Cheap Food in D.C. Not So Cheap
I drank too much at the City Paper party last night, and I paid for it this morning, with the aching head and inability to think that come of getting too friendly with bad red wine. One of my first blurry thoughts—besides "Oh shit, it's 10" and "I need water"—was "I wish I was in New York." Let me explain: I was not missing skyscrapers, glamour, or heaps of garbage; I was longing for a cheap breakfast.
I don't have much money, and I don't know how to cook. But during the month that I slept on friends' couches in Manhattan and Brooklyn, I managed to live mostly off food items that cost about $1 each: 50 cent rolls and bagels and coffee, $1 samosas and pastries, $1.50 egg sandwiches and slices of pizza. I tried to keep track of East Village locations that advertised a full breakfast for less than $3; I couldn't keep up with them all. It seemed that in the city whose cost of living puts even ours to shame, I could eat my fill and still have half of a $5 left over. (Drinking was another story.)
I came to the District expecting that well-prepared ala carte items could still be had for cheap. How wrong I was. Take Woodley Park and Adams Morgan, where I work. An egg-on-bagel sandwich at So's Your Mom or International Cafe costs more than $3 with tax; add coffee to that, and most of your $5 is gone. A bagel does not sell for less than 75 cents, and if you want a good one, say at Heller's Bakery, that little circle of dough is a dollar all by itself. This is to say nothing of pizza slices, pastries, or samosas, all overpriced.
I finished my $2 cup of coffee and $1 bagel at Murky Coffee on Capitol Hill. If I were in New York, I would be full of life-sustaining grease. But here I was full only of what Cervantes called "duelos y quebrantos"—gripes and grumblings.
5:04 pm
I know it is a trek...and often forgotten about as far as 'DC', but Murry and Pauls in Brookland (1 block from the Red Line Stop) has 2 eggs, home fries, toast, and coffee for $2.95.
All told, my Sunday morning regularly involves the Post and this great little greasy spoon...and the Post is almost as much as the breakfast!
5:12 pm
Amen. This town does not do cheap food. Except Player's: two beers, two mac and cheeses--like $5.
5:35 pm
If you eat meat, Capitol Hill boasts the best Italian sub in the whole freaking city: the "Prego Special" which costs under $5 after tax at Prego, located on 7th in the heart of Eastern Market (with a sister store near 3rd and Penn). It's particularly good with extra hots. A comparable sandwich at any other place will blow your $5 out of the water.
1:21 am
Check out the CP archives and see all those DC is so not THE CITY bellyachers before you. It's not. As Mayor Barry says, Get Over It.
You might want to expand your yuppie coffee universe while you're at it. The Tune Inn, near 4th and Penn SE, has 2 eggs, toast, bacon/sausage and coffee for your NYC $3 rate. Pete's Grill at 2nd and Penn is maybe $4 for that and you can get kimchi, too. And all the coffee refills you can handle. Huh, those are two options within two blocks. And for native son Delaney Mangliardo's, or however the heck it's spelled, at 13th and Penn has a pretty damn tasty Italian sub too. Get the G-Man, actually, for quarter more. Go Southeast!!
1:13 pm
Southeast Cap Hill also happens to have the Worst Diner in the Entire City: Jimmy T's Place at 5th and East Capitol. Crummy, small portions at a high price and bad service too!
8:15 pm
huh...i was reading along, reading along, waiting my turn to put jimmy T's on the list. But I love the place, been going for 10 years, n my classy friends love it when they play music n need a place to regroup the next morning. My favorite.
7:56 am
Gotta get Chef Mike's cornbeef hash at the Tune Inn. Not cheap, but you won't need to eat lunch.
5:00 pm
I concur. I work downtown, in the land of expense accounts, and am still amazed when a bagel and cream cheese comes to $1.89.
I ain't never been to that Big Ol City Up North - but I'm still perturbed that restaurants downtown close almost uniformly before 5 pm.
Cuz all the rich people in their suits are on the train ride home - there's just folks like me, hoarding our $.89 bagels for dinner.