Foods Native to Washington DC

[rsmith6621]

Ill be in DC on Thursday for the day and I know Ill be hungry at some point so I have a question for you.

Just like Salmon and Coffee assosiated with Seattle and BBQ is with Kansas City what food is WDC known for. Does anyone have a clue where to eat???

Thanks

[ewagner]

1. Turkey

in honor of all the Turkeys in Congress.....

[mahatmakanejeeves]

21. Re: Ben's Chilli Bowl

Is the Florida Avenue Grill still running?

[Penndems]

26. It sure is, and thanks for the reminder! :-)

The Florida Avenue Grill has been around since 1944. It's located at 1100 Florida Avenue, N.W. (Metro stop is U Street on the Green Line). Telephone number is: [phone].

Another D.C. restaurant institution is Blackie's House of Beef (1217 22nd Street, N.W., telephone: [phone]). Metro stop would be Foggy Bottom on the Orange Line). Website for Blackie's: http://www.blackiesdc.com/main/index.cfm

All the great restaurants that were D.C. institutions are gone (like Duke Zeibert's and Harvey's) are long gone.

*********************************************************************
Review of Florida Avenue Grill:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?node=entertainment/profile&id=792185

[mahatmakanejeeves]

27. DC institutions

Hot Shoppes, Sholl's.

[northzax]

28. the hot shoppes are gonesville

I vote for the only thing native to DC, the Half Smoke. Ben's does them best, although the Chili isn't that great. get one from a vendor for the true experience.

Ben's version:

[Penndems]

32. Hot Shoppes were the greatest

The "Teen Twist", the milk shakes, that wonderful dessert with the slab of vanilla ice cream between two slices of pound cake, drizzled with hot fudge sauce.

All a memory now. :(

[mahatmakanejeeves]

33. gonesville

Little Taverns, Topp's Drive-In....

Gratuitous link to geezers reminiscing

[Laughing Mirror]

41. and Mighty Mo's drive-in

which was a branch of Hot Shoppes, if I remember correctly. Mighty Mo's have been gone a long long time, although the one at Penn Branch was still in operation, the waitress in the orange and white outfit, still coming out to the car to bring you your order on a tray, even into the early 1970s.

[Penndems]

31. I'll add Hogate's to the list, too :(

Went under after 9/11.

[greatauntoftriplets]

2. Pork.

In honor of all the pork barrel projects that our illustrious representatives send to their districts.

[Clark2008]

3. Chickenhawk.

:)

[ret5hd]

10. mmmmm...chickenhawk...

[gardenista]

30. Just be sure to avoid the Limbaugh special. nt

[NMDemDist2]

4. soft shelled crabs nt/

[alittlelark]

5. Pork

But seriously, I lived in Gaithersburg years ago, and some of the best food around was crab - some place that just dumped them out onto a paper-covered table and served pitchers of beer.... no way I can remember the name. Sorry.

[clydefrand]

6. PORK! PORK! Lizard, snake, and shunk! Broiled Elephant.

Oh, you mean real food. Sorry, I couldn't resist.:-) I don't know of anything native to DC. It is too cosmopolitan; so many kinds of restaurants.

[DancingBear]

7. There is nothing really considered "local"

since so many people are transient.

Where will you be in D.C.? There are literally hundreds of places to eat - Capitol City Brewing Co. is OK for lunch - I've been told the beer and burgers are good, but since I don't drink or eat meat why listen to me?? :)

[ncrainbowgrrl]

39. it's good for dinner too- yummy salmon!

and great bread!

and of course, great beer! :)

[VaLabor]

8. joking aside

Go to Ben's Chili Bowl. It's cheap, delicious, and horrible for you if you eat there all the time.

Here's the WaPo review:


Since 1958, Ben's Chili Bowl has been a gathering place and focal point for black Washington. It has witnessed the rise, fall and resurrection of U Street and is probably the only business on this strip that survived both the 1968 riots and the construction phase of the Metro Green Line.

