Fiola’s smoked potato gnocchi with grilled octopus and crab

Two D.C. restaurants and one in Alexandria made the cut in Bon Appétit’s list of the country’s 50 best new restaurants in the magazine’s September issue. From the District, Bon Appétit tapped Fiola, the Pennsylvania Avenue NW modern trattoria owned by Fabio Trabocchi, and Little Serow, the hole-in-the-wall northern Thai spot that is so low-key, it doesn’t even have a phone number.

Also selected was Virtue Feed and Grain, the forward-thinking Alexandria pub run by former Restaurant Eve toque Cathal Armstrong. Bon Appétit also singled out Armstrong’s restaurant for its brunch deal—show up in pajamas and get 10 percent off the bill.

Since its opening, Fiola has been touted by D.C.’s food enthusiasts. It instantly jumped to No. 8 on Washingtonian’s best restaurants list, and in June nabbed the RAMMMY award for best new restaurant.

Little Serow has garnered just as much praise. In June, the City Paper’s former food critic Chris Shott called the basement-level find his favorite new restaurant for breaking away from the all-too-common Thai cuisine of greasy bland noodle dishes:

The cuisine is unlike anything else in town, and certainly like no Thai food you’ve probably ever encountered: No drunken noodles. No pad Thai. None of your typical Thaiphoon or Thai Tanic fare of any kind. Little Serow taps into the eclectic Isaan style of Northern Thailand, where the spice level has apparently switched scales from Scoville to Richter.

Next week, Bon Appétit’s Andrew Knowlton will winnow down the list even further, picking a “Hot 10” that will stand as the very best new restaurants.