The Best Restaurant Openings in Washington, D.C. This Month

Last year’s closure of Tail Up Goat in Adams Morgan after a ten-year run was a tragic loss for the city’s dining scene. Now owners Jill Tyler and Jon Sybert are soothing the brokenhearted by rebooting the space as Rye Bunny, a fine-casual concept with décor that leans into vintage quilts, custom stained glass, and globular light fixtures imprinted with flowers and leaves. The menu draws on seasonally inspired Mediterranean-meets–New World comfort food, with dishes like crispy-skinned rockfish with verdant chermoula and grilled ramps, fried chicken drizzled with sumac and Aleppo pepper–spiked honey, wild greens ravioli with green garlic brown butter, smoked maitake mushrooms with preserved lemon aioli, and guanciale-amped bolognese on tagliatelle. Guests order at the counter before grabbing a table, with the option to add dishes, drinks, and desserts throughout the meal. Two reservations are offered each night, each with a $25 booking fee that benefits Dreaming Out Loud and the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights.

Chefs Paolo Dungca and Julie Cortes debuted a Filipino-ish, weekend-only café operating out of the same Dupont Circle space as Dungca’s Filipino-American restaurant, Kayu. Guests can pick up their version of silog, the beloved Filipino breakfast bowl built on a base of rice, egg, and pickled green papaya, filled out with their choice of longganisa (smoked pork sausage), vegetarian sigsig made with tofu and wild mushrooms, pyanggang (burnt coconut chicken), or inihaw (barbecued beef). Pair the bowls with creative caffeination, such as an ube horchata latte, bibingka (salted egg caramel) latte, or bilo-bilo matcha.

The Panamanian coffee roasters have opened their largest café-bar in D.C., inside La Cosecha in the Union Market District. Alongside the coffee program, there’s a new all-day breakfast menu, including a vegan açaí bowl with granola and a wrap filled with Panama-style beans, bacon, and avocado. An expanded lunch and dinner menu focuses on fresh takes on Central, South, and North American flavors, such as arroz con pollo arancini, lime zest chicharrón, and tequeños (crispy fried cheese sticks popular in Venezuela). The bar menu includes an Old Fashioned Raspadura (rye, raspadura, or unrefined cane sugar, and bitters), a Carajillo (single-origin espresso, Licor 43, and cacao), and classics such as a Negroni, Manhattan, and margarita.

Masaaki “Uchi” Uchino made a name for himself at Sushi Nakazawa before opening his own counter at The Square food hall. Now he’s transitioned to a 16-seat counter downtown, currently open for walk-ins at lunch. For $40, diners get their choice of nigiri or hand roll omakase, plus miso soup. Coming soon: dinner service omakase and a sake library with more than 100 bottles.

Chef Ryan Ratino of the two-star MICHELIN Jônt and the MICHELIN-starred Bresca is turning his formidable talents to the steakhouse format. Taking over the former Reverie space in Georgetown, the new venture embraces a dark and moody atmosphere that Washingtonian calls “gothic chic.” Beef is sourced from more than a dozen farms in the U.S. and Australia, presented by the pound, in large-format cuts, or as straightforward strip loins, tenderloins, short ribs, and Wagyu flank steaks, all of which can be paired with the restaurant’s version of A1 sauce, horseradish cream, or au poivre. Sides include massive onion rings with sour cream ranch, maitake mushrooms with peppercorn madeira, and a loaded baked potato piled with beef jam, Comté cheese, and chives. If you can, save room for dessert: options include milk chocolate soft serve with shoestring fries, a nod to the iconic Wendy’s combo.

Third time’s a charm. Restaurateur Ashok Bajaj debuts Rosselli in downtown, his third Italian concept in the same space, last home to Modena and, before that, Bibiana. The kitchen is overseen by executive chef Carlos Cardona, a veteran of the two-star MICHELIN NOI in Hong Kong. He leans into elevated, artful preparations, with dishes like focaccia with tomato gel, maitake mushroom ash, and bone marrow butters; maitake risotto with chive pesto; brown butter–dressed agnolotti del plin with sea urchin; and braised veal shank ossobuco with risotto and Calabrian gremolata.