In article , [email removed] (Gregory H. Gust) wrote: >I am considering moving to a place between the Courthouse and Clarendon >Metros. Can anyone respond with enthusiastic endorsements of places >nearby? Thanks in advance! Funny you should mention that; thanks to some roommate switching hassles, I'm moving out of the area <sob!>. I've been there for a year and change; it's a terrific place for restaurants and bars, and I'm going to miss it. Here's some of my favorite places, listed in rought east-to-west order along Wilson/Clarendon Boulevards: Vilage Bistro: Technically this is Rosslyn, but what the heck. A very crowded, very good French restaurant in a little strip of shops that includes, let's see, an Afghan, a Cambodian, a Vietnamese, a Thai, an Italian, plus this French restaurant. Plus a strip bar, so we've even got American :) Bardo Rodeo: Billed as the largest brewpub on the East Coast, and certainly one of the scummiest. The bathroom is unspeakably vile. But the beer, some unfortunate exceptions (e.g., Chinook Pale Ale) is great and cheap (~$6 a pitcher during happy hour, which includes all day Sunday). And the food is pretty good stuff by bar-chow standards; those nachos are a meal for two in themselves. The Little Cafe: decent brunch, great croissants/pastries, etc. Pizza de Resistance: These guys were doing trendoid 'za years before CPK got into the act. They've also got better beer. RT's Seafood Kitchen: right next door to PdR; it's the younger brother to the RT's in Del Ray in Alexandra. Good New Orleans cuisine, as if I'd know :) Delhi Dhaba: The best Indian food I've had for $5 for dinner, and much better than that statement might suggest. Galaxy Hut: A very intimate (read, cramped :) brewpub on Wilson, with a selection concentrated on first-rate microbrews. Notable for its "year-round-Christmas" decor of lights strung about the interior. Strangeways: A block down Wilson from the Hut, it's twice as big, with an equivalent selection of beers and big blown-up shots of people's heads along the wall. Iota: One of the best hang-out spots in all of D.C. I've seen it crowded at 1 a.m. Monday morning. And you can barely squeeze in on some Saturday nights. It's also a great place to chill on a weekend afternoon. The brunch is great, but the two of the last three times I went they screwed up an order of "pain perdue," a delicious variation on French toast made with baguette slices. Their coffee is the word. Faccia Luna: Better atmosphere/decor than the one in Glover Park, I'd say. They do both plain old pizza and the gourmet kind very well. Red Hot & Blue Express: beats any of the fast food places here by a mile, but, yeah, it's not as good as the one in Rosslyn. Hard Times Cafe: I haven't been there in a while, but their chili is terrific. Also open late--I wish there was a genuinely late-night (open til at least 3) option in the neighborhood. La Cantinata Havana Cafe: A Cuban place, got a great writeup in the Post magazine and deserves it, from what I could tell on my one visit there. The food can tend towards the salty side, though. Queen Bee: Most people say this is one of the best of the strip of Vietnamese restaurants in front of the Clarendon Metro. Cafe Dalat is the other one usually so mentioned, but I haven't been there yet. I've eaten once at Atami and liked it, but then I opened the Metro section last week and saw it listed on the rat-list for, among other things, "roach infestation." Yuck. That kinda sucks. Sugar Shack was a cool place to suck down expensive lattes, but it's gone now. That kinda sucks too. Whitlow's on Wilson should be open now, but I haven't checked out this bar/restaurant yet. And Blue n' Gold Brewing Company in Clarendon, if Lynne's reports here are at all true, will keep me visiting the neighborhood for some time :) Also, Bread and Circus, the Dean & Deluca-type food store going up on Wilson, is supposed to include a cafe of some sort, which will be worth stopping by. If you do move in I don't think you'll be disappointed at all. The Court House/Clarendon area is not, as some might say, the equivalent of Adams Morgan or Dupont; it's too low-key, and there's still way too many vacant lots and boarded-up buildings lining Wilson, which makes for some weird juxtapositions--you've got buildings with $900+/month apartments squatting next to, literally, a hole in the ground. But it's easily the best neighborhood in Arlington in terms of places to eat/drink/spend money/act foolish, and from what I've seen in the last year it's only getting better. Cheers, Rob
Washington, DC
near Courthouse or Clarendon Metros?
On 2 Nov 1995, Gregory G. wrote: > I am considering moving to a place between the Courthouse and Clarendon > Metros. Can anyone respond with enthusiastic endorsements of places > nearby? Thanks in advance! > > -- > Greg Gust I noticed that most of your responses were for "cheap eats". If you are looking for a good "real restaurant", try L'Alouette. As neighborhood French restaurants go, you won't find many better. Peg VERTECH 1015 18th St.NW Suite 403 Washington, DC 20036 Tel.202/331-4956 Fax 202/659-2724 email [email removed]
The Queen Bee is nearby, absolutely fabulous Vietnamese food, although there can be a line out the door on weekends. There is also a great chili place (the name is escaping me) and several decent bars around if that's your thing. Enjoy the neighborhood, I grew up in Arlington and love it still! megan
A S. wrote: >Gregory G. wrote: >>I am considering moving to a place between the Courthouse and Clarendon >>Metros. Can anyone respond with enthusiastic endorsements of places >>nearby? Thanks in advance! Dont forget Cafe Dalot (sp?)! Awesome Vietnamese food right by courthouse metro. Cheap, big portions, delicious. >Queen Bee (Vietnamese) >Faccia Luna (pizza) >Iota's (tavern & music) >Galaxy Hut (good beers/tavern) >Whitey's (*shrug* not sure what you call this, but I liked > the food) >Bardo Rodeo (brewpub) >Pizza de Rissatance(sp?) (pizza) >R&T's Seafood (seafood, duh!) >Haven't eaten at of these, but I do frequent the hut on >a semi-regular basis. (Spaten Oktoberfest on tap....) >Enjoy, >Tom >-- >-- >May I walk in beauty. Make my eyes |L H Dude | oOO >ever behold the red and purple sunset. |[email removed] | _____ OO >Make my hands respect the things you have+----------------------| (_/-\_).. >made, and my ears sharp to your voice - Chief Yellow Lark | ==(0).