Zaytinya $$

701 9th St. NW
202/638-0800
www.zaytinya.com [1]

HOURS: Sun.-Mon. 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.,
Tues.-Thurs. 11:30 a.m.-11:30 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 11:30 a.m.-midnight

COST: Most entrées between $10–20

Another lively eatery from Jaleo chef José Andrés, Zaytinya’s menu consists of mezes with Turkish and Greek delights, delicious little plates of meats, vegetables, and sauces that leave you wanting to sample everything listed.

On being seated in comfortable leather banquettes or at a table overlooking passersby on 9th Street, servers bring the restaurant’s namesake (zaytinya is Turkish for “olive oil”) and warm pillowy wedges of pita to snack on as you peruse the menu.

Helpful staff will answer your questions and make recommendations: Familiar Middle Eastern snacks (hummus, baba ghanoush, labneh) are available, along with surprises that will change your preconceived notions about some foods—crispy brussels sprouts with coriander and garlic yogurt, crispy veal sweetbreads with baby fennel, and braised goat.

The wine menu consists exclusively of Middle Eastern vintages. Again, the waitstaff can help you make decisions.

The only drawback to Zaytinya is the overeager busing: On more than one occasion, they’ve whisked away a dish containing the remnants of a delectable sauce meant to be swabbed with bread.

If you are dining at Zaytinya or walking past it, take note of the dark gray building across the street: The city’s Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library is DC’s only Mies van der Rohe-designed building.