BEST “ICE CREAM WEATHER IS ANY WEATHER” SHOP

Mt. Desert Island Ice Cream

An ice cream doesn’t at all times sound correct. However an ice cream from Mt. Desert Island Ice Cream does at all times sound correct. The Maine-based enterprise has managed the troublesome job of sustaining a formidable lineup of each wild and traditional flavors with out sacrificing the consistency of the ice lotions. Their naming system can also be pretty easy, forgoing cutesy names for issues like Blueberry Bitter Cream Crumble and Butterscotch Miso that let you know precisely what you’re getting. And for the names that may get misplaced in translation—Brigadeiro is a private favourite—the scoopers are very happy to provide you a proof and a pattern.

The store made the swap to window service solely throughout the pandemic and has held onto that service mannequin since. Whilst you miss out on the enjoyable of inspecting the tubs within the freezer in entrance of you, the walk-up service means lengthy traces will transfer rapidly and their Mount Nice Road location makes for an ideal ice cream cone stroll. 

The worldwide map of Mt. Desert places is a testomony to its success. They first opened in Bar Harbor, a city on Mount Desert Island, Maine, a seaside city near Acadia Nationwide Park that pulls in big swaths of vacationers. A profitable first yr led them to open a second location on the outskirts of city, which then-President Obama and First Girl Michelle Obama even visited. With yet one more Maine location opening in Portland, their Mount Nice spot, and a global store in Matsumoto, Japan, Mt. Desert Island is slowly taking on the worldwide ice cream neighborhood. —Camila Bailey
3110 Mount Nice St. NW. mdiic.com/washington-dc

BEST BAGEL EXPERIENCE

So’s Your Mother 

Certain, Name Your Mom might need the perfect topping combos should you’re in search of a D.C.’s greatest bagel sandwich, and Bullfrog might need perfected their bagel texture, however So’s Your Mother, the traditional Adams Morgan deli that’s operated for greater than 45 years, offers patrons with an expertise that may’t be discovered at D.C.’s different bagel outlets. There’s one thing about paying money for a easy bagel and schmear, instantly getting flustered by the very brisk and direct cashier, and strolling away with a plain brown bag that makes you’re feeling linked to the times of bagel yore. 

When speaking bagels, District residents will get shut down fairly rapidly by any New Yorker, and rightfully so. However So’s Your Mother replicates the bodega vitality in a approach that different D.C. nook shops don’t. Your morning bagel won’t make it to the Instagram feed, however at $3.50 for a bagel and cream cheese, you gained’t remorse a morning cease at So’s. In case you’re feeling further wild, splurge on the lox unfold for $0.45 extra.  —Camila Bailey
1831 Columbia Rd. NW.

BEST RESTAURANT IF YOU’RE CRAVING UMAMI

Thip Khao

Umami, one of many 5 fundamental classes of style, is the ingredient that makes meals style satisfying. Not like candy or bitter, umami’s profile is extra complicated and troublesome to explain. It’s usually referred to easily as “savory” or extra merely put, “deliciousness”.

Probably the greatest sources of umami is fish sauce, which additionally occurs to be one of many major elements in jeow som, the multipurpose, on a regular basis dipping sauce that’s thought of a staple throughout Laos. It ought to come as no shock, then, that your greatest wager for satisfying an umami craving in D.C. is at Columbia Heights’ Laotian mainstay, Thip Khao. 

Thip Khao’s kitchen is helmed by one of many leaders of Laotian delicacies in the US, Chef Seng Luangrath, who realized to prepare dinner at a refugee camp after fleeing Laos throughout the Vietnam struggle. Earlier than Thip Khao, Luangrath, who is without doubt one of the founders of the Lao Meals Motion, was the manager chef at a no-frills Laotian/Thai eatery in Falls Church known as Padaek–which moderately fittingly interprets to fish sauce in Laotian. “In a Laotian family, should you serve your loved ones a dish that doesn’t have fish sauce, they’re most likely going to be upset,” she says.

Fish sauce is featured prominently all through Southeast Asian delicacies, most notably in Thailand, however Luangrath shares that Laotian fish sauce is usually unfiltered, giving it a thicker consistency because it carries bits of fish and herbs which can be in any other case separated throughout the filtration course of, rendering it funkier and extra complicated. In case you’re feeling notably daring, the chef recommends ordering the Tam Muk Houng, a papaya salad that options fermented shellfish paste, chili, and the at all times required jeow som. One other really helpful dish for umami lovers is Naem Khao, crispy coconut rice deep fried and coated in jeow som, peanuts, scallions, and herbs served with lettuce wraps and an non-compulsory serving of bitter pork. —Alexa Kasner
3462 14th St. NW. thipkhao.com

BEST LATE NIGHT “I NEED SOME REAL FOOD!” SPOT

Outdated Ebbitt Grill

It doesn’t matter what time of day it’s, I’m at all times prepared for a 3 course meal. There are many eating places all through town the place I can do that. After I get this thought late at night time, although, Outdated Ebbitt Grill is what involves thoughts. 

