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Things to do, see or devour in D.C.?
CroakerBC
TorontoRegistered User regular
TorontoRegistered User regular
So, we’re flying out mid-thirties selves to the US in the morning, to spend a two weeks in Washington D.C., with the MIL (mid 60’s) and a cousin (mid 20’s). None of us are native to the area, and the Mrs and I haven’t been since we were 16.
So I turn to you all for wisdom. Where should we go? What should we see? Where will we eat?
All suggestions gratefully received!
(We’re in Colonial Williamsburg and environs for a few days, too)
So I turn to you all for wisdom. Where should we go? What should we see? Where will we eat?
All suggestions gratefully received!
(We’re in Colonial Williamsburg and environs for a few days, too)
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https://www.nbm.org
Do check to see if the current exhibits are to your party's tastes, of course
https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/207751/dmv-dc-maryland-virginia#latest
Uh &pizza is pretty great. District taco as well.
Both air and space meseums are great, as is the other Smithsonian museums.
Oh the botanical garden by the capital building is pretty great. I'll try and think of other things.
If you are getting a car. Annapolis is about 30-40 minutes away and it’s a fun day walking downtown.
If you are into casinos national harbor has a pretty great one.
For food Bens chili bowl is a classic to get a half smoke.
In Maryland go to G&Ms or Timbuktu to get a crab cake.
If you are into picking crabs I can give you a few places to do that.
Where are you staying?
Also, the new National Museum of African American History and Culture is the one museum in the smithsonian area that you can't just waltz into. See their website for pass details.
King Street/Old Town: A town in Alexandria (Arlington VA). Very touristy and popular, free bus-trolleys rotate visitors across a beautiful town with civil war history, restaurants and shops. Fish Market Restaurant has good crabcakes and seafood dishes there. Next to it, Pops Ice Cream has some baller sundaes. There are occasional historical tours, ghost tours and street performers. Also, multiple museums and art galleries.
Restaurants (if I lean towards Asian food I'm sorry)
Jaleo: A Spanish food chain. All you can eat Paella on Sundays for approximately $35. My mouth is watering typing this. I got fat my first year in DC on their paella. I still can't get my paella to come out as perfect as theirs. Bullshit expensive any other time.
Barcelona Wine Bar: Another Spanish restaurant that draws a younger crowd. I celebrated a friend's birthday there. https://www.barcelonawinebar.com/dinner/
Sakuramen & BUL: Near Columbia Heights station, Sakuramen is the hole-in-the-wall you go to for ramen. Immensely popular, sometimes the line goes outside the store on the weekends. Adjacent to it is its sister restaurant, BUL for Korean cuisine, including Bibimbap, KFC (Korean Fried Chicken, OH YES) seafood, and other amazing dishes.
Jinya: A newer, larger ramen restaurant near Dupont Circle. Their ramen is trendier but they still have traditional ramen dishes. They also have Sapporo on tap
Pho 75: Hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese noodles. They go hardcore, you can get beef-bits that westerners normally don't eat, though I don't remember what they are at this time. And of course, they have delicious Vietnamese coffee served hot or cold with condensed milk
BonChon: A chain devoted to Korean Fried Chicken
Lighthouse Tofu: This is in Annandale VA, where a large Chinese and Korean community reside. Lighthouse Tofu sells authentic Korean tofu soup, with a flavor that is simply divine and, being household cuisine, is cheap as hell. I get my soup at medium spice. All dishes are served with the full spread of kimchi types.
Little Dipper: In Fairfax VA, this is a hot-pot restaurant where you get a variety of proteins and vegetables served with your choice of broth and sauce.
Ted's Bulletin: Southern-leaning breakfast if you want something different from your usual IHOP ordeal. They serve what you expect, as well as Chicken & Waffles (if you have no shame), but a unique quirk is their own breakfast tarts in a variety of flavors (think pop-tart, but homemade.) Its also very close to...
Belga - High end Belgian restaurant. I had escargot, tartare, amazing duck, and belgian imports on draft. But that was during the long gone Restaurant Week. Its expensive now.
Good Stuff Eatery - A DC burger chain with milkshakes. Their President Barack Obama burger is amazing.
