Annabelle location_on Dupont language Website A pavlova at Annabelle. Photograph by Greg Powers. Ashok Bajaj’s elegant dining room is one of our go-to picks for a quietly refined date night. Service is professional—never stiff—and the bar mixes smooth martinis paired with a sidecar of caviar-crowned potato croquettes. The menu leans into refined crowd pleasers: duck-liver pâté with brioche; “lasagnette” with wild-boar ragu; black cod finished with lush chive beurre blanc and pops of trout roe. A frequently changing lineup keeps things interesting, delivering surprises like a delicate egg-drop cardoon soup that hits especially right on a cold night. Expensive.   Brasserie Royale location_on Sterling language Website Brasserie Royale’s goat-cheese ravioli. Photograph by Kelsey Shoemaker. Winter can make it tempting to hunker down over a meaty stew like a boeuf bourguignon, and you can certainly find pleasure in the version served at this charming French bistro. But our favorite cold-weather comfort here is the halibut, fortified with creamy mustard sauce, caramelized mushrooms, and ultra-buttery potatoes. Ally and Michael Stebner have fun with the classics—tuna tartare is done up as if it’s steak, with capers and cornichons; Brie is served crispy—but wisely, their kitchen doesn’t tinker with Julia Child’s recipe for onion soup.    Café Colline and Chez Billy Sud location_on Arlington and Georgetown language Website and Website Photograph by Scott Suchman. Parisian charm abounds at these sister restaurants in Arlington and Georgetown. Their menus lean into bistro classics done right: plump escargot tucked beneath puff pastry, steak tartare bright with mustard, and stellar moules frites in a pastis-scented broth with crème fraîche. They’re places built for lingering, especially over dessert. Chocolate-hazelnut pot de crème, dreamy rice pudding with salted caramel, and moist apple cake soaked in crème anglaise make choosing a challenge.     The Dabney location_on Shaw language Website Photograph courtesy of Scott Suchman. The smartest thing this hearth-lit Shaw dining room has done over the past year: ditch its tasting-menu-only format. While you can still celebrate with a set five-course menu, we reveled in recent à la carte offerings. A wooden board of cider doughnuts—served with apple butter and whipped foie gras under a cut-glass cloche—looked straight out of a Dutch Master still life. Pastrami-spiced beef belly was made even more luscious by a drizzle of beet bordelaise. And we never leave without at least one catfish slider on a sweet-potato roll, a menu constant since the early days.     Isla location_on Downtown DC language Website Photograph by Sophie Macaluso. The Obamas visited this cavernous new downtown Caribbean restaurant within weeks of its opening—Lonie Murdock and Darren Hinds, restaurant entrepreneurs from Toronto, are clearly doing something right. Island dishes—such as patties filled with Wagyu oxtail, coconut-enriched cook-up rice with pigeon peas, and supple grilled bara bread with curry chickpeas or goat—are served stylishly in the swank, jewel-toned dining room but never sapped of their soul.   Joon location_on Vienna language Website Photograph by Rey Lopez. The relaxed elegance of this Tysons Persian destination makes it popular with both family groups and date-nighters. Helmed by cookbook author Najmieh Batmanglij and chef Christopher Morgan, the kitchen turns out such deeply flavorful classic stews as pomegranate-laced duck fessenjoon and beef with dried lime. More modern plates, including lamb-and-pistachio meatballs and a grilled whole eggplant with crispy onions, are often flawless, too. And don’t forget the fabulous rice, whether crunchy tadig from the bottom of the pot or fluffy sour-cherry or fava-and-dill pileups.   L’Ardente location_on Judiciary Square language Website Photograph by Rey Lopez. Forty-layer lasagna is this chic Italian spot’s Instagram darling, but on our last visit, branzino was the dish of the night. Deboned, stuffed with fennel and kalamata olives, and drizzled with a bright salmoriglio sauce, it sets the city’s standard for the ubiquitous whole fish. Pasta is still a must-get, whether cacio e pepe, strozzapreti with Bolognese, or pappardelle with serrano-chili-flecked white ragu. Like that lasagna, tiramisu flambé is another shareable showpiece that delivers in flavor.    L’Auberge Chez François and Jacques’ Brasserie location_on Great Falls language Website and Website   Photograph by Scott Suchman. This Alsatian-style cottage in bucolic Great Falls has the distinction of being the oldest restaurant—and the longest fixture—on our 100 Very Best Restaurants list. Little has changed in the special-occasion-worthy upstairs dining room. It’s still charmingly filled with folksy French knickknacks, and the seared foie gras, lobster with Sauternes butter, and Grand Marnier soufflé we have long loved haven’t changed in decades. Downstairs, Jacques’ is a more casual dining room that’s our go-to spot for choucroute garni, the Alsatian-style feast of meats and sausages atop sauerkraut.    La’ Shukran location_on Union Market language Website The dining room at La’ Shukran. Photograph by Vina Sananikone. Hidden in a Union Market alley, up a set of funkily painted stairs, this French/Middle Eastern bistro and bar from Albi chef Michael Rafidi is one of the most exciting and original restaurants in DC—and beyond. No dish captures its spirit better than silky hummus topped with smoky escargots and herby arak butter, ready to swipe up with grilled batard bread. Falafel jibne with a dollop of dill yogurt and trout roe is another instant classic, as is the coal-grilled steak kebab served with yogurt and au poivre sauce. Add in za’atar- and saffron-infused cocktails and a transportive jewel-toned dining room with “habibi funk” vinyl and a cool-kids vibe, and it’s no wonder this is one of the hottest seats in town.   