Sure, Outdated Ebbitt is a little bit of a touristy spot, with it being proper by the White Home, however that’s the very last thing I’m involved about after I’m hungry. Outdated Ebbitt simply at all times serves some rattling good meals. To know that I can get that rattling good meals at 1 within the morning makes me extraordinarily comfortable. 

I don’t order a typical “after hours” meal both, particularly with their late night time menu being the scale of a daily eating menu at different eating places. I’m getting a serving of their white wine mussels and soaking the sauce with the toasted home bread. Their steak or fish entrees are at all times grabbing my consideration. In fact, I’ll get a dessert, too, normally their creme brûlée.

I’m completely making the most of the late night time oyster comfortable hour, which runs 11 p.m. to 1 a.m each night time all through your complete restaurant! Combine and match their oysters for $2 every, served as a half and full dozen. Did I as soon as sit at their bar and inhale two dozen oysters and wash it down with a glass of riesling? I completely did! No disgrace in my recreation.

Outdated Ebbitt, that traditional D.C. spot, is fairly dependable relating to filling your stomach. It’s much more dependable while you need greater than tacos and pizza late at night time. —Crystal Fernanders
675 fifteenth St. NW. ebbitt.com

BEST BOTTOMLESS BRUNCH WITH BUILD-YOUR-OWN MIMOSAS

Bodegon

I’ll admit, I don’t dine out sufficient on the weekends like I would like. Nonetheless, after I do, I ensure the brunch has a bottomless possibility. As we all know, bottomless brunch is a sport within the DMV.

Of the few brunches I’ve had this yr, Bodegon gained my coronary heart. Spanish tapas are the secret right here. They provide an “limitless brunch expertise” that features brunch objects and choose hot and cold tapas. Some brunch objects are excluded from the deal, however can be found a la carte. 

The gambas al ajillo, shrimp sauteed with olive oil, numerous sliced garlic, and piri-piri peppers, are important. The peppers and garlic infuse the olive oil, making it excellent for bread dipping. The garlic was cooked so effectively, I ate it by itself. The cured and marinated anchovies with Basque pepper will make you query whether or not your hate for anchovies is real. The French toast with salted caramel toffee made me moan a bit bit. And naturally, there’s the compulsory patatas bravas, crispy potatoes topped with garlic aioli and a spicy sauce. I learn on the web that it’s the legislation to order these, by the way in which. 

For a further $20, you get bottomless mimosas. Select between orange, pineapple, cranberry, or mango juice. Don’t be confused when your server brings over a four-ounce cup of the flavour you requested for. It’s simply the juice. A bottle of glowing wine is correct behind it so you may make your drink. I’ve at all times cherished the concept of this, and it’s even higher when there’s multiple sort of juice on the desk. Bodegon is sticking to the bottomless possibility by providing a further bottle of the bubbles as soon as the primary one is completed.

Bodegon could have you leaving the restaurant full and able to tackle Sunday Funday. Brunch runs till 3 p.m. —Crystal Fernanders
515 eighth St. SE. bodegondc.com

BEST CREATIVE BENTO BOX

Cranes

Going out for a pleasant lunch today may be … difficult. So many eating places merely aren’t providing it anymore or solely supply it just a few days per week. When it’s accessible, selections are sometimes restricted and skew in the direction of mainstream crowd pleasers that may really feel less-than-inspired. There are rational causes for all these points—staffing shortages, diminished foot site visitors at lunchtime as individuals proceed to do business from home, and provide chain points impacting operators’ potential to persistently supply high quality merchandise at affordable costs—which proceed to be an enormous stress on the wellbeing of eating places and the individuals who run them. 

Regardless of all that, you continue to typically need to deal with your self to an exemplary meal in the midst of the day. Fortunate for you, there’s the tasting menu-level bento field at Cranes. Six compartments come stuffed with a satiating array of artfully conceived small bites hewing towards the restaurant’s Japanese focus. A latest choice featured mushroom kombu broth with fairy-sized enoki mushrooms floating in its umami-rich depths, a pork skewer lacquered with black vinegar soy glaze, comfortable shell shrimp tempura, and a squash burrata salad sweetened with a contact of honey. “It’s fantastic eating in a really small field,” says chef-partner Pepe Moncayo. “You possibly can expertise the restaurant in half-hour.”

