Coco Loco.
Xing Kuba.
Terramar.
Cesco back when it was good.
Cottonwood Cafe back when it was good.

Capital Lounge

seriously drinking on the Hill hasn't been the same since the Lounge burned down.

Rocky's... Catfish and sweet potato fries, bluefish salad and a Brooklyn Pilsner to wash it all down... Sigh.

luciano bistro
tom tom - the version from 10+ years ago when it was a good place to get a pizza and a beer
another vote for rocky's - more for the bar atmosphere than the food
1910 - really miss that joint

Really dating myself here, but:

Seaport Inn in Old Town (a Starbucks now, sigh)
Lucky Traveller Steak House (on US 1 south of Alexandria), where you picked your steaks from a meat case

I am sure that none of these would be on anyone else list, but here we go:
Family Fish House - I am sure that today I would think it would suck, but it still has set the bar for what I believe a hush puppie should taste like.
Fritzbes - OK, there was not much redeeming about it, but their version of a French dip sandwich (called Dotties Double Dip) was the best I ever had.
Busch's Seafood - This was an old school seafood restaurant on Rt. 50 in Annapolis. It has some of the best crab cakes and deviled crab I have ever had.

I have fond memories of:

Cantina d'Italia
Duke Zeibert's
Jean-Pierre
Lion d'Or
Le Bagatelle
Rive Gauche
21 Federal

Duke's, now that brings back memories. Especially of large matzah balls.


Mikado
The Mexican/Thai place that is now the Ugly Mug (in the early '80's when it was just Mexican they had a strolling Mariachi band)
The fountain at Kresge's on Penn. Ave.
Sushi Ko before the renovation

Jean Louis at the Watergate. Only ate there twice - my engagement in 1991, and our 1 year anniversary in 1993. The food was as memorable as the occasion.

Hunan Garden (Rockville) circa 1980, and specifically for their xiao long bao. Sure, the skins were too thick, but the flavor inside was incredible...still my benchmark. I must have hoovered hundreds of them at mom and dad's expense before their chef moved on in the mid-80s.

Dave

Blue Diamond- who else is going to bring me roast pork egg foo young and combination lomein at 1 in the morning?

The breakfast tables at Schwartz's Drugstore at Connecticut & R, more for comic relief than the food (now a Starbucks)

Trader Vic's at the Hilton - best damn Poo-Poo Platter there ever was in DC. And, pressed duck, too!

Nectar, how do I miss Thee? Let me count the ways...

Tuna with pine nuts and microbasil;
Scallops and Chorizo (with some curry thrown in?);
Foie with caramelized bananas (or sometimes pineapple);
Creme brulee (with that addictive secret ingredient);

and my fave, the almost too rich, chocolate torte

Jarad and Jamie were kind enough to close house and allow us to take over the place for our rehearsal dinner last year. Still talked about in the family as one of the Best. Meals. Ever.

Sigh....

*edited for spelling

How could I have forgotten. I never had the foie with bananas, but loved the carmalized, nea bruleed pineapple with that perfect example of what offel could be.

Blue Dimaond was a college favorite and the only alternative to Dominos late at night. They had the best greasy fried rice....

Fio's, in the Woodner Apt. Bldg on 16th St.

Blue Diamond is closed? The one on 18th and ...T-ish, was it? Aw. That place sustained me when I first moved here...

Bangkok Vientiane

OK, they're not glamourous but I miss the following:

I miss Phineas on Rockville Pike. They made the best popovers and it was the restaurant my parents would always go to on an occasional Monday nights when my dad was off from work. I also loved their pita triangles that they had on the salad bar - they were oven baked with oil and some sort of pizza like seasoning with alot of papirka.

I miss Hot Shoppes. I loved, loved, loved the food there. Yeap. Loved the mashed potatoes with the scoop of brown industrial gravy and the squishy bread. I had my first non-Chinese food experience in a Hot Shoppe.

Boy, I've come a long way!

