That’s awesome, trying cuisine from around the world is not only fun and delicious, it’s a great way to learn about culture and history. We’re fortunate to live in an area with tons of options. It’s a big world out there, so I’d suggest deciding on a region or country and searching “best middle eastern restaurant Dc” or something similar. Check out Tim Carman’s column in the Washington Post. He mostly reviews restaurants serving food other than the standard American diet, or other well known cuisines like Italian or French.

A few of my thoughts:

• Middle Eastern Cuisine in Takoma Park is great
• Purple Patch for Filipino
• Pho 14 or Pho USA for Vietnamese pho noodle soup
• Cher Cher vegetarian combo
• Compass Rose has a fun world travel theme and dishes from around the world.

One possible theme - many cultures have dough stuffed with delicious filling as a popular dish. As your entry into various cuisines, you could try gyoza from Japan, empanadas from Argentina, Samosas from India, Chinese dumplings, pupusas from El Salvador, Polish pierogis, Jamaican beef patties, etc.