The Diner 2453 18th St., Washington, DC 20009 (202) 232-8800 The Diner is fine. In fact, everything at the Diner is so fine that I imagine the restaurant was dreamed up somewhere in Northern Finland by a mad scientist bent on creating food that elicits neither complaint nor praise, food that will absolutely satisfy you [...]
Metro 29 Diner Restaurant 4711 Lee Highway, Arlington, VA 22207 (703) 528-2464 As far as color scheme goes, Arlington’s Metro 29 Diner delivers everything I want out of a primo diner experience: chrome, turquoise blue, and a smattering of magenta. In matters of cuisine, the eatery on, yes, Route 29 (just east of Glebe Road) [...]
Tastee Diner 8601 Cameron St., Silver Spring, MD 20910 (301) 589-8171 The scrambled eggs are not fluffy; more than anything, they look like flat, ragged pieces of torn cloth as they lie there limply on the plate. The butter for the hot stack is the whipped, salted variety—from tiny plastic containers. And the stale, thin [...]
Trio Restaurant 1537 17th St., Washington, DC 20036 (202) 232-6307 Joints along this busy stretch in long-since-gentrified Dupont Circle have long struggled to overcome the rap that they live off of happy hour revenues at their spacious patios. And Trio Restaurant, a classic diner both in layout (throwback booths and an art-deco feel) and pay [...]
Amphora Restaurant 377 Maple Ave. W., Vienna, VA 22180 (703) 938-7877 The Amphora Restaurant—not to be confused with Amphora’s Diner Deluxe in Herndon, that gleaming homage to the classic American roadside eatery—is, by far, the most ambitious diner in the area. And it has little to do with Amphora’s 350-item menu, which requires serious speed-reading [...]
Old City Café & Bakery 1773 Columbia Road NW, Washington, DC 20009 (202) 232-1322 If Old City Café’ falafel bar seems suspiciously similar in style and spirit to another, Adams Morgan-based falafel joint, there’s a reason. Before striking out to start his own business, Old City founder Walid Abuelhawa was a chef at neighboring Amsterdam [...]
Churreria Madrid 2505 Champlain St., Washington, DC 20009 (202) 483-4441 Aside from mainlining blubber directly into your veins, fried dough might be the worst thing that you can put into your body. But if you’re willing to sacrifice some of the remaining elasticity in your arteries, Churreria Madrid’s churros are worth a try. You certainly [...]
Pot Belly Sandwich Works 1400 Irving St, Washington, DC 20009 (202) 232-5777 Overshadowed in the news that red meat will shave years off your life is an even more terrifying prospect: Deli meats will send your clogs skyward, too. So those turkey sandwiches you’ve been virtuously choking down? Might as well have had an Angry [...]
CommonWealth Gastropub 1400 Irving St, Washington, DC 20010 (202) 265-1400 Jamie Leeds, the chef behind the casual seaside comforts of Hank’s Oyster Bar, seems constitutionally incapable of opening a generic New American restaurant designed for K Streeters who pull up in their E-Class Coupe or 911 Carrera and toss their keys to some valet working [...]
Shawarma King 1654 Columbia Road NW, Washington, DC 20009 (202) 462-8330 I ate my first shawarma-type sandwich in Baku, Azerbaijan, where street vendors call the shaved-lamb-and-pita combo a döner-kebab and top it with cilantro, tomato, cucumber, a ketchup-like red sauce, and fresh herbs. Baku doesn’t have much else in the way of fast food (the [...]
