Mediocre food scene in DMV

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you tried Baltimore? I agree with your assessment.

I find DC restaurants pretty overrated. And I'm not a fan of chains.

Helmand (Afghani food)

Thames Street Oyster House (seafood)

There used to be a wonderful vegetarian place called The Zodiac on Charles Street, but it shut down.

Sotta Sopra is an Italian place on Charles Street.

And if you are willing to venture into the Baltimore suburbs, Bombay Nights is an Indian restaurant in Perry Hall that is absolutely fantastic.

Agree with all except never tried the poster house. Baltimore has,way better food. A hole in the wall has better pizza/subs than just about anywhere here.

But I think overall, it's not the real fine dining DC is missing so much as everything else- there's virtually no good lunch food or carryout food or middle of the road places. Just nasty reheated pizza slice places, fast food, or yet another restaurant that's some type of mediteranianesque, barely decent, limited menu fare with a geographical point of reference in the name. Honestly, I'm a native and I've never eaten at a good deli in DC in my entire life. I think the MD burbs have better options by far than DC for lunch and carryout, but not VA and definitely not DC.

[Anonymous]

I agree the food scene has improved but is still
Overhyped for the most part. I never got rasika's appeal for example. We like the more hole in the wall
Places like eden center, afghan places ethiopian places etc. What truly bugs the shit out of me is the lack of high quality bread. The only decent bakery i have found in bread and water in Alexandria and some farmers market options.
The rest is terribly over priced and dry and tasteless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree the food scene has improved but is still
Overhyped for the most part. I never got rasika's appeal for example. We like the more hole in the wall
Places like eden center, afghan places ethiopian places etc. What truly bugs the shit out of me is the lack of high quality bread. The only decent bakery i have found in bread and water in Alexandria and some farmers market options.
The rest is terribly over priced and dry and tasteless.

Ugh! The bread here is awful! Don't they know that it it supposed to have actual taste? But, there are no real bakeries here (other than overpriced cupcake or pie ones), so this should come as no surprise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OP here - I get it but I don't see why "expense account" should have anything to do with it. There are "expense account" restaurants in NYC too, but they are kick ass (Perry St., Ai Fiori). These are truly exceptional restaurants and provide for top dining experiences. In my opinion, the restaurants that garner similar notoriety here simply do not live up to many peoples expectations.

Good, then retitle your post to be more precise. You're complaining about a small subset of restaurants in DC, when actuality restaurants like Etete or Dukem (Ethiopian), Thip Khao (Laotian) and Little Serow (Thai) are far more acclaimed by foodie magazines than most of the ones you mentioned.

Op here - LOL to reading about Dukem or Etete in a "foodie magazine". Please spare us. I will also concede that you can find some tasty indian lunch buffets in Arlington strip malls.

Where? I'm looking for better lunch options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree the food scene has improved but is still
Overhyped for the most part. I never got rasika's appeal for example. We like the more hole in the wall
Places like eden center, afghan places ethiopian places etc. What truly bugs the shit out of me is the lack of high quality bread. The only decent bakery i have found in bread and water in Alexandria and some farmers market options.
The rest is terribly over priced and dry and tasteless.

Or overly salted. DC loves salty food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree the food scene has improved but is still
Overhyped for the most part. I never got rasika's appeal for example. We like the more hole in the wall
Places like eden center, afghan places ethiopian places etc. What truly bugs the shit out of me is the lack of high quality bread. The only decent bakery i have found in bread and water in Alexandria and some farmers market options.
The rest is terribly over priced and dry and tasteless.

Ugh! The bread here is awful! Don't they know that it it supposed to have actual taste? But, there are no real bakeries here (other than overpriced cupcake or pie ones), so this should come as no surprise.

+1

I prefer Heidelberg bakery for German style artisan bread and Praline bakery for some cakes (they have really good almond pound cakes).

[Anonymous]

OP, we get it - want to be hipster who just moved to DC. Get out of mid-city and visit other areas of the city.

The fact that you even mentioned Le D as "hype" makes me wonder what "social circle" you are running in. It's long past hype - it's now a family place for the the young parents living downtown.

Now if you said L'hommage was over hyped, maybe I would think you knew what you were talking about.

Le Diplomate is where we have our new mom's drinks--I would not describe it as super-chic or a highly esteemed place, it's definitely more of a neighborhood bistro, and if I remember correctly from my NYC days, it's about 1/2 the price of Balthazar, so not sure why OP is making that comparison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

OP, we get it - want to be hipster who just moved to DC. Get out of mid-city and visit other areas of the city.

The fact that you even mentioned Le D as "hype" makes me wonder what "social circle" you are running in. It's long past hype - it's now a family place for the the young parents living downtown.

Now if you said L'hommage was over hyped, maybe I would think you knew what you were talking about.

Le Diplomate is where we have our new mom's drinks--I would not describe it as super-chic or a highly esteemed place, it's definitely more of a neighborhood bistro, and if I remember correctly from my NYC days, it's about 1/2 the price of Balthazar, so not sure why OP is making that comparison.

