NNTP-Posting-Date: 5 Nov 1998 01:08:34 GMT To: Jessica X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01C-DH397 (Win16; I) Xref: alexander.INS.CWRU.Edu rec.food.restaurants:42090 Jessica wrote: > Anyone have recommendations for DC restaurants? Lots and Lots and LOTS. See below for a LONG response. > Restaurants in Raleigh/Durham? Sorry, can't help with this. ...a TRULY LONG article I wrote a while back, and have just reviewed and updated, summarizing my current preferences in food in DC. Feel free to email if you have further questions... Sarah > A good source for restaurant reviews is the Washington Post's restaurant > review database at: > http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/searches/restrant.htm You can > get exact addresses, phone numbers, hours, and price ranges from there. > > And here I could write a novel. In order to give a really perfect > answer here, I would need to know exactly what you like to eat, but I > can give a > few ideas. I tend to eat ethnic, and mid-priced. That said: > > Among my favorite places in the entire city is a place called Cashion's > Eat Place. Its in a neighborhood known as Adams-Morgan, in NW DC, on > Columbia Rd. New American food. Outrageously good, and at the high end > of prices. Worth every penny. MAKE RESERVATIONS or you may have > trouble getting in. > > Next on the not ethnic, not mid priced, but amazing list is Ruppert's > Restaurant. 7th St NW, at Mt Vernon Square. Also outrageously > expensive, new american, MUST have a reservation to get in. A marvelous > place with great food and great > service. > > And of course, Marrakesh. 6th and NY Aves NW. The neighborhood scares > some people off, but its not as bad as they think it is. Morroccan. > Fixed-price, seven courses, traditional Morroccan EVERYTHING - seating, > decor, food, service, and belly dancing. Make reservations. Plan on > spending about 2 1/2 hours there. Its a narrow, orange building, > labeled only in arabic. You have to knock on the door to get in. The > decor is incredible, the food is delicious, the > service is good. > > On to the next category: > > Adams-Morgan is a good neighborhood to eat in. It centers around 18th > St and Columbia Rd NW - Halfway between the Woodley Park-Zoo Metro stop > and the Dupont Circle Metro stop. Many many restaurants, wide variety > of cuisine and price range. My favorite pool hall (Bedrock Billiards) > is in this neighborhood. Several good places in descending order of > price: Felix (New American)(my husband will go to GREAT lengths for their > seared tuna with wasabi cream sauce.), The Grill from Ipanema (Brazilian > Steakhouse), Meskerem (Ethiopian), Mama Ayesha's (Lebanese), Star of Siam >(2nd location), India Gate, India 2000 > Basically, its hard to go wrong eating in Adams-Morgan. > > There's also a lot of good food at Dupont Circle. My personal favorite > is Pizzeria Paradisio, on P St NW, between 20th & 21st. Go early. Its > a small place, the lines are long, and they don't take reservations. > Right around the circle there are a number of good places. Read menus > and follow your nose. I also like Cafe Luna (Cheap, Pizza, Pasta, > Sandwiches), on 17th &P. On 17th St between P and R there is another > (smaller) restaurant district. Many good places to eat. I LOVE Annie's > Paramount Steak House. Pesce is also in this neighborhood. All fish. I can't > speak from experience, as I don't eat fish, but everyone I know who does eat fish seems to like it a LOT. > Obelisk is also in this neighborhood. Short menu, very expensive. Extremely good. > > Just below Dupont Circle, but above Farragut Square, off Conn Ave, on a > small side street called Jefferson, is a wonderful Lebanese place called > Bacchus. Really great food ! > > Cleveland Park is another good neighborhood to eat (right at the > Cleveland Park metro stop). The YenCheng Palace is a good Chinese > place. Spices offers a mix of Asian food, including good sushi. Something-or-Other PHO is also here for > good Vietnamese. Coppi's Vigorelli for good upscale Italian. > Ardeo comes highly reccomended, but I haven't been there yet. If > you're just drinking, go to the Aroma Company, also