Don't leave without these.

Michael Rafidi's Levantine hearth is the city's best restaurant by most measures that matter — a star, Washingtonian's №1 two years running, and a kitchen that treats Palestinian home cooking with the seriousness usually reserved for French. Everything passes through wood fire.

OrderThe sfeeha and the mushroom hummus with the pita, the kibbeh naya, then the lamb — whatever cut the hearth is doing. Finish with the kunafeh.

Aaron Silverman's row house made Barracks Row a destination a decade ago and the food still earns the star: playful, precise, and built around a few dishes the city refuses to let him retire. The bar takes walk-ins the morning of.

OrderThe pork-and-lychee salad, the bread with miso cream, and whatever pasta is on. Sit at the bar and order à la carte if you can't face the full menu.

Mid-Atlantic cooking from a wood-burning hearth in a Blagden Alley townhouse — the one starred room in DC where the vegetables are the reason people come back. Regional, seasonal, and smoky in the best way.

OrderThe hearth-roasted vegetables, the deviled eggs, the potato-roll sliders, and one large cut from the fire for the table. The bar, à la carte, is the relaxed way in.

The Indian restaurant that taught Washington to book weeks ahead. The menu is modern but the cooking is grounded, and one dish — crisped spinach with yogurt, tamarind and dates — is on every list of the city's essential plates for a reason.

OrderPalak chaat to start, no exceptions. Then the black cod, the chicken makhani and a mango lassi.

Suresh Sundas' Bombay street-food room on H Street — pani puri, vada pav, dosa — cooked with a Beard finalist's technique and none of the restraint. New, loud, and already the Indian table Washingtonians send each other to.

OrderPani puri and the vada pav to start, the podi masala dosa, the lotus-root chaat, and the dum biryani for the table. Kulfi to finish.

José Andrés' Turkish-Greek-Lebanese mezze room, twenty years old and still a Bib. It's the safe pick that turns out to be the right one: the bread comes out of the oven all night, and the small plates are consistent across a menu that runs to sixty.

OrderThe pita with olive oil and pomegranate, the kibbeh, the grilled octopus, the kofta, and the Turkish coffee cake. Order in waves.

Of the dozens of Ethiopian kitchens in a city that has the best outside Addis, this Shaw row house is the one to send a first-timer: soft, sour injera made fresh, stews with real depth, a lamb tibs that people cross town for.

OrderA combination platter — split the meat and vegetarian sides so you get the misir wot, the gomen and the doro wot — plus the lamb tibs and a glass of tej.

Breakfast tacos from a window in Mount Pleasant, on flour tortillas made that morning, with a Bib to show Michelin noticed. The line on weekends is the neighborhood's social hour; go on a weekday and there isn't one.

OrderThe migas, the choripapa and the Tio Willie. Ask for salsa on everything and eat them on the sidewalk.

The half-smoke — a coarse, snappy pork-and-beef sausage under chili — is Washington's one true native dish, and this U Street counter has served it since 1958, through riots, the Metro dig, and every president since Eisenhower. It's history you can eat in ten minutes.

OrderThe original half-smoke with chili, mustard and onions, chili cheese fries, and a vanilla shake. Late on a Friday is the right time.

Peter Pastan's Neapolitan pizzeria has been Washington's best for twenty-five years and this year the Beard Foundation finally put him up for Outstanding Chef. Certified D.O.C. pies from a wood oven, and a small-plates list that's quietly the better half of the menu.

OrderThe Margherita D.O.C. and the Norcia, plus the deviled eggs, the suppli and the salt cod fritters from the little-dishes board. No reservations; go before 6.