Old Ebbitt Grill (Washington, DC)

675 15^th Street NW, Washington DC, 20005

 

Old Ebbitt Grill is an old-school steakhouse with dark wood and a big old bar. The large menu includes staples like salads, sandwiches, burgers as well as fresh fish and meats from the grill. It’s lunchtime when I get here and it’s bumping.

 

I get a cup of chili ($5.55) with onions ($0.29). The chili is very tasty and has a kind of sweet aftertaste. The fresh onions are perfect with it. I then move on to the Jalapeño Burger with fries ($15.29). The burger is big and excellently prepared (medium) and covered with a lot of jalapeños. The bun is big, has only a slight cheddar and jalapeño taste, but the thick slice of tomato is a bit overpowering. While the burger is very tasty, as is the Chipotle sauce on the side, it cools down a bit too quick. The fries are staple steak fries, well prepared.

 

VERDICT: 94/100

Excellent American fare. I’ll definitely be back.

Bobby’s Burger Palace (Washington, DC)

2121 K Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20037

Bobby’s Burger Palace is an upscale chain of upscale, fast food restaurants that features an array of burgers inspired by Chef Bobby Flay. It currently has 17 locations in the US, mostly in the Northeast. This one in downtown DC looks funky and offers a wide range of original burgers, sides and shakes. I get the Dallas Burger and the Undecided, i.e. a combination of two sides. The burger is indeed prepared medium and comes on a nice brioche bun with a heap of “spice crusted” slaw, pickles, and BBQ sauce. While perhaps not the best choice, it is really tasty and well-executed. My “Undecided” are three big onion rings and a batch of French fries, which come with two sauces. The onion rings are crispy but a bit bland, as are the sauces. The fries are pretty good.

VERDICT: 90/100

Good burgers in a funky environment.

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Amsterdam Falafel Shop (Washington DC)

2425 18th Street NW, Washington DC 20009, USA

The Amsterdam Falafel Shop is a small chain of restaurants that sells falafel and fries based on the Dutch example. It currently has 7 locations in the US, including three in DC. The key point is that you can choose freely from the toppings bar, which has a huge selection of 22 items, including vegetables, sauces, etc.

I get a Regular Falafel Sandwich, which includes 5 falafel balls in a pita, which I fill with various toppings and sauces. The falafel is not too moist and not too dry. Very tasty! I also get a Small Fries, which are double-fried, and very crispy from the outside. As good as you can get in the Netherlands. The range of sauces makes it all even better.

VERDICT: 93/100

It is not as good as the best falafel in the Middle East, but it is as good as falafel gets outside of the region and the same applies to fries and the Netherlands.

Le Diplomate (Washington, DC)

1601 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20009

Le Diplomate is a fairly posh French restaurant in downtown DC. It looks exactly as Americans think/want French restaurants to look like. It serves a typical French menu, but with a specialty of oysters.

As their Hamburger Americaine ($17) makes many lists of top burgers in DC, my friend JC and I came here to try it. It is a double patty with onion, pickles, sauce, on a huge, quite fresh, brioche bun. Overall very tasty, but extremely salty. The French Fries were shoestring fries, tasty, but also very salty. The mayo was quite bad.

 

VERDICT: 87/100

Definitely a very good burger, but far too salty and far too pricey.

Hot Dog Stand (Washington, DC)

23^rd Street, NW, in front of Foggy Bottom-GWU Metro Station, Washington, DC

This is a generic hot dog stand on the square of the Foggy Bottom-George Washington University Metro Station. It is run by an older Asian woman and serves hot dogs and the usual variety of cold snacks and drinks.

 

I get a Hot Dog ($2.50) with Chili (+$0.50). The bun is generic, the sausage is generic, the mustard is generic, and the chili, which might be somewhat original, is decent.

VERDICT: 78/100

Generic and slightly overpriced, as was to be expected.

Good Stuff Eatery (Washington, DC)

303 Pennsylvania Avenue Southeast, Washington, DC 20003, T: 202-543-8222

When Mrs. Grondhopper and I arrived in the nation's capital, we were blocked from our walk over to the Congress because the president was out for lunch at... Good Stuff Eatery! Allegedly this is Obama's favorite restaurant. As Mrs. G. said, what is good enough for the president, is good enough for me. So, we met with a group of our students at night and went to town on the burgers.

Good Stuff Eatery is all about handmade burgers, hand-cut fries, and handspun ice cream. They have about ten different burgers, which can be made with a broad variety of patties (beef, chicken, turkey, veggie, mushroom). I had the Prez Obama Burger ($6.89): applewood bacon, onion marmalade, and horseradish mayo (I opted out from the Roquefort cheese). I also had Uncle D's Famous Chili ($5.89) and shared a portion of the Sunny's Handcut Fries ($3.69). The chili was good and had a nice spice. Although the burger didn't look remarkable, although it did look very greasy and juicy, it tasted fantastic. The beef had great taste and was almost soaked into the fresh bun, the bacon was crispy and tasty, and the onion and sauce perfected everything. The fries, however, were the best: fried, making them crispy from the outside but soft from the inside, and salty. Moreover, you have a choice from six different mayo's, which were the perfect condiment.

VERDICT: 97/100

There is only one place to go when you are in the Capitol area of Washington, DC: Good Stuff Eatery. The rest of us can only hope that they will be successful in starting their franchise business and that a branch will come to a place near you!