We wanted to share some more food recommendations this week, but not from New York – instead, from a recent trip we got to take to Washington, DC.  We’ve written before about some good things we got to try in the nation’s capital, and we decided to do another post to highlight a few more great places we found.  This time around we got to try a really great mix of places, featuring cuisine from all around the world and all around DC, and both sit down and counter service spots.  So check out our picks here, but do be warned that there are some images of meat in this post.

First off, like in many of the cities we visit, we decided to find some pizza.  Cyril especially likes to scout out some good local pizza spots, and one place we discovered was Matchbox, which has twelve locations in the DC-Maryland-Virginia area, plus two more in Florida.  We ended up visiting their Capitol Hill restaurant and split this Fire + Smoke pizza, made with spinach, basil, onions, and smoked gouda paired with a garlic and spicy chipotle sauce as the base.

We also got a chance to try Pupatella Pizza, which originated in northern Virginia but has since expanded to five locations, including one in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of DC.  There we shared an eggplant and red pepper pizza, which comes topped with smoked Provola cheese.

We also spent one night wandering around Adams Morgan, an area of DC that’s known for having a lot of interesting restaurants as well as some quick service places that cater to the crowds going to local bars and clubs.  We decided to hit up a few spots in the neighborhood, starting with Bul, which serves up modern Korean street food.  There we got an order of these honey butter fries …

… and Cyril also had some sweet and spicy Seoul-style fried chicken wings, which come coated in a chili sauce.

Across the street from Bul is Zenebech, which is just one of many Ethiopian restaurants in the city (because DC contains the largest immigrant Ethiopian community in the world).  Zenebech is consistently rated as one of Washington’s best Ethiopian restaurants, so of course we had to try it.  We decided to split a vegetarian combo, which comes with four choices laid out on a huge piece of injera – here is (starting at the bottom left and moving counterclockwise) tikel goman (a cabbage, carrot and potato stew), ater (yellow split peas cooked in tumeric), mesir (red lentils in a berbere sauce) and shiro (a chickpea puree).

Just a few blocks away we also visited El Tamarindo, a local Salvadoran restaurant that’s most famous for its wide selection of pupusas.  We got several different vegetarian varieties:  a loroco con queso (stuffed with greens and cheese), a frijol con queso (with pinto beans), an ayote con queso (with zucchini), and a jalapeño con queso.

And finally, the last placed we stopped before heading home was a pretty cool restaurant called Farmers & Distillers.  As you might be able to guess from the name, this spot not only serves up food but also produces their own line of spirits, so we were able to sample some of their spirits.  To go along with that, we also tried a few different things off their menu, starting with a bread basket made up of cornbread, sourdough, rustic white bread, and a wheat bread made with nuts and raisins, all served with homemade honey butter and jam.

Then Miriam got their cacio e pepe …

… and Cyril had a platter of their spatchcock chicken, cooked in a honey thyme sauce and served with veggies on the side.

All in all, we got a pretty good sampling from around DC:  we got to try food from three different countries, plus we had two different pizzas, and we finished off the weekend with a nice table service meal paired with some local liquor.  It was a nice variety of things to eat, and a reminder that there’s more to Washington than just politicians and the Smithsonian.  Plenty of people come to the capitol to see the government buildings and unique museums, but you’re also going to need to eat while you’re there, and luckily there’s plenty of interesting places to check out – and we think we’ve given you some good recommendations.