Chili is only one of the reasons people keep coming back year after year. The large neon "Home of the Famous Chili Dog" sign out front hearkens back to another time. So do the red 1950s-style bar stools and Formica counters. Even the music on the jukebox is retro (a mixture of Motown, Stax-Volt, reggae and a few modern soul tunes thrown in). The staff is cheerful and efficient, a rarity in such a high-volume, high-turnover place. Its kitchen is also extremely clean.

Ben's attracts a diverse cross-section of Washingtonians. Lawyers, college kids from nearby Howard, folks en route to a performance at the Lincoln Theater, musicians, you name it. Bill Cosby has been coming here for so long that he's even got a chili dog named after him. No special service for stars, however. Once at the counter, everyone is treated equally.

For a look at how the District was in the '50s (and how it should be in the '90s), check out Ben's Chili Bowl on a busy night. The place has an energy all its own. U Street has come back and Ben's is right there where it's always been. The chili's pretty good, too.

It's at 1213 U Street.

More info here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?node=entertainment/profile&id=792153&typeId=2&type=restaurants

[MountainLaurel]

9. Where will you be?

And what sort of food do you like?

I really can't think of a completely DC food. Crabs and crabcakes come close. This place is such a crossroads, so people have brought many food traditions with them, like soul food and barbecue. The ethnic food selections are incredible.

[Laughing Mirror]

43. I'm a DC native and I can't think of a completely DC food either

except maybe half-smokes. You could get them everywhere at any of the sandwich shops, such as Eddie Leonard or Miles Long. Can you still?

DC food, and I come from generations and generations of Washingtonians, was southern cooking, soul food, lots of fish fries (Norfolk Spots were very popular) kale and collard greens, homemade cornbread and black eyed peas. My DC is southern and mostly African-American.

If you like shrimp I would suggest a trip over to the Shrimp Boat, a carry-out on East Capitol Street, not too far from the Botanical Gardens if you happen to be visiting there, or the Aquatic gardens, a little off the tourist path on the other side of the Anacostia, in that "other" less-visible DC.

http://www.newyorker.com/printables/archive/030818fr_archive02

When children on the easternmost tip of the District of Columbia try to explain where they live, they often say “by the Shrimp Boat,” a worn seafood carryout whose small, barred windows look east to the city’s hardest ghetto and west to the United States Capitol. That the Shrimp Boat has come to stand for a neighborhood of ten thousand people speaks less to the quality of its crab legs than to the featurelessness of the surrounding landscape. Among large housing projects and old brick homes, there is no other landmark. At the start of the twentieth century, this patch of the District was known for the industry of its inhabitants, black craftsmen who bivouacked in shanties while constructing the monuments of the federal city. At the end of the century, the supposed indolence of communities like the Shrimp Boat helped inspire in the federal city the most celebrated social-policy initiative in a generation—the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996.
. . .

Washington is divided into four unequal sections, radiating out from the United States Capitol. The Shrimp Boat sits toward the end of East Capitol Street, one of the dividing lines. In 1996, only three per cent of householders in the projects surrounding the carryout earned the majority of their income; most of the rest collected public assistance. Today, one-third work for the greater part of their income, an improvement at least partially attributable to a good economy. As Shrimp Boat parents spend more time at work, their daily dilemmas increasingly mirror those of the middle class, which long ago discovered that the interests of career-conscious parents and demanding children sometimes clash. In the Shrimp Boat, though, these imperatives collide with particular velocity. These families have one parent. Child-care options do not include live-in sitters or after-school piano lessons. The sixth-grade school day in the ghetto begins with a metal detector and a mandatory frisk. “A baby’s first words are supposed to be the ABCs,” Drenika once observed in frustration. “But where we live their first word be ‘bitch.’ ”

. . .

