If there’s one food event that outshines them all, it’s arguably Mess Hall’s “New Kitchens on the Block,” which features the D.C. region’s next buzzy restaurants before they even open. The “Godzilla of pop-ups,” as the Washington City Paper once dubbed it, returns this summer to showcase nine eateries from many names you’ll recognize — and others that if you don’t, you probably will soon.

Starting in 2016, created by culinary incubator Mess Hall founder Al Goldberg and food writer Nevin Martell, New Kitchens on the Block has given ticketed guests an exclusive look at restaurants such as Maydan, Oyster Oyster, and Daru. This year’s lineup aims high, presenting both established and up-and-coming chefs and restaurateurs and their new restaurant ideas, including Korean barbecue from Chef Kevin Tien, a San Francisco-style burrito joint from Cielo Rojo‘s David Perez and Carolina McCandless, and more.

“This is going to be really awesome for people that follow the D.C. dining scene because this is going to give them a taste of chefs that they love that they didn’t even know were going to be doing something new and exciting,” says Martell.

The one day pop-up will be held on Saturday, June 10 at Mess Hall in D.C.’s Edgewood neighborhood. For $119, or $99 for an early bird ticket, guests will get to sample a dish and a drink from each of the nine restaurants. There will be two separate two-hour sessions, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. District Made Spirits will supply liquor to restaurateurs for cocktails. Guests can go back for seconds of their favorite, and cocktails will flow, says Goldberg.

If guests buy a VIP ticket for $159, or $139 early bird, then they’ll get a bonus ticket to attend an after party at Right Proper Brewing Company’s Brookland Production House & Tasting Room, which is a seven-minute walk from Mess Hall. There, VIP guests will receive a tasting flight featuring classic and limited-edition beers and a charcuterie platter, plus a “backstage tour” from Right Proper co-founder Thor Cheston.

“One thing that gives me so much joy about the event is to support [and] continue to keep D.C. a vibrant dining scene that’s driven by independently-owned restaurants with fantastically talented chefs,” says Goldberg. “All the guests, all the while, get to enjoy craft cocktails and beers that come from these made in D.C. beverage companies. And I think that just ties it all up with a pretty little bow. To really put the exclamation mark on our commitment to local food and beverage.”

Some of the participating restaurants’ new locations have already been announced, like Chef Jerome Grant’s Mahal Afro-Filipino BBQ, coming to The Square food hall in downtown D.C. Others are being revealed with the announcement of this year’s New Kitchens on the Block. For example, restaurateur and chef Matt Baker will debut food from his planned Mediterranean restaurant. Baker is a returning NKOTB participant, having showcased his first solo restaurant, Gravitas, at the pop-up’s launch.

Because Mess Hall has a 10,000-square-foot kitchen, chefs will prepare their dishes throughout the day for guests to enjoy fresh. The incubator will even procure the tools needed for chefs to replicate what patrons would enjoy at their restaurant — one year, Goldberg says they got wood-burning oven for chef Amy Brandwein who was showcasing Piccolina da Centrolina.

Here’s who to expect:

A To-Be-Named Mediterranean Concept by Matt Baker of Gravitas and Michele’s

Fan of Matt Baker, the chef behind Michelin-starred Gravitas, as well as Michele’s and Baker’s Daughter? Well it would seem the best way to learn more about his latest venture is to go to the NKOTB pop-up. Not much is public yet, according to his PR team. Baker has not yet determined a name for his new restaurant, according to the organizers, but will debut some dishes from the forthcoming Mediterranean brick-and-mortar at the event.

Mahal Afro-Filipino BBQ by Jerome Grant of Sweet Home Café and Jackie

Jerome Grant will serve barbecue that nods to both his African American and Filipino heritage at his new restaurant, Mahal BBQ, coming to The Square food hall. (The food hall is opening this summer, as early as June.) Grant made a name for himself at Sweet Home Café, a restaurant inside the Smithsonian’s’ National Museum of African American History and Culture that was nominated for best new restaurant by the James Beard Foundation. Grant has already been hosting pop-ups for Mahal BBQ, serving up Filipino skewers like smoked inasal chicken marinated in lemongrass. “What I have learned throughout the years in having this diverse background is that there are similarities in dishes across all cultures — every cuisine has a rice dish, or stewed dish,” Grant previously told DCist/WAMU.

San Pancho by David Perez and Carolina McCandless of Cielo Rojo

The couple behind Takoma Park’s Cielo Rojo are opening up a new restaurant called San Pancho that’ll serve San Francisco-style burritos. San Pancho will take over Cielo Rojo’s current location on Carroll Avenue because the existing Mexican restaurant is moving two blocks away into a larger space this summer. Carolina McCandless says they dreamed up San Pancho to satisfy a craving for burritos, which were always available to her when she lived in San Francisco for 15 years. What distinguishes a San Francisco-style burrito? A large tortilla that’s loaded with fillings, including Mexican rice and melted cheese. McCandless says they’re using Mexican-made tortillas prepared with vegetable shortening instead of lard, keeping with their practice of offering vegetarian options. “If you bite into these tortillas, it tastes like somebody’s freshly made them. They’re really more moist than the typical tortillas that you would buy at the store,” says McCandless. San Pancho will be fast-casual, with patrons ordering at the counter, and is expected to open this year, possibly late summer. The NKOTB event will be San Pancho’s first pop-up.

