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Best of the Rest

FOOD & RESTAURANTS

Best Overall Restaurant

Persimmon

So what’s the secret to chef-owner Damian Salvatore’s success?

Persimmon, his cozy American bistro, opened in 1998 and has won the Bethesda Magazine Best Restaurant award three times in a row.

“It’s very personal for me,” Salvatore says. “I do food I like to eat. And maybe it’s because we do a good blend between real high-end food and the type people can understand.” That means lobster rolls, rack of lamb and crab cakes are among the restaurant’s biggest sellers.

Salvatore was slated to open a new restaurant, Wild Tomato, in Cabin John this past December. The Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School graduate says the venture wouldn’t have been possible without his longtime Persimmon staff, some of whom will be working at the new place. As for Salvatore, “I’ll be bouncing back and forth.”

7003 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda, 301-654-9860, www.persimmonrestaurant.com

Other top vote-getters: Cava, Black’s Bar & Kitchen, Black Market Bistro, Addie’s, Woodmont Grill, Redwood, Raku, Ruth’s Chris

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