Best Dishes Eater Editors Ate This Week: April 3

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 rotating roundup of the best things we ate as of late.

Pork banh mi at 54 Noodles

Tierney Plumb/Eater DC

D.C.’s latest 54 Noodles just filled a big restaurant hole left behind by Indian spot Masala Art, which closed its 4th Street SW locale a year ago. The soaring Vietnamese replacement breathes new life into the somewhat-desolate dining strip across from Safeway and the Waterfront Metro stop. The Southwest newcomer does more than just noodles well, as seen in my fabulous pork banh mi — and the sizable sandwich is also just $10. I had to try some kind of namesake noodle too, and its beef brisket pho did the trick on a cold night. Definitely spring for generously portioned starters like summer rolls jam-packed with shrimp ($7). I also plowed through a row of slick dumplings, which got a nice texture contrast from crunchy ginger shavings. The Vietnamese iced coffee here is as strong as it gets, and my entire pickup order held up nicely on the walk home. 1101 4th Street SW — Tierney Plumb

Crispy cauliflower at Tapori

The new Tapori on H Street is a buzzy treat of a restaurant, courtesy of the Daru team — even on a weeknight, it was brimming with life, courtesy of packed crowds, fun decor, and a savvy, chatty waitress. Everything our group sampled, from salty, achar-spiked martinis to a clever “chop” riff on paneer, caught our attention, but the dish I’m ready to immediately return back for is the Cauliflower 65. Brilliant red-orange and dusted with ingredients like roasted garlic, curry leaf, and mustard seed, the deep-fried vegetable (served with kashmiri chili mayo) is the kind of appetizer you order a second round of for the table. 600 H Street NE — Missy Frederick

AYCE bubble pancakes at Peter Chang

Missy Frederick/Eater DC

Peter Chang is a restaurant that’s hard for my husband and I to go to when it’s just the two of us. We still do, to be clear, but I find myself always over-ordering so I can try multiple things, and the generous portion sizes tend to lead to leftovers for days. It seems the restaurant has a solution, courtesy of their new all-you-can-eat lunch menu; it’s $32 at the Arlington location, and is even available on weekends. A whopping 40 or so dishes are available, including some icons like bamboo fish and the epic scallion bubble pancake; I used it as an opportunity to sample some items I don’t normally order there, like Mongolian beef and salt and pepper shrimp. There’s a particularly extensive dim sum selection, though many of the traditional Sichuan dishes from the regular menu are not available. The restaurant has some smart limitations built in to avoid waste, too — each item you order is only a small plate portion (you can order more if you like), all table members must participate, you can’t bring home a doggy bag, and there’s a surcharge if you create excess leftovers. This means more variety for smaller parties like ours — but you’ll likely still find yourself wanting to bring a group to try even more things. 2503-E N Harrison Street, Arlington, Virginia — M.F.

Lovely tea at Dolan Uyghur

Dolan Uyghur now has a Falls Church location, which means I can sample dishes like their toothsome house beef laghman noodles and crispy cheese cigars in a revamped, serene atmosphere where Pizzeria Orso used to be. Whatever you order from the extensive menu, be sure to include a pot of the Dolan chai. The tea is made with such ingredients as rose, red dates, and wolf berry; it’s decidedly floral, but pleasantly so; we liked it enough to purchase some retail to bring home and make ourselves. 400 S. Maple Avenue, Falls Church, Virginia — M.F.

Creative curry at Marufuji

Missy Frederick/Eater DC

The hype around Japanese grocery store Marufuji is extensive; the crowds were so intense on the first Saturday I visited that I ended up turning around after a 15-minute walk-through, unwilling to stand in the giant cashier line snaking throughout the store. I decided to come back on a weekday on the earlier side of lunch, and it was the right call; I had no real wait and was able to sample some of the cafeteria options. And the donburi are worth the visit if the crowds aren’t too intense; there’s a nice gyudon (beef bowl), and I particularly enjoyed the warm Japanese curry topped with a crispy tonkatsu cutlet. 8520 Leesburg Pike, Vienna, Virginia — M.F.

Grilled Oaxacan shrimp at DLeña

DLeña has a special honey-centric menu now through April 22 that uses sustainably obtained honey and pollen to draw attention to how many foods rely on bees. International chef Richard Sandoval is currently running his yearly campaign to help install hives around the world and educate kids on the survival of bees. The “Viva Abejas” menu’s coconut tuna ceviche is a real standout, with creamy coconut milk balancing out the sweet orange blossom honey and fresno chiles in the dish. However, my favorite thing I sampled during a recent visit to try the new menu was my grilled shrimp entree. The four giant head-on shrimps were coated in a simple garlic marinade and served on top of grilled green onions, roasted corn, and guava mole. The marinade and mole were incredibly delicious, and I may have embarrassed myself by sucking on every single shrimp head to get the last juicy bits of flavor. Ironically, I was so enamored with the dish that I completely forgot about the tortillas it came with, but they made lovely breakfast tacos the next day. 476 K Street NW — Emily Venezky

Emily Venezky/Eater DC

Pappardelle at L’Ardente

I had a lovely weekday meal at L’Ardente when we had a sudden cold spell this past month and I was craving carbs. The lasagna at this glam Italian spot is well-known for its indulgent 40 layers of short rib and truffle mornay sauce, but the pappardelle is definitely a sleeper hit in its pasta section. The heavy white ragu and veal are balanced out by the spicy bits of green chilis and slightly pickled mushrooms in this dish, all marrying together with the wide housemade noodles. I was also pleasantly surprised by the funghi sourdough pizza, which has that perfect chewy crust from the open kitchen’s pizza oven. With the pizzas all costing $25 or less, I’m planning to return for a more chill night at the bar, peering into that fiery pizza oven and splitting a pie and a few ciccheti with a friend. 200 Massachusetts Avenue NW — E.V.