ours, to find offbeat cocktails and global shareables from local hit-maker chef Eric Bruner-Yang (Maketto, Providencia). Whether you’re in for a taper fade or melt-in-your-mouth Peking duck topped with caviar, time flies when you’re kicking back among D.C.’s creative elite. 

This Pentagon City dim sum palace swapped dumpling-laden carts for white marble, mirrored ceilings, and a stately bar peddling verdant Midori-spiked Qing Dynasties to balance out elegant dimpled glass pitchers of tableside tea. Named for the year Guangzhou’s legendary White Swan Hotel opened its doors, 1983 nails the Cantonese classics — nearly 100 of them — from sticky rice wrapped in fragrant lotus leaves stuffed with Chinese sausage and salted egg yolk to wok-kissed beef chow fun. Playful swan-shaped durian puffs seal the deal for adventurous eaters — that is, if you manage to save room for dessert. 

Stashed in an unassuming suburban shopping center, family-owned Saahil is redefining modern Pakistani cuisine with fine-dining polish and heartfelt precision. Inside, delicate tilework stretches up toward the soaring ceiling, where colorful blown-glass pendant lights crown dark wood banquets lined with batiked pillows. The open kitchen is a hub of activity, churning out perfected classics from spice-laden tandoori lamb chops to chicken biryani laced with fragrant rose water while a list of inventive mocktails waits in the wings. 

Tucked away in the late-great Columbia Room’s Blagden Alley space, Death & Co. has some big shoes to fill. Thankfully, the DC location of this celebrated cocktail bar is more than up to the task. Tapping into its predecessor’s playbook, Death & Co.’s carefully curated lineup teems with top-shelf ingredients and bartender know-how. The menu is more storytelling than shaking, melting into the milieu with whiskey-forward “Boozy & Honest” selections and “Light & Playful” sparklers. 

Veteran restaurateurs Rob Zahn and Will Strozier (Proper 21) traded sports and pints for marble and martinis at Proper Bar, the pair’s sprawling Mt. Vernon Triangle cocktail lounge. Miami design firm Bolt Living delivers the swank, with green velvet banquettes and a 50-foot marble bar. The crowd matches the jazzy aesthetic — no athletic wear or work boots permitted — bent over squid ink-spiked negroni, tiger prawn tagliatelle, and crispy chicken crowned with caviar while a shiny black piano completes the swaggy tableau.  

30-plus years in, Ashok Bajaj’s Penn Quarter institution remains exactly what it’s always been: a quietly upscale setting where D.C. dignitaries broker deals over Masala Manhattans, a white grand piano anchors the room, and executive chef Nilesh Singhvi’s cuisine spans the subcontinent with unmissable poise. The tandoori salmon and Hariyali trout (fileted tableside, no less) are as reliable as ever, the silver-platter thali still one of the city’s most satisfying meals, and the entire operation — Michelin-recognized, dress code-enforced, and unapologetically posh — has only grown more confident with age. 

Calling themselves a “complete sensory experience,” Mount Vernon Triangle newcomer Kaché channels D.C.’s diverse heritage into a tapestry of Caribbean flavors and Southern charm. A thoughtful menu flits between global and local — think creamy cavatelli with lump crab and pepper sofrito, or po’boys stuffed with fried shrimp and tangy pickled red onion remoulade — while playful cocktails like the fig-infused DC Tap Water and a truncated collection of late night bites lean into the unmistakably loungey vibes.