Restaurants to Be Reckoned With

Washington has become a culinary powerhouse, thanks to hot chefs, hip dining rooms and affluent customers eager for fabulous food

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN THE MANGO SHRIMP AT THE SPLASHY RASIKA IN PENN QUARTER and the shoat belly with sorrel vinaigrette at the city's newest four-star destina-tion, CityZen on the Southwest waterfront, I had an epiphany:

Washington, long a worthy dining destination, has finally become a top-tier restaurant town.

Oh, New York has sheer numbers on us. San Francisco and Chicago also serve up bigger buffets of delicious possibilities. But Washington now competes, with its own concentration of creative, cutting-edge restaurants. In fact, the more I sample the handiwork of chefs outside the region, the more I admire what's on the menu right here at home.

I'm not alone in such sentiments. Have you noticed the bright young chefs who are leaving pedigreed kitchens to come cook in Washington, or the major-league talents that see the nation's capital as a good place to stick around or set up shop? The 34-year-old chef at CityZen, Eric Ziebold, hails from the fabled French Laundry in Napa Valley -- and he cooks like it. At the same time, 37-year-old José Andrés, the much-honored force behind Jaleo, Cafe Atlantico, Minibar and Zaytinya, resists offers to move elsewhere.

More restaurants generating buzz are on the way. One of the most anticipated openings is Central, a casual bistro expected this winter from culinary wizard Michel Richard of four-star Michel Richard Citronelle in Georgetown. Another acclaimed chef, Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin in Manhattan, one of the country's best seafood restaurants, hopes to introduce an American cafe to the Ritz-Carlton in the West End next year. And next month, Laurent Tourondel of New York's popular BLT Steak plans to open an offshoot in downtown Washington.

"Somebody told them the streets [of Washington] are paved with gold!" says chef Jeff Buben, owner of Bistro Bis and Vidalia, who has spent nearly 25 years immersed in the local restaurant scene.

He's not joking. Last year in the District alone, restaurant patrons spent $2.3 billion on food and drink, according to Lynne Breaux, president of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington. While a big chunk of that money comes from tourists and business types, residents also have plenty of cash to spend on fabulous food: Four of the wealthiest counties in the nation are Fairfax, Montgomery, Howard and Loudoun. The area's affluence has fueled vibrant dining from the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the sandy-soiled plains of Maryland's Eastern Shore, from the Korean-flavored bustle of Annandale to the art-deco resurgence of Silver Spring.

As I ate my way through the city and its suburbs for this year's Dining Guide, I was struck by my wealth of choices: hot spots and old reliables, four-star luminaries and neighborhood destinations, ethnic standard-bearers and only-in-Washington experiences. The restaurants I've included don't just stand out from their competitors. I've chosen them because they've helped make Washington the culinary powerhouse it has become.

The Four-Stars

**** CITYZEN

THE HOST, HANDSOME AND SMILING, greets me as if there's no one else he'd rather have here for dinner. The room, with its soaring ceiling and tranquil colors, puts me in the mood for champagne. Within minutes of being seated, I know I'm in for a night to remember, as a flurry of snacks from the kitchen appears on the table, including an exquisite pirogi, oozing creme fraiche and glistening with caviar.

Then I open the menu and wish I were eating with a crowd; CityZen brims with seductions. An elegant rabbit salad brings together a tiny rack, a dab of minced leg meat and a sheer, pale pink saucer of loin, all three tied together with a warm apple-bacon vinaigrette. Spanish paella is rethought with skate, house-made chorizo and Japanese sweet rice, fragrant and colorful with saffron. There are dishes to make me smile -- a "deconstructed" Reuben sandwich that could compete with the best of deli fare -- and dishes to make me sigh, such as a summer night's blueberry tart, so light it practically floats off the plate. Always learning, always stretching -- always refining -- the chef in the open kitchen can take a bold idea and turn it into a bestseller. Exhibit A: "sashimi" sliced from ultrafresh liver and splashed with a teasing vinaigrette. But what else would you expect of a chef who cooked side by side with Thomas Keller at the French Laundry in Napa Valley? He's only 34, but Eric Ziebold already casts a pretty big shadow.

· 1330 Maryland Ave. SW, in the Mandarin Oriental hotel (near 14th Street). 202-787-6006. www.cityzenrestaurant.com. Open: for dinner Tuesday through Saturday. All major credit cards. Fixed-price menu: $75 to $90 per person.