Best of D.C. 2009

Is it the lack of parking? The disease-carrying birds? The trash-strewn landscape? The dearth of seating? Certainly it could be the stench outside the fish-gutting house. There’s a lot of reasons why the Maine Avenue Fish Market might not seem to be a good place to spend time with your special someone. But know this: On the right kind of day, with the right kind of companion, there’s not much better in life than showing up to the market shortly before sunset with a cold six-pack, procuring some fried sea critters from the purveyor of your choice, and chowing with legs dangling off the pier, all while watching the birds peck at your crumbs and the dinner cruises cruise past. Follow it up with a Nats game or some local theater (when the new Arena Stage is done, anyway), and you’ve made a day of it in the Forgotten Quadrant. And if you’re not dating the kind of girl who’s into this sort of thing, well, there’s always Zanzibar.