DC Diary: Food & Heading Home

I’m back home in NJ! My trip to DC was a nice few days away and now I’m busy with Secret Santa with friends and New Year’s Eve. I have exactly 1 day (New Year’s Day) to just stay home and not have to do anything before I go back to work. In the meantime while I’ve got a few spare moments, I wanted to share where and what I ate in DC and recap my last day aka my drive home.

When I arrived in DC on Wednesday, we pretty much only had time to settle in to the hotel, walk around, and then go to dinner. We had reservations at La Vie, a seafood restaurant. I should also make note that all our dinners were at the wharf, which was the area our hotel was in.

We shared two appetizers – the Seafood Misto and the Diavolo Mussel Pot. The first pot of mussels we got had mussels that weren’t all open and the ones that were open had very little meat in them. Like basically just the strings of the mussels inside. My dad told the waitress and they brought out a second order which was delicious and much meatier. They also didn’t charge us for the mussels because of the mishap which was really nice of them. For my entree I got the lobster ravioli.

Each morning for breakfast we ate in the hotel since it was complimentary. I basically ate the same thing every day which was a combination of flatbread, brie, salami, and smoked salmon with capers. The flat bread was so good that people would line up for it every time a new batch came out.

For lunch on Thursday we grabbed a quick lunch in the dining area of the National Gallery of Art. I got a spinach and cheese empanada, a little bit of pasta salad, a grape leaf, and chicken wings. I know, totally random, but that’s what happens when you have a buffet/cafeteria style lunch!

For dinner we went to Del Mar. When we went in to ask the hostess about the menu, she told us the restaurant is coastal Spanish. The restaurant is upscale and the service was top notch. We actually ended up being seated in a private room which was really nice, but the table was so big that it was hard to share especially since so much of the menu is tapas or shareable! It was pricey though for the amount of food you’re given, but everything tasted good.

First, I ordered a mocktail because the Amor, which is made with figs, cranberry, lime, and rosemary sounded delicious and it was! For food we ordered Hand Carved Jamon Iberico, Pan con Tomate, Andalusion Gambas al Ajillo (the tastiest garlic shrimp!), and for the entree we ordered the Paella de Pescado y Marisco (seafood paella) in the size that is supposed to feed 4-6 people.

After dinner, we walked over to Milk Bar to get some dessert to take back to the hotel. Mainly Compost Cookies and Crack Pie.

On Friday, we got chinese food for lunch at New Big Wong in Chinatown. We just ordered a few noodle dishes, string beans, and spring rolls because we wanted to make it to two more museums after lunch before they closed at 5 pm.

For dinner we went to Hank’s Oyster Bar. This dinner was a doozy of a last dinner. We went at 6:30 and they said that it would be 45 minutes to an hour for a table for 8. We put down a phone number for them to call/text when our table was ready. Half of us walked around the wharf and the other half went back to the hotel to wait since we were literally 2 minutes from the hotel. After an hour we went to check on the table and they said 15 more minutes. After 15 minutes they said 10 more minutes. We were finally able to get seated because we told them we would split up in to 4 and 4. Then it took about 15 minutes for a waiter to come. The waiter was really nice, but the restaurant definitely was not prepared to serve so many people. My brother and I ordered the Eastern Shore Crab Dip to share and my dad ordered the Seafood Plateau as his meal and I took the mussels from that. We also ordered a side of honey glazed brussels sprouts which were so good. I ordered the Lobster Roll with Old Bay Fries for my meal. The restaurant doesn’t have a dessert menu, but they do have Colombian chocolate.

That’s about all I ate on the trip! Yesterday we left after breakfast and stopped at a rest stop when we were about 90 minutes from home to grab some lunch. Below are a few photos of and from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and my coffee stop.