Just in time for the influx of cold-weather tourists to our fair city, CNN has compiled and posted a list of “cheap” places to eat well in DC. These sorts of lists seem designed to generate controversy, but hey – we don’t shy from controversy around here. My take on the entries on CNN’s list about which I know anything:
2. Ben’s Chili Bowl. I love it, and I fully support sending tourists there very late at night: we need to thin the herd!
3. Lauriol Plaza. Why does this place consistently make every single “cheap eats” list in DC?? It’s in no way cheap, the lines are awful, and the food is just so-so. You can so infinitely better at Dos Gringos, Mixtec, or any of the tiny Salvadorian and Ecuadorian places on the Hill. Ugh!
7. Leftbank. Whuuuh? It’s expensive. I’ve never had good service (OK, I’ve only been twice, but still…). The food is so-so. It’s expensive. We also don’t need any more tourists on 18th street.
8. The Diner. See 7, above, except I love a few of the servers.
10. Moby Dick House of Kabob. Now we’re talking. Except, uhm, it’s really a carry-out place.
Where would you send visitors on a budget? Please distinguish where you’d send people you like (Oohhs and Aahhs for mac+cheese) versus people you don’t like (Anacostia Park for sunset).
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11Nov
5 Responses
I always end up dragging out of town guests to the Booeymonger at Friendship Heights. To me, cheap needs to be really cheap. Booeymonger is half deli, half fast food. Their potato wedges, formerly known as “spicy” potato wedges, are a guilty pleasure of mine. That’s my story, and I’m sticking by it.
Pumpernickel’s, Pumpernickel’s, Pumpernickel’s.
And how does sending tourists to Ben’s late at night ‘thin the herd’? Will they get fried in an unfortunate tanning-bed mishap? Or perhaps whacked by falling debris from a condo in construction?
I do love the Ben’s, though, and I don’t even eat meat.
I would send visitors on a budget to any Pho place they could get to. Even the worst Pho is better than fast food.
This Week in Reviews – November 18, 2005
Periodically, we will publish This Week in Reviews, a roundup of reviews of DC-area restaurants, with quick links to DC-area restaurant reviews and mentions from the previous seven days in blogs, magazines, and newspapers. For a roundup of New York…
I don’t really see how the Diner could be called expensive. You can get a big fat hot dog that’s actually pretty good for like $3, or at least you could the last time I was there.
Anyway, my new favorite cheap eats place is Nam-Viet Pho 79 in Cleveland Park. Unbelievably yummy Vietnamese food for prices that are just a notch above Chinese take-out. Service is pretty cheery, too. Taking a friend from out of town there for lunch today.
Also, American City Diner’s a fun place to take out-of-towners for a nice greasy-spoon breakfast. I haven’t been to Luna Grill in Dupont in a while, but it used to be my go-to place for cheap but nice lunches and dinners and I would still recommend it. For artery-destroying bar food, Stoney’s at 13th & L rules the roost in my book, but will sadly be closing in the relatively near future.