gnu@hoptoad.uucp (John Gilmore) (01/03/87)
I want to remind people to post restaurant recommendations for the
Washington, DC area so we can enjoy them while visiting at Usenix.
I'll start off with two. The best restaurant I know of in the world is
in Bethesda, MD, a short walk from the Bethesda subway stop, which is a
few stops north from the Usenix hotel. It's called the Pines of Rome
and it's on Hampden Lane, a little street just off Wisconsin Avenue at
the Sovrain Bank building. The food is moderately expensive (I seem to
recall about $15 for entrees) and it's worth every penny. They
specialize in seafood as well as pasta dishes and close to the best
pizza I've ever had. (The pizza is so good that you should order it
with one, MAX two, ingredient -- so you can taste the pizza, not the
toppings.) Try *all* the appetizers -- white pizza, beans in great
sauce, fried mushrooms, fried bell peppers -- unlike any you've had.
They don't require that you dress up. I used to work in
the building across the street, and ate there at least once a week. I
didn't know how good I had it until I moved away. A good friend
says he has found a Creole restaurant in Louisiana that's better than
the Pines, but I haven't been there so I can't credit the story.
The other is a hole in the wall Indian restaurant. A diner. Wobbly
Formica tables, and you go up to the cash register to order and carry
the food back yourself. But it has great Indian food and it's very
cheap -- I think about $5/person. I don't recall the name of the
restaurant, but it's on the south side of S street just east of
Connecticut Avenue (north of Dupont Circle). To get there from Usenix
you'd just go south on Connecticut Ave about 25 blocks, or take the
subway to Dupont Circle, walk north on Conn., and go right on S. I
lived a few blocks from this place many years ago; and I re-located it
last summer. It's still good. Maybe a local can post its name.
See you there!!!
PS: The National Zoo is a short walk north from the Usenix hotel. It's
a "good zoo" as I rate zoos.
--
John Gilmore {sun,ptsfa,lll-crg,ihnp4}!hoptoad!gnu gnu@ingres.berkeley.edu
I forsee a day when there are two kinds of C compilers: standard ones and
useful ones ... just like Pascal and Fortran. Are we making progress yet?
-- ASC:GUTHERY%slb-test.csnetlibes@nbs-amrf.UUCP (Don Libes) (01/03/87)
> I want to remind people to post restaurant recommendations for the > Washington, DC area so we can enjoy them while visiting at Usenix. I believe Rick Adams has already taken the effort to collect local restaurant reviews for inclusion in the USENIX program. > I'll start off with two. The best restaurant I know of in the world is > in Bethesda, MD, a short walk from the Bethesda subway stop, which is a > few stops north from the Usenix hotel. It's called the Pines of Rome Sorry, but I disagree. (I was just there last week.) Some of the dishes are very good, but they have their share of failures, too. People tell me it is fairly authentic. Perhaps that is what about it appeals to you. > The other is a hole in the wall Indian restaurant. A diner. Wobbly > ... > cheap -- I think about $5/person. I don't recall the name of the Paru's Indian Vegetarian Restaurant. (The name is bigger than the restaurant.) If your diet is restricted to rice and lentils - yes, it's good. But I wouldn't bother. You can make this stuff at home. You've schlepped all the way to DC, so why not eat at some of the unusual restaurants in this area. Certainly try and visit some of the better Indian and Afghan restaurants before Paru's. Since Rick has already done the work, I won't go into specifics, but general recommendations for restaurants that are unusual and have excellent food, try the Thai and Ethiopian restaurants (many people don't like the latter). A bit more down to earth, are the Latin-American and Spanish restaurants. My personal fav is the Morroccan restaurant, Marrakesh - an experience. Look for more details in the USENIX program, or find me at the conference! Don Libes {seismo,mimsy}!nbs-amrf!libes
jsdy@hadron.UUCP (Joseph S. D. Yao) (01/12/87)
Interesting. I live two blocks from the Pines of Rome, and
had heard it was good, but didn't imagine it had a national
rep. Give me a call while you're here and we'll go try it.
(It's in the book.)
(I'm not listing my preferences because they run to (1) home
cooking, (2) whatever's there, (3) a few odd small places
around here that are convenient, and have edible food, and
are open LATE.)
--
Joe Yao hadron!jsdy@seismo.{CSS.GOV,ARPA,UUCP}
jsdy@hadron.COM (not yet domainised)jsdy@hadron.UUCP (Joseph S. D. Yao) (01/14/87)
[David accidentally sent this as private mail:]
My site hasn't been on usenet for two years so forgive me
if I'm repeating information that was already provided by
the famous Rick Adams...
You like VERY good ethnic food - Ethiopian, Salvadoran?
Then you have to travel to Adams Morgan, Washinton, D.C.'s
version of lower Manhatten and the Village! There's also
French, Japanese, Cajun, and more.
$ Moderate ($6 - $11 per entree) $$ ($10 - $15 per entree) $$$...
The Red Sea Ethiopian $
La Forchette French $$
New Orlean Emporium Cajun $$ and $$$
These places are all in the area of 18th Street and Columbia Rd, N.W.
David P. Geller
Electric Logic, Inc.
2025 Eye Street, N.W. Suite 220
Washington, D.C. 20006
..!seismo!sundc!eli!geller
(...!hadron!sundc!eli!geller)
--
Joe Yao hadron!jsdy@seismo.{CSS.GOV,ARPA,UUCP}
jsdy@hadron.COM (not yet domainised)ron@brl-sem.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (01/15/87)
Well, Gilmore seems to way the availability of vegetarian meals at a restaurant more than I do. The absolute best Italian restaurant in Washington is the Cantina d'Italia on Connecticut Avenue around L-M Sts. For ultimate pig outs, some of you may remember our excursion to the Palm (around 19th and M) or so. This place features portions too large for most mortals to consume including Lobster from 3-7 pounds, etc... Prices to match (Lobster used to be about $12 /lb.) This is the same restaurant as the one in Beverly Hills and other place. In the same general vicinity is the Szechuan Garden, a good but probably over expensive place ($25) and for a change of pace a Lebonese place called Bacchus. Not to be missed for the real adventurous is the Marakesh. Hard to find in the 600 block of New York Avenue, NW, it is a morrocan restaurant where you eat out of a communal platter with the rest of your guests. Belly dancing occurs on special occasions. Make a reservation. It's only a few blocks from the convention center. It is just South (West? NY Ave is a diagonal street) and on the same side of the street as the Ristorante Italiano (no, I've never been there...it is more visible as it has the provisions for a side walk cafe). There is a rather ornate door with no sign or anything in the middle of the same block. If you drive by slowly a man will jump out and yell "MARAKESH!" and attempt to park your car. Knock on the door and you will be escorted by a robed gentleman to your table. Dinner runs about $30 per person. For those looking for a Barbecue of different sorts, Tony Chengs Mongolian restaurant is not bad. I don't recall the location, you customize your own dinner an then have it grilled. For those looking for Dim-Sum, an unusual one that is pretty good is located around 300 block of Wisconson Avenue in the bottom floor of an office builing in Bethesda. I can't recall what the name of it, but in addition to regular dimsum, they have some rather good fish/seafood selections. In Georgetown, roughly accross the street and one block west of Gilmore's vegetarian Indian place is an Argentine restaurant of fairly good reputation. Immediately next to that is another Indian restaurant that has a good lunch buffet. -Ron