A Visit To Washington DC

Ted and I are in Washington DC. My first visit and Ted’s second.  We plan on seeing the museums, seeing the monuments, doing a lot of walking, and just plain enjoying ourselves. 

We are staying at a B&B called Chester A. Arthur House, a small B&B in the English tradition.  The building is only one of three left on Logan Circle that have not been converted to condos or put into full time commercial use.  The building has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1972. 

Since we arrived late in the afternoon, we decided to take a foot tour around our immediate area and cover “heavy” ground tomorrow.  It seems we are right in the heart of everything and walking to us is never a problem.  We have received some terrific suggestions on places to visit and of course eat.  I hope we can get to them, but our time is limited to 1 1/2 days because on Wednesday we leave for Chesapeake Bay, MD for some sailing.

The first stop as we headed down “P Street” from Logan Circle was a nice restaurant called “Kramersbooks”.  It was recommended by Joe of JoeMezz dot com. He had recently visited the DC area and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast at Kramersbooks.  Ted and I however enjoyed two very tasty glasses of Chardonnay.  A Toasted Head Voignier and a Chateau La Paws Cote Du Bone Blanc.  It turned out each of us liked the other ones wine better and switched. In fact, I confronted the waitress (with a smile of course) and asked if she could bring a small sample taste of one of the wines because we were convinced they had been switched. She went along with us and …. she was 100% correct and never switched the wines. It was Ted and I who messed up our picks.  But it worked out well and we had a laugh.

From Kramersbooks, we went to dinner at a restaurant recommended by our B&B host.  It was Logan Tavern.  We couldn’t have asked for better.  Here is our dinner in pictures…

Beautiful bar area with a "common table" for gathering with locals. Outside and indoor dining.

Mixed Greens and Jicama salad. Fresh, crisp, vibrant..the beets was sweet and just this side of firm. Perfect!

Grilled Tuna with Sweet Chile Sauce served with Grilled Veg.

Look at this tuna. I ordered it medium-well and it was perfectly pale pink and oozing with moisture.

Ted had the three cheese tortellini with chicken in a Parmesan cream sauce with the side of grilled veg. I've never heard him rave about pasta so much.

Ted even told the waiter the price should be more for such a perfect dish. Shhhh…Ted!  The price for Ted’s dinner was $16.95 and mine, $19.95. Not bad for a big city.

Following dinner, we saw some interesting wall art (there’s an apple in there so I had to take a pic…)

We saw that a small production was about to begin at the Source Theater. It was called “Blues, Bossa, and Broadway”.  We stopped, received two buttons ($5.00 each…that was steep but if we go to the right places tomorrow, we apparently receive discounts because of those buttons) and went in to see the show. It was three singers and they were excellent.

 One more point of interest I forgot to mention above, on “P Street”, there is the largest Whole Foods Market – unbelievable. Since Ted and I have never been in one, we were overwhelmed. Wish Utica could be so lucky.  Everything was so fresh and in such abundance.  They had tofu to chicken to all sorts of sausages.  They had multi-grain tabouli, curried sword fish…OMG! It was heaven! Unfortunately we didn’t get to sample the goods as we were on our way to a wonderful dinner. Maybe next time.

That was our first day in DC. Walking, wining, fooding, and fun. Cool!

Tomorrow it’s off to the museums.  Stay tuned and visit again tomorrow.

By the way, look who is STILL with me (darn it!)….

Click the pic for a chance to enter some REAL goodies direct from Old Bay.