Washington, D.C
The 10 Best Food Halls in Washington, DC
In recent years, food halls have become as much a part of the DC food scene as restaurants themselves. Until recently, out-of-towners knew about Eastern Market and maybe Union Market but weren’t necessarily excited to try a new food hall during their visit. Nowadays, suburbs like Arlington, Chevy Chase and Silver Spring have globally-focused food halls that are conveniently located near metro stations, while newer ones in DC proper are just as regionally-focused as their counterparts. These 10 food halls give you the best opportunity to try all the DMV has to offer in one spot.
La Cosecha is a stellar Latin American food hall and home to the Michelin-starred El Cielo.
Brian Cicioni
La Cosecha is focused on the flavors of Latin America. The bi-level main hall is the festive area, where you’ll find vendors specializing in favorites like pupusas, arepas and pollo a la brasa. If you want to see the main hall at its most energetic, attend during a soccer match or the bi-monthly Salsa Social sessions.
While the main hall is where the action is, there are two restaurants with separate seating areas, each a completely different experience. Apapacho is run by a Mexican-born couple who have worked in kitchens from Santiago de Chile to Copenhagen. The focus is on Mexican street food, including breakfast tacos and vegetarian options. In the main hall, Arcay Chocolates stands out, thanks to its artfully-designed bonbons with flavors like churro, marzipan and tamarind. But at El Cielo, you can wash your hands in chocolate without leaving your table. The first Colombian restaurant to be awarded the coveted Michelin star has two tasting menus where presentation is paramount to the point where your server will create fog at your table to mimic the experience of drinking morning coffee in the Colombian mountains.
1280 4th St NE
Love, Makoto is a culinary love letter to Japan.
Brian Cicioni
Chef Makoto Okuwa is a Nagoya, Japan native, and this food hall is his culinary love letter. In the main hall, you can order ramen bowls, curry rice and soft-serve ice cream from one of the touch menus. Donuts are filled to order with Japanese-flavors like matcha and yuzu.
For more upscale dining, head to one of the three stand-alone restaurants, each specializing in a different form of Japanese cooking. Dear Sushi has an omakase experience that’s quite affordable. At Hiya Izakaya, you can watch (and sample) 10 different meats and vegetables prepared over binchotan charcoal. If you prefer to do the grilling yourself, grab a table at Beloved BBQ. It has the best variety, as you can try grilled meats as decadent as Wagyu A5 and sushi with a one-to-one fish-to-rice ratio (the truffle salmon sushi is also topped with gold flakes). The plant-based soba salad with spicy sesame dressing is as delicious as any meat or fish item you’re likely to try.
200 Massachusetts Ave NW
Luna Hall started in DC and has since branched out to Ellicott City and Wheaton, with Rockville and Tyson’s Corner locations also in the works. If you’re looking to experience DC’s Chinatown in one spot, this is the place. The best food spot is Dumpling District, which is at the end of the food hall, so it’s best to try the vendors in reverse. Try all of their rainbow soup dumplings if you have no dietary restrictions, as each flavor is noticeably different (chicken and shrimp/zucchini are the two best non-pork options). It’s also worth trying the buns, which are pan-fried on the bottom. Luna Hall DC also has a sizable bar and ample seating, where you’ll see many young professionals working on their laptops while drinking bubble tea from Kung Fu Tea. Other notable options include Taiwanese fried chicken and poke.
625 H St NW
Solaire Social features 10 vendors.
Brian Cicioni
If you’re only going to try one item from one vendor among the different DC food halls, it should be the picanha steak from Fire Pit at Solaire Social. Chef Gui Gonzalez grills the top sirloin cap over a gas-powered grill with a charcoal tray beneath. The southern Brazil native seasons the meat only with salt in order to bring out its flavor — and that flavor is significant to the point where you don’t even need the green sauce that comes on the side. There are nine other vendors, including Kati Roll Wala and Pau & Sophia’s Thai Kitchen. The latter is run by a couple from Myanmar, so it’s best to start with the Burmese noodle salad. It’s served warm with a moderate spice level and crispy onion that adds a bit of crunch.
