Moon Rabbit

Chef Kevin Tien's highly popular Moon Rabbit hopped across town to a bright and contemporary space on F Street. The crowd's all here for Chef Tien's creative cooking, a mash-up of his Cajun Louisiana and Vietnamese roots. There's a real flair seen in reimagined classics like crab rangoon, with layers of crab, sweet garlic robiola, and pepper jelly. Solid ingredients and the twists on tradition hit all the right notes, as in the fried quail filled with duck sausage served over crispy tomato rice with clementine mustard. Dessert is equally memorable, especially the vegan pandan panna cotta tucked with Okinawa seaweed and surrounded by chocolate cookie crumble. It's a surprising balance of sweet and savory.