Moon Rabbit
Kevin Tien makes the muffuletta at Moon Rabbit a dish of rice noodles with housemade Vietnamese mortadella, olive tapenade and fried-egg aïoli.
Why go
Tien cooks what the MICHELIN inspectors call a mash-up of his Cajun Louisiana and Vietnamese roots
(MICHELIN Guide). The first Moon Rabbit opened in a Wharf hotel in 2020 and went dark in May 2023 amid a unionization fight (Washington Post). He reopened on F Street in Penn Quarter in January 2024 with his co-owner and fellow chef Judy Beltrano. He told Jessica Sidman that the hotel's guests were maybe not as adventurous.
In the new room, he said, I get to go 150-percent where I want to take Vietnamese food. This is how I want to change it
(Washingtonian). Washingtonian placed the new room third on its 2026 list of the city's 100 best (Washingtonian).
Tom Sietsema ate across the menu two months after the reopening. He called the bò lá lốt, ground Wagyu with lemongrass and fish sauce wrapped in a perilla leaf, a thoroughly modern bò lá lốt
, and found the purple-yam risotto the city's most intriguing.
The pâté chaud, puff pastry around pork, foie gras and chicken pâté, got his shortest verdict: Step aside, beef Wellington
(Washington Post). Madeline Weinfield of The Infatuation went for the mochi beignets in 2024, tempered with the saltiness of torched eel and the heat of a touch of habanero jam. They're chewy, crispy
(The Infatuation).
In June 2026 Susan Bae, the pastry chef and a partner since the Wharf days, won the James Beard award for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker. Representation matters. Being invited into the room matters,
she said on stage (Washingtonian). Her desserts mix savory and sweet, as Ann Limpert of Washingtonian put it: think green-curry sponge cake with avocado sorbet and fish sauce caramel.
Washingtonian's critics say they sound wackier than they taste.
Their favorite in 2026 was a durian and white chocolate mousse with passionfruit granita (Washingtonian).
Sietsema also wrote that A couple of combinations could use some finessing.
His spring rolls spilled their filling when he bit them. The barbecue monkfish tastes flat in comparison to the company it keeps.
He and Weinfield disagreed on size. He warned that the small plates are just that, big eaters,
while she warned that the portions are generous, bordering on excessive
and told readers to come with a crew and order with reckless abandon
(The Infatuation).
José Andrés told the MICHELIN Guide in 2025: Kevin Tien's Moon Rabbit is another incredible place to celebrate. I love the Bún Chả Hà Nội, crispy skin pork belly, or to just let Chef Kevin decide
(MICHELIN Guide).
Order this / avoid
- Order: the mochi beignets with eel, on Weinfield's 2024 plate and Washingtonian's in 2026.3
- Order: the bò lá lốt. Washingtonian found it in 2026
upgraded with Wagyu, fermented honey, and labneh for dipping.
3 - Order: the durian mousse with dill and granita. Weinfield in 2024:
Even if you fall into the durian-skeptical side of the debate, you might make an exception here.
2 - Avoid: the barbecue monkfish, Sietsema's one flat plate in 2024.1
What locals & experts say
- Madeline Weinfield, The Infatuation (2024):
loving Moon Rabbit is less a personal opinion and more like a civic obligation.
2 - Dante Datta, chef, to The Local Palate (2025):
I had my birthday meal at Moon Rabbit and tried flavors that I hadn't had before, really.
8
Good to know
- Booking: book on OpenTable through the house site. Dinner "is not an easy reservation," Sietsema wrote in 2024, but the lounge kept first-come seats, mostly at the bar.
- Price: Washingtonian put dinner for two at $201 to $299 with tax and tip in January 2026.
- The bar: Thi Nguyen runs it. The Out Of Dipping Sauce mixes vodka, passionfruit liqueur and lemon with a syrup made from nước chấm, the Vietnamese fish-sauce dip (Eater, 2024).
- Where: 927 F St NW in Penn Quarter. The Wharf room closed in 2023.
- Menus: the house now offers a coursed menu beside the à la carte one.
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: Best new restaurant award. Multiple recs.
Verdict
should-visit — Go to Moon Rabbit for Kevin Tien's Vietnamese cooking with Louisiana in it, in the Penn Quarter room he reopened in 2024, and save room for dessert from Susan Bae, the country's best pastry chef by the 2026 James Beard awards. Start with the eel-topped mochi beignets.