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As others have stated, the best dining is found in VA and MD, not in DC. Go to NoVA for good food.
15 years ago when you last lived here that may have been true. Today the District certainly holds its own for good food. Be careful of blanket statements.
And this is a hard work / what do you do city. You won't find that laid back attitude pretty much anywhere on the East Coast. Biggest transition a lot of Californians have to make. Otoh, people actually get work done. I used to work in San Fran and the laid back attitude really went to an absurd extreme.
15 years ago when you last lived here that may have been true. Today the District certainly holds its own for good food. Be careful of blanket statements..
Bluefly, please stop using that for every argument you make The OP is in DC right now and saying this. Are you going to use the 15 years argument on her too?
Others on this thread have agreed with me about the suburbs having better food. Do you disagree with them too?
Most people would rather have authentic VN pho, etc in NoVA than bland Asian Fusion cuisine that has a large markup in prices because it's at Dupont. Or eat at places with blah food quality that get by by coasting on their length of time in business & location (Ben Chili Bowl).
The dining in DC is great. But the suburbs of DC are exponentially more diverse than the city proper, so one would of course expect that there'd be more diverse ethnic dining in said suburbs.
I've lived in this area for most of my life, and I feel like I would fit a lot better in SoCal that I ever would in DC...or for that matter, the Northeast & East Coast in general. Activities out in the West (checking out awesome topography, surfing and catching b*tchin waves, hiking on elevated hills and great scenery, coasting down the edge of a major ocean via Cali Rt 1, checking out and talking to chicks on the beaches, etc.) aren't going to be found here. And the lack of easy sociability that you see out West in general doesn't help the situation either.
I can see how things get monotonous after a while: Going to a museum, jogging on the Mall, eating at some fru-fru restaurant, hanging out in some pretentious neighborhood/nightclub for the evening, and running into pretentious people who value their worth on their job or jewelry while at those neighborhoods/nightclubs. And doing all of that again and again!
My best suggestion is probably take a few weekends (or whenever you have the time) to travel to other areas of interest nearby. You have places like the Shenandoah Mountains, Ocean Beach, and Atlantic City. They may not be Death Valley, Huntington Beach, and Las Vegas, but at least it's something different and new. Along with that, visit cities like NYC and Philly, which are nearby and inexpensive to travel to for a one-day visit. And in NYC alone, there are always different things going on and new places to discover.
If nothing else, you'll temporarily escape the monotonous cycle that is life in Washington DC.
Bluefly, please stop using that for every argument you make The OP is in DC right now and saying this. Are you going to use the 15 years argument on her too?
Others on this thread have agreed with me about the suburbs having better food. Do you disagree with them too?
Most people would rather have authentic VN pho, etc in NoVA than bland Asian Fusion cuisine that has a large markup in prices because it's at Dupont. Or eat at places with blah food quality that get by by coasting on their length of time in business & location (Ben Chili Bowl).
Well, when you're incorrect, you're incorrect. I still don't get why you offer advice about DC when you don't live here, but here's why you're mistaken:
You make universal, declarative statements without any caveate or condition. In this case, that one needs to go to the suburbs to find good food. That is not true at all, even though there is a lot of good food in the suburbs. I asked the OP as well how he could miss the thousands of unique restaurants in the city, so I don't just target you. There's great food in the VA suburbs, less great food in MD, and no shortage of great restaurants in DC proper (especially over the past 10 years) that make all three fine dining options. I've enjoyed all three myself.
This area does lack that natural connection and becomes quite urban-centric after a while. You have the Potomac and trails, but certainly not embedded in the culture like it is in many places. It's better than, for example, Houston, but is missing something that a city like Seattle has or Chicago with the lakeshore.
well, when you're incorrect, you're incorrect. I still don't get why you offer advice about dc when you don't live here, but here's why you're mistaken:
You make universal, declarative statements without any caveate or condition. In this case, that one needs to go to the suburbs to find good food. That is not true at all, even though there is a lot of good food in the suburbs. I asked the op as well how he could miss the thousands of unique restaurants in the city, so i don't just target you. There's great food in the va suburbs, less great food in md, and no shortage of great restaurants in dc proper (especially over the past 10 years) that make all three fine dining options. I've enjoyed all three myself.
This area does lack that natural connection and becomes quite urban-centric after a while. You have the potomac and trails, but certainly not embedded in the culture like it is in many places. It's better than, for example, houston, but is missing something
Well, when you're incorrect, you're incorrect. I still don't get why you offer advice about DC when you don't live here, but here's why you're mistaken:
You make universal, declarative statements without any caveate or condition. In this case, that one needs to go to the suburbs to find good food. That is not true at all, even though there is a lot of good food in the suburbs. I asked the OP as well how he could miss the thousands of unique restaurants in the city, so I don't just target you. There's great food in the VA suburbs, less great food in MD, and no shortage of great restaurants in DC proper (especially over the past 10 years) that make all three fine dining options. I've enjoyed all three myself.
This area does lack that natural connection and becomes quite urban-centric after a while. You have the Potomac and trails, but certainly not embedded in the culture like it is in many places. It's better than, for example, Houston, but is missing something that a city like Seattle has or Chicago with the lakeshore.
A couple years ago went on a date at Ruth's Chris in Crystal City. Sat by the window and had a spectacular view of the city as we "dined" with the capitol building and the Washington Monument Very picturesque.
A couple years ago went on a date at Ruth's Chris in Crystal City. Sat by the window and had a spectacular view of the city as we "dined" with the capitol building and the Washington Monument Very picturesque.
That's great, but Ruth's Chris is a chain. OP is talking about unique restaurants.
I live in DC around the Cleveland Park area. I guess I'm trying to get used to the idea that you need to travel outside DC to get some variety. Maybe I got a little off track on my original post by commenting on the mall chain thing. I was trying to get an idea if people who moved to DC can see themselves living here in the long term. It seems like the typical thing here is to do your career thing for a few years and move on or meet someone, get married and move to the burbs to start a family.
I think DC does attract lots of people like that but not all. Most of the folks that I'm friends with have been here for years and have no plans to leave. I definitely don't have plans to leave. One friend is always saying how beautiful DC is.
As far as settling in the burbs, well that's any city. Also DC has a horrible reputation school wise; although, for the record the schools are improving.
I love Cleveland Park actually very picturesque in my opinion.
Maybe you're just homesick for Cali. It happens I'd be a liar if I said I don't homesick for my hometown in Georgia.
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The OP is in DC right now and saying this. Are you going to use the 15 years argument on her too?
