Someone wrote: >: Sweth C. wrote: >: > >: > + after 5 years of living in dc proper, i've just moved out to >: > alexandria (specifically, landmark). i tend to be up late at night fairly >: > often, and in the time i was in dc, discovered many places that i could >: > get good food from after 11pm; now that i'm in nova, however, i am having >: > <<cut for space>> >: > nocturnally appetitive, >: > sweth. >: > -- >: > . > >I would be interested to know what you discovered in DC while you were >here. I fairly often need to find a place around midnight, and so many >places shut down at 11 or 11:30. i lived in the foggy bottom/west end area (as this gwu acc't might imply), so most of the places i know are centered around there. still, a lot of them deliver, and would probably go to other parts of dc. there's the d.c. cafe on p street (just west of dupont), which has a pretty good cheesesteak (one of my staple late-night foodstuffs) and is open 24 hours; you also get a wonderful dining atmosphere, if you happen to enjoy sitting outside and watching the denizens of dupont wander home at 3 am (as i do). similarly, there's the georgetown cafe, up wisconsin, which is also open 24 hours; all i've ever had there are breakfast foods, but they weren't too bad, and there are always entertaining people there, too. at about 33rd and m, there's quick pita and fettoosh express, both of which do middle eastern food. i'm not sure how late fettoosh is open, since quick pita (open till 4 am) is a bit cheaper, and delivers. the gyros at either place are _very_ filling, and i was particularly fond of the chicken m'sahab at quick pita, as well. "george's townhouse the king of falafel and cheesesteak" (that's its official name) is at the corner of m and 28th, and has the best cheesesteak i've found in dc, plus a lot of other good middle eastern food (the rice pudding is only so-so, though). the upstairs dining room was once an amazing experience, since there was something surreal about sitting at 2 am in a room painted entirely in blue and lit by pale pink neon tubes running along the ceiling; the owner recently decided that he was getting too old to keep staying open late, however, so they now close at around 11 pm, and a few trips there during my lunch break at work have confirmed that the room just isn't the same in the harsh light of day. (for people who like hot food, i strongly recommend getting some of the special hot sauce they keep in a jar in the fridge at george's and spreading it on whatever food you eat... absolutely amazing.) manny & olga's, and pizza movers and calzones, are two good (and very similar) italian delivery places that are open very late. pizza mover's has some great values on calzones (i've seen three people split one once, and they're tasty, too), but otherwise i find many & olga's to be a better value. m&o's has some great buffalo wings, too, as long as you remember to let them cool a bit before eating them--they make them fresh, so the sauce is still warm and thus way too runny; after about ten minutes, though, it cools down and congeals to a much more pleasant texture. stay away from the sandwiches at m&o's, though--they tend to be cold and rubbery. (the subs are pretty good, however.) cappucino's is another italian place that is open late; the service, however, is the worst i've ever seen from a delivery place. my friends and i have horror stories going back years about deliveries that took 3 hours, orders that were totally messed up, and the like. the last time i ordered from there, one of my friends (who is lactose-intolerant) got cheese on his pastrami sandwich (which arrived, with the rest of the order, an hour after we had originally called). when we called back, the person who answered the phone claimed that they only had one delivery driver, and he only made one delivery run each day, so they couldn't send out another sandwich. after some well-considered cursing of ancestry and a few choice words with the manager, i was able to get another pastrami sadnwich out (a few hours later, i might add); still, i don't think i'll be ordering from capp.'s anytime soon. (the problem, of course, is that the food is legitimately good, which is why i kept going back every so often.) blue diamond and restaurant shevina are the only two chinese delivery places i've found that were open past midnight. (i think silver place once was, but when i called them about a year ago i got a message saying that the phone number was disconnected.) blue diamond tends to be more consistent, but pretty mediocre; restaurant shevina has a bit more variety, and sometimes has some really good dishes, but is generally more erratic; the differences are even more striking, since as far as i can tell they are both run by the same people (so that, for example, their menus both share the many of the same endearing typos that make each chinese restaurant in dc unique). i'm not that thrilled with either, so i generally plan ahead and order from peking express or charlie chang's before 10pm (chinese food is often better four hours later, in my opinion), or go with one of the other places. or rather, i used to plan ahead or else order from somewhere else; i'm still looking for some good places out here, but not having much luck. someone recommended the grand carlyle in shirlington, and if i ever finish unpacking enough to find my phone books, i'll look up the address an dgive it a try. i've also found the four seasons diner, which seems reassuringly like any diner on long island, but that's about it in the way of late night food out here (discounting the friendly's down the road, which turns even my stomach). any other suggestions? listing eateries, sweth. because sometimes chutzpah doesn't cut it. <a href="http://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~sweth">.</a>
Washington, DC