Zaytinya - A moderately priced Israeli restaurant. https://www.zaytinya.com/
ENTERTAINMENT:
Kennedy Center: Next to Watergate, the Kennedy Center has a variety of shows, ranging from traditional opera/classical, to plays, to KC's Jukebox in which DJ's combine their beats with live jazz artists. Check their websites for events.
U Street Music Hall: https://www.ustreetmusichall.com/ Attracts the college crowd, a wide variety of artists perform here. See the calendar for details
Ooontz, ooontz
Soundcheck DC: A smaller, cleaner electronic music venue that leans towards house music. You can get away with dressing a little nicer here.
Echostage: Ugh. A warehouse on the rougher side of DC, converted into a massive rave venue. I've seen many shows there. People dress wild there. Kids sneak weed in there regularly and I just avoid them. Your experience will vary depending on the artist and the crowd he/she draws. Porter Robinson/Madeon was magical in December 2016. Tiesto's crowd was unpleasant. (I wanna go back and see one more show before I leave in July.)
A special note: Cirque du Soleil: LUZIA is on tour in Tysons Corner VA until June 17th. If you haven't seen this on your side of town, do it. Its utterly magical. For all ages, yet fancy as fuck, my ex-girlfriend and I dressed nice while families dressed casually and nobody's wrong. Each Cirque du Soleil tells a different narrative. LUZIA is about a lone explorer/clown exploring the beauty and heritage of Mexico. Most Cirques are for all ages (only Las Vegas has an adult one.) But I would do unspeakable things to some of those acrobats.
Labyrinth Game & Puzzles: You want some nerd-shit? This is the tabletop gaming shop. Players have a board gaming night on Thursdays, and the store produces a variety of events (some of which are charity). You want games about lying? Tactical mini warfare? Euronomics? They have it all, and their staff can teach many of the games.
Over by Reagan mostly. We’ve got a couple of days after Williamsburg where we’re in Georgetown, but it’s all central core (except Amtraking to Williamsburg).
Reads restaurant recommendations
Ooh, these are outstandingly useful. Now to add chilli and Korean BBQ to the list. Obliged!
(It’s 4AM, time to flyyyy)
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http://www.dcshanghailounge.com/
There's an Arboretum, but there's also the DC Botanic Gardens, which are beautiful all year round:
https://www.usbg.gov/
EDIT - Annandale VA has several wonderful Korean bakeries, including Shillia, Tour de Jour, and Breeze. Red Bean pastries are 100% more delicious than they sound.
I highly recommend Reren Lamen and Bar. If you go, skip the ramen (Unless you really want ramen then totally get the ramen) and get one of their entrees. It's a weird mish mash of Asian fusion stuff that is excellent. @Cantido if you haven't been there, do iiiiiiit.
The Elephant and Castle is a solid place for British fare. It's by no means amazing but I'll go there any time I just want a beer and a bite to eat.
The Board Room is a fun bar loaded up with board games. That said, as much as I like it, it's best to get there when they first open as it gets loud fast. They don't serve food but have a bunch of menus for places that deliver and offer discounts for Board Room customers.
The Smithsonian lines can get ridiculous when they open. If you plan on going I personally recommend getting there maybe 20 minutes after opening to avoid the initial crush of people trying to get in. I will rave for decades about the American History Museum. It covers a wide, wide range of topics I did not expect when I first went and now I keep going back every few months.
The Newseum rotates its stuff fairy often, and is currently doing presidential dogs, editorial cartoons, the FBI, retrospectives on civil rights and the Tet Offensive during Vietnam ...
My favorite fancy place to go for dinner is The Capital Grille, located right on Pennsylvania Avenue. They’ve got some of the best calamari I’ve ever had, and are known for their steaks.
The Hill Country Barbecue Market is also in the same area, and is probably the best barbecue I’ve had outside of a gas station in Beeville, TX (probably a bit below Cotten’s in Corpus, too, but not by much).
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We went to D.C last year for our big trip. The Spy Museum is not free but I loved it. I spent a couple hours in there and only left because my family made me.
The Newseum, as mentioned before, was great as well.
Second the Ted's Bulletin, Capitol Grill, and Cuba Libre recommendations. Little Serow has some of the best thai food I've ever eaten if you're keen on that. Can be a bitch to get in, though that may have changed since last I was there. Ben's is kind of overrated in my mind, but you should still go if you can, since the whole thing is an experience.
Granville Moore's is one of my top 5s in the district. If you like mussels at all, check this place out. Huge Belgian beer selection too.
