Review | The 40 best D.C. restaurants offer more bang for your buck

As the pandemic fades to gray if not black, a new but familiar concern dominates our thoughts: money.

If last year was a time of reckoning and reflection in the restaurant world, 2022 is shaping up to be a moment when inflation and soaring costs for just about everything have a lot of us rethinking our priorities.

Money determines where diners go, how often, what dishes they order — if they even eat away from home.

[5 money-saving tips for eating at restaurants]

In ways great and small, the past three years have changed a lot of us. Like some of you, I've shed suits for jeans, five days in the office for fewer, elevator-depth conversation for richer relationships.

My appetite remains strong. I'm eager as ever to pull up to a table and taste the latest fashions, check back with an institution or investigate a restaurant tip. But during the past year in particular, I've been less interested in spending three hours in a dining room or deciphering dishes that tasted like a dozen people touched or tweezered them before they landed on the table.

Worry not. I haven't sworn off any genre. My job requires me to explore a range of restaurants, as if the scene were a big buffet and I'm obliged to taste a bit of everything, from humble to haute. However, on any given night these days, you're more likely to find me at a mom-and-pop, someplace relaxed, places where the drinks aren't $20.

You could say I sought out more fried chicken and pizza slices — affordable comfort — than truffles and flourishes in 2022.

This season, my dining guide focuses on restaurants I like that offer distinctive value. Typically, the fall guide is a selection of favorites, but another challenging year calls for a different approach.

Value is typically associated with price. Plenty of choices in this year's collection are restaurants you might see yourself visiting because they're easy on the wallet.

Cost is but one measure of value. The thinking also considers usefulness. The tasting menu at Tail Up Goat in Washington is $98, but dinner in the role model for upscale restaurants comprises snacks, four memorable courses and hospitality reminiscent of an evening in the home of great friends — a lot of bang for your Franklin. Himalayan Wild Yak in Ashburn offers an uncommon taste of Nepalese food that you can wash back with serious cocktails. Another of my Top 5 restaurants right now, Dylan's Oyster Cellar in Baltimore, sweats the small stuff. You might expect well-shucked oysters from the convivial watering hole, but french fries boiled in vinegar, poached and flash-fried just before they're piled on the plate? The kitchen has you covered, hon.

And so on. Value is my favorite flavor right now, and I'm pleased to share some of the best sources herein.

This year's fall dining guide marks another significant change.

Since spring 2020, I've omitted star ratings from my reviews. It seemed only fair, initially because restaurants were struggling just to get food out in boxes, and later, because service, a major part of the dining experience, seemed to be in a free fall. My 2022 roundup marks the official end to a grading system I introduced two decades ago. Read more about my decision here.

[Why I'm saying goodbye to star ratings in my restaurant reviews]

Going forward, you'll have to read the review to see how I feel about a restaurant.

My sentiments about the following 40 places in and around Washington are pretty clear. Each represents some definition of value. Varied as they are, they're linked by my affection for them.

1 Hitching Post

The District

Mains $12 to $33

"You get two sides with the fried chicken," says my server at my happy spot in Petworth.

"Collards," I start to respond before I'm cut off by an eavesdropper at the bar. "And the great, REAL mashed potatoes," she practically demands.

And so began yet another meal at one of my favorite Washington monuments, opened in 1967 by Al and Adrienne Carter and sold 10 years ago to Barry Dindyal, a native of Guyana who grew up eating Indian food. Wisely, he kept most of the soul food script he inherited; cleverly, the chef added a few dishes of his own, including a dusky gold shrimp curry that's the taste equivalent of a quilt in winter, warmth in the form of hot coconut milk, fresh ginger and garlic bathing steamed shrimp.

The fried chicken is superb in its simplicity, moist of flesh and crisp in a jacket that gets its lift from paprika and garlic and onion powder. If the collards could have used a shake of vinegar last time, I appreciate that they rely on onions and garlic instead of meat for their savor. The woman at the bar was right: The potatoes mashed with generous amounts of butter and cream (and roasted garlic for oomph) are bodacious.

