Washington, DC: Food Adventures Part II

Founding Farmers (Farragut Square)- My friends like good food, I like good food, and that seems to attract other people who "like good food." On our only free night during the week that I was in DC, we carefully chose Founding Farmers (FF). Sure we had a lot of options but FF was appealing because it touted itself as sustainable, trying to buy local (in-season) ingredients. The menu was classic American food with homecooked-style dishes like mac 'n cheese, chili made with grass-fed beef, burgers, rips, and steak.

I was totally blow away by the mussels - they melted in your mouth - that came to the table steaming hot and marinating in a smooth white wine pesto sauce. I have never been a fan of mussels, having tried them only 1-2 times previous to FF. Since falling in love with the FF's mussels, I have ordered them in Juneau and San Diego; none were as good as the FF mussels. We also tried the slow-simmered sirloin chili (pretty good), and Lemon Meunière Diver Scallops, which were another table favorite. See more reviews on Yelp here.

Cork (U Street) - I have soft spot for tapas because they suit my eating lifestyle - I want to try just a little bit of everything. So tapas to share with friends at Cork is just perfect. They have a zillion wine choices and tapas made with locally grown and harvested vegetables. We shared the roasted brussel sprouts, lemon and black pepper dusted calamari and rock shrimp, chick peas in saffron broth with swiss chard and tomato, and sauteed kale. I know we had some meat in there but I cannot remember which meaty dish we chose. I can tell you that every veggie place was amazing. Seems like everyone else love's the food at Cork too, yelp reviews.

Busboys and Poets (U Street) - After dinner at Cork we walked down the street for dessert at Busboys and Poets. On a Friday night these U Street favs were packed. Just a short browse through the books before we were sitting at our table enjoying tea, coffee and carrot cake. Go see and be seen at Busboys and Poets.

photo credit: Founding Farmer's Restaurant byJonathan Thorpe; Cork Wine Bar by Brian Liu published in the Washingtonian; Busboys and Poets by scotty.trimmier