DC for the First Time and…I’m Not Sure How I Feel About It

Washington, DC subway tunnel

A weekend of Firsts

For most kids growing up in the New York City area, Washington, D.C. is their 8th grade trip. For this New York kid, it took all of thirty-something years to visit DC for the first time. I’d had my eye on a Caribbean trip for MLK Weekend, but couldn’t justify spending that much money on a last minute jaunt. After pricing trips to other US cities, D.C. it was.

This was also another first for me: after realizing I could fly to continental Europe for roughly the same amount (I wish I were kidding), I decided against taking Amtrak and bought a bus ticket on Greyhound. I’d been as far south by land as Philly (well, technically Delaware) and knew I could cover a decent amount of D.C. in a weekend.

There I was at the crack of dawn at Port Authority. I’ve all but given up my practice of descending on a new city with no planned lodging. However, my style is more go with the flow than a concrete plan. I’d done a fair amount of research using Yelp and Google Reviews, so at least I had my food and drink options on lock. The rest would be up to chance.

Arriving Into Town

Despite being only a couple of hours south of New York, I only had the vaguest sense of what D.C. was like outside of the museums and government buildings. I had a friend who settled in D.C. as a young adult and a cousin who went to college there but never left. Up until this point, it never interested me much to visit. This sentiment would be a harbinger of things to come.

We pulled into H Street Chinatown Arch

The Chinatown Arch on H Street near the Pod DC Hotel.

DC Pod Hotel

At last, we turned onto H Street when we saw the Chinese arch. We stayed at the Arepa Zone

It was cold and we were hungry. In my research, I soon realized that what was considered a cheap meal in New York was a delicacy in D.C. Seriously. If you’ve read my blog, you know that my husband is of Trinidadian descent. In Arepa Zone’s 14th Street NW location. I’m very familiar with arepas and Venezuelan fare (shout out to pabellón arepa and the pabellón bowl, a dish featuring black beans, topped with grated white cheese, rice, sweet plantains, and shredded beef. I went with the bowl. Stefan got the perníl arepa (shredded seasoned pork.)

The atmosphere was corporate —  like a large Chipotle or Starbucks — and nondescript. While I devoured my meal, as I was starving by that point, it was just alright. The meat was pretty dry, and lacked that savory taste and aroma that is pabellón’s signature. The pork in Stefan’s arepa fared a bit better. While it wasn’t great, they earn points for selling containers of guayanés cheese, a soft, salty cheese not dissimilar to mozzarella or Oaxaca.

mojito

Drinking mojitos as Café Cuba.

Mi Cuba Café

We continued to walk north on 14th Street NW. It wasn’t freezing, but the rain and wind made it unpleasant. One of my buddy’s spends some time in the DMV area and suggested that I head to the KariBbean Kitchen

I wasn’t looking for it especially. Before leaving Mi Café Cuba, I took a glance at Yelp to see what else was around. The weather sucked, so walking around aimlessly was out of the question. At this point, what’s another round of drinks? Chercher Ethiopian Restaurant

I go out of my way to try new foods and I’d heard that DC had a huge Ethiopian population. East African cuisine was a whole new ballgame for me. I deferred to Yelp and found Chercher on 9th Street NW. When we got there, it seemed a lot of others had the same idea for Saturday night. The restaurant is situated in what looks like a rowhouse. You walk up the stairs to the main floor and there’s also a basement level.

Though bi-level, the space was intimate. Inside, it felt like a good mix of East Africans and people of other backgrounds who were there for the same reason we were. We were seated downstairs, next to a group of older Ethiopian men, and promptly given menus. I ordered the US Botanical Garden

The courtyard in United States Botanical Garden.

National Mall and United States Botanical Garden

Luckily, Sunday morning was a tad warmer and sunny, so we were able to get out and about to explore. Stef made it a point to get up at the crack of dawn to run around the National Mall. Once he came back, we looked for breakfast and ended up at