Bantam King

Chicken ramen is the star of the menu at Bantam King, which is housed in a renovated Burger King that still has plenty of nods to the original design, like fast-food booths and cafeteria trays on the walls. There are several possible combinations of broths and flavors centered around the cloudy paitan stock. It’s hard to pass up the kick of the spicy miso ramen or the delicate flavors of the shoyu Chintan broth. Bowls come with the option to add on items like a seasoned egg, corn, or extra meat. Also, it's basically impossible to ignore the restaurant’s extremely shareable fried chicken platter, which marries fiery Nashville hot chicken with Chinese flavors. It’s great for soaking up Bantam King's very solid Japanese drink list, including sake, beer, and Japanese whiskey (although the ramen does that job pretty solidly on its own).

Turn the corner from Capital One Arena and you’ll find what was once a Burger King. But this BK, Bantam King, is nothing like its fast-food past. The colorful restaurant from chefs Mary Mendoza and Katsuya Fukushima (of Daikaya, a ramen and izakaya restaurant located a block away) is known for serving some of the best fried chicken in DC. The menu includes both a Nashville hot chicken and curry snow-fried chicken plate, plus a half-dozen varieties of ramen. Just be sure to save room for dessert and order up the “big fat chocolate chip cookie.” It’s loaded with Valrhona chocolate chips and is baked in rendered chicken fat.