IGX

The wife and I have a long weekend coming up on the 9th - 12th and are thinking of taking a road trip up the Blue Ridge parkway and maybe spending a night in DC. There's a show we want to see downtown Friday evening. What's the can't miss restaurant within walking or quick cab ride distance of downtown?

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Slather it up with Mumbo Sauce and you are authentic DC.

Fucking Ghetto Fabulous Tastiness.

You can look down your nose at cracker ass Church's Fried Chicken while you eat.

If you are in Arlington near Crystal City (good places to stay right by metro stop) and it is 2:00 AM And your stomach is growling, the kabob palace is the schnizzle. Food is awesome and you'll feel like you are back in Afghanapakairanistan. Open 24/7.

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What kind of food do you like and what's your price range?

I'm using AOL as my browser, why?

There's very little good food in Foggy Bottom. A few good restaurants (and a lot of overpriced ones) in Georgetown-- but it's a great place to stroll around.

Gadsby's Tavern in Alexandria has good food, a lot of history, and is very cool. It's about 30 minutes out of your way. They do the period costume thing.

If you don't want dinner-- Georgetown Cupcake, Baked and Wired, and Pie Sisters are good places to get desert and coffee. All of them are in Georgetown. Georgetown Cupcake is pretty touristy because they have/had a TV show.

Ben's Chili Bowl is a DC landmark, but sometimes has long lines and not much seating. Probably about 15 minutes outside of downtown in the U Street corridor. Bring cash.

For something quick, &Pizza is a cool local chain.

Ted's Bulletin (U St. location) is good upscale diner food.

There are a few decent restaurants near the Swedish Embassy-- all overpriced for what you get, but very cool for sitting outside. Great views of the river.

I'll think of more later...

Nafod is right about the Kabob Palace. Lines can get long, but all the cabbies know where it is.

There is a Marriot right across the Key bridge in Arlington. You can walk across the bridge (lovely view of the Potomac) and into Georgetown for some awesome restaurants. if you like Italian, you have to visit Filomena which is off Wisconsin just south of M. Homemade pasta, awesome food, great wait staff, homemade desserts. They bring you a caraffe of amaratto and sambuca at the end of your meal to take a drink or two. http://www.filomena.com/

Vietnam Georgetown is apparently now Little Viet Garden and is supposedly still pretty good. Its just down the street from the Four SEason. (uh, looks like it might have closed, but lots of good thai and vietamese food in that area)

For some gritty history, you can go to the Tombs. Its a college bar and the inspiration for the movie St. Elmos Fire. Good for lunch, but at night, you'd be dealing with the Gtown kids. http://tombs.com/

If the 1789 is open, its incredible, expensive, but incredible. http://1789restaurant.com/

There is a restaurant called Clydes that is a mainstay, gourmet burgers, steaks etc. http://www.clydes.com/georgetown

A place down near the white house that is very popular is the old ebbitt grill: http://www.ebbitt.com/

And the best sushi restaurant in town is on Wisconsin ave north of gtown, Sushiko: http://sushikorestaurants.com/

And of course in Gtown is Martin's Tavern, old Irish bar with great whiskey and the best shepard's pie.

http://www.martinstavern.com/

If you like Irish bars, Four Provinces usually has awesome music and very good food, ie Guiness beef stew, etc. Looks like they moved to Arlington: http://www.4psva.com/

That's all I can think of for now, but there are so many very good ethnic restaurants in DC, I think way better than NY. (GBM might challenge me to duel over that, but I stand by my word.)

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It's been a few years since I've lived in DC so things may have changed, but:

For upscale Mexican, try Oyamel. For upscale Indian, try Rasika. For upscale Spanish, try Jaleo. All three are right downtown, all within easy walking distance of the Gallery Place, Judiciary Square, and Archives metro stops.

There's some fantastic Ethiopian food up near U Street. If you're up that way and you like live music, see what's playing at the Black Cat or the 9:30.

If you like Salvadoran and are willing to travel a bit, there are some great pupuserias in PG County.

