This is Eater DC’s guide to all the new restaurants, bars, and cafes that opened in May. For more 2025 debuts, check out our roundup of best new bars and other recent restaurant arrivals to note. If there’s an opening in your neighborhood that we’ve missed, let us know at [email protected].
PENN QUARTER — Chinese American takeout Lucky Danger unveils a full-on flagship on Wednesday, May 21. Founded by restaurateur Tim Ma, the food menu is full of allium pancakes with whipped tofu and caviar; blue crab lo mein with leek fondue; and duck fried chaufa (Peruvian fried rice) with fish sauce caramel. The restaurant features four distinct areas: a bright entryway bar with classic cocktails integrating Asian flavors, an intimate dining room, the moody “Lucky Club” with drinks using Chinese herbal medicine, and a green-toned mahjong parlor with over-proof whiskeys. Opening hours are 4 to 11 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, with lunch (and possibly even weekend dim sum) coming soon. 709 D Street NW
PENN QUARTER — The venerable Cafe Fiorello, which first opened its doors in Manhattan over five decades ago, lands in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol on May 21. This marks the first time the flagship of restaurateur Shelly Fireman’s hospitality group grows beyond its Big Apple roots. The new location has the same reliable Italian fare, including famous thin-crusted pizza and an antipasti bar overflowing with vegetables and seafood, plus a new wood-fired oven pumping out branzino al Forno, a center-cut veal chop, flame-kissed cheeseburger, and more distinctly smoky mains. 1001 Pennsylvania Avenue NW…