The Hamilton is pretty great for food, drink, and live music. Good sushi too. Barrel is a cool little bar with a great whiskey selection and tasty bar food. I liked Founding Farmers a lot when I went.
This probably doesn't apply to most, but I always eat a ton of Pret when I'm out there. Mostly because we don't have Pret in CA - it's just criminal.
If, for some reason, you must absolutely, positively have some authentic German food (and sometimes live folk music), check out Cafe Mozart. It's the kind of place you'd never really know about (it's at the back of a deli/grocery store, for one) but it's great when you need a break from all the DCness of DC.
Well, 'right by' the form of a solid walk up a pretty steep hill. But well worth it for free zoo. A baby gorilla was just born and we have a new elephant (in the new elephant enclosure.) The Asia Trail is especially good with its sloth bears, red pandas and flagship black and white pandas. (Prairie Dog village halfway down the hill is a delight too, if you catch the fellas popping up.)
We had a bit of an explosion of Belgian places in the last ten years, and Granville Moore's might be top of the heap. Also, the revitalized H St. is a pretty fun area to check out. The Rock and Roll Hotel is a fun venue if you happen to catch an act you want to see.
Similarly the 930 Club (at the East end of the U St. action, right by Howard University) is an amazing place to catch a show, as is the Black Cat on 14th. Anthem, down by the Waterfront, is a new place from the 930 folks and is well regarded, but I haven't made it down there myself yet. If you go to the 930 club, the Satellite Room around behind the club is a super tasty comfort food place (e.g. burgers and tater tots) with excellent boozy milkshakes. Of course, you can also couple it with any of the amazing food places on/near U. St.
DC has good Ethiopian food. I'm partial to the grubby places in Adams Morgan, like the Red Sea, but you are probably better off with one of the slightly more upscale places like Ethiopic on H St.
We have a Flagship REI store right by the NoMa red line Metro station. They have an "adventure desk," where you can go and be recommended local outdoor stuff, like a hike. So if you wanted to get out and about, you could go and tell them what you wanted to do (e.g. 5 mile loop hike with views) and your limitations and they can give you some options. If you wanted to go tubing or rent kayaks or find a cool bike trail, this is a super great resources that nobody knows about. This region is fantastic for outdoor stuff like hiking, canoeing and climbing.
Nationals Park is a fun place to catch a baseball game. The food options are good (although a little pricey for sports-venue food, to be honest.)
The National Cathedral is a wonder (the last hand built cathedral in the world. Each stone cut and placed by hand.) If you can catch the gargoyle tour, do that. It always seems to be scheduled at weird times but is my favorite way to see the Cathedral and all the wonderful details. Examples: The Great Choir was built in the 30's and 40's. So one of the choir pews has a (British) lion with a snake in it's mouth and the snake has a little, distinctive mustache.
The Holocaust Museaum is incredible, but don't plan to do it in the morning and then something else, like Dororthy's shoes and Julia Child's kitchen at American History, in the afternoon. It (the Holocaust Museum) is a kick in the junk.
I was going to recommend Rasika (fried spinach!!!) in Penn Quarter (located near the Spy Museum/Portrait Gallery/Building Museum). But maybe you have access to good Indian at home? So you should eat a bunch of Tex-Mex/Mexican. Maybe try Oyumel (which is also within walking distance of all those places.)
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Be sure to get something with the house dressing. Mmm...
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If you are willing to drive out of town for Korean bakery+food, could do worse than Yechon and the adjacent bakery (oh wait that is Breeze which you mention above)
It's one of the few places you can go that is open 24 hours in the suburbs (the restautant; the bakery is also open late). It is good bingsoo weather right now and Breeze has outside seating to enjoy it; and I also recommend loading up on pastries (red bean/white bean/ soboro cream/etc)
Has the National Portrait Gallery not been mentioned yet? The new Obama portrait is up, and even if you've seen it online, it's better in context. While you are there, you can stop at Bakers and Baristas for viennese pastries and coffee. Spy museum is close too, but I haven't been since I was a kid so I don't know how it is. And then yes, while you're in that area, go to any of the Jose Andres restaurants already mentioned--Jaleo (spanish tapas), Zaytinya (middle eastern meze), China Chilcano(japanese/chinese/peruvian small plates). I also like the nearby restaurant SEI, (modern asian/japanese)
Every time I play tour guide in DC for family/friends, I drag them to see the changing of the guard. I've probably seen it a dozen times or so, but it continues to blow me away.
