District Kitchen
Posted on April 20, 2015 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.
District Kitchen is this really cool restaurant in Woodley Park just around the corner from our hotel. With its exposed brick walls and hip ambiance, the restaurant reminds me of 715 in Lawrence. Maybe it’s the lightbulbs.
It didn’t take long for the restaurant to get packed.
It was a busy evening so it took a while for our food to arrive. It was well worth the wait, though. Here are some pictures.
These brussel sprouts don’t look like much but they were quite popular. Everyone who tried a bite loved it, except for Ginger who found it too sweet. I didn’t try it myself though, so I wouldn’t know.
After dinner we got three of the desserts to share and sample.
This is the apple and fig bread pudding with vanilla ice cream.
This is the banana créme brûlée.
Brian didn’t have dinner because he already had dinner earlier that evening (the babe calzone from Open City, which was his favorite meal DC) but he did enjoy the triple chocolate brownie. It was quite decadent and super delicious. I know because I shared it with him. It’s definitely not to be missed.
Another thing that’s not to be missed is a trip to the restroom.
Theis is definitely one of the coolest restrooms I’ve ever used.
I also liked this sign on the wall which is a clever way of saying not to flush anything but toilet paper down the drain. It’s in keeping with the bathroom theme and decor.
I really liked District Kitchen. There are lots of neat little restaurants in Woodley Park and I think this is one of the better ones. Darcy did a great job in picking it out.
If you are ever in the area, District Kitchen is definitely worth checking out. And, the best part is that it’s only a metro stop away. (At least check out the restroom.)
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Favorite Pictures from the National Mall
Posted on April 18, 2015 by Ching under Travel.
Just wanted to share with you all my favorite pictures from the National Mall. There are no stores there, by the way.
Jokes aside, it was a beautiful day for a nice walk around the park.
These photos were taken at the Lincoln Memorial.
There were a ton of people there.
Getting a picture of Lincoln’s statue without any people in it was quite a feat.
This is a view of the Washington Monument from the Lincoln Memorial.
The reflection pool was empty, which was kind of a bummer. Anyway, here are some more pictures of the impressive Washington Monument.
Did I mention that there were a ton of people?
These photos were taken at the National World War II Memorial
Pictures from the Korean War Veterans Memorial.
These photos were taken at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Brian got some amazing photos of the statues.
We walked along the Tidal Basin where they were celebrating the National Cherry Blossom Festival. We wanted to check out the cherry blossoms, which is a huge attraction in DC during this time of year. They hadn’t bloomed yet, though. I was kind of bummed about that also.
We did get a nice picture of the Jefferson Memorial in the background, though.
Anyway, you get the idea. There’s a ton more pictures on Flickr if you feel so inclined. Browse away.
P.S. We did get to see the cherry blossoms bloom on our last day, but they weren’t in their full glory until after we left.
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Getting Around in DC
Posted on April 18, 2015 by Ching under Travel.
We walked by this sushi place on our way to the metro station. I wanted to try the $1 sushi at happy hour but Brian was a party pooper and wouldn’t let me. I looked at the restaurant’s reviews online and they were all favorable. I think we really missed out.
We found a Dunkin’ Donuts right by the metro station which was fantastic because it ended up being Brian’s daily coffee stop.
I had to take a picture of the restroom at Dunkin’ because it had a keypad. You couldn’t use the restroom unless you had the code. Weirdest thing ever.
Descending down the metro station at Woodley Park was a trip. It was a long, long, long way down. Naturally, we had to take an obligatory escalator selfie to commemorate our very first time using the WMATA.
This super nice WMATA lady helped us figure out the best way to get around. SmartTrip cards are definitely the way to go because you save $1 on the cost of each fare on Metrorail, which comes out to $2 for each roundtrip far (compared to using a paper farecard). It cost us $10 each to get our SmarTrip cards but each card came with an $8 load, and they’re reloadable.
Speaking of fares, we also learned that fares during peak times (before 9:30 AM and between 3:00 PM and 7:00 PM) are more expensive than off-peak fares so, to save on fares, Brian usually didn’t leave the hotel to go on sightseeing adventures until after nine.