The best Mediterranean/Middle Eastern food I've ever had was in a hole-in-wall Lebanese place in Fall's Church.

If you're in Arlington and drink, have a beer at a bar called the Galaxy Hut. I don't drink any more but that's my old dive and I miss it dearly.

re: Syaigh's point about ethnic food -- I grew up in NYC and still visit regularly, and I lived for 10 years in DC, and love both cities. I think on sheer variety, NYC has DC beat. I mean, you can go out to Queens and within a block there'll be about 20 different Korean fried chicken places, all amazing. The trouble with ethnic food in NYC is that you really have to be fuckin' committed to getting that food. You're getting on the 7, and you're on that train for an hour, and at the end of the ride you get an unbelievable meal. But then you have to schlepp back. Even if you're taking the DC suburbs into account, it's a much more compact city than NYC is.

Jaleo is great. I don't know how long BCGA been out of the DC area, but in general if you're not familiar with the DC area-- stay the hell out of PG County. DC has moved a lot of it's problems out to PG County. He's also not wrong about the Ethiopian food-- the best ones are hole in the wall family places.

If you like Asian food, NoVA is where it's at for the most part. I recommend A&J (dim sum style meals)-- which is cash only. Make a reservation. Tyler Cowan's food blog is excellent for Asian food recommendations.

Galaxy Hut is great. It's as close to a proper dive bar as you'll find in Arlington. Don't eat there, but a great place to have a drink.

The 9:30 club is a dive (that's a recommendation FWIW).

I haven't been to DC since 1987, so I don't have much to say about the food there. My girlfriend goes once a year for 2 or 3 days, and raves about Good Stuff Eatery.
As far as DC vs NYC ethnic food, Bud is right. It's very important to remember the boroughs when you talk about NYC and food. Manhattan has great steakhouses, a few great bars, and some Michelin starred places like Le Bernardin. But it can be a terrible place to eat. It's big bucks or shitty chains. You can't even get a decent slice of pizza in midtown.
Now I'll just read the damn thread the rest of the way so I know where to go if I get there anytime soon.

Turdacious wrote:J

The 9:30 club is a dive (that's a recommendation FWIW).

Bud Charniga's grape ape wrote:I think on sheer variety, NYC has DC beat. I mean, you can go out to Queens and within a block there'll be about 20 different Korean fried chicken places, all amazing.

I can't comment on the DC/NYC comparison, but there's no shortage of Korean in and around Annandale. The important thing is that people who haven't had Korean fried chicken find their nearest Korean neighborhood.

And I second Turd's recommendation of Tyler Cowen's ethnic food guide. Whether you want to bribe a Senator or find out which gas station in MD has the best tacos, he has something for you.

A few other contenders:
Bastille and Bilbo Baggins (really) in old town Alexandria are pretty cool. They are (conservatively) 20-30 minutes outside of DC, but you get much better prices and the waterfront is close by and pretty nice. French places in DC are overpriced for what you get, but Bastille is nice. Old Town Alex has a lot of history and is very nice, but is off the tourist radar-- prices reflect that for the most part.

DC's latin food scene is so-so. Peruvian and Mexican food are generally substandard in the city (not many Mexicans there). El Rinconcito is a very good Salvadoran place downtown-- it's a small family place with limited seating. Great food but it's a hole in the wall place.

DC is apparently known for jumbo slice pizza in Adams Morgan area-- it's only good if you've never had decent NY pizza.

If you want food late in DC, consider Muncheez in Georgetown (off M and Wisconsin). It's a good Lebanese place with very little seating, but you can take a walk along the Georgetown canals and the cabs will stop by regularly.

If seeing rats bothers you or the wife, stay away from anything outside the national parks in DC after dark.

Also, checking out the monuments after dark is a good strategy. You'll get good pictures, and there are fewer tourists. I recommend having your cabbie drop you off by the Lincoln Memorial. The Memorial Bridge is a nice are to get a few photos from as well, and you will be close to the war and veterans memorials. As long as you're going to a hotel or a nicer area, cabbies won't have a problem picking you up there either.