Manifest Bread owners Tyes and Rick Cook have big ambitions this winter. Photograph by Evy Mages . Bar Betsie location_on 1328 Fourth St., NE language Website Logan Circle cocktail bar Jane Jane draws its Southern charm from co-owner Ralph Brabham’s mother, but its Union Market sibling aims to channel the life-of-the party energy of co-owner JP Sabatier’s Puerto Rican mom. “If Jane Jane feels like you’re going on a school field trip, Bar Betsie should feel like you’re skipping school,” Sabatier says. A riff on a tiki Painkiller, dubbed the Migraine, will be a staple on the cocktail list, paired with finger foods like pork rinds with ranch or empanadas. It’s slated to open in February.   Elmina location_on 2208 14th St., NW language Website Chef Eric Adjepong has competed on Top Chef, written a cookbook, and even developed his own kitchen and dinnerware collection. On January 23, the first-generation Ghanaian American is also opening his own upscale restaurant centered around West African cuisine. Expect street foods such as kyinkyinga (grilled meat skewers), Ghanaian classics like fufu and light soup (the latter tomato-based with steamed fish or meat), and more-modern creations including crudo with palm oil, passionfruit, and corn nuts—all served in a gold-­accented dining room with a lush patio.   Manifest Bread location_on 6208 Rhode Island Ave., Riverdale Park language Website This destination bakery supplies loaves and baguettes made from house-milled local grains to some of DC’s top restaurants, including Lutèce and Petite Cerise. Now it’s planning to add a restaurant, hopefully by February. Husband/wife owners Rick and Tyes Cook—alums of Cathedral Heights pizzeria 2 Amys and Dupont Circle’s Obelisk, respectively—will serve New Haven/New York–style pizzas in their 30-seat space, along with a concise menu of fried appetizers, seasonal salads, and oven-baked entrées.   Occidental location_on 1475 Pennsylvania Ave., NW language Website Restaurateur Stephen Starr—whose DC blockbusters include Le Diplomate, El Presidente, and Georgetown’s new Osteria Mozza—is at it again. This time, he’s reinventing the historic Occidental inside the Willard InterContinental hotel as a glam, classic American restaurant with tableside service and great martinis. The dining room will “feel like you stepped outside of a 1940s movie,” Starr says. “If there was ever a power place in Washington—there are none really—this is going to be the place.”   Tapori location_on 600 H St., NE language Website The team behind the hit modern Indian restaurant Daru will focus on regional street food for their sequel restaurant, opening in February. (Its name is Hindi for “vagabond” or “rowdy.”) The menu will draw inspiration from the southern coast of Kerala to the Himalayan border region and Nepal, chef Suresh Sundas’s native country. Pani puri, dosas, and vada pav—Mumbai-style potato fritters on fluffy buns—will be paired with co-owner Dante Datta’s “Indianish” cocktails, which use ingredients such as chaat masala, jackfruit, and Kashmiri chili. RelatedThe 10 Most Exciting DC-Area Restaurant Openings of 2024 This article appears in the January 2025 issue of Washingtonian.The post 5 Exciting Restaurants Opening Around DC in Early 2025 first appeared on Washingtonian.