Capitol Hill

Belga is great on 8th especially for vbrunch. They serve a sea bass with lemon spinach on the regular dinner menu that is great; the steak and fries is also wonderful. Market Lunch for breakfast especially; they seem to now have pancakes everyday but only blueberry buckwheats on Saturdays. No breakfast on Sunday. Great fried oysters, fish, and crab cakes. The crepe guy at the market on weekends is also good, though it is stand up food. Tortilla Cafe across from the market is reliably good; i usually get the breakfast burrito with spinach (you have to ask) and 2 extra salsas. I think Le pain Quotidien is overpriced but their bread is fantastic. Jimmy T's is great for cheap, filling brekafast -- a combo of belgian waffles, eggs, sausage and endless coffee for under $6... plus sass from the owner's teenage daughter. Taqueria Nacional is fantastic and I go whenever I am on the senate side of the Hill at lunch time. SOnoma I always enjoy but havent been there for a few months. 10 cent wings at Capitol Lounge on Tuesdays... sliders at Ugly Mugg can be seriously good if its not too busy. 7th Hill pizza is good but not great - I still rpefer Pizzeria Paradiso. Cava has many good things to eat. I also love Aatish -- tandoori shrimp (medium hot) , raita, plain naan...delicious. Mr Henry's on Friday nights sells great fried chicken. I used to work at Le Bon Cafe and trust the qwuality of the foood -- the salmon salad is consistently delicious, soups are great, baquettes wonderful, baked goods generally made in house...at least baked there anyway. i havent been to Park Cafe in awhile but used to love it. And you can get Polyface farms chicken and Tinkling Springs creamery milk at the store on the 11th street side of lincoln park, which is good to know.

pam h in dc in Washington DC & Baltimore Area

How to make a NYC bachelor party special?

i'd definitely go first to McSorley's for a beer. If ever there was a guy's bar, that's it - and there is great history there... the wishbones, houdini's handcuffs...

pam h in dc in Manhattan

kids/family/cheap/accessible food?

I am organizing a get together of three generations (25 people, age 2 - 74; heavy preponderance of tweens and forty somethings) in the city the weekend after Christmas -- we'll probably go ice skating in the park in the late morning, then make our way down 5th ave, maybe stopping in FAO Schwartz.

I'm trying to find a place with good, relatively cheap food where we could eat a late lunch/early dinner all together - italian probably a good bet; even pizza. Subway accessible good.
A room to ourselves would be even better. Midtown, near the park or the West Village would be good.

Any thoughts? other suggestions what we could do that day? Freebies best because several in our crowd are out of work...

thanks!
pamh in dc

pam h in dc in Manhattan

Help with a food itinerary for next weekend in D.C.?

oops, reservations required, not restaurants required. And after oyamel go get a red velvet cupcake at Red Velvet, up 7th Street.

pam h in dc in Washington DC & Baltimore Area

Help with a food itinerary for next weekend in D.C.?

For your anniversary try to get into Obelisk at Dupont. Not far from your hotel. Marcels is also great - high end. Restaurant Eve in Old Town Alexandria also wonderful and expensive but worth it. restaurants required at all these places.
My DC favorites are (familiar to anyone who has ever read one of my posts...)
: Oyamel for gourmet, "true" mexican (ie not tex mex) - it's near the national mall so might make a great lunch place on Friday after the museum. Less crowded then too.

Friday dinner: depends what your family likes. I am a real fan of Pizzeria Paradiso on P street -- could take you a while to get in.
Komi over on 17th - if you can get in, fabulous. Make a reservation. Palena in the cafe uptown in front is really good too -- and cheaper than the back room though with a more limited menu. I also love love love Equinox down by the White House.
Go to Eastern Market market grill for breakfast Saturday; don't miss it. Get there early. Show up no later than 830 (or earlier) , then you can eat without waiting in a line around the block walk to the Capitol. get a ham egg and cheese sandwich, whatever sausages they are promoting, blueberry buckwheat panckaes with real maple syrup.And you'll probably want to go back to the market after your tour to shop. there is great c offee at Peregrine, an independent coffee shop . One of the greatest used bookstores in the coountry, by my lights, is across from the market on C street.
As a Hill resident, I spend a lot fo time at Belga on 8th street , which might be a good place for your lunch, if you go back up to the market after your capitol tour. Or you can just pick up food aropund the market -- there is a crepe guy, a couple pf little restaurants, montmartre is nice, the new pizza place is good. Skip Pain Quitidient - its a chain and its overpriced although the food is good and the bread fantastic. This will give you a nice slice of CapHill life -- little boutiques, craft market, farmers market, good food. Great neighborhood, and Eastern market is the kind of treasure you will tell all your friends about at home.
Sat night Obelisk or one of the others above. Blue Duck Tavern is also very good. 1789 in Gtown is romantic and nice. Equinox consistently great. Lots of other options if you search the board.
Sunday brunch... lots of places to choose from - check the boards. But If you want a really over the top brunch, go to the Mandarin Oriental -- about $65 a head, but an unbrelievable array of food spanning american classics and elegant asian and several things in between.. some french, some otherstuff. Eat for a few hours then head to the plane.
Have fun! its a great city. Take lots of breakfs for coffee and tea or whatever -- walking on all that marble across long open spaces will exhaust you. My favorite museums are the small ones -- the Renwick by the White House is wonderful.

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Palena
3529 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008

Komi
1509 17th St NW Ste 1, Washington, DC 20036

Pizzeria Paradiso
3282 M St NW, Washington, DC 20007

Blue Duck Tavern
1201 24th Street NW, Washington, DC 20037

pam h in dc in Washington DC & Baltimore Area