The Top 52 Places to Eat Near Alma Bea

1. James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Best Chef: Southeast · Mary Ellen Diaz

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. World Culinary Awards 2025 · Nominee · United States' Best Restaurant

1. Baltimore Magazine Best Restaurants
2. Baltimore Magazine 2025 · Destination Dining · Best of Baltimore
3. Baltimore Magazine The Shrimp and Grits Cocktail · Best Baltimore Bites

1. Northern Virgina Magazine The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia

1. AAA Four Diamonds

1. Northern Virgina Magazine The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star
2. AAA Four Diamonds
3. Northern Virgina Magazine The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia

A wine bar in Middleburg horse country with over 70 pours by the glass, though the food holds its own against the list. Snacks lean indulgent, and the bigger plates, duck confit, lobster curry, hanger steak au poivre, are serious enough that calling this a wine bar starts to feel like underselling it. The chef's cocktail policy runs "no fru fru," which apparently still leaves room for mezcal, Chartreuse, and Aperol in one glass.

1. Wine Enthusiast Forward 50 Restaurants
2. Washingtonian #55 · 100 Very Best Restaurants
3. James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic · Jarad Slipp

1. Washingtonian Neighborhood Guide: Where to Eat, Shop, and Play in Middleburg
2. Washingtonian Where to Eat, Shop, and Play in Middleburg

1. Washingtonian Neighborhood Guide: Where to Eat, Shop, and Play in Middleburg
2. Washingtonian Where to Eat, Shop, and Play in Middleburg

1. Northern Virgina Magazine #3 · The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia

1. Washingtonian Neighborhood Guide: Where to Eat, Shop, and Play in Middleburg
2. Washingtonian Where to Eat, Shop, and Play in Middleburg

1. James Beard Awards 2025 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurateur · Scott Drewno and Danny Lee - The Fried Rice Collective
2. Northern Virgina Magazine The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia
3. James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Scott Drewno and Danny Lee - Fried Rice Collective

The line forms before the doors open, which tells you something about a strip-mall pizzeria in suburban Maryland. Tony Conte left fine dining to make neo-Neapolitan pies here, and the blistered crusts show it. A James Beard nominee and a spot on 50 Top Pizza USA, the place punches well past its zip code. The roasted potato and onion pizza, fragrant with rosemary, was named one of the DC area's favorite dishes of 2025.

1. 50 Top Pizza #20 · 50 Top Pizza USA
2. James Beard Awards 2024 · Nominee · Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic · Tony Conte
3. Washingtonian Roasted-Potato-and-Onion Pizza · Our Favorite Dishes of the Year in the DC Area

1. The Washington Post The 40 Best Restaurants In and Around D.C.

1. Northern Virgina Magazine The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia

1. Washingtonian Neighborhood Guide: Where to Eat, Shop, and Play in Middleburg
2. Washingtonian Where to Eat, Shop, and Play in Middleburg

The onion soup follows Julia Child's recipe and nobody has touched it, which tells you something about the kitchen's instincts. This casually elegant French bistro in Sterling plays with the classics just enough, turning tuna tartare into something that reads like steak, serving Brie crispy, while leaving the soul of the thing intact. The Washingtonian named that tartare one of their favorite DC-area dishes of the year.

1. Washingtonian Tuna Tartare · Our Favorite Dishes of the Year in the DC Area
2. Washingtonian #91 · 100 Very Best Restaurants

1. Northern Virgina Magazine #9 · The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia

1. James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program
2. Northern Virgina Magazine The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia

1. The Washington Post The 40 Best Restaurants In and Around D.C.

An Alsatian-style cottage tucked into the woods of Great Falls that has been on the Washingtonian's 100 Very Best Restaurants list longer than most of its readers have been alive. The upstairs dining room runs classic French, foie gras and Grand Marnier soufflé and all, while downstairs at Jacques' the mood loosens around a proper choucroute garni. Folksy French knickknacks everywhere, zero apologies for any of it.

