Michelin added four Washington restaurants to its guide on September 17, and the timing gives DC diners something to celebrate after a rough stretch for the city’s starred restaurants.
Rye Bunny and Maison Bar à Vins in Adams Morgan, Bar del Monte in Mount Pleasant, and Elcielo Bistró DC in Union Market now carry Michelin’s recommended designation, according to Michelin’s official announcement.
Rye Bunny And Maison Bar À Vins Anchor Adams Morgan
Rye Bunny at 1827 Adams Mill Road NW comes from Jon Sybert and Jill Tyler, the husband and wife team who ran the Michelin-starred Tail Up Goat in that same space for a decade. Guests order at the counter, then settle in for table service, and the kitchen turns out creative riffs on comfort food like anchovy toast and Aleppo pepper fried chicken. Jessica Sidman of Washingtonian reported that Rye Bunny landed a spot on the New York Times list of America’s 50 favorite places to eat this year.
A few blocks over, Maison Bar à Vins fills a multi-level Adams Morgan brownstone with a French-inspired menu from chef Matt Conroy, and Anna Spiegel of Axios DC noted it earned a 2026 James Beard Award finalist nod for best new restaurant. That is quite a debut year!
Bar Del Monte And Elcielo Bistró DC Round Out The List
Bar del Monte tucks small Italian plates and house-made pizzas into a Mount Pleasant alley at 3054 Mount Pleasant Street NW, where chef and owner Oliver Pastan skips reservations and lets a line form for lamb skewers, chickpea fritters, and a rotating pizza list that Michelin’s inspectors singled out for its anchovy and squash blossom pie.
Elcielo Bistró DC sits at 1280 4th Street NE in Union Market, next door to chef Juan Manuel Barrientos’s Michelin-starred Elcielo, and offers a more approachable version of his Colombian-inspired cooking, including shrimp empanadas and a chimichurri bison ribeye.
The Additions Follow A Difficult Year For DC Dining
Eater DC reported that DC lost a record number of Michelin-starred restaurants over the past year, with the 2025 guide’s 25 starred restaurants shrinking as Kinship and Metier, Gravitas, and the original Tail Up Goat all closed.
Sidman added that Michelin awarded no new stars in DC last year and that the Inn at Little Washington was demoted from three stars to two. Spiegel wrote that ongoing closures like Gravitas could shrink the city’s starred ranks further, which puts extra weight on whether any of these four newcomers earn a star or Bib Gourmand nod in December.
Michelin rates Bar del Monte at two dollar signs, Rye Bunny at three, and Maison Bar à Vins and Elcielo Bistró DC at four, though exact menu pricing is not publicly listed and varies by order.
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