After heaps of critical acclaim — including a three-star rating from The Washington Post’s Tom Sietsema and the top spot in Washingtonian’s annual list of the 100 best restaurants— diners sometimes start lining up early on weekends to get into Anju in Adams Morgan.

“It’s a little crazy all the time now,” general manager Eric Chodkowski says. “The reservations have been filling up 30 days in advance.”

But to stay true to the casual, Korean pub-inspired theme, reservations are for the dining room upstairs while everything downstairs in the bar area is first come, first served. That includes a 10-seat bar, six window seats, four chef’s counter seats, and two communal tables.

What’s more synonymous with spring than once-dormant trees and flowers budding back to life after months of winter bareness? But without a doubt, few destinations undergo a more striking seasonal transformation than Washington, D.C.

Barreto’s nomination wasn’t the only nod for the Korean restaurant, which opened over the summer and was recently named the best restaurant in the D.C. area by Washingtonian. Anju’s Danny Lee was also nominated for best chef mid-Atlantic, along with seven other D.C. area chefs: Jon Sybert of Tail Up Goat and Amy Brandwein of Centrolina, who both made last year’s list; Peter Prime, behind new Caribbean hotspot Cane; Zenebech Dessu of the Ethiopian staple, Zenebech Restaurant; Cagla Onal-Urel of Green Almond Pantry, which was one of Bon Apetit’s 24 best restaurants of the year; Peter and Lisa Chang of Mama Chang in Fairfax; and Victor Albisu of the upscale Mexican restaurant Poca Madre.

The James Beard Foundation today announced its Restaurant and Chef Awards semifinalists for 2020, officially kicking off restaurant award season.

This list will be whittled down to finalists on March 25, with winners announced at a May 4 gala in Chicago.

Just outside Dupont Circle lies Washington, D.C.’s best kept Korean spot: Anju. After a July 2017 electrical fire sent its more traditional Korean predecessor crumbling (see Mandu), owner Danny Lee decided to rebuild in the same spot while handling the opening of Chiko, their fast-casual take on Chinese-Korean cuisine.

One step into Anju’s interior and it feels like home, decked out with smooth, hardwood tabletops and floors, welcoming servers, and cozy seating in the nooks by the front windows. The use of space throughout the two-story eatery is ingenious, hosting a myriad of different seating options.

It feels important to say: Anju never set out to be number-one anything. The modern-Korean restaurant’s name means “food to consume while drinking.” The idea for it was born out of late-night chef gatherings. Service is pleasant but not pampering. Really, Danny Lee, Scott Drewno, and Angel Barreto—also behind the fast-casual Chiko—just want you to have a good time. Yet when we thought about the food that brought us the most joy in 2019, dish after dish from this plant-filled spot came to mind. 

You can see it in their faces: chefs Scott Drewno, Danny Lee, and Angel Barreto did not expect Anju to claim the top spot in this year’s 100 Very Best Restaurants ranking. (“Yahtzee!” Drewno says when he learned the news.) We can understand their surprise; In 13 years of rankings, Washingtonian has always awarded the #1 slot to very expensive fine-dining restaurants.