A "neighborhood bistro" where every entree costs more than $25 http://lediplomatedc.com/menu

You are part of the problem, pp.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

OP, we get it - want to be hipster who just moved to DC. Get out of mid-city and visit other areas of the city.

The fact that you even mentioned Le D as "hype" makes me wonder what "social circle" you are running in. It's long past hype - it's now a family place for the the young parents living downtown.

Now if you said L'hommage was over hyped, maybe I would think you knew what you were talking about.

Le Diplomate is where we have our new mom's drinks--I would not describe it as super-chic or a highly esteemed place, it's definitely more of a neighborhood bistro, and if I remember correctly from my NYC days, it's about 1/2 the price of Balthazar, so not sure why OP is making that comparison.

It's contrived, simulacrum of a 'neighborhood' bistro. But if you like it,just go with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree the food scene has improved but is still
Overhyped for the most part. I never got rasika's appeal for example. We like the more hole in the wall
Places like eden center, afghan places ethiopian places etc. What truly bugs the shit out of me is the lack of high quality bread. The only decent bakery i have found in bread and water in Alexandria and some farmers market options.
The rest is terribly over priced and dry and tasteless.

Ugh! The bread here is awful! Don't they know that it it supposed to have actual taste? But, there are no real bakeries here (other than overpriced cupcake or pie ones), so this should come as no surprise.

+1

I prefer Heidelberg bakery for German style artisan bread and Praline bakery for some cakes (they have really good almond pound cakes).

Noooooooooo.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are you from that you expect much better food/service? I'm from CA, and I find that there isn't as much diverse ethnic foods here, especially really good Mexican. I miss good Mexican food.

OP here - NYC. That said, I am not basing my comparison on NY. I'm thinking of Charleston, New Orleans, Philly, Richmond, Asheville, etc. In all seriousness, I think a lot of residents here lack culinary awareness. [/quote

I find the food lacking compared to Richmond, too. And Cleveland!

There's a lot of great stuff going on in Cleveland, food wise. The market. Working class cred that DC lacks completely.

[Anonymous]

Its really about the great neighborhood restaurants. They have the best food, good price points, and the atmosphere. They're not corporate and really care. My favorites, by neighborhood:

Logan: Cork
Chinatown: Full Kee
Friendship Heights: 2 Amys
Petworth: Hitching Post
Park View: EatsPlace
Columbia Heights: Maple
Shaw: convivial
Convention center: corduroy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree the food scene has improved but is still
Overhyped for the most part. I never got rasika's appeal for example. We like the more hole in the wall
Places like eden center, afghan places ethiopian places etc. What truly bugs the shit out of me is the lack of high quality bread. The only decent bakery i have found in bread and water in Alexandria and some farmers market options.
The rest is terribly over priced and dry and tasteless.

Ugh! The bread here is awful! Don't they know that it it supposed to have actual taste? But, there are no real bakeries here (other than overpriced cupcake or pie ones), so this should come as no surprise.

+1

I prefer Heidelberg bakery for German style artisan bread and Praline bakery for some cakes (they have really good almond pound cakes).

Noooooooooo.....

Bread furst
Also le pain quotidien

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The food "scene" such as it is in the DC metro area is pretty good actually, compared to many other places in the country (world is a little more difficult comparison.) There is ethnic cuisine from cheap to fancy from virtually every corner of the globe, and there are both holes in the wall and very high end chic restaurants. There are probably as many James Beard chefs in DC as there are in NY, which says a ton about the culture.

OP compared DC unfavorable to New Orleans (fair - great culinary city), Philadelphia (say what? outside of the excellent Stephen Starr restaurants Philly is so so at best), and Baltimore (also very good.)

If you want cutting edge food, you really need (outside of NY) to go to someplace small - Burlington VT or Portland ME come to mind as two of the best small cities for restaurants in the nation.

But overall DC is pretty darn good.

Agreed. There are overhyped restaurants in Dc, like anywhere else. Get out more, OP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OP, we get it - want to be hipster who just moved to DC. Get out of mid-city and visit other areas of the city.

The fact that you even mentioned Le D as "hype" makes me wonder what "social circle" you are running in. It's long past hype - it's now a family place for the the young parents living downtown.

Now if you said L'hommage was over hyped, maybe I would think you knew what you were talking about.

Le Diplomate is where we have our new mom's drinks--I would not describe it as super-chic or a highly esteemed place, it's definitely more of a neighborhood bistro, and if I remember correctly from my NYC days, it's about 1/2 the price of Balthazar, so not sure why OP is making that comparison.

It's contrived, simulacrum of a 'neighborhood' bistro. But if you like it,just go with that.

Agree that it is contrived, and a true neighborhood bistro would not cost that much. And to the PPs who claim this isn't a highly esteemed place or is just one of the corporate expense places, the DC food critics have raved about it and brought it a lot of attention. I think this is part of OP's point. LD is clearly a hot spot and it just isn't that amazing.