Dining Near Eastern Market and Barracks Row

[DonRocks]

Not a comment or response regarding Montmartre, but rather Don's remark regarding the area in general:

Note estimated travel time. Much less time than it takes to find a parking spot and dig up enough quarters to cover 'til ten.

It may be a chain, but they really do try hard to maintain a local flavor while aiming medium-high.

[Banco]

So where does that leave the Eastern Market and Barracks Row area as a dining destination, despite it arguably being "the hottest place in town" right now for opening restaurants?

Is that what people think of Barracks Row and Capitol Hill? I had no idea, and shall continue to have none, as long as the the new places that open up around here pay more attention to their decor than to their food or service. Chesapeake ("We're out of that") and Ted's Bulletin ("My server is...where?") are prime examples. I still think these places and others are overwhelmed by a traditionally underserved and therefore starving clientele, but still, you gotta stand and deliver at some point.

[leleboo]

Is that what people think of Barracks Row and Capitol Hill? I had no idea, and shall continue to have none, as long as the the new places that open up around here pay more attention to their decor than to their food or service. Chesapeake ("We're out of that") and Ted's Bulletin ("My server is...where?") are prime examples. I still think these places and others are overwhelmed by a traditionally undeserved and therefore starving clientele, but still, you gotta stand and deliver at some point.

This comment doesn't belong in the Montmartre thread but: I think that's why Chesapeake rewrote their menu. They're doing a lot of ingredient overlap now, and not running out of whole items (as much) anymore. Still, they don't have their game together yet ... and, honestly, need to, or they'll be SOL soon.

[Banco]

Undeserved = Underserved. If that's not a Freud'sche Lapsus I don't know what is.

[leleboo]

Not a comment or response regarding Montmartre, but rather Don's remark regarding the area in general:

Note estimated travel time. Much less time than it takes to find a parking spot and dig up enough quarters to cover 'til ten.

It may be a chain, but they really do try hard to maintain a local flavor while aiming medium-high.

If I nitpick here, someone's going to punch me, right?

You're in Northeast, and you require a Metro ride or a car. I can *walk* to Eastern Market. Does that mean the food is better? No. Do I care about feeding the meter? Also no. When I want to sit on the patio so I can take my dog with me to wear him out -- because I'm totally one of those obnoxious yuppie people who does that -- I'll settle for a less-than-killer burger as a trade-off.

(I'm going to go hide in a hole now until everyone forgets I posted that.)

[fuzzy510]

If I nitpick here, someone's going to punch me, right?

You're in Northeast, and you require a Metro ride or a car. I can *walk* to Eastern Market. Does that mean the food is better? No. Do I care about feeding the meter? Also no. When I want to sit on the patio so I can take my dog with me to wear him out -- because I'm totally one of those obnoxious yuppie people who does that -- I'll settle for a less-than-killer burger as a trade-off.

(I'm going to go hide in a hole now until everyone forgets I posted that.)

I would hardly call it nitpicking to point out that RTS:ER is in an entirely different neighborhood......

[Banco]

And as for aiming medium to low...we went to Cava on Barracks Row Saturday before the Nats game ended. It was very crowded, though not cheek-to-jowl slammed, and a restaurant like Cava should be prepared to deal with that kind of traffic on a Saturday night. The noise level was deafening. We sat at the bar.

Our service was terrible. The guys behind the bar were hustling but plates were not being cleared, people were not getting drinks and we received our food (flaming cheese!) without bread or utensils. While it's hard to dislike flaming cheese, I very much dislike having to watch it cool while I try to flag someone down for bread and a napkin.

The disco fries were disgusting to me. SO really wanted these, but they were greasy and gloppy and painfully salty. So gross. The lamb sliders were fine, but also very salty. Hey, I love feta and olives, and I know those are salty treats, but does everything else have to be obliterated by oversalting?

While we watched service deteriorate all around us, one of the managers (hosts?) spent about 15 minutes engaged in chit chat/flirting with two young ladies seated next to us. It's fine for an employee to show the love to customers, but this guy was totally oblivious to the dirty dishes on the bar, the parade of empty glasses and the patrons trying to get attention to order. This inattention to operations is indicative of employees who care more about their personal social lives than customer sevice.