on Conn Ave. And, > for a good pub, Nanny O'Brian's, also on Conn is good - they also make > decent sandwiches and burgers. > > Just one Metro Stop down from Cleveland Park is Woodley Park. Eat at > Mrs Simpsons (Yes, named for the Duchess of Windsor) for new American > (Not cheap, and they take reservations.), or at Lebanese Taverna. For > Lebanese, go early. Lines are long, no reservations. Or at Saigon > Gourmet,the Vietnamese place right next door to Lebanese Taverna. Or, > for upscale Italian, go to Petito's. If you simply want dessert and > coffee, the best in the city is at Dolce Finale, in the wine cellar at > Petito's. Murphy's Irish Pub is also here. City Blues is here too. At > both of these places go for the drinks and the music. Food is passable, > but NOT memorable. > > Chinatown is at the Gallery Place-Chinatown Metro stop - close to the > museums, and the new MCI center. A good neighborhood for lunch. My favorite places there are > Tony Cheng's Mongolian Barbeque on H St NW, and Mr Yungs, on 6th St NW. > There's a Burmese place > upstairs from Mr. Yung's. And there's a decent brewpub on 7th St NW, > between E and F Sts called the District Chophouse. There's also Jaleo, > at 7th and E Sts NW, for Tapas. And somewhere in Chinatown are Cafe > Atlantico (Good Carribean) and Coco Loco. (Both in the NOT cheap > category.) There's also a new pub (part of a chain) called Fado. > I've had a nice lunch there, but no real experience with the place. > I have heard good things about it, but tend to automatically distrust chains. > > Capitol Hill is a good place to eat too. For the South side of the > hill: On Pennsylvania Ave SE, between 6th and 7th look for a place > called Anatolia for GREAT Turkish food. There's also a really good cheap Pakistani place in this block. > Sorry, can't remember its name. Further up toward the Capitol, > also on Pennsylvania Ave, Taverna the Greek Isalnds is good, and La > Lomitas Dos is nice for Mexican. On a weekend, if you want to feel > local, go to Eastern Market (7th & Constitution SW), look around, and > eat at Market Lunch (VERY casual, breakfast and luch on Staurday, lunch > only on Sunday.) For the North side of the hill: Massachusetts Ave NE, > starting at Union Station, down to about 7th St is another small > restaurant strip. Several good places there...And B > Smith's, in Union Station, is a decent nouvelle Southern place, in the > old Presidential Waiting Room of the Train Station. Live jazz on > weekends. > > U St NW between 12th and 14th Sts is our newest trendy > restaurant/entertainment district. Eat at Polly's Cafe, or at Coppis, > or - well, it's another area where its hard to go wrong... and its a > good place to hit bars. > > Georgetown. This is M st and Wisconsin Ave NW. The neighborhood is > rather expensive, and full of tourists. But there are some good > places. Music City Roadhouse serves Southern food, with live country > music on weekends, and live gospel at Sunday Brunch. Il Raddichio is a > nice spaghetti and pizza place.(local chain) Adati does good Indian. > Cafe Babalu does strange, but good southwestern stuff. Live jazz/blues > late on > weekends. Clydes is ok, but not amazing pub grub. Same for Chadwick's. > Not worth the time really, but convenient to grab a burger while > shopping. > Ok, random odds and ends that I just noticed have been left out. Kinkeads at Foggy Bottom. (21st and Penn Ave NW). More new American. Food for Thought at Dupont Circle. A serious hippy place. Zorba's at Dupont Circle. Cheap Greek. Good place to sit outside and peoplewatch. The Brickskellar at 22nd and P. Don't eat much beyond the burger here (REALLY DON'T eat the pizza.) But, 500+ kinds of beer. Zuki Moon at Foggy Bottom for Japanese food. > (Locals with additions/comments are welcome to email me - I know its not > complete, and I do TRY to keep up on openings/closings/etc.) (Tourists > with questions are also welcome to email me.) (note to spammers:you are > NEVER welcome to email me.) > > (This has been both posted and emailed to the original poster. My > newsfeed is occasionally flaky, and I don't trust it to actually make it > to the > newsgroup.)
