If the election cycle has left a bad taste in your mouth, we get it. But don’t let that feeling negatively impact your view of our nation’s capital. Beyond the squabbling and scheming in the halls of government, Washington, D.C., is still one of the most art-filled, diverse, culture-loving, and progressive cities in America, and this fall, there are plenty of new reasons to plan a visit. From new hotels to an attention-grabbing restaurant by a Top Chef favorite, star-studded theater performances to the return of a major literary institution, D.C. is having a moment.
New and reimagined D.C. museums and monuments
This October marks the 50th anniversary of Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, part of the Smithsonian Institution dedicated to modern and contemporary art. It occupies a dramatic hollow cylinder balanced on four squat legs with a fountain in the center, on the southern edge of the National Mall. To honor the big anniversary, the Hirshhorn’s galleries will house some of the most exciting exhibits in the capital this year, including Basquiat x Banksy (through October 26, 2025) and Revolutions: Art from the Hirshhorn Collection, 1860–1960 (through April 20, 2025), which includes 208 artworks from 117 artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe, Francis Bacon, and Lee Krasner. The biggest showstopper will be OSGEMEOS: Endless Story (through August 3, 2025), the first U.S. museum survey dedicated to Brazilian identical twin artists Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo (os gemeos is Portuguese for “the twins”). Even if you don’t know them by name, there’s a good chance you’ve encountered their cartoonish, colorful, larger-than-life figures in murals and street art installations around the world, from New York City to Berlin to Vancouver.
Over on Capitol Hill, the Folger Shakespeare Library—home to the world’s largest collection of Shakespeare materials—reopened in June after a four-year, $80.5 million renovation and expansion. The library’s 82 copies of the First Folio (a collection of 36 of the Bard’s plays published shortly after his death) used to be hidden away in the vault, only accessible to scholars, but now they’re on permanent display in a glass case for the public to see. The renovation includes new gardens with plants mentioned in Shakespeare’s works, specially commissioned artworks, and a rotating exhibitions gallery in the Stuart and Mimi Rose Rare Book and Manuscript Exhibition Hall, which moves beyond the world of Shakespeare; the inaugural exhibit, Imprints in Time, comprises 52 incredible objects such as an Egyptian Book of the Dead from the first century BCE and part of the Apollo 11 flight plans that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took to the moon.
The new People’s House exhibit includes a full-scale replica of the Oval Office, where you can sit behind the Resolute Desk.
Courtesy of The White House Historical Association
Just a few blocks away, on the other side of the White House, you’ll find the new interactive exhibit The People’s House: A White House Experience, which opened its doors in late September. Spread across three floors and 33,000 square feet, the center includes a full-scale recreation of the Oval Office, with matching furnishings and artworks; a 1:5 scale replica of the South Facade; a gallery of framed digital portraits of White House staffers; and more. (Of course, there’s also a shop where you can buy this year’s official White House Christmas ornament, cookbooks, neckties, and plush versions of recent and historic presidential pets, such as Bo Obama.)
It’s not often that the U.S. capital gets a new monument or memorial, but that’s precisely what happened in 2021 with the opening of the National World War I Memorial, which incorporated some existing public spaces dedicated to General of the Armies John J. Pershing along Pennsylvania Avenue NW between 14th Street NW and 15th Street NW. This September, the memorial got a bit grander with the unveiling of A Soldier’s Journey, a 58-foot-long, 25-ton bronze sculpture comprising 38 sculpted figures meant to tell the story of a single “doughboy” as he leaves his family, sees combat, tends to the fallen, and returns home. Sculptor Sabin Howard has described the work as “a movie in bronze,” which you take in from left to right: a patriotic comic strip meets a classical frieze.
The Salamander DC recently underwent a property-wide renovation that has brightened up its rooms and suites.
Courtesy of Salamander DC
Stylish new and renovated D.C. hotels
Virginia-based Salamander Hotels and Resorts is owned by BET co-founder Sheila Johnson, America’s first Black female billionaire, and the company expanded into D.C. in 2022 when they took over the former Mandarin Oriental. Since then, they’ve been hard at work transforming the Salamander DC with an extensive renovation that has yielded sophisticated new public spaces with neoclassical touches; reimagined guest rooms with a pastel-leaning palette and soft, curvy furnishings; a soon-to-open two-story spa; and Dōgon, a new Afro-Caribbean restaurant by chef Kwame Onwuachi. At the front desk, behold the massive bas-relief installation by Art Space NYC that depicts nearby monuments, cherry blossoms, and horses to symbolize the new U.S. Park Police Horse Stables, which Johnson helped fund.
This fall will also see the debut of the 445-room Arlo Washington DC, a boutique hotel that incorporates the District’s oldest existing apartment building, The Harrison, built in the 1880s. The new part of the building is sleek and LEED-certified, while the restored structure features exposed brick and vaulted ceilings. The Arlo will also be home to the Spanish farmhouse–inspired restaurant Arrels (Catalan for “roots”), which will serve paella, charcoal-grilled meats, and sangria.
If you’re in town for a show at the Kennedy Center, consider the newly opened Hotel AKA Washington Circle, about a 15-minute walk away from the cultural institution. The hotel overlooks a park-like traffic circle in Foggy Bottom centered around an 1860 equestrian statue of the first president. Rooms are simply furnished in neutral tones with pops of yellow, and suites feature kitchenettes or full kitchens and are perfect for longer-term stays. The hotel is also home to an outpost of a.kitchen+bar from Ellen Yin, who won the 2023 James Beard Foundation award for outstanding restaurateur. It’s the perfect place for a pre-theater glass of wine and snacks like chickpea panisse or chicken liver tarts.
