The Ultimate Food Guide to Washington DC

(Jean Jacket- Gap | Shirt- Disney World | Skirt- Asos (on Sale!) | Lipstick-Mac Rebel)

Ok, I should clarify, this really is not really the ultimate guide to eating in Washington DC since there are a million different places to eat and try, but these are a few places we tried on our last trip and really liked!  Its a good starter guide though if you have never been to the city!  After all the pictures is a list of places I have been wanting to try too! We are going to DC again soon, so I will have to keep adding to list as we try new places!  Do you have any favorite places to go eat in DC?  

Now on to the post :)

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Awhile back Jake and I made a fun trip to Washington DC for a week!  Any time we go on a trip, all Jake and I think about is the food.  We have another trip to DC coming up soon, so I am excited to try some places we didn't get to go to on this trip!  On this trip we wanted to try every cupcake place!  We missed a few shops but got our favorites in.  The first one we went to was Red Velvet Cupcakery.  I really love their red velvet and summertime (a lemon coconut) cupcakes.  The cupcake its self is not my favorite, they are a little to dry for me, but the frosting is what makes it.  I think these cupcakes have the best frosting in the city!  I go here just for the amazing frosting! OHHH YUM!  They also have a lot of specialty cupcakes for dietary or health needs. 

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Jake and I got to go France together a few years back, and all around France were boulangerie called PAUL.   A few years ago they put in a PAUL in downtown DC and Jake and I love to stop by every time we are in town.  I have never tried their macaroons before and decided to give them a try.  I was bummed because I didn't love the flavors or the texture so I dont know if I would recommend getting them, but they sure looked pretty for the picture so thats a plus!  I know macaroons can be a hit or miss sometimes, so I want to go back and try them again to see if it was an off day.  I can tell you what I do love at PAUL.  The environment is super fun!  Its located right across the street from the National Archives and has such a cute French Bakery vibe to the store.  Most of it is black and white decor which is pretty fun!  I love their sandwiches and haven't had one yet that I didn't like!

Jake and I went to Alexandria for a day and had so much for walking around the cute town.  It was so darling I really want to go back.  Its just a few metro stops away from Washington DC and it totally worth the small trip.  And this this food from A Cheese Shop La Fromageri was the best food we had our entire trip!  We ate a ton of good food, but I really don't think anything topped this cute little shop.   We had never heard of this restaurant and when we were walking downtown we saw it and had to go in.  We were both so glad we did!  The environment was quant, the service was fantastic, and the menu was unique.  Jake got a squash soup and I got a corned beef sandwich!  It was honestly the most amazing sandwich I have ever had in my life.  I am not even the biggest corn beef fan but it sounded so good at the time, and it was! I would totally recommend this sandwich is a heart beat!

Baked and Wired is a place Jake and I have been hearing about for ages and have never seemed to make it there!  The shop is located in the heart of Georgetown and by the time Jake and I got Georgetown every night we got there after Baked and Wired was closed.  This trip we made sure to make to Georgetown early in the evening so we could go get a cupcake we have been hearing all about!  When we walked in, we loved the place right away!  The environment was had a real hipster vibe, but thats what made it fun!  There were 20 different flavors of cupcakes to pick from and they all looked so good. We tried The Unicorns and Rainbows (funfetti), Red Velvet, Coconut and Maple Bacon.  My favorite part about the cupcakes were how they were wrapped.  They were so fun to peel and eat.  They had forks to eat with the cupcakes and they were needed!  These cupcakes are HUGE and extremely dense.  I really dont think I have every had a cupcake like these.  I dont know if I would even consider them cupcakes because they are so thick and dense, but they sure were delicious!  I want to go back and try some other flavors and see which one will be our favorite!

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Jakes family used to live out by DC and one of my favorite things we did with them was go to a Jazz Bar called Blues Alley in Georgetown.  In college I loved Jazz and took a history of jazz and every week we had to go to a underground type of jazz bar and listen to music.  Needless to say it was the funnest class ever and I now love jazz because of it.  Blues Alley is such a neat place!  The environment really makes you feel like you are back in the day with the brick walls and old fashioned chairs.  They have different performers/groups come all the time.  

When we went this trip the Cherry Blossom Festival was taking place so they had a super unique and neat band from Japan there playing Japanese style jazz.  Jake and I loved it so much!  Blues Alley is a little pricey since you have to buy tickets and a minimum food charge (the food is not my favorite, recommend ordering drinks or a ton of Shirley Temples :)  I may not love the food though since we always eat before we come.  They usually do two shows a night at 8 and 10 pm.  We have only gone to the 10pm shows so I will usually get cake and a soda.  We have purchased tickets for performances in advance, and have just walked in some nights purchasing tickets on the spot.  We have had good experiences with both. The music and the atmosphere is worth the money.  If anyone asks me one of my favorite things to do in DC, going to Blues Alley would be it.

Every time we are in DC we pass DAS Ethiopian restaurant on our way to Georgetown and we always say "someday we will try it."  Well, we finally tried it!  Jake and I have never tried Ethiopian food, so this was a whole new experience for us.  We had no idea what to order or what the food would be like but we were excited.  At DAS, the service was fantastic!  The waitress recommended ordering either the vegetarian or meat platter, so we decied to try both so we could get a taste of everything. 

