Before it became base camp for an army of celebrity chefs, the District’s restaurant scene was ruled by steakhouses—big, gaudy ones where the size of your porterhouse determined your status. These were steakhouses for politicos, lobbyists, fundraisers, and influence peddlers, folks eating large on someone else’s nickel.

With stints at Morton’s and the Capital Grille, Michael Landrum got to know the scene so well that, when he started his own steakhouse, he undermined the entire bloated concept. Landrum’s original Ray’s the Steaks in Arlington was the anti-Palm: zero ambiance, but affordable, wet-aged cuts of beef.

Landrum has since become a local celebrity. But even as he opened one Ray’s after another, he was constantly planning a project to give back to his community. First, it was going to be part of his Ray’s the Catch concept in Arlington. Then it morphed a stand-alone project in Ward 7: Ray’s the Steaks at East River.

If the original Ray’s was the inverse of a D.C. steakhouse, then the one in East River, I’d argue, is a true D.C. steakhouse­—run and managed and fussed over by longtime Washingtonians. You know, the ones marginalized not only by the federal government, but also by the local transients who’d rather drink battery acid than cross the Anacostia.

“I opened a restaurant where I could serve the food that I really love to eat myself, working off the core menus of the other Ray’s restaurants but with a much more down-home, well-seasoned, and easily accessible—but still unique—approach,” says Landrum.

Ray’s the Steaks at East River may be D.C.’s first soul-food steakhouse. You won’t find creamed spinach here. But there are collard greens, mac ’n’ cheese, and sweet-potato fries. It’s a steakhouse that serves fried chicken —organic, free range chicken that’s smoked then fried. It’s a steakhouse that serves a rib-eye for $18.95 and gives you a house salad and two sides. It’s a steakhouse designed around value and respect, not power. “The exact same portions on our classic cuts are served with prices adjusted downward to allow for as many people from the community to enjoy a great steak as possible,” Landrum tells me.

So what’s in it for Landrum? Here’s his grand, and grandiloquent, answer: “To have the pleasure of seeing the incredible potential of those around me explode in an expression of talent, achievement, and accomplishment that otherwise might never be given the opportunity to shine.”

3905 Dix St. NE (202) 396-7297

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Note: It looks like I would have won that bet after all. Isabella announced his departure from Zaytinya earlier this summer.

When Mike Isabella appeared on Top Chef last season, I was ready to wager vast sums of money (well, as vast as they get in the alt-paper biz) that the Zaytinya chef would pack his knives and leave José Andrés’ meze emporium as soon as the show wrapped. Here it is a year later, however, and Isabella is still camped in the Zaytinya kitchen. Maybe the chef doesn’t want his own place? Maybe he’s happy working for Mr. Smell the Peaches? (Cue up last year’s Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations episode on D.C. for a refresher on that reference.) Whatever the reason Isabella stays, Zaytinya is all the better for it. It remains my favorite outpost of the Andrés restaurant empire—although I have high hopes for new chef Richard Brandenburg over at Café Atlantico.

1120 King St., Alexandria (703) 684-9669

More than four years ago at their Rockville location, Urban Bar-B-Que owners David Calkins and Lee Howard were turning out barbecue with an overtaxed metal smoker approximately the size of a dorm-room refrigerator. It was as much a convection oven as a smoker, a contraption that required employees to fill (and refill and refill) a tiny wood-box with enough chips and chunks to generate the plumes of black perfume vital for any real barbecue. It worked, but only if your experience with ’cue was limited to the city-slicker stuff. More than a year ago, though, the guys installed a giant Southern Pride unit that burns split seasoned logs. The smoker reflected their need for more capacity as well as their desire to hang their hat on the Texas branch of American barbecue. These days, despite their East Coast roots, Calkins and Howard have the souls of true Texas pitmasters. They keep refining and simplifying, looking for that mysterious combination of time, smoke, and seasoning that defines Lone Star State barbecue. If they keep moving in this direction, they might be able to retire their house-made sauces in a year or so. Their smoked meats just won’t need ’em.