Dish after dish reminds me why I keep returning to this Southern outpost that could be confused for a house if it weren't for a banner outside. Lamb chops, cooked the color you ask and paired with a salad, can be enjoyed as a starter for $16.50. If I'm not eating chicken, I'm probably inhaling fried whiting, punched up with pepper, and creamy-fresh coleslaw. Meanwhile, the bountiful fried spinach salad, dappled with sweet yogurt and tamarind chutney, pays homage to the palak chaat made famous by Rasika.

The coin-operated jukebox of yore has been replaced by one that's connected to the internet. "We're in the future now," jokes a server.

The delicious predictability of the modest dining room extends to the community. I rarely go that I don't see — or hear — radio legend Kojo Nnamdi in the mix. He's the guy chasing back dinner with 15-year-old El Dorado rum from his native Guyana.

200 Upshur St. NW.

202-726-1511.

thehpostrestaurant.com

Dinner daily, lunch Friday through Sunday. Indoor and outdoor seating.

Sound check: 70 decibels/Conversation is easy. Takeout and delivery. Accessibility: No ramp at entrance and no elevator.

2 Queen's English

The District

Mains $16 to $45

There's no cozier facade in Columbia Heights than the jade-colored front of Queen's English, dressed with gliders and watched over by a canine-loving staff. "I think I spend more money on dog treats than anything," says chef Henji Cheung, a native of Hong Kong.

Two-legged visitors are plenty spoiled, too, in what looks like a faraway teahouse. Fat shrimp, poached in tingly mala broth and served with a charred scallion aioli, create an exceptional shrimp cocktail. The reason you make short work of a plate of pig ears is because they're braised in a stock of Chinese wines, tossed in cornstarch, fried to a crunch and completed with strawberries macerated in chiles and lime juice. Cheung says sauteed ramen noodles are a thing in cafes in Hong Kong. Queen's English, which tosses its stir-fried noodles with fresh tofu, sour cabbage and chicken liver, whets Washington appetites for the trend. Try to leave without ordering dessert and the staff zings you — with a restorative shot of ginger-and-lime juice.

Sarah Thompson, the chef's wife, is the smile in the dining room, the cheerleader behind the restaurant's daily "natty hour" featuring natural wines and the other half of what makes Queen's English such a personal, pleasurable experience. Mom plus pop equals awesome.

3410 11th St. NW.

202-751-3958.

queensenglishdc.com

Dinner Tuesday through Saturday. Indoor and outdoor seating.

Sound check: 74 decibels/Must speak with raised voice. Accessibility: No barriers at entrance; ADA-compliant restroom.

3 Tail Up Goat

The District

Mains on the bar menu $14 to $36, four-course dinner menu $98

The Adams Morgan beacon, from a trio of hospitality aces, endears itself to diners starting online. In one place on the restaurant's website, patrons can get answers to a slew of questions, from the patio setup and highchair situation to why a 22 percent service fee is added to the bill.

What used to be an a la carte experience is now a tasting menu: snacks and four courses for $98 from executive chef Jon Sybert. A seasonal shrub and some small bites feel like a celebration. A shot of basil-infused watermelon trailed by a smoked oyster on a lick of gazpacho, a stamp of einkorn focaccia striped with sungold tomato butter and a tiny tart piped with Appalachian cheese have everyone swooning and wondering what's next.

Some tasting menus are synonymous with a chef's ego and endurance contests. Tail Up Goat gives diners three choices per course and doesn't hold you hostage. The plates are small but swell. Firsts among equals have included an earthy pork croquette glammed up with fleshy chanterelles and peach jam and a lacy zucchini rosti paired with charred squash brightened with diced red peppers, tomato and garlic.

Optional his-or-hers wine pairings, from co-owner Bill Jensen and beverage director Audrey Dowling, let you sip from among the classics or on the funkier side, respectively.

