Namak

Namak opened in 2024 at 1813 Columbia Road NW, in the middle of Adams Morgan, from two established DC restaurateurs and longtime friends, John Cidre and Saied Azali. The cooking is Eastern Mediterranean and Persian and it ranges widely - sesame-crusted feta, walnut-marinated tenderloin kebabs, braised lamb shoulder in a harissa-scented jus, drawing on Persian, Greek, Turkish and North African traditions rather than settling in one. The room is built in cosy alcoves with Moroccan tile work, which makes a restaurant of its size feel like several smaller ones, and it stays busy through service. Washingtonian placed it at number 98 on its 100 Very Best Restaurants 2026 list, published in January 2026.

The non-alcoholic list is the reason it is here, and Resy's January 2025 roundup of DC bars with superb zero-proof cocktails put it plainly: at Namak the non-alcoholic menu takes centre stage with a diverse range of flavours, including drinks from the Eastern Mediterranean. That last part is what separates it from a restaurant that simply keeps a mocktail on hand. The beverage menu the restaurant publishes now carries a Zero Proof section of its own, and it mixes one house invention with two drinks that are not cocktail riffs at all but traditional pours from the region the kitchen cooks from. The invention is the N/Amaro Namakia at $18, a house-made amaro-style liqueur built on lapsang souchong, the smoked black tea. Sekahnjebin, at $12, is the traditional Persian mint-and-vinegar cooler, made here with mint, cucumber, rose, honey and vinegar. Şalgam, at $6, is listed as traditional spicy fermented black carrot juice, and it is the more challenging of the two - sour, salty and an acquired taste that rewards ordering alongside kebab rather than on its own. House-made sodas at $10 come in ginger-lemongrass, spiced mango-passionfruit and blackberry-long hot pepper.

Practical notes. Namak is closed on Monday, serves dinner Tuesday through Saturday from 5pm - to 9pm midweek and 10pm on Friday and Saturday - and adds a Sunday brunch from 11am to 3pm before an early Sunday dinner service. Adams Morgan gets loud at weekends, and this is one of the calmer rooms on that stretch. It sits a few doors from The Green Zone and Lapis, which makes the block unusually good for a night out without drinking.