For Bruins Coming To DC: Some Recommendations For Grubs/Drinks

First of all before you read this post you should know that I am pretty biased towards Washington DC. Despite all its imperfections and the stigma of cynicism around it because of politics, I believe this is one of the best cities to live in because of its perfect combination of culture, diversity (not just in terms of ethnicity but due to demographics of people coming over here from all over the country), architecture and of course history.

When it comes to locations of bowl games, despite the cold weather I cannot think of a better place to road trip and chill out during the Holidays:

Capitol grounds after our snowstorm, Photo Credit vpickering (flickr)

Of course when people come out to DC just to visit, they come out here for the history. I will leave it up to you to look up all the information on museums and tours of Congress and White House (although I think it might be a little late to schedule those it might not hurt to call you elected).  I want to focus this post on the important stuff though: grub and drinks. You want to find out come with me after the jump.

For the BNers (and Bruins) who are coming down here from the West, Midwest and of course the East Coast, you guys will find plenty of options when it comes to good eats and of course alcohol. Just wanted to share with you some of my recommendations based on my stay in DC which now spans almost a decade. This is of course by no means an exhaustive list. If other BNers who want to offer up their favorites, please share them in the comment threads.

Now before I get into it all let's get a quick reminder out of the day. Guys don't forget about this next Monday. From an earlier fanpost:

DC Bruins Pep Rally Happy Hour

On Monday, December 28, the DC Bruins will be hosting a Pep Rally Happy Hour at our home bar, Bar Louie from 6:30pm 7:30-9:30pm. This is the perfect place to gather with fellow Bruins prior to the game the next day and enjoy our $3 drafts, plus the Bruin Shooter that we had all football season long.

If you're interested, please RSVP here.

So here we go. Let’s start with grub. I will start with the basic. If you are looking for general steak dinner you can just head out to either Morton's, Ruth's Chris or the Palm. I don't really have a preference among those three. I like all of them and everyone of them are located around Dupont Circle (Morton's is the furthest from Circle (South of Dupont) around Farragut North Metro stop on Connecticut Ave).

Now that steak dinner is out of the way, I have to say if you are coming out to DC for a long weekend around the football game, you should plan to grab either lunch or dinner at Old Ebbitt Grill, right next to the White House. It's the classic All American bar right next to the White House and is very DC:

The Old Bar at Old Ebbitt

The food is actually pretty solid (love the oysters and clam chowder around this time of the year taste pretty good). It's the kind of place where you do your power lunches or happy hour with colleagues after work. And yeah, it's also kind of touristy because this is where lot of people bring their folks for lunch or dinner when they are visiting town.

Besides Old Ebbitt if you are looking to drop some cash for a very nice dinner I would recommend the following places:

• Kinkead's
• Vidalia
• Cashion's
• Georgia Browns

I like all of them. However, if you don't have time and want to hit at least one of them then I'd recommend you head out to Georgia Browns for their comfort food. Specially if you love huge brunch:

Again, it something that is classic DC around downtown which you will not get anywhere else. Kinkead's is a classic American restaurant, while Vidalia has great Southern cuisine around the Dupont neighborhood. While going to Cashen will set you up for a great night in Adams Morgan (my neighborhood which I will go into a little more below).

Other restaurants around the down town Zaytinya, Jaleo, and Rasika. Zatinya and Jaleo are cool tapas restaurants (if you want to load up on Sangrilla to start the night). Rasikas is a fancy shmancy Indian restaurant that should probably be locate in NYC. There are all around the Chinatown area (where the Verizon Center is located). They are all pretty cool but have to say a little bit too trendy. Then again if you are out there in a huge group it's something you guys might be in the mood for. I think Founding Farmers is something that is along the same line, but cannot vouch for it personally because I haven't checked it out. My friends have made favorable comments about it.

Now in terms of restaurants let me share with you some names and commentary from the places around Dupont Circle, Adams Morgan, Woodly Park, Cleveland Park, and Glover Park neigborhoods. Again those are the areas I guess we mostly hang out in. There are great places to eat and drink if you are staying around Alexandria and Northern Virginia, but I will leave those recommendations up the folks who live there. Besides why would you want to hang out in Northern Virginia when you are visiting DC? That's like hanging out in the Valley while someone is trying to check out the best of LA. (kidding).