If $100 a head just for food sounds too rich, consider a seat in the bar, which highlights dishes from the tasting menu priced individually. Seared scallops are a little splurge at $23, but they're some of the sweetest around, nestled on their plate with a foil of chowchow atop a puree of black-eyed peas. Bluegrass plays. Co-owner Jill Tyler checks in with her signature charm. This is fine dining sans pomp but full of delights.

1827 Adams Mill Rd. NW.

No phone.

tailupgoat.com

Dinner Tuesday through Sunday. Indoor and outdoor seating.

Sound check: 75 decibels/Must speak with raised voice. Accessibility: No barriers at entrance or patio; ADA-compliant restroom.

4 Dylan's Oyster Cellar

Baltimore

Mains $15 to $35

I'd love to get my hands on what's known as "the playbook" at one of my favorite watering holes anywhere. Dylan Salmon, who co-owns the Baltimore tavern with his wife, Irene, says it's a mess of paper scraps and legal pads. But within the disorganization are recipes for some of the restaurant's greatest hits, including coleslaw, tartar sauce and beer batter that make for one of the best fish and chips in memory.

"No grit, no pearl," reads a poster on the wall of the low-ceilinged hangout in Hampden, 70 seats big if you include the patio and bar, one end of which gathers bistro seats and a chance to watch the shuckers do their thing. An icy platter of briny Wellfleets from Massachusetts revels in attention. "Oysters are like water balloons," says Salmon, a former line cook at the farm-to-table Woodberry Kitchen. "Pop them and they lose their body." The oysters here are free of drill marks (shell bits, too).

The hot seats are the stools at the crowded bar, staffed by people who treat you like a regular even if it's your first visit. Of course you want some oysters — there are typically eight kinds from which to choose — and, this being Baltimore, traditional coddies, sometimes called the poor man's crab cakes: deep-fried balls of mashed cod and potatoes eaten on saltines with a slick of mustard. Every pauper should be so fortunate.

Salmon is the dude in the ball cap and T-shirt, roaming the room and asking, "You guys doing good?" Some diners mistake the owner for one of their own. Don't be fooled by Salmon's laid-back demeanor. Everything on the menu speaks to mindfulness. Salads, interesting ones, taste as if they were plucked from the garden. The beefy smash burger is terrific, but a lot of places do good burgers. Dylan's is where you want to focus on rarer pleasures, like one night's fluffy scallop cake served with lemon-basil sauce and green beans laced with fresh tarragon. "Nothing worthwhile is easy," says the restaurateur, whose french fries are boiled in vinegar, poached and flash-fried just before they're piled on the plate.

It's loud as a racetrack here, but that's less a drawback than the distance between Washington and Baltimore. I want to be able to walk, not drive, to Dylan's.

5 Himalayan Wild Yak

Ashburn, Va.

Mains $12 to $23

The Nepalese newcomer west of Dulles Airport makes itself hard to forget. I mean, there's a stuffed yak near the entrance, and he even has a name: Rocky. The beast shares its stage with a beauty — the cooking — and a menu that shrugs off supply issues with more than 30 dishes.

Every other table seems to be dressed with momos. Make sure you ask for some of the steamed dumplings, too. They show up as eight supple, see-through bites on the rim of a bowl containing roasted tomato sauce. The restaurant's theme has me springing for the momos stuffed with ground yak, deftly seasoned with coriander, cumin and garam masala so you can still appreciate the delicate beefy flavor of the mountain cow. The chow mein is also required eating. A reminder that China is Nepal's neighbor to the north, the street food staple is a tangle of thin yellow wheat noodles with a confetti of scallions, red cabbage, carrots and more, each bite smoky from the wok and splashed with sweet-salty oyster sauce.

You can pretty much point anywhere on the list and come up with a success story. Luscious chunks of pork, crisp from their time in a clay oven, resonate with mustard oil, ginger and garlic. Chicken stir-fried with onion and bell peppers is finished with a chile sauce that leaves a thrilling wake of heat. New to the menu are vegetable fritters formed from ground cabbage, cauliflower and carrots and draped with what tastes like barbecue sauce: ketchup, chile flakes and soy sauce. The orbs are meatless and marvelous. Appetizers are apportioned like main courses, and crowds of Indian customers prompted the owners to add to their menu such prizes as lamb korma, soft bites of meat in a dark golden gravy thickened with yogurt and cashew paste — as light and luscious as I've had anywhere.

