I’ll be in DC for a conference in March, and will be staying at a hotel near Dupont Circle - or so I’ve been told - is Dupont Circle a circle or a neighborhood, or…? (maybe I should do a little more research).
My sister works a few blocks from the hotel and so we’ll be meeting up for dinner & lunch everyday.
She hasn’t worked at this job long (commutes into DC from Baltimore) but says she thinks there are some good restaurants in the neighborhood.
What are your recommendations for good restaurants in that neighborhood?
We are willing to try any cuisine.
We love Ethiopian, Indian, Thai, etc. Heck - we just like food, period.
Price range - less than $50 pp for dinner - is that feasible in that neighborhood?
I was just there last month. There are quite a few places to eat there, but I didn’t go to any (my functions were already catered). The Jury’s hotel has a restaurant, and there are a few small places to eat withinm a block of he circle itself. If you go a bit farther afield you’ve got lots of options – you’re in the middle of embassy territory. There’s a Starbucks right on the circle, and a Subway nearby if you’re looking for cheap.
Coupla good bookstores there, too, including Books A Million right on the circle.
Yea, there’s a bunch of them. In addition to Biddy Mulligans and the Dupont Grille (the two restaurants in Jury’s), there’s a bunch on Connecticut Avenue north of the Circle. There’s the Afterwords Cafe in Kramerbooks. If you like Chinese, there’s City Lights, about two blocks up. There’s the Childe Harold, which is pretty good. On P Street, about a block from the circle, there’s Pizzaria Paradisio, if you like pizza. There’s also a seafood restaurant as well as an east Asian fusion place that’s supposed to be good.
South of the circle, there’s Levant, which is a Turkish/Middle Eastern place. If you like steakhouses and don’t mind splurging, there’s Sam and Harry’s, Smith and Wolinsky, and the Palm. And, if you like Italian food, there’s Luigi’s, which I think makes the best lasagna in the city, on 19th and M.
There are, of course, a whole lot of other restaurants too, but there are some highlights.
DuPont Circle is one of the more trendy hangouts in the city. There are more restaurants than you can shake a stick out. City Lights is great if you’re looking for Chinese, Thai Chef is great for Thai and Sushi, Bistro du Coin is great if you’re in the mood for French, Hank’s Oyster Bar is great, and there are a bunch of other restaurants/bars if you just wander around.
Do a Google search on “Washington”, “Dupont Circle”, and “restaurants”, and you’ll find a bunch of websites with lists of restaurants in the Dupont Circle neighborhood. I’d estimate that there’s about sixty of them, and that’s without having to walk half a dozen blocks north into Adams-Morgan, where there’s maybe another eighty restaurants. Most of them are well under $50 per person. I suppose there are some restaurants in D.C. that are over that amount, and a few that are over $100 per person if you count tax and tip and you order a bottle of wine with the meal, but $50 will get you a nice meal at almost all the restaurants in D.C. I’d recommend you go into Kramerbooks (fifty feet north of the traffic circle called Dupont Circle) and buy a restaurant guide to Washington. You can eat very well in that area.
When I go to conferences downtown in the hotel at the top of the hill above Dupont Circle, the place I usually like to go to for lunch/dinner is the Polo Club, an Indian restaurant.
If you want to spend a few hours catching up with your sister over a few beers the Brickskeller is about the most wonderful bar in the world. It’s low key and huge enough that you can always find a pretty quiet table and chat for five hours. It’s on 23d, just half a block up from P St.
Thai Kitchen is a really good restaurant on M St. in the low 20’s – maybe 22d? Ask for the curry puffs; they only have them maybe a third of the time, but sometimes when they do it’s not on the specials board. I have a nagging feeling that they might only be open for lunch.
I really like Levante’s.
If you get sick of all the nice places, you could head down to C.F. Folks on 19th between M and N. It’s a divey little hole in the wall, but the food is good, the two guys who run it are certainly colorful, and the desserts are fabulous.
Finally, whenever I have friends from out of town, I take them to Red Sage. It’s not within walking distance, really, but a short subway ride to Metro Center or a $7 cab will take you there to 14th and F. (G? No, I think it’s F.) The upper level is a really good jazzed up Mexican place, while the lover level is a more high-falutin’. It’s really tough to get in for lunch though – if you show up at 12:00, you’ll get a table. 12:02, you’ll wait for 15 minutes at least. I don’t know why this is so, but I used to work a half-block away and I can tell you from experience that’s the way it is.
Speaking of Mexican, I’m shocked that no one has mentioned Lauriol Plaza It’s a few blcoks away at 18th and S, but it’s the best Mexican food you’ll ever have in your life, even if you’re the president of Mexico.
And finally, there’s a Krispy Kreme right on the Circle.
Lauriol is overrated. I enjoy going there, but really only for the big pitchers of margaritas. The food is pretty good, but nothing special (I do enjoy their chiles rellenos with cheese quite a bit). I think Guajillo over in Rosslyn is just as good, if not better. I’m a transplant from southern California, so maybe I’m just spoiled.
If you like beer, Brickskeller is fabulous - they have one of the largest beer selections in the country. And you can see their menu here. They host special events, too, like dinners featuring Belgian beers and such. You can call or email them to find out if there’s anything going on when you are there.
I’ve heard good things about it, but I haven’t tried it. I admit I’m more than a bit skeptical since most of the comments I’ve heard are “OMFG! They make the guacamole right at your table! You have try the guacamole!” and I have to respond that my godmother is first or second generation Latina (she was born here, but her mother grew up in Mexico). I grew up in Southern California and had an avocado tree growing in my backyard that produced excellent fruit. While I love the stuff, (a) it’s going to take more than that to make me want to come back and (b) there’s no way in heck I’m paying $12 for guacamole. Whenever I ask how the actual food is, all I get back is “Pretty good, but you HAVE to try the guacamole!”