Where to Eat in Washington
Merrill, Jill
Where to Eat in Washington by Jill Merrill CAPITOL HILL Congressional Cafeterias. The two cafeterias on the House side and two on the Senate side are open Monday-Friday when Congress is in...
...They don’t have a liquor license, which ends up as a bonus for the customer-bring in your own bottle of wine (there are three liquor stores in the same block as La Ruche) and the cafe cheerfully supplies the glasses...
...The two cafeterias on the House side and two on the Senate side are open Monday-Friday when Congress is in session...
...No reservations...
...This elegantly simple restaurant offers a few exquisitely prepared entrees for lunch and dinner...
...Tiber Creek Club, 15 E St...
...7 p.m...
...on weekends...
...There’s a jukebox full of old tunes and a cheerfully decadent atmosphere...
...Jenkins Hill is open 11 :30 a.m.-2 a.m...
...Mike Palm’s, 231 Pennsylvania Ave...
...All are open only to staff and guests at peak lunch times (roughly noon to 1:30, though it varies some) and to the general public from (again, roughly) 8 a.m...
...For $7.95 you get all the champagne, eggs, meat, and seafood you can eat...
...Monday-Friday, 11:30 a.m.-1 a.m...
...S.E., 544-6603...
...Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-2 a.m., Sunday, 11 am.-1 a.m...
...The wall-hangings alone make it a must (there’s kitsch of every description), but it also happens, rather incidentally, I think, that the food is quite good...
...N.W., 638-0900...
...Sunday 4-1 1 p.m...
...Reservations recommended at lunch...
...A gandy dancer is an old-time railroad worker...
...As the timetable suggests, this is a place for working meals...
...A very attractive wood-paneled restaurant with wood-burning fireplace...
...Friday and Saturday, 6-1 1 p.m...
...This is by far the best government-operated restaurant on Capitol Hill...
...The worst of the lot is the Longworth Building cafeteria on the House side, which used to be a garage-not much has changed since that incarnation...
...S.E., 543-3300...
...No reservations...
...to 3 p.m...
...It’s a nice place to sit and talk over a drink...
...Park Promenade offers three expensive meals seven days a week and is convenient, but not much else...
...Weekdays, 11 :30 a.m.-2:30 p.m...
...The food is mercifully American with a few continental specialties and moderately priced...
...Friday until 3 a.m...
...It consists of a series of small rooms with vaulted ceilings and tile floors, and it’s open to the public...
...Good, inexpensive Greek food enhanced with live Greek music every night except Monday...
...A great meal for the money...
...days, 7 a.m.-2 a.m...
...Expensive...
...Monday-Friday, 10 a.m...
...Sunday 10:30 an.-2 a.m...
...closed Monday...
...Hyatt Regency, 400 New Jersey Ave...
...to 4 p.m...
...Monday-Wednesday, 11 a.m.-1 1 p.m...
...3 p.m...
...S.E., 544-6352...
...The atmosphere improves markedly in the evening...
...Jonah’s Oyster Kitchen serves lunch 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m...
...closed Sunday...
...It’s on the roof of the hotel-an impressive setting-and the food, like the Hyatt itself, is expensive and more pleasing to the eye than the soul...
...The service is attentive and the prices moderate...
...Though not at a Joycean level of grubbiness, the Dubliner does have a noisy charm...
...weekdays and until 11 p.m...
...N.E., 546-3377...
...Yolanda herself creates delicious pastas every evening, At lunch the menu is conventional but good...
...Monday-Saturday, 6-10:30 pm...
...Candy Dancer, 200 E St...
...The restaurant is above Jenkins Hill, which is more of a singles bar than a restaurant, although you can order standard pub fare...
...Tuesday-Thursday and Sunday, 5-1lp.m...
...Deli-Phone, 515 2nd St, N.E., 547-4774...
...It’s cheerful and airy, with a dining room downstairs and a bar, tables, and comfortable sofas upstairs...
...Machiavelli’s, 613 Pennsylvania Ave...
...A popular singles place...
...Saturday, 11 a.m...
...and dinner 5:30 -10 p.m...
...Moderate...
...It’s been transformed into yet another California-style place, full of redwood and plants, and the quality of the food has gone downhill...
...It’s very popular, but the herding is efficient so the service doesn’t suffer...
...Expensive...
...N.W., 737-1234...
...seven days a week...
