DC Restaurant Among Best New Eateries In America: New List

WASHINGTON, DC — A Chinese restaurant in Washington, D.C. has been named among the 50 best new eateries in America this year by the men’s fashion, style and culture magazine Esquire.

The 2023 list, published Tuesday, includes restaurants from well-known food hubs such as New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles, as well as other major metro areas including Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Miami, Atlanta, Honolulu, Chicago, Louisville, New Orleans, St Louis, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and more.

In Washington, D.C., Chang Chang, located two blocks south of Dupont Circle on 19th St. SW, nabbed a spot on the list for Peter Chang's ability to take "familiar classics to a new level, but without any fusiony gimmicks," Esquire said.

"Chang Chang is his first restaurant in D.C. proper, and it is wonderfully wild. The highlights include stuffed money pockets (a vegetarian take on mapo tofu, with tofu-skin pockets filled with soybeans and mushrooms); a scallion cheddar biscuit with sausage congee for brunch; and the must-order duck four ways, which includes a tea-smoked duck breast with forbidden rice, duck confit pie, bone broth and foie gras dumplings, and, just because, fried wings. The desserts from pastry legend Pichet Ong are also not to be missed—at the very least, get his Asian spiced cookies to go."

Esquire noted that authenticity was a major theme this year among the restaurants. That was true for its Restaurant of the Year winner, Ilis in Brooklyn, where the chefs “prepared the fish as it would have been done centuries ago, wrapped in bark and cooked over flames.” It was also true across the country at Poltergeist in Los Angeles, where the chefs “gave us a wild, experimental take on the fish taco, which was dipped in masa and fried. Both felt genuine, and each was delicious.”

The magazine also named two eateries that earned Comeback of the Year titles and the coveted claim to Pizza Joint of the Year. Baroo in Los Angeles closed in 2018, but is now “decidedly all grown up,” Esquire wrote in naming it the comeback winner this year for the West Coast. On the East Coast, Superiority Burger in the East Village of New York City earned the comeback honor, with its tantalizing vegan burger offerings.

Meanwhile, sure to stir the pot among pizza aficionados is Nonno’s Family Pizza Tavern in Houston, which was named Pizza Joint of the Year.