Solaire isn’t the only food hall on this list with an ice cream vendor, but it’s the only DC-area food hall with one that specializes in the flavors of West Africa. Anyone who has been to Lagos should recognize the toy danfo buses next to the bottles of malt beverage imported from Nigeria. Shuga x Ice’s popular flavors include Love Nwantinti, which is malta-flavored, as well as Gbas Gbos, a spicy chocolate ice cream. And it’s not just spicy by ice cream standards — it’s comparable to West African pepper soup in terms of heat level.
8200 Dixon Ave
The Heights is the kind of place you bring an out-of-towner if you want to impress them.
Brian Cicioni
The Heights is the kind of place you bring an out-of-town tourist if you want to impress them. Vendors include the South Indian DC Dosa and Middle Eastern Yasmine, which is one of the best food spots at the much larger Union Market. If you don’t get a drink from the bar, try a Cuban coffee at Saoco, where you can get a taste of Miami’s Little Havana in the DC suburbs. And save room for dessert at the first Mimi’s soft-serve location. The flavors rotate in and out but tend to be ones you’d find in Japan, like black sesame, ube and matcha.
5406 Wisconsin Ave
Food from Slice Joint and Hi/Fi Taco at The Roost
Brian Cicioni
Unlike other DC food halls, The Roost focuses as much on drinks as they do on dining, making it feel more like a neighborhood hangout than a typical food court. There are two bars, each with a different focus. Show of Hands has more than 200 different whiskeys to choose from, while Shelter is The Roost’s beer bar with more than 50 beers on tap.
The pizza at Slice Joint is slightly oily on the bottom with a thick, crispy crust. According to Roberta’s alumna Rachael Marie, who is now part of the Roost team, the pizza was inspired by Prince Street Pizza in Lower Manhattan (it’s square and more airy than Detroit-style). Meanwhile, Hi/Fi Taco seems less concerned with recreating a food truck from Mexico City and more into offering a handful of fun interpretations like Taco Night in America, which is served with the sometimes scoffed-at crunchy tortilla. But it’s the soft-shell mojo braised chicken taco that stands out the most, with its mix of smooth avocado crema and mildly spicy enchilada sauce.
1401 Pennsylvania Ave. SE
The Square is home to Kiyomi Sushi by Uchi.
Brian Cicioni
While you’ll find pizza and a sushi restaurant with a very affordable 30-minute omakase option at The Square, the Spanish food stands out the most. That’s mainly because of Casa Teresa, which is a sit-down restaurant with a tapas corner and extensive Spanish wine menu. Chef Rubén García’s other concepts at The Square include Jamón Jamón, Junge’s and Brasa, where you can enjoy meat and veggies grilled to order.
Nativo Coffee opens four hours before the other vendors and serves breakfast items that reflect the owners’ Jamaican and Venezuelan heritage. The Cafe Bombom is their signature latte and the one drink you must try. It’s as sweet as any dessert and as tasty as any Vietnamese iced coffee you’ve ever had. If fermented tea is more your thing, check out Brindle Boxer Kombucha.
1850 K St NW
Union Market has the most volume and best variety of any DC food hall.
Brian Cicioni
If you only have time to visit one DC food hall, Union Market should be the one. A whole district has sprung up around it to the point where the area is now an ideal home base when visiting the city. Old warehouses and national ice cream brands like Van Leeuwen mix with high-rise condos and new hotels like the Hotel Nell-Union Market. Pizza, ramen and ice cream stalls share space with vendors serving Korean tacos, Japanese omelets and classic British cuisine. There’s even a Ladurée cart near one of the entrances. Head up to the 21-and-over rooftop where you can drink and play lawn games behind the iconic Union Market letters.
1309 5th St NE
Upside on Moore
Brian Cicioni
Upside on Moore is conveniently located above the Rosslyn Metro station, and you can also walk here from Georgetown via the Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge. Lili’s and Ghostburger tend to get the longest lines, while KAM & 46 has the most interesting menu items. Just picture a 5,200-mile culinary bridge from Oahu to the Philippines. There, Spam and poke share menu space with Philippine-influenced dishes like crispy garlic calamansi wings and pancit, is a traditional noodle dish.
1700 N Moore St
Western Market is a diverse food hall located on the grounds of George Washington University.
