washington D.C. - best places/stores to shop?

Everyone should visit Quarry House in Silver Spring.

Originally Posted by millevanille

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But I have to still take extreme exception to the food and shopping. I mean, I would consider Richmond a contender as a food city. With nearly a million people each in Ffx, MoCo, and PG counties (as well as PWC, Arlington, Alexandria, etc...) I really think there is no excuse for the level of restaurant quality.
Your opinion of the DC restaurant scene may have been true a few years ago, but it's definitely not true today. The restaurants I listed a few pages ago would be considered very, very good in any city in the United States. Jose Andres, one of the leaders of the molecular gastronomy movement, is based in DC. Tons of new and exciting places are opening every month, not to mention the great ethnic restaurants that have been around for years.

Wolf vs goat trunk show dates are up. RSVP now!

No more excuses of terrible clothing in area if u can make it ...

food is bad here. fine dining is their only calling card (like was said earlier, good if someone else is paying). Molecular gastronomy is gonna be laughed at in a few years. Ethnic food is good for the 2 ethnicities that have sizable populations (Ethiopian and ? I'm blanking). Asian food? Ping Pong WTF. After I move away there will be only 2 or three restaurants I have nostalgia for, the Rays restaurants and Two Amys, possibly Churchkey, that's it. And duplicates of ChurchKey and Two Amys can certainly be found in any major city.

The previous comment of people here not wearing their wealth in everyday clothes, that is definitely true. This is the wealthiest area in America, its tied up in houses, cars, boats, bar tabs and Hermes bags.

Originally Posted by Ambulance Chaser

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Your opinion of the DC restaurant scene may have been true a few years ago, but it's definitely not true today. The restaurants I listed a few pages ago would be considered very, very good in any city in the United States. Jose Andres, one of the leaders of the molecular gastronomy movement, is based in DC. Tons of new and exciting places are opening every month, not to mention the great ethnic restaurants that have been around for years.

Oh man. Jose Andres. Not really a fan. I know opinions are like assholes...

Originally Posted by slack tide

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You cannot overlook the variety of high quality, authentic ethnic food in the close suburbs. Arlington, seven corners, Falls Church, Eden Center. Anthony Bourdaine spent a considerable amount of his stay in the DC Metro in northern virginia.

I guess if you're looking for Korean or Vietnamese. Middle Eastern, Latin American, European, Seafood, Sushi--just not cutting it IMO. Not at all.

And again, I know opinions are like assholes...

Originally Posted by pebblegrain

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food is bad here. fine dining is their only calling card (like was said earlier, good if someone else is paying). Molecular gastronomy is gonna be laughed at in a few years. Ethnic food is good for the 2 ethnicities that have sizable populations (Ethiopian and ? I'm blanking). Asian food? Ping Pong WTF. After I move away there will be only 2 or three restaurants I have nostalgia for, the Rays restaurants and Two Amys, possibly Churchkey, that's it. And duplicates of ChurchKey and Two Amys can certainly be found in any major city.

OK. Now I know I'm not crazy.

Originally Posted by millevanille

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Oh man. Jose Andres. Not really a fan. I know opinions are like assholes... I guess if you're looking for Korean or Vietnamese. Middle Eastern, Latin American, European, Seafood, Sushi--just not cutting it IMO. Not at all.
Seriously, if it weren't for the Koreans in Annandale, the VN center in 7 Corners, and some of the Chinese food in Rockville, I would not hesitate in calling DC the worst major metro area food in America. These keep it off the floor though. On the other hand, these places are not in DC. Another rant: yes, DC fine dining is okay. But it doesn't compare to NY, LA, SF, Chicago, Miami, etc. As far as major city fine dining, it's reaching down to Dallas or Minneapolis level. Not a good look.

Please tell me what, specifically, is not up to your standards here. What's missing, what's bad about what's here, what would you fix if you had your druthers. What do similarly sized cities have, foodwise, that DC doesn't.

Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Pizza, Coffee, bakeries, bagels, VN, delis, Indian, Middle Eastern is what I can think of in less than 3 seconds. gimme another 10 min for more.

They have good burgers though. Ray's FTW. And Molecular Gastronomy woohoo

Originally Posted by pebblegrain

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Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Pizza, Coffee, bakeries, bagels, VN, delis, Indian, Middle Eastern is what I can think of in less than 3 seconds. gimme another 10 min for more.

They have good burgers though. Ray's FTW. And Molecular Gastronomy woohoo

Alright in my 3 seconds
Mexican -- due to the immigrant population around here, you're more likely to get good el salvadorean food than mexican.
Chinese -- not an expert, but I dig full kee
Japanese -- Kushi, Makoto
Korean -- VA suburbs
Pizza -- Matchbox, 2amys, comet ping pong
Coffee -- Chinatown Coffee
bakeries -- thinking about it
bagels -- truth, very few good bagels here
VN -- VA burbs
delis -- Taylor gourmet, Parkway in Silver Spring, Max's kosher cafe in wheaton
Indian -- Rasika is arguably the best restaurant of any type in DC

Originally Posted by shoreman1782

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Japanese -- Kushi, Makoto
Coffee -- Chinatown Coffee

Coffee: Peregrine espresso, Sova, Swings (Murky coffee was a purist espresso place; too bad it closed down)
Japanese: Sushi Taro, Kaz. A couple of cheap ones: Kotobuki, Temari and Hinata in MD

Lots of bars are overrrated and some popular ones have attitude.

Biggest problem in DC is finding good yet affordable places to eat. Very few. Most of the times, you really have to splurge.

Originally Posted by bowman9000

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Biggest problem in DC is finding good yet affordable places to eat. Very few. Most of the times, you really have to splurge.

This. Lots of great food in DC, but very few good cheap eats.

I agree that the price of food and drinks is generally higher in DC (especially compared to Philly), but you can find decent stuff at a reasonable price. Kinda like the rest of DC, it just takes some work to weed through the garbage and figure out what's worth your time and energy.

And isn't there a place the old Eastern Market Murky Coffee location that's basically the same thing? Is that Peregrine? I know I had a great cup of hand-poured, single-country-of-origin coffee there at some point after it had already stopped being Murky.

Also, I think it was one of the guys from Murky who came to Philly and opened Ultimo, which is pretty great.

Originally Posted by puddin

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Nah I'd recommend checking out Meeps in Admo (big selection, good prices) and Treasury (small, well curated selection, higher prices).

Is that the place that's on the other side of 18th St from Meeps on the 2nd floor? I remember always walking by the sign advertising it as a vintage store and not being able to figure out where it was. There was some decent stuff there when I checked it out, although this was a couple of years ago.

i liked kushi when i went. had a groupon too, so that helped

Originally Posted by notwithit

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Is that the place that's on the other side of 18th St from Meeps on the 2nd floor? I remember always walking by the sign advertising it as a vintage store and not being able to figure out where it was. There was some decent stuff there when I checked it out, although this was a couple of years ago.

Nah Treasury is near 14th & T. Mostly women's stuff, but a rack of men's.