The restaurant puts its customers first. Floating near the Himalaya-high ceiling are fabric panels to sponge noise, the drinks list is as interesting as in a D.C. hot spot, and the person ferrying food from kitchen to table might be one of the two chef-owners.

2 Amys

The District

Mains $12.75 to $19.75

A look around 2 Amys helps explain the long run of the pioneering pizzeria opened by chef-owner Peter Pastan after 9/11.

The genial guy slicing the mortadella behind the wine bar lets you know that he made the pork sausage, shot through with coriander seed and circles of fat, and that the crusty brown bread accompanying it is from flour milled on-site.

Some of the many "little things" — deviled eggs with brassy green sauce, salt cod fritters served with garlic aioli — have been around forever and continue to delight with their quality and consistency. Pizza might be the shiny bauble in the window, but a handful of dishes would look at home at a proper Italian ristorante. Picture vitello tonnato and even steak, as in super-beefy, well-marbled dairy cow, butchered by hand and dry-aged for up to 100 days. ("Tuscan Steak Night" is typically weeknights only.)

Tile floors, pressed-tin ceilings and naked tables do nothing to absorb the clamor of a busy lunch or dinner, but come on, no one goes to a pizzeria to meditate. Besides, you're eating in a Washington standard-bearer, brimming with thoughtful details: wines priced to suit every budget and palate, desserts every bit as good as what comes before them, and hospitality included in the price of a meal.

As for the Neapolitan-style pizza, 2 Amys puts out a pie that seduces me with char marks reminiscent of leopard spots, titanic lips, pleasant chewiness and a lovely yeasty flavor. Go for the Pozzuoli — zesty housemade sausage, velvety red peppers, nutty fontina and more on a 10-inch canvas. If you want to eat it like the owner, ask to have the pizza served uncut.

3715 Macomb St. NW.

202-885-5700.

2amyspizza.com

Dinner daily, lunch weekends. Indoor and outdoor seating.

Takeout. Sound check: 82 decibels/Extremely loud. Accessibility: Ramp leads to entrance; ADA-compliant restroom.

Afghan Bistro

Springfield, Va.

Mains $16 to $36

Returning to a favorite restaurant after a long spell is like encountering an old flame: Will there still be sparks?

Let's just say there were some fireworks when the food started coming out of the kitchen at Afghan Bistro recently. The smoky, sumac-spiced beef kebabs paired with tomato-sauced chickpeas, and shredded chicken tossed with slow-cooked greens and garlicky yogurt represent love at first bite (again). The epic menu forces tough decisions; this family-run storefront in Springfield helps out with a sampler plate that brings together four choice appetizers, including minced beef dumplings dusted with cayenne and crushed mint, and soft roasted eggplant flavored with tomato sauce and striped with yogurt sauce.

After introducing Afghan Bistro in 2015, husband and wife Omar and Sofia Masroor went on to open two more restaurants, Bistro Aracosia in the Palisades and Aracosia McLean in Northern Virginia. A fourth establishment is on its way, across from the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown. Omar Masroor says he hopes to open Afghania, serving "frontier food" from eastern Afghanistan, yet this year.

What the current restaurants share are recipes from Sofia and her mother-in-law that make you feel as if you've been invited into their homes. Better yet, the meals are sized so that tonight's dinner can be tomorrow's lunch.

8081-D Alban Rd., Springfield, Va.

703-337-4722.

afghanbistro.com

Dinner Monday through Saturday, lunch Tuesday through Saturday. Indoor and outdoor seating.

Takeout and delivery. Sound check: 72 decibels/Must speak with raised voice. Accessibility: No barriers at entrance; ADA-compliant restroom.