Lapis location_on Adams Morgan language Website Inside Lapis. Photo by Nayab Jade. Hurricane lamps and Afghan antiques make for a date-night-friendly vibe. Spot-on cocktails—we love the Viceroy (basil-and-cucumber-infused gin, elder-flower, and lime)—and stellar cooking clinch the deal. To start, you can’t go wrong with one of the Afghan flatbreads, such as the potato-and-onion-filled version and the ever-popular dumplings, stuffed with either meat or leeks. There’s a stellar qabili palow—a riot of carrots, raisins, basmati, and tender lamb—and the kitchen has a way with fish. Meanwhile, vegetables like melty eggplant and savory-sweet pumpkin are a vegan’s dream.   Letena location_on Columbia Heights language Website Photograph by TeddyN. At Yamrot Ezineh’s cozy-chic Ethiopian cafe in Columbia Heights, the lentil samosas are so addictive they’re now sold frozen to take home. The rest of the menu is just as irresistible. Lega tibs feature ultra-juicy beef tenderloin, while yebeg wat stars fall-apart lamb in a soulful stew. The vegetarian sampler hits all the right notes, with fiery red lentils, collards with bite, and earthy beets to cool things down. Add berbere-spiced carrot wat and sautéed mushroom tibs for a standout all-vegetarian feast.   Lutèce location_on Georgetown language Website Photograph courtesy of Lutèce. Isabel Coss and Matt Conroy’s petite Georgetown neo-bistro will transport you to Paris, and the concise menu changes often but reliably delivers. Begin with pain au lait, and save room for one of Coss’s masterful desserts, such as honeycomb semifreddo with Comté cheese. In between, standouts have included acorn-squash bisque crowned with cheddar foam; melt-in-your-mouth Parisian gnocchi with escargot; and a Wagyu with sweet-potato pavé that ranks among the best steaks we’ve had in recent memory.    Maydan location_on 14th Street corridor language Website The shareable roast chicken at Maydan. Photograph by Scott Suchman. This eight-year-old Middle Eastern/Mediterranean destination just got an LA sibling, but the sultry DC original hasn’t suffered one bit. Spring for the tawle menu, a shareable feast of pickles, dips, salads, snacks, and hearth-fired meats that will likely yield loads of delicious leftovers. It’s worth paying a little extra for the lamb shoulder, a glorious hunk of fatty, shreddy meat you bundle into flatbread with a bevy of garlicky condiments.   Queen’s English location_on Columbia Heights language Website Photograph by Scott Suchman. Co-owners Henji Cheung and Sarah Thompson—he’s the chef, she’s the sommelier—are exploring Hong Kong cooking at their cozy Columbia Heights restaurant, but there’s more going on here, too. Thompson’s natural-wine list is a treasure trove, and the kitchen pairs Cantonese-rooted preparations like daikon fritters and the showstopping bobo chicken with original inventions such as truffle dumplings daubed with sweet-corn foam.    Pineapple Pearls location_on Capitol Hill language Website Sorbet at Pineapple and Pearls. Photograph by Birch Thomas. Some special-occasion restaurants feel like food church—hushed and pious. Now imagine the opposite and you’ll get something close to Aaron Silverman’s dopamine bomb of a Capitol Hill tasting room. Think LL Cool J on the speakers, chefs in custom-made gold Nikes, and loads and loads of caviar (sometimes served with gummy bears). The four-course menu is a ton of fun—we loved melty pork belly with a taco al pastor–inspired jus; a lobster riff on Chinese walnut shrimp; and a truffle-laden onion tarte Tatin. This is a place with plenty of luxury, and nothing quiet about it.    The Red Hen location_on Bloomingdale language Website Rigatoni with fennel sausage at the Red Hen. Photograph by Scott Suchman. Reclaimed wood and moody lighting give this Bloomingdale dining room a Tuscan-farmhouse feel, the perfect setting for robust Italian plates. We could make a meal of snacks like mushroom arancini, whipped-ricotta crostini, and chicken-liver mousse on toast. But pastas beckon, whether the much-loved rigatoni with sausage or a newer gnochetti tossed with bacon, miso, and creamy squash. And then there’s the perfectly crispy pork Milanese. Sweet tooth raging? Apple cake with cider “caramel” and mascarpone gelato is just the thing.   Reveler’s Hour location_on Adams Morgan language Website The bar at Reveler’s Hour. Photo by Farrah Skeiky. This date-night pasta house and wine bar has a new chef: Mariane Kolchraiber, an alum of Pineapple Pearls. She brings experience working in Italian kitchens—from her hometown of São Paulo to Qatar and beyond—to a rotating slate of seasonal plates, but the menu hasn’t strayed too far from the six-year-old spot’s original vision. You can still get insanely good garlic knots and plenty of housemade pastas. Trust us and order the blood-orange-and-hot-honey-glazed fried half chicken, too. Also, no trip would be complete without somm/owner Bill Jensen turning you on to some of the best wines you’ve never heard of.The post 19 Romantic Restaurants From Our 100 Very Best Restaurants List first appeared on Washingtonian. ...read more read less