DC in Food and Beer

My food tour of Washington DC.

Malaysian food. I forget the name of the place, but it was a long walk from our hotel.

Fried tofu with what I think was a peanut sauce.

Fried tofu with flat rice noodles, sauteed pepper and onions. All in a curry sauce. Soooooo goooooood.

They had Malaysian beer, but I went with the organic pale ale from the New England area.

Teaism is a teahouse/restaurant down Connecticut from the Washington Hilton. Some friends and I hit it for lunch between sessions. I knew it was vegan-friendly and it was on my list of places to try.

Veggie Bento Box.

So good. Brown rice, sliced tofu with with soy sauce, edemame, and a veggie salad. The veggie salad was a cold salad with zucchini, sweet potatoes, summer squash, and a few other things. I don't know what the dressing was, but it was good. I paired it with an Irish black tea. Mmmmm....

Ethiopian food from Etete. We went here last time ALA was in DC. It's smack-dab in the middle of Little Ethiopia. I walked there from the Washington Hilton. Normally, it would've been about ten blocks, but I got turned around and went in at least two circles. I was definitely ready for a beer (or two).

The carnage after our meal.

LK got the lamb, and I didn't realize they would combine the two on one platter. Whenever I've had Ethiopian in the past, we all got the veggie platter or we got separate plates. I was a little freaked to see the lamb stuff running into my veggie stuff. I almost sent it back but since I didn't ask to have it separated, there was no way they could've known I wanted it that way. So, I ate around it. It was, of course, amazingly good. And the salad was the hottest thing on the platter.

Ethiopian beer. Probably my favorite beer of the weekend.

Indian food from Taj Mahal on DuPont Circle. I liked this place because they marked the vegan and non-vegan items on their menu. I had my usual: Samosas and Aloo Gobi. But I didn't take any pictures. Just believe me when I say it was good.

Taj Mahal 22 ouncer

Busboys and Poets isn't all vegan, but their menu is about half and half. I had a really hard time trying to decide. Do I want braised tofu? A veggie burger? A vegan calzone? I really didn't know. I eventually settled on the calzone. It was okay. I wish I would've had something else, though. But the so-so-ness of the calzone was made up for with the yellow tomato gazpacho.

Yellow Tomato Gazpacho

The people next to us each got this, and I knew I had to have it. A cold soup, it was perfect on a muggy day. I couldn't even tell you what was in it other than it was one of the best things I have ever eaten in my life.

After I got home I found out there are two cupcake places in the DuPont Circle area. I only made it to one: Hello Cupcake. They have one vegan flavor a day and on this day it was lemon. This made me happy.

Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting

Hello Cupcake had three vegan cupcakes left and I bought all of them. I will admit that I have had better cupcakes. These were a little crumbly, but they were still cupcakes.

Asian Fusion was found at Raku. Most of my "Asian Fusion" was Japanese.

Salad made up of mesculin and seaweed with a carrot dressing. I love that seaweed and carrot combo.

Veggie Sushi

This is a bad shot and doesn't do it justice. It had some of the basics--avocado, pickled radish, and all that. But the nigiri sushi was awesome. One had a thinly sliced portabella with a thin slice of lemon. Another had asparagus. But the one (not pictured) wrapped in a thin piece of fried tofu was the best piece of sushi I have ever had. (I found out later this is inari or brown bag sushi.)

Thai beer. Raku's taps were down, so no Kirin Ichiban.

All vegan, all the time at Cafe Green. This place was so good I wanted to cry. Kind of like Busboys and Poets, I didn't know what to get. I was looking at a 4.5 hour flight that afternoon, so I wanted to get stick-to-your-ribs food. The vegan mac and cheese lunch plate hit that spot. I was stuffed full after eating. Despite that, I got a chocolate "milk"shake. It was simple yet yummy. At first taste I said, "This tastes like my childhood."

Vegan mac and cheese, candied yams, and sautéed kale.

I had this with some mint iced tea, it was damn close to a perfect meal. The cheese was cashew cheese, nutritional yeast, and tahini. This was so good, I can still taste it.