WMATA has quite an impressive rail system and it continues to improve. They’re in the middle of an expansion right now actually. Metrorail pretty much allows you to go anywhere you need to go. We got quite familiar with it during our stay. We’d just take the red line from Woodley Park, where our hotel is located, to Metro Center and we could hop on the silver, orange, or blue lines. It was amazing, and fast too! I can’t imagine driving.
If you ever find yourself in the Washington DC area, I highly recommend getting one of these SmarTrip cards. Trust me on this one!
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Dad’s 60th Birthday Dinner
Posted on April 17, 2015 by Ching under Family, Food and Drink.
And we take a break from all of the DC blog posts to show you pictures from dad’s 60th birthday dinner at Cy’s Hoof & Horn.
They say that it’s better to spend money on experiences rather than buying things so rather than buying a present for dad we opted buy dinner for the family instead.
For dad’s birthday Brian and I took mom, dad, and Jenni to our new favorite place to eat steak. Jenni got the filet mignon, which is what I had the last time. I thought it was good but I really, really liked Brian’s chicken fried steak so I ended up getting the chicken fried steak this time around.
Brian and dad both got chicken fried steak also.
I don’t know why we each had to get one, all three of us could have shared one piece. The chicken fried steak portions at Cy’s are enormous.
Mom got a steak salad. Only my mom would get a salad at a steak place. LOL. At least her salad was topped with slices of beef, I guess.
Brian and I can’t wait for his mom and dad to visit because we want to take them to Cy’s also. Now that we’ve discovered Cy’s we just want to bring everyone there.
Cy’s isn’t just a great place to eat steak, it’s a great place for a nice family dinner. I hope dad enjoyed his 60th birthday dinner just as much as we did.
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Open City
Posted on April 17, 2015 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.
Brian and I found this neat restaurant by our hotel called Open City. It’s so close that you can see the hotel from the restaurant’s patio.
The big windows fold out of the way so that even when you’re inside it feels like you’re outside. We asked for a table on the patio, but we didn’t really have to be outside to enjoy dining al fresco.
The cover of the menu has a drawing of the restaurant’s facade.
Lots of great items on the menu, including gluten free pizza. I’m not sure I’ve come across any other restaurant that offers these. Probably because it’s a risky thing to offer considering the crust ends up tasting like cardboard sometimes (or so I’ve heard). We found positive feedback about Open City’s gluten free pizzas online though. Someone sitting at a table close to us who had it even mentioned that they couldn’t tell the difference. That’s huge. I wonder if cooking the pizzas in their special firebrick pizza oven makes the difference?
Oh, and the best part about Open City is they serve brunch all day long.
I ate at Open City a couple of times with Brian (on our first day and also our last day in DC). I think he ate there more than that because (a) it was cheaper than eating at the hotel, (b) the food is great, and (c) it’s just a short walk from our hotel.
We shared the carnivore pizza on our first time at the restaurant. With its generous smattering of pepperoni, bacon, ham, sausage, etc. it’s the perfect pizza for meat-lovers like Brian and me.
We had to try one of their pies for dessert because they bake their own pastries. This pie consisted of chocolate mouse and chocolate ganache. They serve it topped with whipped cream. It was delicious! If I didn’t know it was so bad for you, I would have had one every single day I was in DC.
There were lots of delicious pastries to choose from in the pastry case. They even had some vegan options.
Brian and I decided to go to Open City again for our final meal in DC. Brian had the babe calzone the day before and he just had to have it again. It doesn’t look very appetizing but, after he had me try a bite, I realized why he liked it so much. The calzone was filled with the perfect combination of sausage, ham, pepperoni, and mozzarella cheese. Almost like the carnivore pizza folded over.
I got the Open City grilled chicken wings with blue cheese. They were perfect. They were so good that I wanted to eat them all, except I couldn’t because I got so full.
It didn’t help that I couldn’t stop eating the vegan, gluten free homemade potato chips. They weren’t greasy like they sometimes are at other restaurants.
If you ever find yourself in the Woodley Park area in DC, I highly recommend checking out Open City. There are many reasons I can think of why it’s popular with locals and visitors alike — they have great food; they offer lots of vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free options; they serve brunch all day; they bake their own decadent pastries; and they’re conveniently located close to a metro station. It’s definitely worth checking out!
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