36 hours in DC

If you’ve been following along since close to the beginning of this blog, you may remember Lilly. Before she heads off to Harvard (for her PhD!!!), I went to visit her once again in DC! She planned an absolutely insane food itinerary for the weekend that I hope will be useful to you if you’re headed to DC soon. Please enjoy this recap!

F R I D A Y

Bluestone Lane: Because Lilly knows I am a sucker for all things Australian, she took me to this gorgeous cafe with avocado toast galore! (And Lilly’s salmon brioche.) Tons of natural lighting, check, beautiful design, check, delicious food, check, expensive food…also check. But for a taste of Australia, it really hits the spot.
National Geographic museum – Tomb of Christ exhibit: After working all afternoon at her office, we stopped by her boyfriend Alan’s office at National Geographic! He took us to the Nat Geo museum, where we went through the Tomb of Christ exhibit, which includes a 3-D portion. It was a very quick tour (under an hour), but super interesting. Definitely recommend!
Colada Shop: Afterwards, we stopped by Colada shop for happy hour. Their rooftop patio is just the most adorable. Get there early for a good seat, since the patio has fairly limited seating. We drank pineapple mojitos and showered puff pastry crumbs from our guava-cheese pastelitos all over the balcony before moving on.
Thip Khao: We don’t have much, if any Laotian food in Houston, so I was very excited about this pick, which Resy claims to be the first and only Lao restaurant in DC! We got the Naem Khao (crispy coconut rice salad sans pork), Chuenh Taohu (crispy tofu), Kua Mee (wok rice noodles with fish sauce caramel), the Gaeng Phet (red coconut curry) and a couple pork skewers. The crispy coconut rice was an absolute standout!
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream: We spent a bit of time digesting while browsing the local Target before walking to Jeni’s. Lilly’s doesn’t love Jeni’s because it’s “too creamy,” but I was excited to try this iconic ice cream and loved the uber-creamy texture.

S A T U R D A Y

Flywheel: Lilly took me to my first Flywheel class. Spin ladies (and men) of DC are INTENSE!
The Line: We stopped at the Line on the way back to Lilly’s apartment, and one employee was kind enough to show us the roped-off upstairs. We learned that the cool ceiling fixture is actually the organ pipes from the old church!
Union Market: Starving, we headed to Union Market. I loved Union Market because it wasn’t overwhelming like, say, Chelsea Market, but there were still a plethora of options. We split a Burmese stuffed roti from Toli Moli, a caprese arepa from Arepa Zone, and a veggie bowl from an Ethiopian place. We left so so full and still with so many things left to try!!
National Portrait Gallery: Obama portraits!!! I learned so much walking through the presidential portraits and could have spent hours longer. Also, such a fan of the fact that most museums are free in DC!
Renwick – Art of Burning Man exhibit: LOVED this exhibit! I had a very shallow understanding of Burning Man prior to this, so learning about everything was fascinating. I would 100% go again.
Buttercream: We had some time to kill before dinner, so Lilly took me to Buttercream, where we got a SPARKLY LEMON MERINGUE CREAM PUFF.
Haikan: We met some of Alan’s friends for dinner here and had the sassiest waiter (and then sent out free dessert since he forgot to fill out water glasses). He was great on many levels. The veg ramen was good, though my favorites in Houston still stand.
Jack Rose: We had intended to go to the Line after dinner, but the wait was ridiculous. Instead, we headed to Jack Rose to meet my friend Ornsiree for drinks! The bar supposedly contains more than 1800 bottles of scotch, but I of course avoided those in favor of a fruity cocktail.
Amsterdam Falafel Shop: In the worst/best decision ever, Ornsiree convinced us to stop at Amsterdam Falafel Shop afterwards for fries with 8 different sauces. That then turned into a shared falafel bowl. They supposedly stay open until 2:30am and as Lilly said, it’s an institution. The falafel was ridiculously tasty.

S U N D A Y

Lapis: Although I would have been happy on the water diet today, we managed to find room for vegetable dumplings, stuffed bolani and cauliflower fritters on the beautiful patio of this spot.
Ice Cream Jubilee: Revived by a second wind, we went to Lilly’s favorite ice cream spot, Jubilee (right next to Colada Shop!), home of many exotic flavors like mango habanero and strawberry tres leches. Lilly got their special cilantro mint, and I got dairy-free peanut butter chocolate.

And then I got on a train to NYC and didn’t eat for the rest of the day. THANK YOU LILLY AND ALAN for a fabulous trip!!!!!!!!