DC Restaurants

My son is helping a friend move from Birmingham to the district in a week or so. They want to hit some nicer low key spots. Any recommendations of what might be open and have good practices. His friend is going to work for the Fed and will be living in the NoMa area. I think pretty much any area of the district is fair game. Upper price point is probably $75pp.

I would be hesitant to dine indoors. There are places with outside dining but it’s pretty hot and humid right now. Check the Washing Post site and www.donrockwell.com Lots of good places offer takeout so it might be safer to go that route.

I’m not keeping up on who is open or who is not.

However, in the Noma area St Anselm seems open - they are not bad.

The first restaurant I will eat in in almost 4 months will be Annabelle. I believe they are open. The chef is a local legend and the best in DC.

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Annabelle was really nice. The most pure Frank Ruta dinner I’ve had since, well, Palena!

They had a great time at Annabelle last night. Thanks for the recommendation.

Glad they enjoyed it!

Their take-out was ridiculously expensive and not terribly good. I think Frank is just not ready for take out

Agree on readiness. I’m not taking out from high end places. I can wait until it’s safe to dine in.

That’s too bad. Though I wouldn’t think to take out from Annabelle - besides a consomme if it’s on the menu the food wouldn’t seem to do well steaming in a box on the ride home.

I wouldn’t have either, but the Post’s restaurant critic singled it out.

Our top options for take out so far during the plague have been Unconventional Diner, Clarity (in Vienna), Thompson Italian (in Falls Church), Rasika (prefer the Penn Quarter location), and Peter Chang (Arlington), which is our regular Chinese takeout place. We had a disastrous attempt to get take out at Oyamel. This is in addition to our regular kebab, burgers and bbq spots.

Yea, I’ve had good luck with take out from Chang’s Q. Their Beijing roast duck travels well!

+1 for Peter Chang in Arlington, always delivers high quality food.

While on the top of Arlington, I also recommend these for takeout:

Boru Ramen (south Arlington - Columbia pike)
Pho 75 (courthouse - Wilson Blvd)
Sawatdee Thai (courthouse - Clarendon Blvd)
Asahi (next to Sawatdee in courthouse)

Trying to revive this thread.

Any recs for indoor dinning this month?

Mercy Me has fantastic food and a very spacious indoor dining area. They also have an outdoor patio, but when I went it was cold and they put up tents which defeated the purpose of being outside. They have dine-in only menus for brunch and dinner and great take out options too. For bunch, we had the fried hen and pancakes and south american toast - both were fantastic. I haven’t been for dinner, but I have loved everything of theirs I’ve had.

Also dined at the closed-in patio at Mi Vida at the Wharf when it was raining. I picked a random weeknight so it was very empty. They have a really great mezcal margarita and mole enchiladas.

I don’t make it downtown much, but my wife and I dined at 2941 indoors a few months ago. It’s just at the edge of the beltway in Annandale / Merrifield. You could drive a semi between the tables and the room is so grand it almost looks comical how sparse they are. They also have an outdoor pavilion on a fake lake which might be okay for the next few weeks (early spring temps). They obviously are taking everything seriously as our silverware was in plastic bags and every dish was delivered in its own covered carrier. I trusted them before to sanitize the silverware but obviously they are going the extra mile now.

The food is fantastic, French but with some American elements. Good wine list too.

Any recommendations for a restaurant with private dining for 12-15 guests in Arlington or nearby? Not super fancy or experimental, something that would be good for a family reunion of sorts.