The dishes were super flavorful and super fun to try.  You could tell the ingredients were super high quality.  The funnest part about the meal is that you ate with your hands!  There was a type of spongey bread called Injera that came in rolls and you would tear off a piece to scoop up some food!  It was a really fun experience.  Jake really loved the food and would love to go back!  I really liked the food to, but dont know if its my favorite type of food.  It was definitely a fantastic place to try!

No trip to DC is complete without a stop to Georgetown Cupcakes!  There cupcakes can be a hit or miss for me sometimes depending on the baker that day, but I still have always loved the cupcakes.   Since it was cherry blossom time when we were there they had some specialty cherry blossom themed cupcakes that were divine!!!  Overall, the red velvet flavor is our favorite.  If you have never been to Georgetown Cupcakes, I recommend getting their earlier than later so your favorite flavor will not be sold out! 

I could eat a cheeseburger for every meal, every day.  I am a big burger and fries fan!  When we were walking around Georgetown and saw Good Stuff Eatery and saw they used really high quality ingredients and it looked delicious, we had to try it out!  Jake and both got the farm house bacon cheese burgers, spikes village fries and a salted carmel kiss shake!  The food was all tasty but the shake was our favorite!  The real carmel dripping it was amazing! 

In DC I love that there are so many places that are health orientated.  I feel if you have any food restrictions or are health conscious you can find a place that will fit your needs!  One unique place I went to was the Protein Bar.  I got the buffalo chicken burrito.  It wasn't the best meal I have ever had, but I think if  I picked something else I would of really liked it.  It wasn't that I didn't like my meal, it was great, I just think I would of liked some other things better on the menu.  I want to go back and try a few more items because there were a ton of things on the menu that looks tasty!  They also will make you a cold press juice on the spot which I think it pretty cool!

Jake and I were craving Indian food and tried a new place called Rasika.  The service was fantastic!  Our waters were always filled and the table was constantly wiped off.  The food was really well prepared and tasty but I am very partial to Bombay House and have not found an Indian food restaurant to top it yet!  If you are in DC and are wanting Indian food, Rasika is a great place to go and located downtown so you can go look at museums and have a great indian food lunch and grab some gelato :)

We were downtown by the National Archive and saw there was a farmers market going on!  There was tons of fresh veggies, cheese, brick oven pizza and more!  When I saw these cute chocolate milks I had to get one!  I was so glad I did, it was amazing!  I was talked to some people coming out of the Archives and they said the market goes on most of the year!  I was glad we caught and got to stop by for a treat!

By the end of our trip Jake and I were getting a little tired of eating out and wanted to eat something "normal" haha so we decided to try out California Tortilla located right by China Town.  We got a chicken burrito and chips and queso.  The best part about the restaurant was they had a HUGE hot sauce wall with all ratings of hot sauce on a scale of 1-10 of hotness.  Jake and I are big hot sauce fans so we tried out a ton of them!  It was so much fun!  They even had all the hot sauces available for sale for $5 each so we picked up a few of our new favorites we tired to take home with us!

I got to spend a few weeks in Italy and stuffed my face every day with gelato.  I mean, when you are in Italy what else are you supposed to do? Thats right, shove your face with pizza and gelato :)  Well, I honestly would say Pitango Gelato rivals the gelato I have had over in Italy.  Its very similar to Grom Gelato if you have ever had that.  I got chocolate with chocolate chips and raspberry.  Oh my.... it was heaven!  I was even eating it in the rain and loved it :)  Seriously though, this shop is a must stop in DC.

Pizzeria Paradiso has fantastic Neapolitan pizza!  They have a few locations in Georgetown, Dupot Circle and Alexandria.   We went to the location in Georgetown.  It was super busy and we waited an hour to be seated and it was totally worth the wait!  It probably would be smart to call ahead and reserve a table.  I would be curious to go to the one in Dupot Circle since it is such a fun area too!  We ordered the margherita pizza with pepperonis.  It was fantastic!

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There are so many places to eat in DC, its impossible to go to all them! 

We went to a few places that I didn't get a decent picture of the food, so I didn't post them, but one of those was super note worthy and I highly recommend it! It was called Crepes on the Walk.  It was had amazing crepes!  Its a little crepe stand in China Town and its totally worth the trip!  I got a sweet crepe with nutella, strawberries and bananas.  They also had savory crepes but we didn't get a chance to try those.

Ritas is starting to pop up all over, but the first place I have ever had it was in DC.  Its a shaved ice place and the shaved ice with ice cream on the bottom in my favorite.  I have tried a few different flavors and loved them all!  If you live in Utah Valley, they have opened quite a few Ritas.  Go try it out!

Here are a few places we have never tried but heard are fantastic from my friend Kortney who lived in DC for college :)

Near Georgetown

-Thunder Burger

-Sweet Green (healthy alternative)

-Filomena (very authentic Italian)

-Wisemiller (good sandwiches)

-Tombs (Georgetown Student Staple)

Around Town

-Surf Side (cafe rio style but not served the same)

-2 Amys (great pizza)

-Paolos (Italian)

-Capital Grille

-Jetties (Best Sandwiches. Thanksgiving style)

-Ray's Hell Burger

-Bread and Chocolate

-Bens Chili Bowl