Pascual
In 2024, its first year on Capitol Hill, Pascual kept one full-time employee whose whole job was grinding masa for the tortillas from heirloom corn imported from Mexico.
Why go
Isabel Coss was born in Mexico City and got her first kitchen job at 17, baking bread at Pujol, before she became pastry chef at Enrique Olvera's Cosme in New York (Washington City Paper). She met the chef Matt Conroy at Empellón in 2012 and remembers her first thought: Who is this gringo who thinks he can cook Mexican food?
The couple opened Pascual with the Popal Group in February 2024, in a building that had been Kenny's BBQ Smokehouse, so the neighbors were used to the smell of burning wood.
The house now describes it as born from the vision of Chef Isabel Coss
and names it for San Pasqual, the patron saint of cooks (Pascual). Coss told Eater at the opening that The restaurant makes me feel closer to home through the food and allows me to express my cooking language in the best way I know
(Eater DC). The MICHELIN inspectors found dishes more often found in Mexico City than in D.C.
(MICHELIN Guide). Eater named it one of the best new restaurants in America in 2024 (Eater DC). Tom Sietsema put it in the top five of his last Washington Post dining guide in October 2025 (Washington Post).
Thomas Rose of The Infatuation started with the corn in 2024: For our money, they're the best tortillas in DC
(The Infatuation). He sent readers to the smoked half chicken with mole amarillo (yellow mole) and orange rice fried in chicken fat, promising you'll wonder what the hell those other restaurants were serving you.
His line on the ribeye volcán, a tostada piled with raclette, chanterelles, steak and avocado, was Imagine a sports bar plate of loaded steak nachos took an etiquette class.
The tuna aguachile that Nevin Martell of Washington City Paper ate the same year came covered in brilliantly red smoked strawberry juice and dappled with nasturtium leaves for a peppery pop.
Washingtonian's critics went back for the 2026 list and found the lamb-neck barbacoa with ayocote beans superb
, but the vegetables won them over: vegetable-centric dishes have impressed us even more on recent visits
(Washingtonian). They named fideo noodles with inky huitlacoche and maitake, and the chayote and Asian pear salad with nutty guajillo oil.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the guacamole platter with its salsas, smoked fruit and pickled vegetables, on Rose's 2024 table and Washingtonian's 2026 one.2
- Order: the smoked half chicken with mole amarillo, Rose's pick in 2024.1
- Order: the huitlacoche fideo, Washingtonian's vegetable pick in 2026.2
- Order: the buñuelo to finish. The MICHELIN inspectors in 2025:
a crispy rosette dusted in cinnamon sugar and served with cajeta and chocolate sauces.
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What locals & experts say
- Washingtonian 100 Very Best (January 2026):
Getting a table here can still be a worthwhile challenge.
2 - The MICHELIN inspectors (2025):
reservations are a challenge, so plan accordingly.
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Good to know
- Booking: book well ahead. Rose wrote in 2024 that tables were released 30 days out and that the choice is to book "at least a month ahead or don't mind eating dinner at 5pm." He found some seats kept for walk-ins. An early dinner, the patio or the bar were the easier tables.
- The room: about 30 seats inside, counting the small bar at the back. The patio seated 40 more in 2024 (City Paper).
- Price: Washingtonian put dinner for two at $201 to $299 with tax and tip in January 2026.
- Drink: the list ran long on mezcal when Rose ate here in 2024.
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: On several lists for best restaurant.
Verdict
should-visit — Book Pascual well ahead for Mexico City cooking off a wood fire and the tortillas Thomas Rose called the best in DC in 2024. Washingtonian's critics liked the vegetable plates best in 2026, so put the huitlacoche fideo beside the smoked chicken.