We strolled past many of the places on 8th street that night. Some were equally slammed and some were empty. As we walked we tried to guess why Cava was so crowded. Certainly, the food can't be the draw. It was a very young and pretty crowd, and there were a couple of large groups having celebrations (also young and pretty people). This area seems to be evolving from a funky and unique neighborhood to a bland (if salty) string of see and be seen joints. I hope not, but my brief attempt at Chesapeake room and last week's trip to Cava certainly seems to confirm that this is true.

Sorry to hear this about Cava. The times I've been there I've enjoyed the food for the most part, though I do think one has to be selective. Our service at the tables has always been good--stand-out excellent, actually--but I do remember a couple times at the bar where the service was lackluster. Strange, since part of the attraction of sitting at a bar in a restaurant is to get the speedier service that often prevails there. I see what you mean about the vibe there and on 8th generally; I'd also like to see more substance, both in the clientele and in the cooking.

I've found that Zest further down the street is far less trendy, with excellent service and reliable, well-made dishes. That actually has become our regular go-to place on the Hill after having been techno-popped out of Matchbox, put off by Chesapeake's presumptuous prices and supply issues, and generally fed up with the crowds everywhere else. Harumph.

[Tweaked]

Friday night 10 pm, middle of August, maybe we can snag a two top or a couple of seats at the bar at Rose's Luxury. Nope still an hour wait at best for a table, and people waiting to get the next free bar seats upstairs. Plantain quesadillas and a couple margaritas at Banana Cafe instead. 8th Street was hopping last night!

[DonRocks]

Friday night 10 pm, middle of August, maybe we can snag a two top or a couple of seats at the bar at Rose's Luxury. Nope still an hour wait at best for a table, and people waiting to get the next free bar seats upstairs. Plantain quesadillas and a couple margaritas at Banana Cafe instead. 8th Street was hopping last night!

Rewind the clock 8.5 years ...

I've got an hour or two to kill around Eastern Market -- looking for someplace to grab an appetizer and a drink, and perhaps even read for a bit. Any suggestions?

Montmartre or head up to Sonoma...or go to the Ugly Mug or Finn MaCools for more bar type places.

Who knew this community would turn out to be a chronicle of DC socio-economic development? (Click.)

[Tweaked]

Seriously. When I moved to the Hill circa 1995, if you walked down 8th Street after 8pm or so, you hoped you wouldn't get mugged!

[Pat]

Anybody planning to to visit any of the restaurants near the metro end of Barracks Row for a Christmas Eve meal should check first to see if they're open.  A water main break early this morning closed 8th Street SE from Pennsylvania to G.  There are 25 businesses along there affected/without water.  It sounds like they should have it back open tonight, but I guess that depends on how quickly the repairs can be made.  Good thing it's not cold enough to freeze out there.

[hillvalley]

Seriously. When I moved to the Hill circa 1995, if you walked down 8th Street after 8pm or so, you hoped you wouldn't get mugged!

You should have been around in the 80's when it wasn't even safe for the muggers.  Today, the idiots who leave their bags sitting on the table while dining outside for easy grabbing deserve to get their stuff stolen.  That being said I don't know of any incidents of this happening.

Parking is still a nightmare.  Kudos to DC parking enforcement  for making regular visits to the side streets to ensure residents can find a spot.  Sunday is the worst day for parking though, between the brunchers and those who attend the church on 8th street.  At least the brunchers bring money to the community.

[DonRocks]

(and how Belga and Lavagna ranked so high in the City Paper poll is beyond me).

What poll, and what did they rank?

Belga used to be, hands down, the best restaurant on Barracks Row; those days are long gone.

[Tujague]

What poll, and what did they rank?

Belga used to be, hands down, the best restaurant on Barracks Row; those days are long gone.

Belga was rated the best restaurant in DC, and Lavagna the best Italian restaurant in DC in the City Paper "Best of DC" poll a few months ago. Seriously. I assume both places managed to skew results in their favor somehow, but they are both examples of why one should take such surveys with a HUGE grain of salt.

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Las Placitas (Pat)

[monkeyrotica]

Rose's Luxury gets all the attention, but the area south of 8th Street near the SE Freeway and before you get to the Navy Yard has a few cheaper eats options worth mentioning.