Bob's Big Boy, mostly for the special relish on the double-decker burgers.
Omega
Thai Amarin
The original Nam's in Wheaton, before it changed hands.
Farrell's in Wheaton Plaza.
Mr Eagan's (not a restaurant, but...)

The Benbow. Not much of a restaurant, but the best neighborhood bar Washington ever had.

The old Old Ebbitt. Those potato chips.

Lauriol Plaza of many years ago (long before the new location) was really pretty good, as was the original La Plaza on Columbia Road.

El Caribe on Columbia Road was a big favorite of mine for many years.

The old National Gallery cafeteria (in the basement of the West Building long ago, before they built the East Building). It was a wonderful, clattery, busy, cheerful place with surprisingly good food.

The Blue Nile Ethiopian restaurant in the Chastleton on 16th St., before they renovated the building and kicked them out. (They reopened on, I think, 17th St., but never made a go of it.) My introduction to Ethiopian, and a nice place.

Schwartz's Drugstore...more than breakfast, they served very bad food all day long. But always somehow comforting to know it was there.

Others have also mentioned: Fio's...yes! I loved that place. Omega...yes! Great cheap Cuban food.

Old Macs. OK, not a restaurant.

Dominique's

American City Diner on Wisconsin in Bethesda

Hunan Gourmet on Rockville Pike, their crispy eggplant remains to this day the only eggplant dish I have ever enjoyed.

The Red Sea

the blue room - believe it or not when they first opened (late 1999) they were a serious restaurant for about 3 months.

Sammy's Villa, White Oak
Little Tavern, College Park (after 1 AM (Deathburgers))
Steve's Ice Cream
Nino's Pizza, Downtown (does anyone remember where this place was?)
Carnegie Deli (when it first opened)
Le Lion D'Or

Nino's! I was just bemoaning that loss last Sunday.

You must be old.

Little Tavern in general. Long ago, I used to sometimes carry the US Mail in Clarendon, and would generally time things such that I would be in the neighborhood of the Wilson Boulevard Little Tavern around lunchtime. A handful of their tiny burgers and a beer from the 7-11 made a fine repast. Or, if I didn't have time for such an indulgence, I would buy a couple of LT burgers and eat them as I delivered the mail. Not that they were particularly good food, but I'd still choose them over McD's in a (clogged) heartbeat.

MoDo. sigh.

One of my many illustrious food industry gigs was a six-week stint behind the counter at the "Club LT" on the corner of Wisconsin and N streets -- now Paolo's, I believe. Worked the overnight shift, three nights a week. Quite an experience, with the homeless guys hanging out at one end the the counter (Sky King, Little Jackie, the guy who used to do my mopping for a free breakfast, the bitchy homeless woman) and the drunks elbowing their way towards the register at the other end. One night some guy started breaking open his lithium capsuls and snorting their contents off the counter. "This is a great country. You can't do this kind of thing in Russia," he growled. I figured that if he was on Lithium, it was best to leave him alone.

Quite a show.

Second Mikado. And FIO'S - best calamari fritti in the city! I keep hoping Fio will resurface.

Would you be referring to the cloyingly delicious Montgomery Donuts?

yes, indeedy. Maple iced. Late late late at night after a concert at Merriweather Post Pavilion, for example, too wired and tired and fired up to return to the 'rents, need coffee and sugar and fat to keep it up. Ah, for the glory days of youth.

Had to give my ma lift from an auto body shop last week; it was in the old MoDo plant. It was just wrong.

When I was in high school they used to sell them in the cafitorium (sorry gratuitous Simpson’s reference). During wrestling season when I had to make weight, I used to curse those damned things. I had a weakness for the chocolate covered curlers, and one would take me more than an hour of running to work off, but at times they were worth it.

Wow that brings back memories.... It's where we went on prom night and was my first taste of rattlesnake and alligator.

How about Bice?

In its day, this place had the best Kitfo in America. I don't believe I've had better since. sigh.
edited for grade school grammer.

