Everything at Maydan is cooked over this giant hearth in the middle of the dining romo. (Photo by Rey Lopez)

In Bon Appetit’s battle for best new restaurant, D.C. again claims the silver. The food magazine has named the fiery Middle Eastern dining spot Maydan as it’s number two best new restaurant in the country. Oklahoma City’s Nonesuch took the top spot.

Bon Appetit whittled the list down from its Top 50 restaurants announced earlier this summer, which included the Mount Pleasant bakery Ellē and the three eateries inside The Line hotel: A Rake’s Progress, Spoken English, and Brothers and Sisters.

The magazine’s award is the latest prize for Maydan, following executive chefs Gerald Addison and Chris Morgan being named the RAMMYs’ rising culinary stars in June, and Maydan making it to best restaurant lists from Food & Wine and Eater, not to mention being among the finalists for a James Beard Restaurant Award.

In Bon Appetit’s online package announcing the news, owner Rose Previte—who, along with Morgan and Addison, are also behind Compass Rose— told the story of the restaurant in her own words, starting with the meaning behind its name:

I discovered the word “maydan” in Ukraine. I kept hearing it: “Everyone is meeting at maydan,” and “The revolution is happening at maydan.” I found out this word is used throughout the Caucuses, Iran, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and India. And it always means the same thing: a central public meeting place. A space for people to come together as a community, to mourn, to celebrate, to rebel. People in these places have drastic income disparities, but there’s always street food that everybody loves and that’s representative of the culture. The poor people eat there and the rich people eat there. It’s an equalizer. A maydan brings everyone together over a common emotion. And that is powerful.

Following a trip to Morocco, Tunisia, Georgia, Lebanon, and Turkey with the Maydan team, the restaurant opened in November, featuring a variety of Middle Eastern-inspired dishes cooked over an enormous open hearth in the middle of the dining room. Should you want to recreate some of their dishes at home, like the salty halloumi, the sweet cinnamon tomato jam—one of a handful of condiments meant to be slathered generously over meat and bread—or the slow roasted lamb shoulder, Bon Appetit includes recipes.

The District has been well represented on Bon Appetit’s Best New Restaurant list for years. The magazine named tiny Filipino spot Bad Saint its number two new restaurant in 2016—and named D.C. its restaurant city of the year— just two years after Rose’s Luxury claimed the top spot.

Read the entire 2018 Hot 10 list below:

1. Nonesuch, Oklahoma City
2. Maydan, Washington, D.C.
3. Ugly Baby, Brooklyn
4. Freedman’s, Los Angeles
5. Nyum Bai, Oakland, Ca.
6. Nimblefish, Portland, Ore.
7. Che Fico, San Francisco
8. Yuma Ga Arukara, Cambridge, Ma.
9. Drifter’s Wife, Portland, Me.
10. Call, Denver