Washington DC restaurants

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Same old song: "Can you recommend good, restaurants in Washington? Not the most expensive, nor the least expensive? yada yada yada."

Please!

Several have been suggested - 1789,  DC Coast, Georgia Browns,  Mr. K's, and Sea Catch Restaurant.

Would appreciate any input. Thanks.

George

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Cheshire wrote:
> Same old song: "Can you recommend good, restaurants in Washington? Not the
> most expensive, nor the least expensive? yada yada yada."
>
> Please!
>
> Several have been suggested - 1789,  DC Coast, Georgia Browns,  Mr. K's,
> and Sea Catch Restaurant.

Georgia Brown's - I think it's been in decline for a while now, but others don't agree.

1789 is very nice.  No opinion on the other 2.

Now, this post gets long.  See, I live in DC, and people regularly ask me about touristing, eating, and drinking here.  So I keep a list of places I like to share.  I update it fairly regularly.  I'll paste the most recent version below.

Oh, and while I'm at it, when are you going to be here?  "Restaurant Week" is on this week. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/entertainment/new_features/restaurants/restweek.html http://www.washington.org/restaurantwk/

Now, here goes.

How to eat REALLY well in DC:
A good source for restaurant reviews is the Washington Post's restaurant review database at: http://eg.washingtonpost.com/   Click on restaurants.  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, I would need to know what you like to eat, but I can give a few ideas. I tend to eat ethnic, and mid priced. That said:

My favorite place in the entire city is a place called Cashion's Eat Place. It's in a neighborhood known as Adams-Morgan, in NW DC, on Columbia Rd. New American food. Very good, and at the mid to high end of prices. Worth every penny. MAKE RESERVATIONS or you will have trouble getting in.  (or sit in the bar area without a reservation if there are 2 or 1 of you)

And a newish place - terribly expensive, well worth it for the good food and good service, is Palena, at Cleveland Park (Connecticut Ave. and Porter St. NW, half a block from the metro stop.   As I said, expensive.
  But, I have really enjoyed it.

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: Fasika's (Ethiopian), Mama Ayesha's (Lebanese), Churreria Madrid (Spanish) Mixtec (Mexican), Chez Antoine (caf French), basically, it's easy to eat well when eating in Adams-Morgan.

Up around a few corners from Adams Morgan is Mt Pleasant a very residential neighborhood, but a few nice places are there.  Bella Roma has recently moved over there from Cleveland Park.  They're a nice basic Italian place, on Mt Pleasant St.  Dining room upstairs, bar downstairs.
  Good, not expensive, food.

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. It's a small place, the lines are long, and they don't take reservations. (They've just opened a second location in Georgetown) Teasim, on R Street just north of the circle is a nice teahouse/cafe.  There's a place on 20th and P, called "Johnny's Half Shell."  Mostly fishes, not cheap, but very good (and I HATE fishes.  They have great not fish food)
  Right around the circle there are a number of good places. Read menus
and follow your nose. And for fast, basic, and good, Zorbas Caf Greek, order at the counter, take your tray to a table to eat. I also like Cafe Luna (Cheap, Pizza, Pasta, Sandwiches), on 17th &P.  Above Cafe LUna is Skewers, a kebab place.  On 17th St. between P and R there is another (smaller, and not as good) restaurant district.   A great place for a nice dinner  REALLY nice  is Obelisk.  Make reservations.
  They do short, always changing, delicious, menus.  Expensive.

Cleveland Park is another good neighborhood to eat (right at the Cleveland Park metro stop). Spices - Asian Fusion food- is right on Connecticut Ave.   Yan Yeu is an upscale Asian place.  Only been there three times, but really enjoyed it.   Ivy's Place has great Malaysian and Thai food.  Vace is excellent to pick up a slice of pizza or a sandwich.  They also have GREAT cannoli.  Avoid  Ardeo.  It was SOOO not worth it.  I have heard very good things about Bardeo, the wine bar with small plates of food, next to Ardeo.  And if you just want a burger and a beer, go to Nanny O'Brien's, a divey Irish pub.   There's a new, and delicious place called Indiatique up here.  Good Indian food.  New enough that they're still working out the procedures, but they're nice about fixing screw ups.  And if you like French food, don't miss Lavandou.  Very good, not terribly expensive.

Just one Metro stop down from Cleveland Park is Woodley Park. Eat at Lebanese Taverna. Again, go early. Lines are long, no reservations. Or at Saigon Gourmet, the Vietnamese place right next door to Lebanese Taverna.  Murphy's of DC, a sorta Irish-pub-place is there.  I like their staff, and the beer is good.  The basic food is ok.  The music varies from good to barely acceptable.