Washington, DC
Recommendations in DC and NC
>Jessica wrote: >> Anyone have recommendations for DC restaurants? > >Lots and Lots and LOTS. See below for a LONG response. Here are some second opinions regarding this great effort on DC restaurants: Cashion's Eat Place is excellent and in the top 25; Ruppert's is excellent and in the top 25; Marrakesh has great ambience, though there's not much for non-meat eaters. Another great pool hall nearby is Buffalo Billiards in the Dupont Circle neighborhood (1330 19th). Great jukebox. Adams-Morgan: Felix - go on Fri. eve. if you want matzo-ball soup and brisket, becomes a small, but good dance club after dinner; Grill from Ipanema, choose wisely as some, but not all the food makes you want to samba; Meskerem is one of the best for Ethiopian, also try Red Sea across the street or nearby Addis Ababa; Star of Siam has nicely prepared Thai, crispy whole fish is a specialty. Also good in Adams-Morgan: Bardia's has good New Orleans food and slightly stirs memories of Mother's in N.O., I had pretty good gumbo and po'boys; Belmont Kitchen is pleansantly eclectic; I Matti has good pastas, grilled fish, and beef; La Fourchette is an earthy French neighborhood favorite that sticks to the classics; Las Placitas and Mixtec have good Latin American food. Dupont Circle: Pizza Paradiso has very good Neapolitan style pizza. If the lines are long, take out and eat it somewhere pleasant. Obelisk is exquisite and one of the best in DC, with only 35 seats, so reservations are a must. Also good in Dupont Circle: Blue Plate, with updated and improved homestyle food; Al Tiramisu has decent moderate Italian; Gabriel has very good Latin American/Spanish and is best at brunch; Nora is one of the pioneers of using farm grown products; Pesce has well prepared, very fresh fish, among the best for the money. Bacchus has perhaps the best example of Lebanese. Cleveland Park: YenChing Palace is not the best Chinese place in town; Coppi's Vigorelli is a good value, features Ligurian cuisine; Ardeo has good new American cooking and the bar is a scene; Greenwood - stick to steaks, seafood, roast chicken, though the lobster scallop cakes are good; Nam Viet has excellent Vietnamese, try the shrimp toast. Woodley Park: Mrs. Simpson's has faded, Lebanese Taverna has a large, mostly good menu; Saigon Gourmet is good, though not quite as good as Nam Viet; Petitto's atmosphere outclasses the food, though Dolce Finale downstairs is good for dessert and grappa; agree that Murphy's and City Blues (just sold and changing its name to Capital Blues) are more for music and drinking than eating; the best bet here might be Medaterra, which adds a Med twist to the Middle Eastern mezza. Woodley Cafe is a nice place to hang out, the stuff from the wood-burning oven may be the best bet. Chinatown: Tony Cheng's is good; Burma is interesting, the heat is in the sauces on the side; Jaleo is excellent for tapas, Cafe Atlantico is one of the best in town and offers very inventive New Latin American in interesting surroundings; Coco Loco is a pretty good Brazilian style churrascaria that features carved meats and turns into a nightclub later; Luigino has the best Italian in the neighborhood; Fado is just OK; best Chinese IMHO is Eat First with well executed food that's loaded with complex flavors. Other good Chinese is Full Kee for shrimp dumpling soup, steamed whole fish, and noodle dishes; Hunan for peerless tea-smoked duck; Li Ho Food has the best Singapore style rice noodles and chow foon. Capitol Hill: not familiar with one's in the previous post, La Colline has excellent French and one of the top 25; B. Smith's is good upscale Southern, and Bis is a new bistro getting good buzz. Georgetown: Aditi is one of the better Indians; don't agree on Cafe Babalu, I found it to be very average; agree that Clydes and Chadwick's are very average. I'd recommend Cafe Milano has very good cooking despite its trendiness, try to sit downstairs; Citronelle is DC's cousin to LA's Citrus and has been revitalized by Michel Richard's regular presence in the kitchen, excellent Cal-French, one of the top 25; Enriqueta's has good not Tex-Mex Mexican; La Chaumiere is nicely styled as a French Country Inn; Makoto (a little outside of the main G'town area) is the best and most authentic Japanese, get the fatty yellowtail sushi if its available, also the complete dinners are great; 1789's cooking has resurged, regional American cooking in an historic rowhouse, one of the top 25; Sushi-Ko has excellent sushi if you can't get into Makoto; Mendocino has very good New American/Californian and somewhat romantic. Kinkead's has excellent seafood and is one of the top 25, get the signature pepita encrusted salmon and grilled squid. Food for Thought is more of a coffeehouse with healthy grub. One of my favorites because it is a DC rareity, namely value priced homestyle Italian cooking that's not at expense account prices: Fio's, 3636 16th St. in the Woodner Apartments, perhaps the most hidden restaurant in DC (go all the way through the lobby), concentrate on appetizers and specials. Other top places: Bombay Club (Indian), Galileo (Northern Italian), Gerard's Place (French), Morrison-Clark Inn (New American), Morton's (steak), Prime Rib (you-know-what), Asia Nora, Goldoni (Italian-Venetian), Vidalia (haute Southern).