Tyler Cowen's Ethnic Dining Guide

Bebo Trattoria da Roberto Donna, web site, 2250-B Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA (Crystal City), 703-412-5076 (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window) [Washingtonian | WaPo | WETA | City Paper | Don Rockwell | Yelp | Gayot]

Where Oyamel used to be. It offers Italian home cooking, with varying qualities of food and service – until Galileo is renovated – it is being overseen by Roberto Donna. He is best when he is not trying too hard. Relatively inexpensive, and get the simple dishes. As a bonus they are open Saturday lunch. Lots of people claim they've had very bad service here. I would call it risky and leave it at that.

Rasoi Indian Restaurant, 2800 South Eads Street, Crystal City, Arlington, VA, 703-684-2095 (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window)

One reader tells me this is the best place around for foods from Delhi, including butter chicken and chicken curry with nan.

Another reader says this place is closed. Phone number is disconnected.

Urban Thai (formerly Thai Smile), 561 23rd Street, Arlington, VA, 703-979-0777, between Fern and Eads, near Crystal City (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window)

A reader tells me it is great.

There are many other Thai places, more than I can try or list.

Vantage Point, 1900 N. Fort Myer Drive (Holiday Inn), Arlington, VA, 703-527-4814 (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window) [openlist | Yelp]

The Washingtonian magazine described the offerings as "Southern Coastal," and cites crab cakes and peanut-roasted pork tenderloin. Sounds too hotel for me to go unless you tell me otherwise.

Kabob Palace, web site (flash), 2315 S. Eads Street, Arlington, VA, 703-486-3535, near Jefferson Davis Highway, Crystal City (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window) [zabihah | Washingtonian | WaPo | City Paper | Yelp | Gayot]

Tasty all around, plus there is Punjab Kabob next door, which I have yet to visit.

Lebanese Taverna, web site, 5900 Washington Blvd., Arlington, VA, 703-241-8681, not far from Falls Church (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window) [Economist | Silver Chips Online | WBFN | Washingtonian | WaPo | City Paper | food-plan | openlist | Gayot]

Other locations

• 2641 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 202-265-8681
  
• 1840 G International Drive, Tysons Galleria, McLean, VA, 703-847-5244
  
• 1101 South Joyce Street, Pentagon Row, Arlington, VA, 703-415-8681 (online maps show wrong location - Pentagon Row is south of I-395, at the corner of Army Navy Drive and South Joyce Street)

Very tasty Lebanese food. Draws an older, more traditional sort of Virginia crowd. Don't let them put you off. Good yogurt sauce, especially when pomegranates are involved.

Woo Lae Oak, web site, 1500 S. Joyce Street, Arlington, VA, 703-521-3706, also in Tysons Corner at 8240 Leesburg Pike, Vienna, VA, 703-827-7300 (small international chain) (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window) [Korean DC (Arlington) | Korean DC (Tysons) | Washingtonian | WaPo (Tysons) | WaPo (Arlington) | City Paper (Tysons) | City Paper (Arlington) | Don Rockwell | openlist | Yelp]

The best of the mainstream Korean places, as opposed to the mom and pops. You could even take a business client here. The best place to go for an introduction to Korean food, and the place with the best ingredients, though the overall feel of the restaurant is a bit sterile for my tastes. There now seems to be a branch at Tysons Corner as well, on Rt.7, just west of Capitol Grille.

Matsutake Hibachi Steak & Sushi, 4121 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA, 703-351-8787 (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window) [WaPo | City Paper | food-plan (Herndon) | openlist | Yelp]

Also in Worldgate Shopping Center, 13049 Worldgate Drive, Herndon, VA, 703-787-3700, 320 S. 23rd Street, Arlington, VA, 703-412-5301, Kabuki Sushi, Union Station, 50 Massachusetts Avenue NE, Washington, DC, 202-789-1159, and Washington Reagan National Airport, National Hall Center, 703-417-0521.

One of the best of the sushi buffet places. All you can eat sushi for lunch, and the sushi is reasonably good. Some of the branches have teppanyaki as well. Is it the single best sushi place around? No. Will it start you wondering why you ever order sushi a’la carte? Yes.

Athena Pallas, web site, 556 22nd Street South, Arlington, VA, 703-521-3870, no Saturday lunch (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window) [Washingtonian | City Paper | openlist]

Supposed to be good.

Bistro Bulgari, web site, 509 23rd Street, Crystal City, Arlington, VA, 703-979-7676 (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window) [City Paper | Citysearch]

Update October 2007: CLOSED

The menu sounds like an unexciting mix of Turkish, Russian, and Austrian influences. If you are ever in Bulgaria
proper, make sure you eat the world’s best berries, however.

Oyamel, web site, 2250 Crystal Drive, Crystal City, Arlington, VA, 703-413-2288, closed Monday, plus they don’t always take reservations (Metro Trip Planner - opens in new window) [Washingtonian | WaPo | City Paper | Don Rockwell | openlist | Gayot]

Update: The Crystal City location has closed, and the place is moving downtown, to where Andale used to be, near the Verizon Center, on 401 7th St., new phone is (202) 628-1005.

The best Mexican we have, without a doubt. Don’t compare this to your favorite TexMex in Houston but rather to a fancy nouveau place in Mexico City (which is where the chef hails from). The décor is beautiful, and reminiscent of the Camino Real Hotel in Polanco. The word on the new locale is that the place is much smaller but has maintained its standards. I've yet to go back there, but am looking forward to it..

Just about everything is remarkably authentic, they even fight the regulators to get Mexican cheeses across the border, albeit pasteurized ones.

You should get: the seared scallops, cochinita pibil tacos (barbecued, slowly simmered pork), Chile Poblano Relleno, black rice with cuitlacoche (corn fungus, that word is Nahuatl for “shit of the gods,” which is apt). I was very impressed by this place. It is by the folks who brought you Jaleo and Zaytinya and Café Atlantico, but of these Oyamel takes the greatest care to give you the real thing.