At Dōgon, chef Kwame Onwuachi draws on culinary influences from the Caribbean, Africa, and right here in D.C.
Courtesy of Salamander DC
D.C.'s most exciting multicultural meals
Chef Kwame Onwuachi has become one of America’s most dominant culinary forces: He appeared on Top Chef, published a celebrated memoir, and won the James Beard Foundation Award for Rising Star Chef of the Year. His crowd-pleasing Tatiana recently topped the New York Times list of the best restaurants in New York City. Onwuachi had an earlier, since-closed restaurant in D.C. called Kith and Kin that he left in 2020 to pursue his own project, and this fall he staged a grand comeback to the nation’s capital with the opening of Dōgon at the Salamander. The Afro-Caribbean menu draws on Onwuachi’s Nigerian, Trinidadian, Jamaican, and Creole heritage and takes its inspiration from Benjamin Banneker, the surveyor who drew the official boundaries of the District of Columbia—Dogon is the name of the West African tribe many biographers believe Banneker descended from. Expect dishes like crab with plantain hoe cakes, Ethiopian-spiced chicken and rice, and even a crispy lamb dish created as an homage to Ben’s Chili Bowl. (The U Street institution was opened in 1958 by a Trinidadian immigrant, and this dish pays homage to his heritage with its tamarind-glazed lamb and chickpea curry.)
Another recent standout includes Chicatana, a Mexican spot that has been building buzz around the city in the past few years and moved into expanded digs on 14th Street this summer. Its seafood-heavy menu is a testament to the owners’ home state of Guerrero, on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, but if you want to really get in the spirit, try the bugs. Chicatanas are a type of edible flying ant, and they show up here in tacos, gorditas, buñuelos, and even atop a signature cocktail, or you can order chapulines (grasshoppers) tacos.
On the multicultural U Street Corridor, Yalla—Arabic for “let’s go!”—is a fun-loving Middle Eastern restaurant with a plant-filled rooftop and a rotating roster of DJs and live musicians. Chef Marcel Chehaieb draws on the flavors of Lebanon for shareable plates that include dips (hummus with duck confit and pine nuts), appetizers (seared sheep’s milk halloumi), and grilled skewers (including swordfish and octopus). Also worth ordering are the unique cocktails, which include Middle Eastern ingredients like dates, za’atar, arak, and orange blossom water.
Mallard pairs elevated regional cuisine with a touch of Southern-fried kitsch.
Courtesy of Leading DC
There’s some debate about whether or not D.C. counts as the South, but there’s no question that the newly opened Mallard is firmly rooted in the region’s culinary traditions. Named after chef Hamilton Johnson’s favorite hobby of carving wooden decoy ducks, this Logan Circle restaurant offers a tour of the South through dishes like fried Chesapeake oysters with deviled egg aioli, Virginia ham tartine, and Gulf Coast mahi with crawfish and foie gras éttouffée. Honor the spot’s name by trying any dishes with duck, including wings made with RC Cola and concord grapes or the Pennsylvania Peking duck served two ways—spiced breast and chicken-fried leg.
D.C.'s coolest new bars
One of the coolest cocktail bars to debut in D.C. in years, Providencia is the latest project from chef Erik Bruner-Yang and two bartenders from his beloved Taiwanese-Cambodian spot Maketto, Pedro Tobar and Daniel Gonzalez. The intimate lounge occupies a former flower shop tucked down a mural-filled alleyway, and its menu draws on inspirations from the Taiwanese and Salvadoran childhoods of its partners. Cocktails include lesser-known Latin spirits like the sugarcane-distilled charanda from Mexico, Singani brandy from Bolivia, and Cihuatán rum from El Salvador, with flavorings like taro, sesame horchata, plantains, and mazapán (Mexican peanut candy).
Keep your eyes peeled for the new Press Club Cocktail Bar, which is set to open in mid-October in Dupont Circle after a series of pop-ups. The name is an homage to the National Press Club while also nodding to the pressing of both vinyl records and drink ingredients; the vibe will be somewhat reminiscent of a Japanese-style listening bar, with an album-inspired menu that includes classic and experimental cocktails and themed cocktail tasting menus.
Matthew Broderick stars in a new stage adaptation of Babbitt at the Shakespeare Theatre Company.
Courtesy of Shakespeare Theatre
The season’s hottest tickets
New York theater mainstay Matthew Broderick is heading down the Eastern Seaboard for a month-long stint on the D.C. stage in Babbitt (through November 3) at Shakespeare Theatre Company. Playwright Joe DiPietro adapted the 1922 satirical novel by Nobel Prize–winner Sinclair Lewis, with the two-time Tony winner starring as the titular everyman opposite fellow Broadway regulars including Ann Harada and Ali Stroker. Next up, the theater will host a production of Tom Stoppard’s recent acclaimed epic drama Leopoldstadt (November 30–December 29), which traces the Jewish community in Vienna in the first half of the 20th century.
Across town, The Kennedy Center is presenting a revival of the quirky Broadway musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (through October 20), with a cast that includes SNL alum Taran Killam, Glee’s Kevin McHale, Booksmart star Beanie Feldstein, and Kimberly Akimbo’s recent Tony winner Bonnie Milligan. Other highlights this fall include André 3000 making his Kennedy Center debut on November 9 alongside Baltimore-based singer-songwriter serpentwithfeet.
