no, I’m not obsessed with tapas.
I would consider it more of a taste-bud awakening. (Do I sound pretentious? Cause that’s what I was going for.)
I didn’t expect D.C.’s food game to be so strong. But after spending two months here, and after having checked off most of the places on my list, I can say I’m very impressed. I’ve never actually explored food in a city to this extent, considering I’ll normally eat home-cooked meals, or dining hall food, in college. So these two months have definitely been an interesting experience with my main source of nourishment coming from “fine dining” sit-down establishments.
My favorite find so far has been tapas. That’s broad, of course, but I love getting several small plates and seeing how pleasing food can be, both with respect to aesthetics and taste. (And also I feel like tapas isn’t as big of a deal on the west coast-- at least I’ve never been so exposed to it.) From trying these tapas dishes, I’ve also become a lot more adventurous-- I’ve had octopus, squid, calamari, raw salmon, just off the top of my head. Just look at some of these great dishes!
Zaytinya: (Easily my favorite tapas restaurant so far, and begun by Jose Andres -- their menu has a huge variety, but probably is better for meat eaters, more so than vegetarians.) The top right is Snail Kibbeh, the top middle is Octopus Santorini, top left is a special Mediterranean flatbread called Peynirli Pide, and the bottom is Skeared Skuna Bay Salmon.) It definitely is a very fancy place, so dress nice if you decide to go (and it’s always a good idea for a special occasion)! Oh, and also, get ready to eat an endless supply of fresh and delicious Mediterranean bread.
La Tasca: I ended up going here on a whim after work one day, after noticing that they had happy hour. Each dish? $4! And well worth the money. The top left are empanadas, the top right is patatas bravas, and the bottom is tabla de salmon.
Kapnos: We were actually there last night (7/23) to celebrate Pooja’s birthday. Though I tried a variety of foods, my favorite were easily the zucchini fritters, pictured below. There is a fancy Greek name for them, but I’m not even going to bother trying to spell that out.
Tonight, I went to dinner with Francesca and was sharing with her all my favorite restaurants and entrees/desserts across town-- she told me I’m past being a foodie. I’ve apparently maxed that out and am on to the next level. I’m gonna take that as a compliment. I honestly don’t know how I’ll go back to eating cafeteria food after the amazing recipes I’ve tried here.
