Oh, wait, you're from SF, right? You should check out our fish market!
Compared to the fish markets in San Francisco and Seattle, and generally the West Coast, the DC fish market is a joke (and I'm a lifelong local - but one of my strongest areas of culinary expertise is fish/seafood)...similarly, with San Francisco firmly in the American Culinary Stratosphere (along with Manhattan and Chicago), and DC being a decidedly 3rd-tier culinary city (again, I'm a lifelong local and a DC-area Chef - but the truth is the cold, hard truth), it's going to be rough sailing to find culinary excellence that compares to what a typical San Franciscan epicurean would have at their disposal in the City by the Bay. It's not that we don't have those caliber restaurants
here, it's just that there are precious few of them, while the 3 aforementioned cities have such a great amount of depth...which in the long run, forces the best restaurants there to work harder to not only maintain their status among their peers, but to fend off any newcomers/make the newcomers work to earn their stripes...
There was a time in my culinary career where, in order to maximize my growth, I took 3 vacations a year: Spring: Manhattan, Summer: Chicago, Fall/Winter: San Francisco. Speaking from experience, if 5 Rings is a gourmand/epicurean from the Bay Area, and wants to eat like that while he's here, here are my suggestions:
These are not in any order, and I'm combining culinary expertise with value - in the DC culinary scene, I think expensive rarely equates with quality, but that doesn't mean these restaurants are inexpensive, or even moderately so, by any means. Every one of these is a Chef-driven restaurant that emphasizes technical skill and quality ingredients:
1. Corduroy (DC)
2. Marcel (DC West End)
3. Restaurant Eve (Alexandria, VA)
4. The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm (Lovetsville, VA - this is a destination that would probably best be enjoyed with an overnight stay, rather than having to drive back after dinner.)
5. Woodberry Kitchen (Baltimore, MD - I'd probably suggest overnighting here as well)
6. Rasika (DC) - upscale modern Indian
7. BlackSalt - DC Palisades - for upscale fish/seafood of any kind and Raw Bar/Oysters (Fiola Mare is outrageously expensive by comparison). PM me if you (or anyone else) is interested in dining at BlackSalt
8. Izakaya Seki / Sushi Capitol - DC - Upscale Modern Japanese/Sushi (Sushi Taro is every bit as good, maybe better, but more expensive)
9. Little Serow - Upscale Modern Thai (by the Chef/Owner of Komi. I don't have Komi on this list because I do not think it represents value - for value Mediterranean, I would recommend Zaytinya, but then we start to move from San Francisco-level restaurants, which Komi is)
10. Vin 909 Winecafe - Annapolis, MD - again, you may want to overnight
11. Seasonal Pantry - but you must, must, MUST call ahead and make absolutely sure Dan O'Brien is there and cooking.
12. Casa Luca, Red Hen, Obelisk - DC - Upscale Modern Italian (Fiola is outrageously expensive)
13. Mintwood Place DC - Adams Morgan - Upscale Modern French
14. Estadio - DC - Upscale Modern Spanish from Spain
15. Rogue 24 - DC - Modern American
Rose's Luxury would be on this list, but I can't abide their reservation policy which requires you to wait in line. Strangely enough, I don't mind the same policy at Little Serow, but Little Serow is quite possibly the best value in the entire DC Metro Area, and that makes up for it...
That should get anyone started who wants to embark on a DC Metro Culinary Experience that, while it's expensive, offers what I feel is value coupled with the thoughtfulness, sophistication, ingredients and skill one would expect to be the norm at the quality restaurants one would find in the 3 major food cities, and certainly the 2nd tier ones (Charleston, Portland (OR), Seattle, Boston, Scottsdale, Miami, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, etc. - apologies for any I left out, omissions more likely due to thoughtlessness rather than intent).