Chinatown is at the Gallery Place-Chinatown Metro stop - close to the museums. My favorite places there are Mr. Yung's, on 6th St. NW, and upstairs from Mr. Yung's, Burma - surprise, surprise, they serve Burmese food.  And there's an acceptable brew pub on 7th St. NW, between E and F Sts called the District Chophouse.

Capitol Hill can be 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 good Turkish food. There's also a Pakistani place called Aatish that has very good food. I'm told there's a new place in that block  no one can ever remember the name, but it's a Palestinian place.  Order at the counter, get food on a tray, sit down to eat. Everyone loves it, so far.  Further up toward the Capitol, also on Pennsylvania Ave., Taverna the Greek Islands is good, and La Lomitas Dos is ok for Mexican. The Hawk and Dove is a good burger-n-beer joint. Near the market, on 8th St. SE, just south of Pennsylvania Ave., right by the Marine Barracks, there's another small but good strip of restaurants. Try the Banana Caf for Caribbean and Puerto Rican food. There are also a few new places down there that I have not yet been to.
  And on 7th St., right next to the Market, there's a new French place
called Monmarte that everyone is raving about.  And during the day, there's Market Lunch  in Eastern Market.  The husband recommends the crab cake sandwich, while I like the NC style BBQ sandwich.

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 ok places there... (Avoid Two Quail.  Great ambiance, but the food is NOT worth the cost.) And B Smith's, in Union Station, is a nice nouvelle Southern place, in the old Presidential Waiting Room of the Train Station. Live jazz on weekends.  We like to eat appetizers at the bar there for a snack or a light dinner.  And the food at the Dubliner - at N Capitol St. and Massachusetts Ave. - is decent pub grub.

U St. NW between 12th and 14th Sts is our newest trendy restaurant/entertainment district. Eat at Polly's Cafe, or at Utopia, or Ben's Chili Bowl or Kuna or the Islander or  - well, it's another area where it's hard to go wrong... and it's a good place to hit bars. Or pop further down, to 16th and U, and have Andean tapas and drinks at Chi Cha Lounge.

Georgetown. This is M St. and Wisconsin Ave. NW. The neighborhood is rather expensive, and full of tourists. But there are some good places. Several places I used to go are recently closed, but  Clyde's is ok, but not amazing pub grub, as is Chadwick's. Not worth the time really, but convenient to grab a burger while shopping. The Guards is a nice place to stop for a beer while shopping.  Caf La Rouche, on 31st St. (I think), just below the canal is very nice, and not very expensive.  They do a GREAT weekend brunch, and their pate is great, and I LOVE the French Onion Soup.  I really love this place.

Ok, now for random odds and ends. If you like Spanish food, go to Jaleo, at 7th and E Sts NW, just below Chinatown, for Tapas.  (Although it's gotten so crowded lately that it's hard to get in.  If you want Spanish food in a down home kinda place, head for Churreria Madrid on Columbia Rd in Adams Morgan.)  And there's also Caf Atlantico, at 8th and D. Kinkead's at Foggy Bottom (I St. between 20th and 21 Sts NW) is pricey, but good fish. Capitol Brewing Company, H St. between 11th and 12th Sts NW - not great beer, ok food. Pretty space, convenient for lunch to museums, etc. I really like the soup for lunch in the cafeteria at the National Gallery of Art - between the East Wing and the West Wing, by the indoor water fountain.  And if you like cheap diner breakfasts, The Waffle Shop, across from Ford's Theater is good.  Just don't eat other meals there.  There's a great Lebanese place, Bacchus, just below Dupont Circle, just off Connecticut Ave.  (Also high on my list of wonderful places.) There's also AV Italian, at 6th and NY Ave. NW. Very NYC in the 50's style. Amazing jukebox, if you like opera. Nice food.  Corduroy, in a hotel at 12th and K NW is very good.  Yes, it's in a hotel, but they have a great chef, the service is excellent, and they serve very nice modern American cuisine.

Beer places: The Brickskellar, on 22 St. NW, just above P St., right off of Dupont Circle has over 500 kinds of beer. http://www.thebrickskeller.com/ Nice place. Quiet downstairs, and on weekends they have a DJ for dancing upstairs. If you must eat here, get something simple, like burgers or peirogie.  Those are fine.  The entrees and the pizza are to be avoided.  And, the District Chophouse (discussed above - under Chinatown).  Beer there is not great, but not bad, and it's a nice place.  There's also Capitol City Brewing Company, with one location at 11th and H Sts NW, and one in the National Postal Museum, on Massachusetts Ave., next to Union Station.  Again, beer is ok, same for the food.  Gordon Beirsch has recently opened here, and is getting very mixed reviews.