Four eateries on the Route 1 corridor made Washingtonian‘s recent list of best neighborhood restaurants.

The list focuses on places without a lot of pretense that make you feel at home and make their area a nice place to live.

Among the 61 restaurants on the list: Busboys and Poets and Franklins in Hyattsville, Swahili Village Bar and Grill in Beltsville, Taqueria Habanero in College Park and Taqueria La Placita on Edmonston Road in Hyattsville.

Busboys gets props for being a hub of activism and small touches like colorful window murals added in the darkest days of the pandemic.

Franklins wins praise for its displays of local art, using local ingredients and partnering with Sangfroid Distilling across the street to make hand sanitizer.

Swahili Village is noted for its crowd of African expats and locals and dishes like deep-fried whole tilapia in coconut sauce, a Kenyan staple.

Taqueria Habanero’s owners, Dio Montero and Mirna Alvarado, “cook for neighbors as they might for family,” including generously portioned margaritas.

And at Taqueria La Placita, “weekends always felt like a party” before the pandemic, the authors write.

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