Best Dishes Eater Editors Ate This Week: August 12

With Eater editors frequently dining out all over town, we come across lots of standout dishes, and we don’t want to hold back any secrets. Welcome to Eater DC’s new rotating roundup of the best things we ate as of late.

Fugazzeta at Mercy Me

Tucked inside D.C.’s Yours Truly hotel lies Mercy Me, a South American-styled escape from bustling downtown. Fugazzeta is Argentina’s answer to a deep-dish personal pizza, built with Comté, provolone, and squirty, ruby-red roasted tomatoes that scream summer. The popular order currently plays a starring role on its summer Restaurant Week tasting menu. During a weekend visit, I thought my heaping helping of chaufa (fried rice, shrimp, and heirloom corn) did the Peruvian dish justice. A big central bar made of marbled cosmic swirls is a prime place to soak up the lobby-level setup surrounded in swaying palms, giant disco balls, and a vinyl record studio. Follow the neon green-lit toucan in the back to stumble upon Tropicalia, a dreamy outdoor cocktail garden led by Minibar alum Al Thompson. 1143 New Hampshire Avenue NW — Tierney Plumb, Eater DC editor

Oysters at Petite Cerise

Between its Olympics and Bastille Day celebrations, Shaw’s year-old Petite Cerise is having a hot French summer. Window paintings of the Eiffel Tower recently led the way into the chic corner brasserie, where flickering votive candles and fresh flowers help set the mood at each table. Chef Jeremiah Langhorne, who runs Michelin-starred the Dabney a few blocks away, gives diners a close-up view of prepping and plating from a long open kitchen planted in the middle. His new four-course menu ($58) feels like a quick trip to Paris, starting with juicy Island Creek oysters dressed in diced golden beets and a yellow Chartreuse mignonette. Fluffy ricotta gnocchi got a summery upgrade with sweet corn and cherry tomato. A beautiful bowl of zucchini “noodles” also swings seasonal with help from Chesapeake blue crab. Black garlic-infused escargots double as its logo (and reminder to slow down); a gold snail-shaped paper clip attached to the tab was a cute cause for pause. 1027 7th Street NW — T.P.

Buñuelos at Pascual

I finally checked out Capitol Hill’s months-old Pascual, award-winning chef Isabel Coss’s polished love letter to her native Mexico City fueled by an open-fire hearth. Fabulously fresh guac paired with tostadas was a great way to start. As was a symmetrically pleasing plate of sliced Asian pears and sunflower seeds doused in guajillo oil, followed by a vibrant bowl of yellow squash blossoms, minty herbs, dollops of pureed avocado, and hearty tomatoes. From there, I skipped over the meaty mains and went straight for dessert. Coss flexes her pastry muscles with colossal cinnamon-dusted buñuelos, which arrive as advertised alongside delicious chocolate and caramel sauces served with adorable wooden spoons. Down in the pretty pastel-pink bathrooms, it’s hard to miss Coss’s latest accolade: a blown-up Food & Wine cover naming her one of America’s best new chefs in 2023. 732 Maryland Avenue NE — T.P.

Cheeseburger by Steeze Burger

I’ve had my eye on Steeze Burger ever since Tim Carman named it his favorite burger last year; the photo (from Eater’s own Rey Lopez) just made it look like my platonic ideal of a cheeseburger: the gooey American slices, the pickles, the soft sesame bun, the crispy smashed patties. But while the operation is generally mobile, they spend more time in Maryland than anywhere else, which is kind of a trek for me to grab a burger. Luckily, they recently did a pop-up at Arlington’s Sloppy Mama’s BBQ, so I made my way there to sample the burger. It hit all the right notes — if I had one suggestion, I could use a touch more seasoning in the patty itself, but a complete bite with the bun and toppings struck just the right balance. Plus, the location meant an excuse to take home some pork rinds and smoked turkey (the best of the barbecued meats) for another meal. Multiple locations — Missy Frederick, Eater cities director

Roast beef sandwich at Ned’s New England Deck

The tricky thing with beloved regional dishes (celebrated in our No Taste Like Home package last week) is that they can be hard to find outside the region they’re from. I’d heard of North Shore roast beef sandwiches due to our Boston site, but I don’t spend a lot of time there so I’d never tried one — until I made my way to Ned’s New England Deck in Fairfax. Their version is great: the roast beef has the thin slicing of an Arby’s sandwich, but with better quality and a delicious sauciness. This was also my first encounter with “fluffy” lobster bisque — its butter-drenched appearance surprised me a little, but it definitely was rich and nuanced in flavor. They make a mean lobster roll, too — love that they offer the buttery Connecticut-style, but given I’d had enough butter in my soup, the Maine-influenced, lightly mayo-dressed version worked just fine for me. 10655 Fairfax Boulevard, Fairfax, Virginia — M.F.

Pita at Yellow

I only got one chance to stop at Yellow’s Navy Yard location before it closed, so I’m going to try to make more of an effort to patronize its Georgetown outpost for great pastries and interesting coffee drinks (the peanut dalgona is an excellent combo of sweet and creamy). But the thing I keep thinking about is the pita bread. Soft, chewy, and dusted with za’atar, it’s the perfect complement to a morning sandwich stuffed with soft scrambled egg, salad, kashkaval cheese, and labneh (the half pita-sized breakfast sandwich is also the right amount to keep you full but not overly so). It’s worth the $15 semi-splurge to bring a six-pack of the breads home with you — I’ve already filled some with turkey kofta and pumpkin hummus, and see some sesame za’atar cutlet sandwiches in my future. 1524 Wisconsin Avenue NW — M.F.