DC Food Trip, Part II

On Friday of Birthday Week, after Colleen had left for the train and I'd crawled back into bed, I had a long debate with myself about whether to stay in bed, read a little (maybe), and order a pizza. Maybe venture out to the nearby Starbucks at some point. But I mentally kicked myself in the ass with the "you have a chance to eat cool things and you're going to do something you can do at home?" argument and rallied.

Once I'd taken the metro in there were loads of choices. I went to the Navy Memorial metro stop, arriving just before noon, and there was some sort of ceremony going on with the US Navy Band. It was pretty awe inspiring, all those people in dress whites.

In the end I went up the street to Oyamel for a really lovely lunch. I had the special, a pepper stuffed with pork, pine nuts, and loads of great spices, the sopa de chileatole al lima y tequila con camarones (lime and corn masa soup with shrimp, marinated red onions, cilantro and reposado tequila), and a tamarind soda. The soup was brought out in a bowl brothless and the server poured the steaming stock over it at the table. Nice! I stupidly dumped in my entire tequila shot without tasting first. It was still delicious but I'd like to see what it's like with say a half or 3/4 shot. Another visit is in order! There were lots of tempting things on the menu, including the ceviche choices, so a return trip shouldn't be a burden.

Sadly, I didn't opt for one of Oyamel's beautiful margaritas. Instead I made my way back to the hotel for a nap then met Stephanie for dinner and the second Eddie Izzard show. We caught a cab and went to Belga Café for dinner. I'd been here a few weeks ago and had awesome mussels and, of course, amazing beer. We started with the kip & krab sigaar (spicy cigars of chicken and crabmeat with assorted sauces) which paired nicely with the beer we were drinking. Steph got one of the steak dishes & it look fantastic. I had the mussels "curry" (Asian style in a light curry-ginger-sesame-soya-oyster sauce) which were delicious. We were perfectly happy, sipping beer and catching up. Then we ordered dessert.

To be continued...