Accessible solely on weekdays at lunch, the bento is a steal of a splurge at solely $45. —Nevin Martell
724 ninth St. NW. cranes-dc.com

BEST NO FRILLS POUND OF COFFEE

Harrar Espresso and Roastery 

Within the morning, I not often need espresso I might think about an aficionado calling “tart” or “crisp” or “herby.” I don’t need to faux my espresso is wine with a persona or encounter notes of lemon and musk. What I would like is one thing easy, straightforward, and drinkable, which is why I at all times go for a cup brewed from Darkish Harrar beans, at Harrar in Park View: It’s espresso that tastes like espresso.

Harrar roasts all their beans in small batches at its storefront, and their darkish bean “Darkish Harrar” tastes wealthy, darkish, and barely candy. The packaging calls the Darkish Harrar “chocolate and berries.” It’s fully inoffensive, a delight to drink, and I’m now a kind of individuals who wakes up excited for my espresso, bells-and-whistles free. 

Harrar’s storefront is nondescript, simply missed on Georgia Avenue NW, and although they’ve some tables, it’s usually fairly empty. If visiting the shop is simply too inconvenient, Harrar has a espresso subscription service that permits you to choose your beans of selection and the frequency with which you obtain them. Subscribing saves you 15 %. 

In case you’re in search of a taste journey, otherwise you’re a 3rd wave espresso snob, skip it. However for the remainder of us, Harrar roasts a rattling good, no-frills, pound of beans. —Isabel Adler
2904 Georgia Ave. NW. harrarcoffeeroastery.com

BEST RESTAURANT FOR FEELING EUROPEAN

Kafe Leopold

Someway, each time I open Instagram, it appears like another person I do know is on an enviable European getaway. In case you are feeling equally and if spending three hours consuming an espresso on a sunny day in Vienna isn’t in your close to future, concern not! Located in Georgetown’s idyllic Cady’s Alley, Kafe Leopold gives you the chance to really feel immediately transported to Europe within the coronary heart of D.C. 

Within the spirit of Austrian konditorei, Kafe Leopold is equal components upscale restaurant, bar, bakery, and cafe. The design is, nonetheless, a slight departure from the standard cozy and ornate spots you’ll discover on the Continent; the decor is strictly minimalist with swirling orange leather-based seats offering vibrant pops of colour amongst the all-white inside. Every thing listed on the in depth menu is labeled in German with descriptions in English offered under, including to the general feeling of eating overseas. Some menu highlights embrace assorted tea sandwiches and conventional Viennese apfelstrudel. Plus, breakfast is served till 4 p.m., so you possibly can get pleasure from your morning pastries effectively into the afternoon in true European vogue. For espresso aficionados, you’ll have the possibility to sip on Viennese espresso by Julius Meinl within the model’s signature purple cups. If breakfast’s not your factor, the menu gives a variety of plates for later within the day, from salads and pastas to steak, along with a large choice of beer so that you can “prost!” your night away within the restaurant’s dreamy courtyard till that journey to Austria lastly materializes. —Alexa Kasner
3315 Cady’s Alley NW. kafeleopold.enterprise.web site

BEST ALMOND PAIN AU CHOCOLAT 

Saku Saku Flakerie

Each chunk of the almond ache au chocolat from Cleveland Park’s Saku Saku Flakerie hits pleasure sensors within the mind—candy, fats, crunchy, easy. Its skinny butter layers crumble all around the desk, as any self respecting lamented pastry ought to. Its filling is sinful; the marzipan is goey, approaching gelatinous, and the chocolate stays candy and smeary, even at room temperature. There’s nothing difficult about this ache au chocolat, nothing subtle or fussy. It’s a uncommon gem of a pastry.

I’d by no means order in a different way at Saku. I’ve been burned there too many instances earlier than, first by a lumpy lemon loaf, then by a forgettable cruffin and a mean ache au chocolat sans almond. As my roommate put it, “Why mess with perfection?” So I follow my tried and true, and I might journey a long way simply to get my fingers on one.

Although the pastry stands alone, Saku Saku’s flagship location, which shares house with what was once Trattoria Al Volo, is value stopping by. They’ve a captivating backyard hidden within the again with small tables and chairs. I maintain off for sunny days so I can eat there, underneath the vines, and really feel European. In case you’re downtown, Saku Saku additionally has a location on the Constructing Museum. —Isabel Adler
3417 Connecticut Ave. NW. sakusakuflakerie.com

BEST SHRIMP AND GRITS

Metropolis Faucet Home

Shrimp and grits are a staple for just about any and each brunch spot in D.C. I can gladly say that I’ve by no means had a foul bowl of it. However Metropolis Faucet Home’s model of this traditional has set the usual for every other place I’ve visited.

