10 New Venues in Washington, D.C. for Summer 2021 Meetings and Events

Enrique Limardo, the acclaimed chef behind 14th Street restaurant Seven Reasons, opened a new fine-dining destination in March with partner Ezequiel Vázquez-Ger. Imperfecto's menu riffs on Mediterranean and Latin American traditions, and the serene restaurant in the West End combines warm wood and stark white with ocean-blue accents. The 98-seat restaurant is divided inside into three sections: The Bar, The Chef’s Table and The Main Dining Room. An outdoor patio seats 36 and a private dining room is slated to open at the end of June.

Popular Capitol Hill restaurant Art and Soul reopened in May with a new multimillion-dollar refresh and menu to boot, both inspired by the Chesapeake Bay. The design from New York-based Wimberly Interiors focuses on fresh blue hues, with accents like neon art and abstract depictions of D.C. monuments. Chef Danny Chavez offers crowd-pleasing dishes like crab deviled eggs and roasted chicken roulade. Choose between three private dining rooms at the 5,100-square-foot restaurant, with seating for up to 50 guests, or room for 100 for receptions. Catch a glimpse of the U.S. Capitol dome from the 1,900-square-foot patio, which can accommodate as many as 150 for a reception. The restaurant seats 341 with 42 bar stools situated around the bar area.

All-day cafe The Freshman opened in April just a few blocks from the Crystal City Metro station, near where Amazon's new Arlington campus is in the works at National Landing. The Freshman serves coffee and breakfast by day and larger plates, like steak frites with cocktails, at night. The indoor-outdoor space features a bold mural from local artist Cita Sadeli. For private events, the patio can accommodate up to 30 standing guests, while the inside of The Freshman can accommodate up to 40 standing guests.

Kimpton's newest D.C. hotel, The Banneker, opened in June just six blocks from The White House at the site of the former Kimpton Rouge. The Banneker was designed by Mason Studio in a modern-meets-eclectic style, with touches of corduroy and velvet in the 144 guest rooms and a lobby mural by D.C.-based Nigerian-American artist Victor Ekpuk. The hotel is named after famed Black mathematician and astronomer Benjamin Banneker, and nods to Banneker include a portrait by artist Rob Matthews and partnerships with Benjamin Banneker High School and the Cinderella Foundation. Find more than 3,800 square feet of flexible event space. At the Banneker's French restaurant Le Sel, a 750-square-foot patio seats 40 for banquet-style events and accommodates 50 for receptions. Two meeting rooms are available: The 385-square-foot Quill can seat 14 for conferences, and the 795-square-foot Ellicott can seat 40 for banquet-style events and accommodate 50 for receptions. A rooftop bar, Lady Bird (pictured here), will open this summer with views of the White House and Washington Monument, along with murals and moveable glass walls. The bar at Lady Bird can accommodate 40 for banquet-style events and 75 for receptions, while Lady Bird's open-air deck seats 40 for banquet-style events and 50 for receptions.

Long Shot Hospitality's highly-anticipated New Orleans-inspired restaurant Dauphine's opened in May in downtown D.C. Executive chef Kristen Essig leads the kitchen alongside Long Shot Hospitality chef and partner Kyle Bailey of The Salt Line, offering duck jambalaya and seafood gumbo, with hurricanes at the bar. The space by Grizform Design Architects channels New Orleans charm, from the custom raw bar and wood charcuterie case to Dauphine's palette of greens and coral. Dauphine's offers many options for events, including outdoor space. The Armstrong Room, decorated with alligator wallpaper and green velvet chairs, seats 12. The Mezzanine overlooking the dining room is accented with vintage oyster plates and art from New Orleans, and can accommodate 40 seated guests or 60 for receptions. The bar seats 15 and a chef's table seats eight guests. The main dining room can be reserved privately for groups of as many as 50 seated guests or 100 for receptions. Outside, find 4,000 square feet of patio space. A covered breezeway seats as many as 40 or accommodates 150 for receptions, while the Fountain Garden with a tiled fountain and French bistro tables seats up to 12 and hosts as many as 40 for receptions. The Fountain Garden can be combined with the outdoor Bar on the Alley for events with up to 120 standing guests.

After opening Riggs Washington DC hotel in 2020, Lyle Group debuted another sophisticated property this spring in Dupont Circle. Lyle Washington DC opened in April in the former Kimpton Carlyle Hotel. The residential look and feel of the 196-room hotel stems from the building's beginning as an art deco apartment building. Lyle offers 3,000 square feet of event space with six dedicated rooms. The 475-square-foot Conservatory (pictured here) with white seating and green potted plants can accommodate 24 for banquet-style events. The 720-square-foot Parlor can accommodate 26 for conferences, 40 for banquets and 60 for receptions. The 735-square-foot Drawing Room can accommodate 70 for receptions or 50 for banquets. The 545-square-foot Gallery with bespoke artwork can host 40 for receptions. The 380-square-foot Study with a bespoke oak table can seat 14 for conferences. In the hotel restaurant, Lyle's, a private dining room with bold red walls seats 12. A 240-square-foot Pantry is perfect for meeting breaks and can accommodate 10 standing guests or six seated guests.

Chef Richard Sandoval's new Mexican restaurant dLeña Wood-Fire Mexican Cocina in Mount Vernon Triangle celebrates wood-fired food (the word "leña" means firewood). The 5,000-square-foot restaurant opened in May and can seat 120 indoors or accommodate 163 standing, while the outdoor patio can accommodate 121 standing or 80 seated. There's a private dining room in dLeña as well, which can accommodate 32 seated guests or 45 standing guests. A mezcal lounge with its own entrance called dLeña Roja opened in June below the restaurant. Lined with leather banquettes and wall hangings created by artisans in Querétaro, dLeña Roja can accommodate 90 standing or 51 seated. Both spaces were designed by Petermax Co.

Dupont Circle's popular and long-running Firefly unveiled a new look and menu with a grand reopening in February. The restaurant adjoins Hotel Madera and serves contemporary American fare with an Asian influence (as seen in Peking duck tacos or kimchi and vegetable waffles). Firefly is decorated with jewel-toned crushed velvet banquettes and midcentury-modern chairs, with architectural features like hardwood floors and floor-to-ceiling accordion windows. There are two private dining rooms equipped with 75-inch HD monitors.

Originally based in Houston, fine-dining chain Truluck’s expanded to Washington with a location that opened in downtown D.C. near the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in May. There are approximately 400 seats at Truluck’s Washington, D.C., which is outfitted with chandeliers, red-leather horseshoe-shaped booths and floor-to-ceiling windows. Steak, crab legs and lobster tail are popular menu items. Private events are available upstairs: The Ocean Room seats 96, with audiovisual capabilities like two 65-inch televisions and microphones. The Ocean Room can be separated with a panel wall to create the Marina Room and the Shoreline Room (pictured here), which can each seat 48.

Celebrity chef José Andrés transformed his Bethesda Row restaurant Jaleo into a diner inspired by Spanish home cooking. The aptly named Spanish Diner serves comfort food like eggs fried in olive oil served atop crispy potatoes, a Madrid specialty. Juli Capella gave the 6,500-square-foot restaurant its playful look, complete with foosball tables. Spanish Diner's semiprivate space can accommodate as many as 75 guests. A full buyout can accommodate 165 seated guests or up to 250 standing guests for receptions.