2007 Chapman Ave., Rockville (240) 290-4827

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

2941 Fairview Park Drive, Falls Church (703) 270-1500

Massimo Fabbri

As the classic-rock soundtrack throbbed and we dissected our dishes at Babbo, some terrific and some downright mediocre, I kept thinking one thing over and over: D.C.’s Tosca is every bit as good, if not better, than Mario Batali’s famous operation in Greenwich Village. This may not be an altogether fair comparison. Babbo aims for a funkier, more eclectic audience, the kind wooed by a rockin’ atmosphere and a celebrity chef. Tosca, on the other hand, sets its sights on D.C.’s lobbying culture, with its appetite for obvious sophistication both on the plate and in the dining room. But in those areas where Batali and Tosca toque Massimo Fabbri’s interests intersect—pasta, for example—it’s clear to me that the latter chef is operating at a higher level. Consider Fabbri’s fresh tortelli stuffed with robiola cheese and black truffles. The little packets are almost canary yellow in color and absolutely lush on the palate. You don’t chew them so much as let them melt on your tongue. This is pasta that reminds you why Italians look down on French food—if not on celebrity chefs who allow their kitchens to coast on thick, chewy, and undercooked ravioli.

1112 F St. NW (202) 367-1990

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

3217 Columbia Pike, Arlington (703) 685-7040

Photo courtesy of Thai Square

Little about Teddy’s Roti Shop makes you want to linger—or even place an order. The boxy space just north of Walter Reed Army Medical Center sports a random collection of banquet-room chairs and tables, some clean, some not. On a hot summer day, the air inside Teddy’s can feel still and heavy enough to presage an oncoming storm—which may well be co-owner David Nagar. I try to avoid him, and his opinions, at all costs. Whatever I think about Nagar’s social skills, however, the guy knows how to make a terrific flatbread. His beef buss-up-shut comes in two separate containers: one for the curry beef with mashed chana and potatoes, and the other for the twisted and gnarled paratha bread (which gives buss-up-shut its name, because it resembles a busted-up shirt). By itself, the dish is lightly spiced but full of flavor, thanks in large part to the flaky wheat flatbread made rich with (the horror!) Crisco. But you can also pair it with Nagar’s hot sauce spiked with tamarind. Just a touch of the stuff and your mouth goes nuclear. Teddy’s does dhalpourie equally well, whether the simple potato-and-chickpea version, or the more gamey goat roti, in which the meat has been cooked to a splendid, fork-tender texture. Whatever you order, though, wash it down with Teddy’s homemade ginger-pineapple drink, which is the perfect spicy-sweet complement to such a hearty, meaty meal. And most important, remember to get everything to go.

7304 Georgia Ave. NW (202) 882-6488

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Editor's note: A third Taylor Gourmet is scheduled to open this week in Bethesda.

I have three words for you: Roast. Pork. Sandwiches. Not content to coast on the strength of his Italian hoagies and chicken-cutlet subs, Taylor Gourmet co-founder Casey Patten recently added a small line of sandwiches that draws on his Philadelphia hometown’s taste for roast pork, broccoli rabe, and sharp provolone. Patten has developed his own take on the classic Philly combo, roasting his Niman Ranch shoulder cuts for hours and juicing them with his own aromatic, highly reduced pork stock. Patten’s stock, in fact, is practically porcine demi-glace, intensifying the flavors enough to penetrate even those big, crusty, sesame-seed-studded rolls that Taylor trucks in daily from Sarcone’s. The care that Patten has shown with his roast-pork sandwiches gives me hope that as Taylor continues to expand as a chain, the owners will continue to treat it like the small South Philly delis that inspired them.

1116 H St. NE (202) 684-7001

485 K St. NW (202) 289-8001

Photo by Charles Steck

Scott Drewno at The Source

You could say I generally admired Scott Drewno’s Asian-inspired cooking at The Source by Wolfgang Puck. But I didn’t fall hard for it until he introduced his izakaya menu at the downstairs lounge. The menu’s inspiration came not from Drewno’s diminutive Austrian boss (or not just from said Teutonic restaurant tycoon), but from his tireless investigations into Asian cookery, including countless trips to Falls Church’s mom-and-pop eateries. Personally, I dig this back story, which makes me feel kind of cuddly about Puck’s celebrity-chef outpost on Pennsylvania Avenue NW. But not as much as I dig Drewno’s Korean-style short ribs with kimchi or his mini banh mi with country pâté, or his crispy chicken wings or his pork-belly steam bun, or his…

575 Pennsylvania Ave. NW (202) 637-6100

Photo by Darrow Montgomery