Restaurants in Potomac

The charm and simplicity of the Maine lobster shack is heaved ashore at Georgetown's Tackle Box, which popped onto Bon Appétit's radar as one of the Best Seafood Restaurants of 2008. Just inside the door on a pocked brick wall, a weathered Old Glory greets diners as they stand before the counter's chalkboard menu to check on the day's fresh catch and wonder if sailors wear their ties in a figure-eight knot. Since Tackle Box shoulders a steadfast commitment to sustainability, each meal can vary, as cooks fry or grill the bounty of fishermen's nets that may swell with haddock or catfish.

Diners can choose smoked trout to pair with hand-cut fries or mac 'n' cheese, all of which they can enjoy at a fire-red picnic table. For an extra kick, fingers may dip fare or put out a burning dynamite fuse in a classic tartar or spicy marinara sauce.

Pasha Bistro pre-meal meal options include spinach pie ($4.95), hummus ($5.45), and stuffed grape leaves ($4.68). The eatery also serves Greek and goat cheese salads ($8.25 each), Turkish pizza ($9.35), and burgers of both the beef ($8.25) and veggie variety ($8.53). For more authentic eats, dig into lamb shish kabobs ($14.30), a gyro platter ($10.45), or mixed grill entree ($14.30), all served with a house salad and choice of rice or fries. Save room in your food storage locker for a buttery bite of baklava ($4.40).

Savour's dinner menu grabs the attention of belly spectacles with inventive dishes infused with flavors from around the globe. Start out with the Savour wings ($7), served with your choice of buffalo, mango rum, or spicy honey barbecue sauce. To deliver a heavy body blow to hunger, opt for a jamaican jerk rack of lamb with asparagus, rice, and peas ($25), or gently massage a snack craving with a soft-shell crab sandwich flanked with asian slaw ($11). Vegetarians and cannibalistic soybeans take solace in the tofu and vegetable curry ($12), served with ginger-coconut jasmine rice to heartily mangle cravings without disturbing any napping meat.

The homey restolounge serves a whimsical menu of modern American fare nightly, with lunch offered Saturdays and brunch on Sundays. The pared-down dinner menu features sharable, wine-complementing, meal-starting sustenance, served in three portion sizes. Opt for the cabernet-marinated, char-grilled baby lamb “lolli-chops,” served with chipotle pesto ($10+), or go for the truffle oil-infused roasted mushrooms, simmered in a Madeira cream sauce ($7+), before indulging in Social’s crispy roasted chicken ($16) entree. The weekend-launching Saturday lunch menu offers Social’s succulent Sonoran fish tacos, three tortilla envelopes of mahi mahi sprinkled with jalapeno cabbage, roasted jalapeno, and clementine pico ($8.95), while Sunday brunch boasts the spicy Lafayette Benedict, a Creole take on the breakfast classic, with sautéed crawfish and chorizo ($11.95). Or try the Grand Marnier- and orange zest-battered French toast, topped with fresh strawberries and a dusting of powdered sugar ($7.95).

Tara Temple builds a banquet of a bridge between the culinary traditions of Thailand and Japan with its menu of Far East favorites. For starters, try the chicken satay ($6), skewered chunks of chicken glazed in peanut sauce and cucumber relish, or the sinus-clearing tom yum soup ($6). Main dishes include standard Thai sustenance such as curry and noodle bowls, as well as Japan-centric fare such as sushi. Wade through the wealth of the tofu-filled green curry ($11), kick consumption up a nourishing notch with the spicy salmon roll ($6.50), or opt for onomatopoeic opulence with the stir-fried crispy-duck kapow ($13), dressed in a Thai basil sauce. Tara Temple's lunch menu serves up bento boxes containing items such as beef katsu ($11) or shrimp tempura ($13). All bento boxes come with a six-piece California roll, miso soup, and house salad. The seaweed salad ($5) and the house salad ($7), dressed in your choice of dressing such as ginger or mustard soy, offer options for vegetarians and cannibalistic heads of lettuce.

An expansive dividing screen of embossed trapezoids forms a complex, glowing tessellation through which patrons can glimpse the next dining room. There, the wooden bar seems not to have been built, but to have grown organically at a tapered angle from of the smooth hardwood floor. Between the cushy banquettes, wine cabinets are lit from below and ornately carved slabs of stone from Lebanon hang on the walls.

Tendrils of smoke unfurl like dark blossoms from the kitchen, where a brick oven fueled by natural, all-wood charcoal roasts kebabs, removing excess fat and sealing in flavor. The cooks take a firm stance against chemicals and preservatives, slicing meat fresh daily and utilizing all-natural olive oil cold-pressed and filtered in Lebanon. Servers take a moment to adjust to the gentle lighting as they bear dishes to tables, where glasses clink together, filled with one of more than 100 bottled wines. Lebanese arak, an anise seed liquor, cools over ice on the surface of a granite counter polished to a patina by the excited chatter of geologists.