1. Northern Virgina Magazine The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia
2. Washingtonian #86 · 100 Very Best Restaurants

1. Northern Virgina Magazine #10 · The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia

1. The Washington Post The 40 Best Restaurants In and Around D.C.
2. Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants Around D.C.
3. Washingtonian #95 · 100 Very Best Restaurants

1. James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Outstanding Chef · Peter Chang

1. Bon Appétit America's Best New Restaurants
2. The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Washington, D.C., Right Now

1. Eater The Best Bakeries Around D.C.
2. Washingtonian 9 Delicious Doughnut Shops Around DC

The benne dosa here folds like a quesadilla rather than rolling into a cylinder, which tells you this is Bangalorean, not generic Indian. It's a casual dosa counter in a Herndon strip mall that somehow has the quiet confidence of a place that doesn't need to explain itself. The butter-lacquered exterior crisps up hard while the inside stays soft with masala potatoes and podi, a coarse spice mix that the Washingtonian named among its favorite dishes of the year.

1. Washingtonian Podi Masala Dosa · Our Favorite Dishes of the Year in the DC Area
2. Washingtonian #78 · 100 Very Best Restaurants

1. Washingtonian 9 Delicious Doughnut Shops Around DC

1. Washingtonian The suburban find · 7 Delicious French Onion Soups to Keep You Cozy All Day Long

1. The Rammys Finalist · Chef of the Year · Matt Adler

1. Washingtonian 9 Great Pubs for a Full Irish Breakfast Around DC

1. The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Washington, D.C., Right Now

1. Bon Appétit The Very Best Bagels in the US (Yes, Outside New York)

1. Northern Virgina Magazine The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia

Spicy tuna on crispy rice is the opening argument at this Japanese restaurant tucked into a strip mall in Potomac, the hot, crackly squares doing more work than most entire menus. The kitchen runs through rolls and nigiri alongside small plates, with an Old Bay roll that leans fully into its Maryland zip code. The room skews industrial-chic, which is a fun choice for a shopping center, but the fish keeps the conversation going.

1. Washingtonian #96 · 100 Very Best Restaurants

A taco trailer parked at a Shell station in Rockville, where the chef mills his own masa on-site and builds the whole menu around it. Tacos, tostadas, and triangular tetelas stuffed with refried beans come out of an operation this small with a focus you'd expect from somewhere twice the size. The chef trained in Oaxaca, grew up in Montgomery County, and clearly has something to prove about corn.

1. Washingtonian The Hot List: 10 Restaurants Around DC We’re Loving Right Now

1. Washingtonian #52 · 100 Very Best Restaurants

1. The New York Times The 25 Best Restaurants in Washington, D.C., Right Now

1. Northern Virgina Magazine The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia

1. Washingtonian 9 Delicious Doughnut Shops Around DC

1. The Washington Post #2 · The Best Bagels in D.C.

The polished metal trays arrive loaded with banchan, and the arrangement shifts every time, which is half the point. Baek ban is the format, a Korean rice-set meal with a main and a rotating cast of small dishes, and at this Chantilly spot the lineup might include cubed radish kimchi, sesame-glossed glass noodles, or a perilla-leaf omelet. The smoky-sweet bulgogi landed on the Washingtonian's favorite dishes list, so that one is worth keeping an eye out for.

1. Washingtonian Bulgogi Baek Ban · Our Favorite Dishes of the Year in the DC Area

1. Northern Virgina Magazine The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia

1. Northern Virgina Magazine #7 · The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia

1. Washingtonian Bao Bei Bowl · Our Favorite Dishes of the Year in the DC Area

The whole branzino is flown in from Greece, cured, air-dried for days, then grilled until the skin shatters, which tells you everything about the kitchen's priorities at this polished Pike & Rose restaurant. It reads like a classic American steakhouse, and you could easily miss the Greek thread running through it, which is exactly what makes that fish such a pleasantly disorienting moment. The owners also run Cava, which is quite the range.

1. Washingtonian Grilled Whole Branzino · Our Favorite Dishes of the Year in the DC Area

1. Northern Virgina Magazine The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia

1. Northern Virgina Magazine The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia

1. Northern Virgina Magazine The 50 Best Restaurants in Northern Virginia

1. Baltimore Magazine 2023 · Foodie Field Trip · Best of Baltimore