Definitely second the National Cathedral recommendation. It's a beautiful, serene place. I was fortunate enough to attend Easter service there last year, and it ranks pretty high on my list of incredible life experiences. I'm, like, barely Christian and was still enthralled by it all.
Museum-wise, they're all amazing and you could spend a month in DC doing nothing but visiting them and still probably not see everything. National Art is my favorite, hands down, but that's mostly because they have an entire room of Rothko paintings, along with what's probably my favorite painting ever, Constant Troyon's The Approaching Storm. Air and Space is obviously not to be missed, but get there when they open, since it tends to turn into a shitshow pretty quickly.
Hitting up the Archive this morning and probably the National Portrait Gallery/National Museum of the American Indian in the afternoon, with a stop at Hill Country BBQ market for lunch (thanks @Elvenshae for that one!). Then we hit the end of the ‘must do’ party requirements and I suspect we start hitting others from the thread.
You guys are great BTW, thanks for this ^ . Catch me before we leave again and I’ll stand you all a beer.
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Over near the Portrait Gallery is the Gordon Bierch brewery restaurant that has some solid food, and the wonderful proximity to this building across the street that says in big letters Masonic Temple. The Freemasons never used it for much, but it became the nexus for the prohibition movement in the city.
Yeahhhh Crystal City is pretty unfortunate for food and general ambiance, although you can tell from all the weird colorful decorations that recently people have been trying to market it as a slightly 'cooler' place to work or live. Pretty much all the restaurants are targeted at defense contractor lunches--although there is a Jaleo here too where you could have a more fun dinner. The Thai place--Neramitra?--is all right for dinner as well; nothing special, but solid. And the 'water park' (the park with the fountains) is nice to hang out in a little bit? And there is a farmer's market ummmm today I think, from probably ~3-7. But overall my answer to Crystal City is to take the metro back across the potomac and go anywhere else
Agreed. Or Metro down to Alexandria or over to Clarendon.
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It’s...possible. I regret leaving the hotel in a t-shirt this morning, I can tell you that.
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Cantido mentioned Labyrinth which I will second, but that whole area is pretty nice. There's a farmer's market on Sundays which is fun, there's usually lots of people with art and other crap.
You should also check out the actual Capitol building. The rotunda is pretty cool!
Sadly we’re car free this trip (I gather driving on the wrong side of the road is frowned upon). But we did hit up the Gordon Biersch brewery, diving in to get out of the rain - the food was solid, and I loved those garlic fries. The beer was great, too, so thanks for the spot, @Duke 2.0 .
I’m slowly dragging the party towards BBQ and the Capital Grille, see if we do that after Arlington and the portrait gallery today. Suspect we’ll do the American History Museum in the afternoon and get out and about next week, when we’re in a hotel without the MIL and have a bit more flexibility.
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Also, this Washington Post list is a pretty good resource for finding fun eateries (helpful map at the bottom):
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/food/40-eats-2017/
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The guided tours of Arlington are absolutely worth the price, to the average joe it’s just a bunch of headstones to generic soldiers. Having a live person who can tell the stories of those who died and the many oddities of the cemetery is almost essential.
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Next hotel is by a Denny’s and a Cracker Barrel, so assume a fine dining weekend!
Back Monday in Georgetown, assuming we survive.
Recommendations have kept us alive and been great so far, thanks all!
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Oof, watch out for the Trump supporters!
Bojangles is like a cross between Popeyes and Chick Fl A. They're breakfasts are great. Their sweet tea is diabetic.
The danger of posts like this is that any old lunatic can come track you down...
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Well, just one specific lunatic, as it turned out!
(Though the offer to stand you guys a drink remains open)
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My co worker was jogging in the mountains in the rural side of VA and discovered he was being followed by a naked man. He is now considering becoming a gun owner.
But on a happier note, a friendly reminder
Hmmm, do I clap or throw some dollas...
Awesome breakfast stuff all day, and I really like their Chicken and Dumplings, though they might be a bit of an acquired taste ...
Bojangles is good because the chicken is just spicy enough without being ridiculous. Also, yeah - breakfast stuff.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]