The recently opened Namak in Adams Morgan takes its name from the Persian word for salt, but it also refers to the idea of hospitality. It’s a well-chosen moniker. The Eastern Mediterranean–inspired restaurant welcomes guests in such a warm way, you feel like a longtime regular on the first visit. Meals unfurl as a series of mostly smaller plates, potentially punctuated by a few big ones, so you want to linger, pick at this, nibble on that, and chat about everything.

A collaboration between Saied Azali, who owns Perry’s next door, and John Cidre, also a partner at Unconventional Diner, Namak replaces Mintwood Place, which the partners shuttered in 2022 after a 10-year run.

The two restaurants could not be more different. The darker and louder Mintwood Place featured heavier French-influenced fare, while the new venture is bright with a more moderate volume (thanks to new noise-deadening panels installed on the ceiling) and a menu highlighted by much lighter options taking inspiration from Iraq, Turkey, and Greece. Eventually, the goal is to add more North African–influenced dishes in the mix.

The dine-in-only menu begins with breads and almost-too-beautiful-to-eat spreads, known here as dips and rips. Walnut labneh arrives decorated with dill sprigs and traced with a golden bracelet of olive oil, while borani laboo, a fetching blend of beets and yogurt, gleams a regal purple worthy of Prince. Scoop it all up with torn off chunks of tombik, puffy bread that’s like a cross between pita and Neapolitan pizza crust.

Salads and mezze follow. Make time for the saganaki, sesame-crusted feta with slivered almonds that offer a crunch, and a drizzle of honey that helps keep the brininess of the cheese in check. Golden kotlet-e-kadoo (zucchini fritters) play like latkes accented with plenty of onions, a flavor amplified by the garlic yogurt you drag them through.

Kuru patlican dolmasi are a sleeper hit. Sun-dried eggplant shells imported from Turkey are rejuvenated in slightly sweetened water, then stuffed with bulgur, rice, and lentils, all brightened up with mint and parsley. They’re lavished with a sweet-and-sour sauce of sorts made with tomatoes, peppers, and pomegranate molasses. Altogether, they happily remind me of the stuffed peppers my mother used to make.

Of course, there are kebabs. One skewer sporting tender ground lamb arrives on oblong lavash bread with a few blistered cherry tomatoes and shaved red onions on the side, so you can create little sandwiches made even better with any remaining dips. Another standout: grilled chicken breast with creamy garlic toum. Mains include a delightful head of roasted cauliflower with turmeric and dappled with za’atar, and tender dorado on a bed of sauteed spinach enriched by onions and nutmeg.

For drinks, there’s a small, Greek-heavy wine list, classic cocktails with Medi flourishes, a pair of beers: a Greek summer wit and a Turkish pilsner. The nonalcoholic choices include honey lemon ginger soda, denuded Aperol Spritz, and deeply savory salgam made with purple carrots and bulgur wheat, which is billed as a probiotic and may be an acquired taste as a complement to dinner.

Save room for the Namak version of on-trend Basque burnt cheesecake. Fortified with feta for a briny layer of complexity, it is sweetened and tarted up with a dollop of sour cherry compote. A special during one visit was a golden disc of kunefe, its top layer of crunchy kadayif pastry filaments hiding a cheese pull worthy of a mozzarella stick.

Finding someone talented enough to create such a diverse menu proved to be a daunting task, but Azali finally located Tolgahan Gulyiyen through a headhunter. The chef follows in the footsteps of his father, once the personal chef for Turkey’s 22nd prime minister, Tansu Çiller, as well as countless generations of family members who worked as private chefs for the Ottoman dynasty. Gulyiyen has been in kitchens since he was 14 years old when he took a job at Istanbul’s Çırağan Palace, a onetime palace now transformed into a luxury hotel. He studied the culinary arts at the Tourism and Hotel Management School in the northern Turkish city of Mengen and eventually made his way to the D.C. area, where he spent time working at two Greek spots: José Andrés’ Zaytinya and Nostos in Tysons Corner.

When it came time to redo the space, the partners turned to NAHRA Design Group’s Michael Mason, who worked on designs for Rose’s Luxury, Bread Furst, and the now-closed Emilie’s. With white walls, fetching archways framing transitional spaces, and modern-minded furniture by Daniel Donnelly, the 98-seat space includes a 14-seat bar and another 24 seats on its high-visibility patio on Columbia Road NW.

Look closely around Namak and you’ll see all sorts of Eastern Mediterranean Easter eggs scattered throughout the restaurant, such as persimmons (a symbol of fertility), Turkish suzani (hand-embroidered textile panels taking their name from the Persian word meaning needle), and an Evil Eye.

Namak, 1813a Columbia Rd. NW. (202) 234-6732. namakdc.com