A to-be-named Korean BBQ joint by Kevin Tien of Moon Rabbit

The James Beard-nominated chef of Moon Rabbit,  Himitsu and Hot Lola’s fame will test out a Korean barbecue spot at New Kitchens on the Block. Organizers couldn’t offer much more on where or when this restaurant might open. But during the pandemic, Tien prepared Asian barbecue with chef Scott Chung in their joint pop-up called Wild Tiger BBQ. And having grown up in Texas and Louisiana, it’s perhaps not surprising that Tien picked up barbecuing.

Elena James by Colin McClimans and Danilo Simic of Opal and Nina May

The owners of Shaw New American restaurant Nina May are opening their third restaurant, Elena James, in D.C.’s Chevy Chase neighborhood as early as this summer. Colin McClimans and Danilo Simic plan to make the new 5,000-square-foot restaurant and market more casual, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the restaurant side and grab-and-go meals including pastries and sandwiches in the market.  “We’ve always said we’d stick with the same kind of mission: sourcing locally, being very seasonal, but we didn’t want to stamp out another Nina May,” McClimans told Washingtonian. “This one is more family-friendly, more casual, a little more approachable.” Whatever Elena James dishes out on June 10, expect the ingredients to be sourced within 150 miles of the forthcoming restaurant.

Alfreda by Russell Smith of Wolfgang Puck’s The Source and CUT

Russell Smith, who’s spent a decade in fine dining, wants to open a neighborhood pizzeria called Alfreda. When the pandemic closed the Wolfgang Puck restaurants, Smith became a private chef for a former regular and their family. When he cooked pizza for the children, he discovered a passion for baking. “I started making these pizzas and I was like, ‘This is like the best thing I’ve ever made, I’ve enjoyed the most, and I just couldn’t stop making it just because I wanted to eat more,” says Smith. Alfreda will serve New York-style pizza with simple toppings to showcase the dough. He hasn’t found a location yet for his pizzeria but hopes New Kitchens on the Block enables something. For the NKOTB event, he plans to offer pepperoni balls, a treat from his childhood he likened to a mini calzone.

Mallard by Hamilton Johnson of Honeysuckle and American Son

Mallard, which Hamilton Johnson hopes to open in Northwest D.C. this year, will be the chef’s first solo restaurant. The name honors his late father. “It’s kind of an ode to him,” says Mallard. “He carved wood decoys and he loved to cook.” The menu includes the food Johnson was raised on, Southern-style cuisine. He wants the restaurant to have a happening atmosphere, with classic rock playing and an open-kitchen design. (He may play classic rock at the NKOTB pop-up to give guests a taste for the real thing, he says.) Right now, he expects to prepare a crispy ham hock with a deviled-egg aioli and a giardiniera with fresh herbs. The NKOTB pop-up will kick off a string of summer pop-ups for Mallard.

Two Nine by Zach Ramos and Amy Phan of Ama Ami

Sushi Taro veterans Zach Ramos and Amy Phan will preview their Georgetown sushi restaurant Two Nine. The couple is already known for their “homakase” dinners, with Ama Ami, where they prepare sushi delicacies in a tasting menu in people’s homes and brightly-colored sashimi in chirashi bowls for take-out. The official opening date of Two Nine has yet to be announced, but when it does open, the bi-level restaurant will offer chirashi bowls in the downstairs cafe and a 15- to 17-course sushi meal at the upstairs omakase counter, Martell reported for Washington City Paper. Ramos told Martell that he hopes to weave in his Hawaiian heritage into the Japanese dishes, so expect the chef’s own take on island classics like poke and laulau. Whatever the couple brings to the NKOTB event, expect it to be beautiful.

Urai by Ben Plyraharn of Masseria and Reverie

Ben Plyraharn, who Martell called the “next big rock star,” has cooked for restaurants all around the city for roughly 13 years, including Michelin-starred ones like Bresca and Reverie. Plyraharn is now ready to open his own restaurant, called Urai, offering American cuisine with Thai-inspired flavors influenced by both his upbringing and the kitchens he’s worked at over the last decade. Plyraharn wants to name the restaurant after his mother, who first taught him how to cook, and actually taught him how to make the dish he plans on previewing at New Kitchens on the Block: a traditional Thai hot and sour soup called Tom Yum Goong. It’ll be prepared chilled, effectively a kombu-cured scallop crudo. “Every time I go back to Thailand — and I don’t care how long the flight was or how jet lag I was — it’s the first thing I need to eat as soon as I get off the plane,” says Plyraharn. He doesn’t have a space yet for his restaurant but hopes to get one soon. In the meantime, he’ll be hosting pop-ups, including at New Kitchens on the Block.