Disclaimer: Sugar doesn’t go in grits! Savory grits solely! Now that that’s out of the way in which, these easy white cheddar grits are cooked so effectively that they don’t go away an excessive amount of of a gritty really feel as you eat them. Whereas I don’t thoughts head-on shrimp, Metropolis Faucet Home serves them headless, making it simpler to dive proper into this meal. The meal is topped with a heavy drizzle of Cajun beurre blanc (aka yummy butter sauce), and two sunny aspect up eggs. It’s additionally accessible on their dinner menu, sans eggs. 

There’s one factor that units Metropolis Faucet’s shrimp and grits other than others—just a few spoonfuls of braised collard greens served with it. I needed to query if there was somebody’s grandma within the kitchen. The ham hock added the correct amount of smokiness and richness. They’re additionally tender with out being mushy. I might actually eat a bowl of those on their very own. However pairing it with sauteed shrimp, cheese grits, butter, and eggs is the match I didn’t notice was lacking in my life. 

The one destructive factor I can say about their shrimp and grits is that the serving could possibly be bigger. By that, I imply I’m grasping and need extra. However Metropolis Faucet Home’s model had me licking the bowl clear. Haha, I’m severe. —Crystal Fernanders
A number of places, citytap.com

BEST FRENCH FRIES

Aboveground

For my part, meals halls ought to exist in airports and nowhere else. Virtually all the pieces in a meals corridor is worse than the identical meals at a restaurant, and the waits may be longer. But in a latest second of weak spot I discovered myself at Union Market, splendidly, powerfully drawn to some french fries. Oily, crispy, buttery, sizzling as you possibly can stand it, Aboveground’s fries draw me by way of these overcrowded doorways time and again. 

These fries don’t allow you to overlook they’re potatoes, and, should you didn’t imagine it already, they are going to persuade you that potatoes are the right meals. They’re hefty, completely cooked wedges. They’re tender, they’ve chunk. They’re salty, however not overwhelmingly so, candy in a nuanced and pure approach. They elevate the french fry kind with out getting fancy.  

The fries come out triple cooked, virtually nonetheless effervescent from the fryer. You get to order sauces to dunk them in, crucial to chill them sufficient to shovel them in your mouth—I like to recommend the curry mayo, however curry ketchup and tartar sauce are additionally choices. 

Aboveground is a small and  gimmicky-even-for-a-food-hall stand close to the doorway. It’s all British themed: a poster of the Queen (RIP), Aero Chocolate, a bit phone sales space, all on full show. The place is plastered in Union Jacks, and British phrases, and you must get them organized as “crisps” as a substitute of fries. And but, I’ve been identified to tolerate the triteness and experience the bus alone to Union Market only for a French fry dinner. —Isabel Adler
1309 fifth St. NE. abovegrounddc.com

BEST BOSSAM BOX

bangbop

Bangbop has a pork bossam field that has turn out to be a part of my common eating regimen. Bossam, a well-liked dish in South Korea, consists of steamed pork wrapped with completely different vegetable leaves, and topped with varied sauces and garnishes. Consider lettuce wraps, with some guilt, however in a great way. 

To me, what actually makes a bossam field is how the protein is ready. Bangbop’s pork stomach is poached with spices till tender. When it’s able to be served, the stomach is sliced and flippantly broiled. I’m a sucker for pork stomach, and this one is the rationale I cannot get rid of pork from my eating regimen. Wrap a slice of the juicy pork stomach in lettuce or a perilla leaf—the flavour jogs my memory of a light mint and basil.

The enjoyable components of this bossam field are the rotation of house-made garnishes, every served in one-ounce containers. Two are at all times accessible and I at all times ask for an additional serving of each: The ssamjang is their spicy garlic bean paste, and the saeu-jeot is a brined child shrimp sauce. Each sauces are undoubtedly an acquired style, and are match made for the pork stomach. 

Spicy kimchi, entire garlic cloves, and sliced jalapeños are different provided garnishes. I end consuming bangbop’s bossam field with sturdy breath, however the meal is greater than value it. And it’s wholesome, I inform myself, as a result of it’s basically a lettuce wrap. (Additionally, I’ll or is probably not the rationale bangbop serves their bossam field with a aspect of rice.) —Crystal Fernanders
2800 tenth St. NE. bangbop.com