Agni South Indian Cuisine

Sterling, Va.

Mains $14 to $19

Some like it hot, and for them, there are fried battered jalapeños, a popular South Indian street snack whose puffy golden jackets, made with gram flour, cushion the heat of the filling, jazzy with minced onions tossed with cilantro and lime and (optional) roasted peanuts.

The assertive heat in some of my favorite dishes is foretold in the restaurant's name. Agni means "fire" in Hindi. But the kitchen, under the watch of Arivazhagan "Ari" Periyasamy, torches judiciously. Ask for the Apollo fish and you can taste the fried tilapia and bell peppers after they're mixed in yogurt ignited with red chiles. Cumin, fenugreek and other bold spices provide the pulse in the heady shrimp ulli theeyal.

Service in the arty dining room is relaxed. Focusing on the cooking helps. Any visit is better when it starts with a cone of wispy onion strings whose chickpea flour coat is lit with green chiles, curry leaf and ginger. Agni also makes a lovely chicken biryani, imbued with warm spices and mixed with soft fried onions.

"I'm very picky about my food," says owner Mahreen Aujla, who bought the storefront just ahead of the pandemic, hoping to elevate the Indian dining scene in Northern Virginia. Periyasamy, a veteran of the esteemed Leela Palace chain in India, is helping her do just that.

Andy's Pizza

The District

Mains $22 to $32 (whole pizzas)

I might never have blissed out on Andy's Pizza if it hadn't been for my friend Todd, whom I invited over for a last-minute, socially distanced dinner early in the pandemic. It was cold outside and the Chinese takeout was delayed by nearly an hour. Stomachs rumbled. "Hey, I've got pizza in my car," Todd revealed. "Should I get it?" It turns out Todd was at Andy's in Shaw when he got my dinner invite, and who turns down Chinese from Peter Chang? Todd figured the pizza could chill out in his trunk.

Except, a trio of us devoured most of the 18-inch round, still warm from the shop, crisp on the bottom, soft in the center and decked out with dimes of crisp pepperoni cupping a drop of oil. "Washington is saturated with Neapolitan pizza," says founder Andy Brown, 32, whose interest in bread baking at home in his early 20s led to pizza experimentation, eventually culminating in six shops serving New York-style pies in Northern Virginia and the District. The simple pleasure, sprung from dough that ferments for 72 hours, follows good shopping. Brown relies on tomatoes from Modesto, Calif., that go from field to can in six hours and aged White Gold Parmigiano-Reggiano for some of his pizzas, slices of which fill a nine-inch paper plate.

Since that memorable introduction, I've tried other flavors and branches of Andy's. My heart belongs to the "cup and char" pepperoni, but I'm almost as happy to fold a wedge of cheese-and-mushroom pie. Most recently, a stranger at the bar at Atlas Brew Works, which rents out space to the pizzeria near Nationals Park, blurted out why she was there. "Best deal in D.C.!" she announced to her neighbors. "Two slices and a beer for $10." Cheers for sure.

Locations in Shaw, Adams Morgan, NoMa, Navy Yard and Tysons Galleria (coming soon to Alexandria).

eatandyspizza.com

No phone.

Lunch and dinner daily (dinner only at Shaw and Adams Morgan).

Takeout and delivery.

Annie's Paramount Steakhouse

The District

Mains $16 to $40

Quick, name another restaurant where you can get pot roast, Greek chicken soup and coconut cream pie throughout the day, seven days a week.

All-American comfort food — in heaping helpings and priced to encourage regular pit stops — is the drill in this convivial Dupont Circle gathering place. So are drinks sized like Big Gulps and (careful when you toast!) filled to the brim. The best entree on the menu combines sirloin tips, cooked the way you ask, crisped onions and green bell peppers, accompanied by a choice of side dishes. (Best bets are the lightly dressed coleslaw and homey, as in lumpy, mashed potatoes.) Looking for bookends? Start with the shrimp cocktail and finish with carrot cake.

As with the historic Ben's...

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