Last week I popped over to Washington, DC with my blogger friend Elissa from Style Wire. It was different from my usual trips in that it was a pretty casual, unstructured adventure. I typically spend weeks researching in advance and plan every minute of an excursion. This time we just let our whims guide us and it was pretty glorious.
Where to Stay
We kept it simple with a utilitarian Airbnb this time around. But I really enjoyed the neighborhood we were in. Our rental was in between foodie haven H Street and the Gallaudet University campus, a school for the deaf and hearing impaired. It was a diverse neighborhood with a lot of interesting history, murals and characters. It was easy to walk to the central monuments and downtown areas (30 minutes or so) but it also allowed us to experience local color.
What to Do
To be honest the monuments don’t do much for me. If you’re a first timer in DC you should check everything out but I can only look at so many statues of white dudes. What we did do was go to a few museums. There are six trillion museums in DC (and almost all of them are free). You won’t be able to see them all but definitely check out a few while you’re there.
The Newseum, which is not free, was one of my favorites. Though it runs $26/person it kept us occupied all day. There’s so much to learn. As a journalist myself it made me feel pretty righteous about my profession, though I’m certainly not risking my life like many of the reporters we learned about. The cool thing about this museum is that the news is about everything. So you’re getting a taste of history, politics, and culture all through the lens of journalism.
We also went to the Postal Museum which was unexpectedly awesome. Turns out there’s a lot of cool stuff about the mail. The only museum we went to that I didn’t love was the Folger’s Shakespeare Library. It was a very nice institution and we spent quite a while chatting with a friendly docent. But I just feel like it’s not our patrimony and it’s a little weird that we have that in our nation’s capital.
In addition to museuming it we saw poet Rudy Francisco perform at Poets & Busboys. Turns out that spot is a super cool DC bookstore/poetry performance space/cafe hybrid. They have a ton of locations and offer a really cool atmosphere for spoken word and other such performances.
Where to Eat
I’m not going to lie to you, we spent a lot of this trip eating. And I have no regrets about it. Our first night we dined at DC Harvest, a really cool restaurant focused on locally sourced ingredients. Their seasonal menu changes based on what local produce and proteins are available, they even work with some micro-farms right in DC. Those ingredients are used not just in their exquisite food but in their craft cocktails as well. I loved this restaurant not just because of the attentive service and exquisite food, but because it’s run by two brothers. It has the warmth of a family owned operation and the culinary expertise of a five star hot spot.
Above (top) you can see the grilled DCH cherry wood smoked bacon with confit ramps, pickled watermelon, and sherry gastrique. Behind that is the nectarine and heirloom tomato salad with goat cheese. Below you can see the Korean grilled pork tenderloin with an outstanding dinosaur kale kimchi fried black rice, roasted heirloom baby carrots, and gochujang glaze. It was delicious. Another great thing about DC Harvest is that they have options for all diets. Whether you’re vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, or an omnivore, there are delicious things in all categories. It’s tough to find a menu that incorporates so many diets so well rather than having a token vegetarian dish.
Later in the week we visited Cusbah, a spot that serves traditional Indian and Pakistani cuisine in a contemporary environment with killer cocktails. On top of all that, it’s woman-owned by a Pakistani American. To illustrate how good the food was, I took several boxes to go and smuggled them onto our flight two hours later. The food was so good I brought it back to Boston with me.
The owner was lovely and very informative. She told us a lot about the history of traditional Indian meals, like for example, Chicken Tikka Masala is a British colonial creation not a real Indian dish. Very betrayed by that one. The menu offers classics like vindaloo, kebabs, freshly baked naan, and samosas. It was all delicious. What’s truly fantastic about this restaurant is you can eat a high-quality Indian meal but also be at a trendy bar with an outdoor patio.
We also had the pleasure of dining at Sospeso, a Mediterranean restaurant in the same H Street area. Run by an incredibly talented female chef, this spot featured a lot of signature dishes of the region like falafel, lamb chops, and baba ghanoush. We tried the labneh, a seasoned strained yogurt which was fantastic and the halloumi, fried cheese with heirloom tomatoes and pomegranate molasses. I know this will shock you but I could’ve eaten that fried cheese all day.
The real star of the evening though was the octopus. I have eaten a LOT of octopus in my time, and this might be the best I’ve ever had. It was so, so tender on the inside but perfectly charred and crispy on the outside, a challenging feat to achieve. In addition to the spectacular food, the vibe of the restaurant is great. The staff were friendly and attentive and they showcased the work of local artists on site.
I enjoyed this trip immensely in part because we had no schedule to adhere to. There’s so much to see in DC that you could visit a million times and never get to everything. So pick a few destinations, don’t overdue it, and then hit one of the many spectacular restaurants for happy hour and a five star meal.
Please note: I was provided with complimentary meals by some of the above businesses. That said, all opinions expressed are my own.