[Eagle_Eye]

11. Try Ben's Chilli Bowl

http://www.benschilibowl.com/
Ben's Chili Bowl 1213 U Street, N.W. Washington D.C. 20009 [phone]

[Nitrogenica]

12. Delicious red herrings are very popular.

[gardenista]

13. Ben's Chili Bowl. Go there. nt

[Usrename]

14. Where's the beef?

In honor of Walter Mondale. B-)

[applegrove]

15. Crabs, seafood, Berries, Turkey,

[astonamous]

16. I used to ride my bike out to Mt. Vernon and

get an ice cream cone, sit out on the front lawn and watch people and then ride back. Ok, that isn't very native, but it is a nice memory.

[Iktomiwicasa]

17. Plenty

of nice fat puppies down that way I heard. They make great soup.

[Penndems]

18. Ben's Chili Bowl - a restaurant native to D.C.

When Bill Cosby was dating his now-wife Camile, he used to take her to Ben's.

Ben's is a Washington institution since 1958. It's located at 1213
U Street, N.W. (Metro stop is U Street/Shaw), telephone number is: [phone]. Order the chili dog or the chili burger. (Bill Cosby's favorite is the chili half-smoke).

Website for Ben's Chili Bowl:
http://www.benschilibowl.com/

[Donailin]

19. There is no "DC" food

it isn't like that here. But I will tell you that there are plenty of choices of great ethnic foods.

My advice? Go to Adams Morgan and check out the "The Grill of Ipanema"
Best brazillian food ever, and the best part of DC, IMO.

[pinto]

20. Crab. And get out of "downtown" for some fried chicken. Otherwise,

DC is a smorgasbord....

[mzteris]

22. braised chickenhawk

porkbarrel chittlins and poached polecat.......

[melody]

23. Crow

That hadn't been mentioned yet. :)

[VaLabor]

24. Capital Q on H Street

Capital Q seems to be a Republican hangout -- but the best bbq beef brisket I've ever had can be found there. A little hole-in-the-wall place on H St. NW in Chinatown.

For superspicy food, head out of DC, north to Silver Spring on the red line of the Metro. Mandalay Restaurant on Bonafonte Street in Silver Spring (about three or four blocks from the metro station) has some of the spiciest food on earth -- get the Beef dish numbered B07.

People keep saying crabs -- but where are the good crab restaurants in DC? They're all in Baltimore, along with all the good Italian restaurants.

[kestrel91316]

25. Atlantic Blue Crab

[SaveElmer]

29. Armands Pizzeria

If you like deep dish, this is the best..

The best Jerry, the Best

[etherealtruth]

34. Go for the ethnic foods and shops ...

The choices are are many and most are wonderful.

[rodWA]

35. I agree with etherealtruth. Go ethnic

DC has some of the best Canadian restaurants around. ;-)

[Digit]

36. I was coming up with landmarks, such as:

Whitey's in Arlington-on online search revealed it is gone.
Ernie's Original Crab House in Alexandria, Va
Dixie Pig BBQ in Alexandria-evidently closed, but did it reopen in another location? (I saw when it appeared on the X-files one time which surprised the heck out of me)

Ah well, ya move away and things change.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

37. Ernie's Original Crab House in Alexandria, Va

also gone. A restaurant across the street, Ramparts, bought the property, I think.

There is another establishment where Whitey's used to be. It is upscale, where Whitey's was anything but.

[Digit]

40. Too bad

Whitey's was unique.

[Laughing Mirror]

44. Oh my, the Dixie Pig

We used to go to the one on Marlboro Pike, just over Southern Ave in SE. It is long gone.

Last month, I happened to be on that stretch of Richmond Highway south of Alexandria where the other Dixie Pig you're talking about used to be. I looked, but didn't see it. I think somebody told me that it is long gone as well.

Those were our diners of the day. Too bad that whole local culture was not preserved.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

45. Dixie Pig

There was an establishment by that name on Powhatan Street in Alexandria near the Mirant power plant. It has been gone for years.

[Freddie Stubbs]

38. There are some great Ethiopian places in the Adams-Morgan neighborhood

[Squatch]

42. I enjoy the Old Ebbitt Grill (a lot of DC flair)

675 15th St NW