Open for over a year, Cafe Kimchi at 751 8th St SE offers good breakfasts and interesting Korean fusion. Located in the Capitol Hill Subs shop that had been around since at least the 1970s, the current shop is tiny with only a single communal table and two small counters with stools. They do mostly takeout, but they do kimchi burgers, kimchi burritos, kichi reubens, bulgogi subs, and even a kimchi grilled bacon cheese so you name it, they'll put kimchi on it. Nearly everything is under $10. Really clean shop and nice people.

South of the freeway, Ziaafat Grill opened less than a month ago, serving Pakistani halal kabobs, curries, biryanis, as wel as haleem and nihari on the weekend. They're located in the former Levi's Port Cafe building and do most of their business on the $10 lunch buffet; the bone-in goat curry had a nice level of heat and you could cut it with a fork. Tandoori chicken was dark meat and was very moist and the rice was seasoned with peppercorns, carmelized onions, and cloves. Really nice use of aromatic spices with a good, slow burn that kicked in about 5 minutes after you started eating.

This is definitely not a destination neighborhood, so I doubt any real estate developer will start trying to call it "SoBaRo" any time soon, particularly since there's still a Sbarro inside the Navy Yard food court. Still, they've finished construction on The Brig beer garden across the street and with Las Placitas moving in nextdoor, the area should be a lot less desolate.

[DonRocks]

This is definitely not a destination neighborhood, so I doubt any real estate developer will start trying to call it "SoBaRo" any time soon, particularly since there's still a Sbarro inside the Navy Yard food court. Still, they've finished construction on The Brig beer garden across the street and with Las Placitas moving in nextdoor, the area should be a lot less desolate.

Your fine post reminds me that, just as I saw it was time to split up "U Street" and "14UP" several years ago (and going to great lengths to figure out a name to call the newly developed 14th-Street Corridor), I now see it's time to split up "Capitol Hill SE" and "Barracks Row" - that change will be coming, as they are now clearly two different dining destinations.

There's no way, for example, that Ziaafat Grill should be listed under the same neighborhood as Béarnaise - they're just too far apart, and there are too many restaurants there now.

I've also thought about splitting Adams Morgan into North Adams Morgan and South Adams Morgan, but I'm not sure where the dividing line should be (maybe 18th Street should be its own "neighborhood," and Columbia Road separated from it, but even 18th Street is a long walk from Columbia Road down to Lauriol Plaza).

[SRJ]

The Pound the Hill site is now a Bourbon Coffee. Bayou Bakery has a better patio though. 

[Pat]

The Pound the Hill site is now a Bourbon Coffee. Bayou Bakery has a better patio though. 

I prefer the back patio at Bourbon because there is usually more privacy, but the farther back you get in the place, the worse the wifi is.  The coffee is definitely improved since the business changed hands.

[Pat]

Walking back from the Nats' game yesterday, we wanted to get something to eat, either dinner or a bridge to dinner. My husband was famished, despite a cheesesteak and Cincy chili nachos at the park.  (He didn't love either, but I think he liked the cheesesteak more. I had none of that and liked the spicing of the meat on the nachos but not the gooey cheese.)

Anyway, we stopped somewhere I'd never been. (They were closed for an event the only time I tried to go there.)  That would be Stanton & Greene. Until we were looking at menus, I'd forgotten it's primarily supposed to be a craft cocktail bar, which is not our thing.  In any case, my husband liked the Cuban sandwich and side salad he got. I thought the buffalo wings I got might have had the sweet chili sauce on them rather than buffalo, but that might just be the way they do their buffalo sauce.  They were okay. Plus the fries were okay.

Since we got there at shift change, our first server was the bartender, who was great. She was attentive, helpful, and just fantastic. The server we had after that...not so much. She asked if we were ready for our check while we both had food in front of us and were actively eating it.

We were obviously not the demographic of this place, and I think they wanted to turn the table. As we were walking and couldn't figure out where to go, I had considered Joselito, and that would have been a better bet.  Live and learn.

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Cafe Kimchi (Pat)
Souk Bakery and Market (Pat)