Brian Cicioni
No relation to Eastern Market, Western Market is a food hall located on the grounds of George Washington University. Standout vendors include Bandoola Bowl, which is the only Burmese spot at a food hall in DC proper. My Cake Theory, known for an appearance on the Food Network, has a pop-up location with limited seating here. While the cupcakes aren’t build-your-own at the Western Market location, they are the best tasting (and looking) you’ll find in any DC food hall.
2000 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
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Washington, D.C
Food Critic Tom Sietsema on Falling in Love with Journalism at Georgetown – Georgetown University
In October, Tom Sietsema (SFS’83) stepped down as The Washington Post’s food critic after 26 years.
During his tenure, Sietsema wrote 1,200 restaurant reviews and 50 dining guides. He used pseudonyms and disguises while eating out 10 or so times a week.
Along the way, he covered America’s top food cities and the eating habits of Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders; went undercover in the CIA’s dining room and in a kitchen as a dishwasher, and this fall, penned his final list of DC’s 40 best restaurants.
Sietsema’s journalism career dates back to his undergraduate years in Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service.
The Minnesota native set out to be a diplomat, but after internships at Good Morning America and the Chicago Sun-Times, he fell in love with reporting.
Decades later though, Sietsema still practices diplomacy — just not in the way he thought.
“I’ve been able to use diplomatic skills at the table for 26 years, so in a way, thank you Georgetown School of Foreign Service,” he said.
Find out how Sietsema carved his own path in food writing and how he practices diplomacy at the dinner table.
Culture Shock at Georgetown
Sietsema fell in love with Washington, DC, while spending a semester studying and interning there as an undergraduate. He was a student at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, at the time, and by the end of his exchange program, he didn’t want to leave DC.
Sietsema decided to apply to Georgetown and arrived on the Hilltop in 1981 — a “huge culture shock,” he said.
“I felt as if I were a representative of a class of people who were from the Midwest. I went to public schools. I was a Protestant. What amused me was how similar students were from around the world in their regard for Georgetown and Catholicism and making the world a better place.”
Sietsema lived in Village A, a few floors away from Patrick Ewing (C’85). He took German classes and a course taught by Jan Karski, a Polish WWII spy and diplomat and SFS professor. He ate mainly from the salad bar on campus, and in his off-hours, worked as a waiter at a pizzeria to save up money to eat out.
“What I loved about Georgetown was it seemed to be a magical place at the time,” he said. “I remember it being a really optimistic time in my life.”
Finding His Footing in Journalism
His senior year, Sietsema took the university’s first journalism class, taught by Ted Gup, then an investigative reporter at The Washington Post who worked under reporter Bob Woodward.
His classmates were Kara Swisher (SFS’84) — a “whirling dervish then and remains one now” — and Mary Jordan (C’83), a Pulitzer-Prize winning writer and editor for the Post, with whom he’d compare notes and help edit one another’s papers. The class taught the nuts and bolts of breaking into the news business, he said.
“I loved the Georgetown way of thinking and teaching, and I think I’m a better reporter because of the professors I had there,” he said.
Gup connected Sietsema with the Post, and after starting as a copy aide, he worked for Phyllis Richman, the newspaper’s restaurant critic. Sietsema tested recipes for readers, learning how to clean squid, prepare African peanut stew and bake colonial cakes — among the more than a thousand dishes he finessed for readers.
“It was the greatest cooking class,” he said. “I think my grocery bill was double my rent.”
After cutting his teeth in food writing, Sietsema headed west, working as a food editor, reporter and/or critic for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, before a role covering restaurants for Microsoft’s Sidewalk brought him back to DC.
In 2000, Sietsema took on the mantle of the Post’s chief food critic.
Food as Diplomacy
In covering restaurants for 26 years, Sietsema has been able to put his diplomacy skills to good use.
He says he tries to make his dining companions feel comfortable, encourages them to try a new food or shows them how to eat a certain dish. In the process, Sietsema has found that people often open up.
“I would take a starving artist or a young family to a big deal restaurant just to see it through their eyes,” he said. “I like to take hoity-toity people to dives. I realized people would open up over a meal in a way they never would in a different setting. I’ve had people tell amazing stories over the years. I feel it’s been a masterclass in life and living.
“Food is a diplomatic tool. It can be symbolic. It’s nourishment. It’s been the most important thing in my life really.”
