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Restaurants

Travel Channel Ranks Top 5 “Hottest New Restaurants” in DC

by Prince Of Petworth April 8, 2013 at 12:00 pm 31 Comments

Chez-billy-petworth-dc
Chez Billy located at 3815 Georgia Avenue, NW

Thanks to @russellbreck for tweeting the link to @PoPville. The Travel Channel writes:

“Influenced by its residents’ eclectic mix of cultures, DC offers up some of the nation’s most inspired and diverse restaurants.”

Their top five are:

Chez Billy located at 3815 Georgia Avenue, NW in Petworth.

RANGE located at 5335 Wisconsin Avenue, NW in Friendship Heights.

Izakaya Seki located at 1117 V Street, NW in U Street.

Fiola located at 601 Pennsylvania Ave, NW in Penn Quarter near the Navy Archives metro.

Mintwood Place located at 1813 Columbia Rd, NW in Adams Morgan.

  • Wow, I have DC’s #1 hottest restaurant in my neighborhood!? Go Petworth!

    P.S. The episode of Bizarre Foods was horribly boring to me, they really made DC look drab.

    Side note: Petworth’s barbecue scene is pretty depressing right now, 2 places struck out big time with me in the last 2 weeks! >:[

    • If you are referring in one case to Epiphany, I wonder what you ordered. I’ve tried the ribs there and they are so-so – maybe a little dried out. The pork bbq is pretty good. But the pit smoked brisket sandwich is just to die for in my opinion. I didn’t really even like beef bbq until I tried that.

      • Yeah, I was referring to Epiphany, they have fallen off a lot since opening. They gave me a burnt half chicken last time I went, it wan incredibly burnt, a total ripoff… Though their brisket was good, I’m not sure I can trust them any more after that.

        KBC also, went there last weekend and the food was horrible. They had 4 types of mac n cheese and all were totally bad, worse than kraft out of the box. Their BBQ pulled pork was quite dry and flavorless, needed to be soaked in their sauce to be swallowed. I am highly disappointed after hearing friends say it was the best. They also charged 8$ a (small) glass for beers, some “peppercorn B.S. beer” that jacked our tab up to 100$. Those are prices for a sports arena, not a neighborhood bar that wants return business. Won’t go back, lesson learned.

        • petwurf

          the brisket at KBC is the thing. The pulled pork DOES need to be totally sauced-up, but I half-think that’s what they’re aiming for and I’m okay with it.

          We DID order wine and hadda take out our reading glasses and peer down hard into the top o’ the goblets to discern what may be the stingiest wine pour in D.C. For $10 or $11 bucks, yet. :-|

      • I foolishly ordered some wings from Epiphany when I should’ve ordered from any number of other places – they were inedible. Everything else was good, though.

        • Best local BBQ/Hot wings for me are at JB’s wing house in Shaw on Euclid Street between Georgia & Sherman Ave… He doesn’t open the store consistently, but when it’s open they can’t be beat. Deep fried Turkeys there are also a hidden jem during Thanksgiving & Xmas.

          • Those wings are the bomb. I order 75 of them for the Super Bowl – so friggin’ good!

            The 24K Wings are the best, followed by the Buffalo Wings. Honey BBQ were mediocre.

  • Anonymous

    What? No Bens Chili Bowl? For Realz?

    • Anonymous

      Perhaps if there were a “hottest old restaurants” ranking.

      • Anonymous

        That had to have been a joke by the OP ;)

  • Hooray for Billy!

  • DF

    Been to three of them. All wonderful restaurants. If I had to return to one, it’d be Chez Billy with Mintwood very close behind. Range is just TOO big and overwhelming (but the food is good).

  • I’m surprised at Chez Billy – while it is a very welcome addition to our neighborhood, I don’t see its menu or food to be “inspired.” Just very good. Maybe in part it is the risk of location for a fairly high-end restaurant. Either way, good news all around.

  • RANGE definitely is deserving. Fantastic food and great service. Mintwood is okay. I really want to try Izakaya Seki.

  • Kvatch

    Though I love Chez Billy’s food, the arrogance of their staff–like were doing them a favor by frequenting their restaurant–has managed to spoil each of three meals we’ve had there.

    Hopefully, this review will inspire them to being an “A game,” but I suspect it will do exactly the opposite.

  • iaom

    Why do people keep writing “Navy Archives”? The National Archives and the Naval Memorial are two different, unrelated things there.

    • It’s lazy shorthand for “Archives-Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter”.

    • Matt

      but they are right next to eachother, and could possibly provide someone, not knowing the precise location of either, with an understanding of the area that the restaurant is in. Just pat yourself on the back that you already know, and call it a day.

  • FYI: Range had the worst service I’ve ever had in 8+ years living in DC. I tried to speak with a manager, no go. I emailed a manager per recommendation when I called and never recieved a response back.
    Decent food, shitty service. Stick to Voltaggio’s Frederick spots.

  • Range is AWFUL. Terrible service, mediocre food, lousy location, even the decor is unappealing. We had such a shitty experience, they ended up comping us our meal out of embarrassment.

    Izakaya, on the other hand, is just incredible.

  • Anonymous

    Fiola rocks, go Fiola!

  • Izakaya Seki is only the 2nd hottest izakaya in DC at the moment. Keep up, Travel Channel!

    • dupontguy

      Judging by the retweets, I think the orginal article came out before Daikaya Izakaya was opened.

      • Anonymous

        or maybe they wanted to focus on places that actually serve good food, unlike Daikaya

  • russellbreck

    PoP: Thanks for posting the article. My wife and I are under contract on a house on Kansas Av (just behind the new Safeway) and are looking forward to joining the neighborhood. Are there many new restaurants in the pipeline for the area?

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