Anyway, let's go by neighborhoods and start with DuPont.

Dupont Circle

I'd start with La Tomate. It's a solid Italian place north of the circle and if you can manage the right table you will get a great view for people watching taking in North side of the Circle. Bistro Au Coin is a fun french place on the north side of circle which had great food, wine and usually packed with revelers. You can also get great pizza at Pizza Paradiso (although I recommend staying away on weekends because it gets way too packed). There is also good Mediterranean food at Levante and also at Zorba Cafe. We like Zorba Cafe a lot because it is fairly low key.

Oh speaking of low key around Dupont, if you like Crepes, you might want to check out Crepes A Go Go. Can't say enough about their crepes and they also have great/strong coffee. Great place for late breakfast/lunch on the weekends (and good hangover food).

I should have probably put this up top but if you want to go out for a pricey All American meal, you can also try out the Tabard Inn and the Iron Gate in this neigborhood.  Again, I like both of these places and have been to both them for dinner/drinks and grub. They are right across from each other.

If you want to be adventurous and try out Malaysian food, might want to check out Straits Of Malaya. They have great food (and decent selection of beer). BTW right across Straits Of Malaya (on 18th Street, north of Dupont Circle), you will also find a good Korean restaurant called Mandu and over-hyped Mexican restaurant called Lauriol Plaza (which is often over-run by 703/301 area coders which are DC equivalent of B&T crowd in Manhattan or the 818ers in LA).

I am not sure I should be recommending sushi places to people coming out for LA (lol) but if you are really craving it, good place to try out would be Sushi Taro around 17th Street (not too far from the circle). Moving further up north, let's go into Adams Morgan.

Adams Morgan

Awesome neighborhood. Period. You can get to it either by walking up 18th Street from Dupont or walking over the Duke Ellington Bridge from Woodley Park (more on that neighborhood below). There are so many places here not really sure where to begin. If you are in the mood for Ethiopian food you should try Meskerem. Meskerem is more well known and always packed. The food is fantastic. We recently tried out Dahlak, which is Eritrean and around the corner. That was just as great.

There is also a great Indian restaurant called Jyoti. There is also a joint called Rumba Cafe which again has lots of tapas and rinks to offer. There is also La Forchette, Meze (Turkish), and New Orleans Cafe. Love New Orleans Cafe. It's a dive. And yes, I have been New Orleans number of times to know what cajun food is supposed to taste like. Obviously you will not get the same experience in DC (if you are snobby about your cajun food), but it is still pretty good and the experience is made better by the graciousness and down to earthness of the owner who runs the place. Nothing like having some gumbo, Jambalya, and washing it down with Abita Amber or a Turbo Dog, and then end the meal with some beignets.

Speaking of small places run by cool owners, I'd also recommend Locolat, which has Belgian and is run by owners with Southern California background. Ada is one of the owner and she gets excited whenever she sees folks with UCLA sweatshirts (or anyone who clearly conveys his or her So. Cal. roots).

There are more options. Good french joints called Napoleon Cafe, L'Enfant and La Forchette. Already mentioned Cashion's up top. There is also a great Brazillian joint called for Grill From Ipanema, which is a solid place for meat and seafood lovers. I would also recommend place called Mama Ayesha's, which is right after the Duke Ellington bridge if you are heading out from Woodley Park. Speaking of Woodley Park let's move on to the next section.

Woodley Park/Cleveland Park

These areas are accessible via the Red Line and they are northwest of Dupont Circle/Adams Morgan neigborhoods. Right outside the Woodley Park metro stop you will find Lebanese Taverna, which is a chain in the DC area but nevertheless have great eat. Also, around there you will also find Afghan Grill, which is a great place for kebobs. There is also a sushi joint called Tono Sushi, which we like but then again do you really want to eat sushi in DC, visiting from LA? Moving on North to Cleveland Park (near the national zoo).