...Although this restaurant is attractive, it’s so crowded and noisy at lunch it should be called Crow and Raven...
...S.E., 547-8360...
...closed Sunday...
...While the genial, back-slapping atmosphere can be an annoyance, the food isn’t bad...
...This is a cafe on the Senate side of the Hill that can seat up to 80 people when it’s nice enough for the out-door tables...
...Monday-Saturday, 11:30 a.m.-midnight...
...You’ll get a good, light meal here...
...Friday and Saturday until 3 a.m...
...N.E., 546488...
...Definitely need reservations for lunch...
...The prices are moderate and they take no reservations...
...Friday and Saturday, 11:30 a.m.-3 a.m...
...There’s good pizza, but everything else is fairly expensive and not very subtle...
...N.E., 546-9 154...
...The drawback: the tables are napkin-sized...
...A comfortable pub in the kllevue Hotel where you can stretch out and enjoy a yard of draft Whitbread or Courage with a tasty English meat pie and other pub fare at lunch or dinner...
...Open every day, 8 a.m.-2 a.m...
...Lunch, 11 :30 am.-2:30 pm., Monday-Friday only...
...S.E., 544-2338...
...Tavern the Greek Islands, 307 Pennsylvania Ave...
...Monday-Friday, 11 :30 a.m.-2:30 pm...
...Hawk and Dove, 329 Pennsylvania Ave...
...The best deal at the Hyatt is the Sunday buffet brunch, served in the lobby from 11 a.m...
...S.E., 543-1930...
...Open 11 a.m.-midnight, seven days a week...
...closed for lunch Saturday and all day Sunday...
...At lunchtime on weekdays there’s a soup/ salad/sandwich buffet that’s a bargain at $2.95...
...S.E., 543-8337...
...With the pleasant surroundings and impeccable service, reservations are recommended...
...La Ruche, 239 Massachusetts Ave...
...The Refectory, Capitol Building (ground floor, North Wing, Senate side), 2244870...
...Dubliner Restaurant and Pub, 4 F St...
...Open seven...
...Monocle, 107 D St...
...If you can put up with slow, often discombobulated service, you’ll find the food good, attractively prepared, and moderate in price...
...until whenever the senators leave the floor for the day...
...Tune-Inn, 331% Pennsylvania Ave...
...No credit cards or reservations...
...N.W., 737-3773...
...Yolanda’s, 223 Pennsylvania Ave...
...dinner 6 p.m.-midnight, Saturday and Sunday open until 1 a.m...
...It’s justifiably uncrowded...
...Friday and Saturday, 5 p.m.-midnight...
...Thursday-Saturday, until midnight...
...There are three restaurants in this hotel...
...The seafood quiche and the pastries are especially good...
...Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-2 a.m...
...Hugo’s serves dinner only, 6-10:30 p.m...
...It’s expensive, but this is a good town for seafood, and it’s well-prepared here...
...when Congress isn’t in session, it’s open 8 am...
...MondayThursday, 6-10 p.m...
...The restaurant is open from 10 a.m...
...Saturday, lunch only closed Sunday...
...The specialties of the house are Senate bean soup (45 cents) and hot Southern pecan pie (75 cents...
...The service is terrible, but the soups are good...
...Here you’ll find sporadically good, moderately priced Southern Italian cooking in a decor right out of a Jean Harlow movie...
...S.E., 543-2725...
...This used to be a cranky, unpretentious restaurant with no-nonsense waitresses and menu...
...Sunday-Thursday, 11 :30 a.m.-midnight...
...This is a marvelous place where the secret rednecks on the Hill (and they are legion) hang out...
...No credit cards or reservations...
...Rating them is a little like choosing between long and short knives to kill oneself, but the Senate cafeterias are a bit more cheerful and conducive to digestion, and are famous for their good down-home breakfasts, including grits and homemade breads...
...to noon and 1:30 to 3:OO...
...this restaurant is so called because it’s near Union Station...
...Toscanini’s, 313 Pennsylvania Ave...
...Many congressional aides like the Dubliner, so if you don’t like crowds, avoid lunch and happy hour...
...The crab cakes and butterfly shrimp, in particular, as well as the cheap beer, rescue the Tune-Inn from being the dive it longs to be...
...209?4, 209% Pennsylvania Ave...
...This charming French cafe offers pleasant, airy surroundings and excellent food...
...Monday-Thursday...
Vol. 10 • April 1978 • No. 2
