It’s Restaurant Week!

Gotta love when restaurants and cities celebrate together for Restaurant Week! What a great time to try out that special restaurant that you’ve been wanting to go to! Many restaurants teamed up to present Metropolitan Washington Restaurant Week by offering a pre fixe menu, usually for lunch and dinner but every now and then for breakfast as well. And at a reduced price. Karen and I usually try to visit at least 2 restaurants every time, usually for lunch. Lunch is less expensive than dinner. This week, lunch is $22 and dinner is $35 for a 3-course meal usually including soup or salad, entree and dessert. We’ve chosen two of our favorites to try out of many, and added in a little extra excursion besides!

Farmers Fishers Bakers
“Farmers Fishers Bakers offers a full bar with 24 beer taps, delicious hand crafted tiki cocktails, and a refreshing coastal cuisine including sushi, pizza, fresh fish, tacos, and a sunny patio with water views. We’re proud to make food from scratch with ingredients you can trust.” Our lunch was disappointing actually. Most likely based on our choices, but disappointing nevertheless. The best part was the dessert – a baked carrot cake donut with cream cheese frosting and a scoop of ice cream! YUM!

RPM Italian DC
“Located in Washington, D.C.’s Mount Vernon neighborhood, RPM Italian is modern in approach and Italian in spirit and features a contemporary, chef­-driven menu with dishes meant to be shared. Menu highlights include more than a dozen fresh pastas made in house daily, slow­-roasted meats, wild fish and seafood, and celebrated Italian classics with an elevated twist.” One of our all-time favorites is Chicken Parmigiana which is usually our dinner option, but this time we get to enjoy it for lunch! As expected, the Chicken Parm was wonderful! Except there was no pasta served with it! And we were not informed by our server that it was extra. The meatball appetizer included 3 large beef meatballs that were delicious. And the dessert was good as well. But then, I can usually find a dessert that I like! Our server started out strong and then faded throughout service. No one asked us if we enjoyed our meal. Kind of a disappointing end to a great meal. So, no pasta served and no bread served with our meal at an Italian restaurant. We brought home one delicious meatball, cooked our own pasta, added the meatball to our sauce, made garlic toast and continued our Italian lunch for dinner! It was excellent!

Potomac RiverBoat Company – Wharf Water Taxi/Alexandria Water Taxi
“Offering direct routes between the Wharf, Georgetown, Alexandria and National Harbor. One-day, two-day and commuter passes are available. All Wharf Water Taxis, and the National Harbor Alexandria Water Taxi are ADA compliant. The Georgetown dock is not ADA accessible.” The step onto the vessel in Georgetown was pretty big, especially when you have short legs, a cane and a mobility issue. But there was assistance at the dock, so all was well. The commute from Georgetown to The Wharf took about 45 minutes and we enjoyed it sitting on the bow bench. The commute from The Wharf to Old Town Alexandria took about 20 minutes. Nice ramps and no big steps were a welcome site. It was nice being on the water. Rain clouds were overhead, so we opted to catch an Uber and head home.

D.C. Wharf Area – Lots of restaurants, shops and a fish market, an area including a fire pit with Adirondack chairs. Definitely not needed on this particularly humid day! And an Airstream trailer with a sign advertising S’mores. We enjoyed a brief air-conditioned drink at Mi Vida’s. There’s plenty of benches to sit on to catch your breath and watch the water and sidewalk traffic shows.

Smithsonian Castle (Visitor’s Center) – Grander outside than in with the exception of the exhibition hall with it’s circular rose window and beautiful ceiling. The general area is very spartan, with a visitor’s desk and plenty of places to rest in air-conditioned comfort. There is a nice gift shop as well as Castle Cafe for a quick bite or refreshing drink. The gardens are just outside and are quite beautiful. There were butterflies and bees everywhere! Take a look at the detail in the many park benches. Not sure if they are old or new but they are beautiful! Adequate handicap ramps, lifts and restroom facilities inside.

Check the gallery to the right for a peek at some of this things we saw!

Check out your local city for Restaurant Week.
Next week – Alexandria’s Restaurant Week. What’s for lunch?!