D.C Diary Reunited
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It's baaaaack! I loved using my D.C. Diary posts to log my summer adventures when I lived there. Two years later and I was able to squeeze in a trip back to my favorite city. No better way to recap the weekend than with this Take A Bite original.
Hoped off the plane Friday evening and metro-ed into town (super proud of myself for still being able to maneuver the metro) to meet my host/bestie at her apartment. Kudos to Anna for being patient with me. I sent her an itinerary of everything I wanted to do over the weekend a few weeks back and she happily played along. Friday night was all her though. First stop on the #dcdining adventure was Rasika. More palak chaat please!! This crispy spinach dish is unreal.
Indian food and passion fruit cocktails were the perfect way to catch up and start the weekend.
Anna and I lived together two years ago, she's now back in the district and I'm living vicariously through her. Did I mention we've known each other since we were born?
After a summer taking classes at Barre3 Georgetown, I was so happy to come visit and try out the new 14th street location. Seriously gorg studio in one of my favorite areas of town.
Can't help but stop and stare at the quaint side streets full of row houses and brownstones.
Saturday afternoon we went back to my old hood for lunch and shopping in Georgetown. Why oh why did Chaia not exist when I worked there?
Quick stop by the waterfront, before a quick detour to Baked and Wired.
And now comes the best part of the trip. After a failed attempt at trying to get into Rose's Luxury two years ago, I've been dying to try again. They don't take reservations and you have to get in line right when they open to just hope you get a spot. I've been gawking them on social media and the internet and knew that this had to be apart of the trip. They were named Best New Restaurant ranking No.1 on Bon Appetit's Hot 10 list and rank tip top on several other round ups.
Two of our friends and current D.C. resisdents, Katie and Sarah were meeting us for dinner. They were more than down for the waiting game. I love friends who love food the same way as me. We got there at 5, got our name on the list and they happily let us know we should be seated by 7:30/8. Rose's is eclectic. They use the most interesting combination of ingredients and serve everything on mismatched china and silverware. The head chef, Aaron Silverman has said he wanted Rose's to be like having a dinner party every night. Congrats Aaron, you did it.
I also love when people are cool with me snapping away at each course and embarrassingly asking the waitress every item in the dish. Just so you know you are looking at coconut milk foam, pork sausage, habanero cream, red onion, lychee, basil mint cilantro, togarashi, lime juice, champagne vinegar, coconut powder, and garlic chips. Ya, woah.
Next up was a grilled romain salad with duck egg and grilled veal.
Then confit goat and rice with BBQ sea island red peas. Like how do you even come up with these things Aaron? Everything was insane.
This. This is what sent us over the edge. Bucatini with pesto, ramps, jalapeno, blue crab and crispy breadcrumbs. This may be the best thing I've ever eaten. We pretty much all threw in the towel on ever expecting to eat anything better in our lives.
So many cheers throughout this meal to celebrate it's amazingness and experiencing it together. After a few cocktails and many bites of bucatini we decided we had formed some kind of bucatini sisterhood.
More pasta because we had to try their famous strawberry tomato sauce. Bon Appetit has a recipe for it here.
Absolutely not done without dessert. Rhubarb custard tart and tiramisu.
Thank you Rose's Luxury. Everything really is awesome. You heard it first here but this is my favorite restaurant of all time. The food, the service, the experience, everything is gold. I mentioned at one point in the night that I was a little sad to have found this at such a young age. What do I have to live for now?
Sisterhood of the traveling bucatini: Marsha, Virginia, Heidi and Charlie. I think our amazing meal sent us into some kind of weird trance, but we weren't trying to get out of it.
Sunday morning recovery at my (old) favorite spot, Le Diplomate.
I dreamed of the next time I would get to have this mushroom tart since the last time I had it.
Post-brunch shopping at Salt & Sundry.
Since I was in D.C. they have grown from their Union Market location and built a brick and mortar on 14th.
Serious home good/gift coolness overload.
Sunday afternoon called for a serious cat nap after going going going and a touristy stop at the national archives. We got to see the Declaration, Bill of Rights and Constitution. Total Nicholas Cage/National Treasure move. We found a pick me up later in the day at Baked and Wired's new sister A Baked Joint.
Weekend coming to a close, but going out with a bang.
Steamed buns at Momofuku.
And ramen for days.
Followed by none other than my NYC fav, Milk Bar! This duo traveled south a bit and opened locations in D.C's new City Center.
Cheers to this trip, this friend, this city, it's food, it's culture and so much more. Now get that internship next summer too so I can come back!
Annie