We love Sabores, which is a Spanish restaurant right in Cleveland Park. Lots of tapas and of course sangrillas. Sabores is located in a strip which is lined up with bars (will name few of them below in the bar section) and other restaurants. Among them if you are into Indian good, Indique is solid. There is also a fantastic Italian restaurant called Pesto (run by the same folks who also run La Tomate in Dupont) which is few mins walk from Cleveland Park down Connecticut Ave. It's a little pricey but I think it's well worth it if you are looking for long, lazy 2-3 hour four course dinner over a great bottle of red wine.

Now besides these neigborhoods in DC for tourists and out of towners there is of course Georgtown where M and Wisconsin streets are lined up with all kinds of restaurants. Honestly though we don't really hang out there as much because it is so over-run by tourists. I do like Zed's, which is a pretty good Ethiopian restaurant. If you care more about location than food (having dinner on waterfront), I'd recommend checking out Sequoia. It has a pretty cool atmosphere.

Again, I am sure there are some places in Georgetown other BNers who live in the DC area would love, but we just don't hang out there too much except during spring/fall/summer time when weather is nice.

Now let's move on bars! I will just throw up the following.

Bars/Lounges/Coffee Shops

My two favorite bars in DC are the Toledo Lounge (Adams Morgan) and the Big Hunt (Dupont Circle). Both of them are very low key and almost dive barish. Yet they both have solid selection of beers:

Ummmm. Beers at the Big Hunt. Photo Credit: Backwards Bill (flickr)

and are the kind of places you can hang out with your friends for a while over great beers in a chilly winter night:

Photo Credit: SusanAstray (flickr)

Either of them are great places to spend most of your night after you had a great dinner. Yes, both of them have juke boxes with great selection of tunes.

Along the same lines you can also check out Mad Hatters (Dupont) and Mille & Als (Adams Morgan). There are lot more places on Adams Morgan up and down the 18th street block. Also, if you want to go out to check out beers from all over the world, might want to try out Brickskellers around Dupont. For breweries there is also Gordon Biersch around Chinatown.

If you like Guinness or a good glass of black and tan, you can check out James Hoban (Dupont), Four Fields (Cleveland Circle) and Nanny O'Briens (Cleveland Park). Bonus for Four Fields because it has dart boards in the back!

Also, there is a place called Stetsons around the corner of 16th and U street, equidistant (almost) from Adams Morgan and Dupont Circle and sets you up for a fun night of bar crawl in the U Street neighborhood (from 16th to about 10th or 9th street). Guess I have always had a soft spot for Stetsons because for some reason it always made me think of Strattons in the Westwood from the good old days.

If you are looking to lounge it, I'd recommend Chi Chas (in the U Street/Adams Morgan neighborhoods) and the 18th Street Lounge (Dupont Circle).Also, another good place to hang out is St. Ex on 14th (just two blocks away from U street). Just a mellow place to chill out over grub and beers. Later in the night then open up another club downstairs. If you are a wine lover, you might want to check out Cork. That place is pretty sweet. There are so many more places around U Street/Adams Morgan/Dupont neighborhoods ... again I can probably start a separate blog on food/beers in DC.

If you have been out all night and wondering around where you can grab some food, I'd recommend you really try out Ben's Chill Bowl on U Street. BCB is classic DC. Around Adams Morgan area there are always tons of pizza stands you can get something to coat your stomach with after your huge night out (disclaimer I am not encouraging binge drinking lol).

Now if you are tired from sight seeing, partying, eating and want to spend an afternoon just hanging out and reading up UCLA sports related stuff on your laptop or better yet blog here on BN over a great cup of Joe, try out Tryst (Adams Morgan), Busboy & Poets (U Street) and Java House (17th/Q near Dupont). Great places to hang out over cold winter afternoons.

So that's what I have so far. If am forgetting something really obvious, I will add them later. Of course as mentioned up top, I have left out areas such as the ones near the Capitol (lots of good bars around the Easter Market neighborhood on Penn. Ave), Alexandria and Northern VA. Those who live in that area can chime in the comment thread with recommendations or can write up their own fanpost.

To sum it up, DC is an amazing town for grubs and drinks and revelry around a football game. Yes, it is going to be cold but there is just so much to do. I hope you guys have a great time.

GO BRUINS.