It was the only in place in town you could get moose for dinner and mousse for dessert, chateaubriand and Chateau Haut-Brion.

Le Pavillion.
The first meal of my life that cost almost as much as the monthly rent. Worth every bite, and raised the bar way, way up.

Cantina d'Italia. I seem to recall that it was on 18th where it merges into Conn. Ave. I recall one of my co-workers asking me the next day if I had garlic for dinner the night before.

Hot Shoppes - Wow - that brings back some memories!

The Crystal City Underground location was the first stop after the first 'unaccompanied' flight my sister and I made up here to visit the grandparents (on Braniff no less - how's that for another blast from the past). How exciting to be picked up at the airport and then go for hamburgers in a restaurant that was UNDERGROUND!

And I have fond memories (from other visits) of the blintzes smothered in gooey, gummy strawberries, from the Sunday breakfast/brunch buffet at the Bailey's Crossroads spot (where the Best Buy now stands ) I've come a long way too, but those are good memories (even if I wouldn't touch the food now).

Boss Cat's - where Raaga is - they had THE best sweet potato fries with a black bean dip...

As someone else mentioned here recently, Arbor (18th not far from Columbia) was a lousy, lousy restaurant for dinner, but they had a great brunch. RIP.

And does anyone else remember when there was a food court under Dupont Circle? This would have been, eh, circa 1996? I always wonder whether they filled the whole thing in with cement or if there are still corridors (okay, one big circular corridor) down there.

The Bread Oven on 19th St. When I worked in the 'hood I'd go there lunchtime and sit at the counter, watch them make bread with that big French thing with the canvas reels that they put the loaves into and took them out of the oven, eat the wonderful bread, and have their great specials of choucroute (Thursday??) and Couscous (Friday I think). Cassoulet too IIRC. I'd still be going there if it existed.

Roma in Cleveland Park. Trophies on the wall and a blind pianist -- what's not to like?

We called them gut grenades. Only edible when completely hammered, or stoned. Not that I would know that of course.

Rocky's. Great biscuits.

Fern Street Bistro out here in Burke Centre. The restaurant and bar were adjacent to an outpost of the Fern Street Gourmet wine shop. That was their wine list. They served good food, and diners wishing wine with their meal simply stepped next door to the wine shop to select a bottle. On some nights (Wednesdays?) there was live jazz, and they served brunch on the weekends.

We couldn't afford to eat there as often as we would have liked to when it existed, but if it were here now, we probably would eat there once a week.

I'm also sorry I never got to dine at Jean-Louis.

It was originally a trolley turnaround. After the trolley system was removed, the space was used as a civil defense shelter. During the adminstraton of Sharon Pratt Dixon Kelley Pratt, a developer who had previous convictions for fraud was given the permit to redevelop the space. Half was supposed to be a food court and the other half was supposed to contain a branch of Washington Sports Club. One of the problems was that air conditioning didn't seem to work and/or be available. The Health Club never opened and many (most) of the food vendors wound up suing the developer, who went bankrupt and closed the space. I believe it is still in the same configuration as when the doors were shut for good.

If anyone has better info or corrections to this tale, I would be happy to be so corrected or informed.

the most sincere doughnut tragedy since the 1967 Krispy Kreme riots. I could always count on 2am MoDo runs when I was back home from college and needed the raspberry jelly doughnut and a coffee. I have yet to find a jelly filled doughnut that can come close to those from MoDo's

I'm a cub.

NECTAR

RUPPERT'S

Germaine's (just lying, never been there...but that name stand out so much. The critics liked it.)

Hibiscus Cafe (becuause it's a gym now, and it was fun)

hmmm...
Anyone remember the Peter Pan Inn? I used to love the hush puppies and salad/relish tray as a kid.

Gino's! Home of the Gino Giant. Local fast food chain (maybe more towards Baltimore)

Roy Roger's Yes I know there are a few around, mainly on the NJ turnpike, but in their heyday, nothing beat a roast beef sandwich and horsey sauce! Not to mention a Double R burger.