If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that I love eating out and it is one of my favorite ways to spend time with family and friends. While I am fully embracing social distancing, I do miss the joy of eating at a restaurant and so look forward to eating out all the time when it’s safe to do so again! Since that doesn’t look like it will be for at least several weeks, I wanted to go ahead and share my March Dinner Club post now. Luckily, I was able to eat at some really delicious places before it wast best for all of us to hunker down—and am hopeful I can get back to enjoying dine-in experiences at DC restaurants soon!
Restaurants and their dedicated staffs have been hard-hit, and since I am lucky enough to be in a position where I can help, I plan to order takeout and delivery from some of my favorite places in the coming days and weeks. My friend Justin of DC Food Porn has an amazing guide to every DC restaurant offering takeout and delivery, which you can get details about HERE. I’m not going to try and reinvent the wheel when a comprehensive guide is already out in world for us all to take advantage of, but I did want to shout out some of my favorite restaurants during this difficult time—so you can see a roundup of some of my favorite places doing takeout and/or delivery after my roundup of March’s restaurants.
Another way I’ve been trying to help my favorite restaurants is buying gift cards since it’s a great way to give them some cash flow. For instance, I needed to buy a wedding gift, so I gave the couple a gift card to Screwtop Wine Bar, since it’s a place we both love. Another friend just had a baby, and since traditional meal trains aren’t an option right now, I’ll be gifting them a restaurant gift card.
The Capital Burger | Reston
If you’ve been reading TOT for a while, you know I am a huge fan of The Capital Burger and their sister restaurant, The Capital Grille. Earlier this month, they invited me out to their Reston location at the Hyatt in Reston Town Center because they now serve breakfast (!). In addition to the classics like a bacon and egg sandwich, a Belgian waffle, and steak and eggs, they also serve something that is classically The Capital Burger—a delicious breakfast burger with a fried egg on top! While I briefly considered other menu options, once I saw it, I knew that’s what I was ordering—there seriously is no burger like one made by The Capital Burger. And, of course, it wouldn’t be brunch without a mimosa, and as our bartender told us, the orange juice is just for color ;]
Thanks so much to The Capital Burger for inviting me out to enjoy breakfast at their Reston location! They comped our meal, but all opinions are my own.
Joselito | Capitol Hill
A Spanish tapas restaurant owned by the same team that’s behind Ser in Ballston, I have to say, while I enjoyed Joselito, I think Ser is a lot better—especially if you want a lot of the classic Spanish tapas like patatas bravas and croquettes; Joselito, while also a tapas place, seemed to offer more creative options. But like Ser, the service was also slooooooow—so just know that going into either place.
I went with Sadie, Monica, Heather, and Stephanie a few weeks ago, and we started off with a round of shared tapas—we did the tuna crudo, smoked scallops, salted cod fish fritters, manchego cheese, and a ton of their delicious fresh bread with olive oil. We then each did our own thing as our main meal, and I ordered the pasta with chorizo and manchego—it was really good!
Overall, a good meal and great company, but I don’t think I’ll be rushing back to Joselito anytime soon.
El Sol | Shaw
El Sol has been on my list for a while since it’s the sister restaurant of my favorite Mexican restaurant in DC, Mezcalero! I still think I like Mezcalero better—the atmosphere feels more festive and a little less divey, but I am also a big fan of El Sol. It’s a hole-in-the-wall place you could miss if you didn’t know it was there, and since it’s small and popular, it was very busy the Tuesday night we went. We were lucky enough to grab one of the last seats and quickly brought some warm chips and homemade salsa. I ordered the chicken fajitas and they were delicious with our pitcher of margs. Add El Sol to your list for when you’re craving no-fuss Mexican.
The Boardwalk | Penn Quarter
A couple of weeks ago, my friend Jackie and I went to The Boardwalk, which is a beach/arcade themed bar in Penn Quarter. In the basement, they have all sorts of games, both virtual and not, and on the first floor, they have a really fun bar with all sorts of craft cocktails on draft. We didn’t actually eat any food besides their delicious popcorn, but I’d highly recommend this spot if you’re looking to mix it up for a fun night out or celebrate something, like a birthday party.
& MY FAVORITE RESTAURANTS DOING TAKEOUT AND/OR DELIVERY
Like I mentioned at the top of this post, my friend Justin of DC Food Porn has an amazing guide to every DC restaurant offering takeout and delivery, which you can get details about HERE. I did want to shoutout a few of my favorite places offering takeout and delivery right now in hopes you might consider supporting one of these places next time you’re thinking of eating out! I’ve reviewed most of these restaurants in my DC dinner club series—and you can see all those posts here!
- The Capital Burger—takeout
- The Capital Grille—takeout
- Chez Billy Sud—takeout
- Coconut Club—takeout + delivery
- Compass Rose—takeout
- The Dabney—takeout of a three-course prix fixe menu for $45/person
- Floriana—takeout
- Lucky Buns—takeout + delivery
- Maydan—takeout
- Mexicue—takeout + delivery
- Nina May—takeout
- Pearl Dive—takeout + delivery
- Red Hen—takeout
- Republic Cantina—takeout
- Screwtop Wine Bar—takeout + delivery (being done by their servers!)
- Seven Reasons—takeout + delivery (being done by their servers!)
DC locals—if there are any places you love that are doing takeout and delivery, please feel free to shout them out in the comments below!
