Adams Morgan-Columbia Heights

D.C.'s sole authentic Mexican food is served out of this tiny hole-in-the-wall. The tacos are surprisingly good, even compared to those you would get in a city with a large Mexican community, and you won't go wrong with any of the available fillings. Their menudo, available only on weekends, is likewise excellent.

Cheap, good falafel with a killer fixings bar catering particularly to the late late night crowd. Good twice-fried fries as well. They accept euros, dollars, and all major credit cards.

It's a 24 hour diner on the booziest street in the city. Amazingly, the food is actually good! D.C. is rather lacking in 24 hour establishments, so it's a beautiful thing to have one right in the heart of Adams Morgan. Weekend nights can actually see live DJs in here !, so expect to brave crowds late nights F-Sa.

El Pollo Sabroso

Peruvian roast chicken, with its spices and green salsa, is good. This is the place in the city to get it, with a side of fluffy Spanish rice, yucca, fried plantains, etc., and washed down with some fruit licuados or horchata. As already said, it's a Peruvian place so skip the pupusas.

An American/Continental bar and restaurant with lots of outdoor seating and a good brunch.

Adams Morgan lucked out recently when a top Peruvian chef from El Chalán opened this little restaurant, serving traditional Peruvian dishes with a little international flair. Peruvian food is one of the world's truly great cuisines, rich with seafood, some fifty varieties of indigenous potatoes, and the culinary intersection of Spanish, Incan, and East Asian traditions. Chinese influenced lomo saltado beef & potatoes as well as ceviche raw fish are the national dishes, and as with El Chalán, the anticuchos chicken hearts are exceptional.

This is no gimmicky downtown place—this is a real taste of Brazil in D.C. Brazilian food is meat heavy, and the steaks here are excellent. If steak is too one-dimensional, try the feijoada, a stew of various smoked meats, southern greens, fruit, and black beans. Too much meat? Try one of the seafood moquecas. And the potent caipirinhas are among the neighborhood's favorite cocktails. It is a little overpriced, but if you don't mind the extra $5-10, this makes for a great dinner date.

Don't let the Mount Pleasant location fool you, this bar/restaurant serves American cuisine, mostly upscale comfort food. The interior is lovely, and full of friendly hipsters. It's easily one of the best places in this part of town to have a late meal with a big group over several bottles of wine.

This Salvadoran place offers solid food and solid drinks at reasonable prices, in a nice, comfortable dining room. Another establishment catering to the ultra-late night crowd.

This section of town is still a little short on the upscale eateries, but Cashion's has always been an exception—a long time resident in a neighborhood of trendy newcomers. The menu is an odd mix of southern soul and Greek Mediterranean, as the founder, Cashion, was from Mississippi, and the master chef from Greece! With a culinary mix like that, Sunday brunch is a hit.

There are a lot of reasons to come here, the biggest being the rooftop patio seating and the masterful cooking mostly Japanese and Middle Eastern "tapas" by famous local chefs as well as an import from New York's Bond Street. Other attractions include drag brunch on Sundays, and happy hour specials on sushi and tapas M-F 5:30PM-7:30PM