Twelve Northern Virginia restaurants have taken top honors on this year's Washington Post list of best restaurants. 

Noted by restaurant critic Tom Sietsman are:

• Artie's - traditional American cuisine**
• Banian - Afghan**
• Bistro L'Hermitage - French***
• Eventide - Contemporary American***
• Four Sisters - Vietnamese***
• Han Gang - Korean***
• Inn at Little Washington - Contemporary American****
• Present - Vietnamese***
• Ray's the Steaks - Steak***
• Restaurant Eve's Tasting Room - Contemporary American****
• Trummer's on Main - Contemporary American
• 2941 - Contemporary American****

Using one to four stars, this is Sietseman's rating system:

*Satisfactory - restaurants that are useful to know about if you are nearby; they may have only a few dishes or a single quality, such as a view or atmosphere, to distinguish them.

**Good - restaurants with generally appealing cooking, service and settings, they tend to be worth driving across town for.

***Excellent - rewarding destinations, no matter where you're coming from; they typically blend high-quality cooking with the environs.

****Superlative - an unsurpassed dining experience ; these restaurants do what they do extraordinarily well.

Look's like I have some new places to try -