Best Restaurants For Washington, D.C. Restaurant Week

Whether you've been taking advantage of it so far or still need to make that first reservation, you can't deny Restaurant Week is the best excuse to eat out. And even though it's halfway over, it's never too late to snag a coveted, last-minute table at some of our favorite D.C. spots.

Mike Isabella has quickly become one of D.C.'s biggest restaurateurs, thanks to his most recent opening, Requin, which started serving diners late last year at the Wharf. Look for an upbeat spin on French classics, like escargot stuffed in flaky croissants likened to pigs in a blanket.

After the closure of his first restaurant, consider Kith & Kin as Kwame Onwuachi's triumphant comeback to the D.C. dining scene. It's a more casual take on his Afro-Caribbean roots: groundnut soup with crispy cassava, followed by classic braised oxtails and chocolate rum cake served with carrot ice cream.

Make weekend lunch plans at this restaurant dedicated to the time-honored practice of pasta fatte a mano, or "hand-rolled" pasta. The Caesar that swaps romaine for Italian puntarelle (a sharp, bitter green) is the easy choice for your first course, but when it's time to decide between the tonnarelli with white pork ragù or the house-made rigatoni, it's best to take a dining companion so you can have it all.

If butter chicken is the only Indian dish you can name off the top of your head, you owe it to yourself to grab a seat at Rasika. The menu is a showcase of classic Indian cooking methods, whether it's the banana leaf-wrapped bass that comes off the tawa griddle or the garam masala-spiced lamb charred over the sigri grill.

The spotlight might be currently focused on his just-opened place inside the Line Hotel, but Erik Bruner-Yang's original D.C. restaurant is still as popular as ever, thanks to a homey menu expertly blending Taiwanese and Cambodian cuisine in a casual setting.