After logging thousands of reviews, Sietsema is looking forward to becoming a regular in restaurants. He also plans to cook more. He’s hosting a monthly lamb burger night for DC movers and shakers. He recently invited his Uber driver, an Afghan contract worker, to join, he said.
“He’s going to be the most important guest there,” he said. “You can effect change one meal at a time, and that’s what I want to do. I’m very optimistic about the future.”
Pro Tip
Where to eat out in Georgetown: Chez Billy Sud, My Little Chamomile, the River Club and Le Bonne Vache.
Editor’s Note: The first photo in the story is by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post.
Two teenagers were shot in Northeast D.C. Tuesday afternoon, according to police.
One of the victims has critical injuries, police said.
The shooting happened on 62nd Street near the Maryland border.
Multiple D.C. police cars and officers could be seen on the scene.
No information has been released yet about the victim’s ages or if there are any suspects.
This is a developing story. Stay with News4 for updates.
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Washington, D.C
Japan donates 250 cherry trees, fireworks for Trump’s DC refresh after PM watches World Series with prez
TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will donate 250 flowering cherry trees and July 4th fireworks to Washington, DC, after she and President Trump tuned into the World Series game between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers.
Takaichi, who became Japan’s first female prime minister seven days ago, emphasized the nations’ common love of baseball and her country’s historic gift of cherry trees to DC as the leaders began their official dialogue Tuesday, which is expected to focus behind closed doors on military and trade policies.
“To the press corps, I’m very sorry that we kept you waiting. As a matter of fact, Mr. President and I just enjoyed watching the Major League Baseball match,” Takaichi opened her official greeting.
“Actually, Dodgers versus Blue Jays, and the Dodgers are now having a one-point lead, and we really enjoyed the match.”
Takaichi, a conservative protégé of assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, said that the cherry trees would be gifted in recognition of the United States’ 250th anniversary next year and would bolster a new “golden age” of US-Japan relations.
“To have a magnificent celebration, we will extend a gift of 250 cherry trees to Washington, DC. In addition, I understand that fireworks from Japan, from Akita Prefecture, will be shown in Washington, DC, on July 4 next year,” she said.
Japan in 1912 gifted over 3,000 cherry trees during President Howard Taft’s tenure — a fact celebrated every spring at Washington’s heavily attended Cherry Blossom Festival.
Trump is in the midst of a dramatic refresh of the capital city, including the addition of a massive White House ballroom and the planning of a possible 250th anniversary triumphal arch across from the Lincoln Memorial.
“We’ve received your orders for a very large amount of new military equipment. And you know that we make the best military equipment in the world,” said Trump, who will deliver a speech later in the day aboard the USS George Washington aircraft carrier near the mouth of Tokyo Bay.
“We appreciate that order, and we very much appreciate the trade. We’re going to do tremendous trade together, I think, more than ever before. We’re just signing a new deal, and it’s a very fair deal.”
Trump in July reached a new trade pact with Japan, lowering his threatened 25% “reciprocal” tariff to 15% in exchange for pledges of $550 billion in Japanese investments in the US, in addition to Tokyo reducing barriers to imports of US vehicles and agricultural products.
Japanese cars also face a 15% tariff under that deal, lower than the 25% rate Trump applied to most other countries.
The White House has not teased any looming reforms to the Japan trade deal this week — and the two leaders signed a brief document reaffirming the “GREAT DEAL” reached in July.
Takaichi and Trump also signed a document pledging to cooperate to boost investments and develop policies to secure rare-earth and critical minerals against “non-market policies and unfair trade practices” from China — after Trump recently signed similar documents with Australia, Malaysia and Thailand.
Trump’s three-nation tour of the region is focused heavily on making economic deals.
During his first stop in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, he signed agreements to lower tariffs on certain goods from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam in exchange for pledges of billions of dollars in purchases of US airplanes, natural gas and agricultural goods such as soybeans and corn.
Trump will return to the US after visiting South Korea on Wednesday and Thursday, where he hopes to announce a trade deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping that will address Beijing’s new export restrictions on products made with rare-earth and critical minerals, as well as Chinese fentanyl smuggling and steps to revive soybean purchases.
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