Petworth
The Hitching Post
A comfortable, homey, friendly, old-time soul food diner off by the Armed Forces Home, serving some of the best fried chicken in the metro area, always cooked to order. The sides of slaw, mac 'n cheese, etc. also drive the locals into a foodie frenzy. The portions are enormous it's not terribly clear how "half chicken dinner" translates into twelve pieces of bird. All in all, a great place to settle into a casual, drawn out meal of slow cooked food during a football game or over a good conversation.
El Limeno
As a rule in D.C., you have to wander pretty far off the beaten path to find good Latino eats, and El Limeno's residential location in Petworth satisfies that criterion well. It's an attractive sit-down restaurant with a long menu of Salvadoran and Mexican dishes stick to the Salvadoran, with especially good soups and seafood. Full bar.
Brookland
Colonel Brooks' Tavern
This is Brookland's neighborhood pub, thirty years old, and popular with Catholic students, professors, and really anyone who lives in the area. With occasional live music dixieland on Tuesday nights, an eccentric menu, diverse clientele, and a nice atmosphere, it's a popular place for brunch after mass, dinner, or a couple beers while watching a game.
San Antonio Grill
A nice Tex-Mex restaurant near Catholic, with Mexican food far above the local average, as well as a few Salvadoran and Cuban entries try the Cuban masitas de puerco. The margaritas have quickly become famous, not just for being tasty, but also for being extremely large.
Other
Ethiopic
Despite its borderline-nowhere location, this brand new restaurant almost immediately gained the reputation of "best Ethiopian restaurant in D.C.," which is extremely high praise. The interior is stylish and relatively smallâas they do not accept reservations, you are likely to encounter a wait on a Friday or Sunday night during primetime. Just about everything is well done here save the ever questionable Ethiopian wines, bu the more adventurous foodies should not pass up the raw kitfo.
Mr P's Ribs
The should-be-legendary BBQ master of the D.C. area serves the best damn Carolina style full rack of pork ribs you'll find anywhere this far north. And he serves it out of a school bus, in a big parking lot off Rhode Island Ave home to the now closed Safeway. Get your sauce on the side, and don't pass up fresh sweet potato pie.
Atlas district
Granville Moore's
The gastropub fare here is great seafood, salads, sandwiches, but the showstopper is the Belgian mussels and fries, and even more so the 50 Belgian beers chalked in on the board.
Horace & Dickie's Seafood
Fish fry. When a neighborhood starts booming, usually at least one of the old businesses finds itself awash in late night revelersâon H St this is that place. It's hard to miss when the patrons line out the door to get the one dish this little take-out joint does quite well: fried whitefish sandwich it does some others less well. It would be heretical to dispute H&D as the king of after-bar eating in the Atlas District.
Sticky Rice
A stylish sushi restaurant by day and crowded H St bar by night, the biggest draw here is the sushi. The rolls are big, inventive, and jauntyâand reasonably priced. If you are here for a couple beers, definitely order a bucket of tater tots. Tuesday nights are karaoke, while F-Sa nights see DJs.
Mark's Kitchen
Mark's is a fixture of the downtown Takoma Park area if there ever was one. It's a little, very unpretentious Korean restaurant with a specialty in vegetarian dishes, and some solid American dishes at thatâyou can get your breakfast of buckwheat pancakes, or mung bean pancakes!