Nick takes a trip to the heart of American politics and finds the way to iys heart is through his stomach
With inverse jet lag fading, I get it worse when flying back, I’m still a bit too woozy to make a long journey to find breakfast, fortunately the hotel has the Firefly Restaurant downstairs, a popular brunch spot for DCers, I’m told.
So even though it’s really more breakfast than brunch time, I get seduced into ordering a plate of avocado toast, pumpernickel, herbed cream cheese, pickled red onion and wild puffed rice. It’s everything you expect from American breakfast, lots of flavours and lots of it. Luckily I intend walking it off by going to see the White House that’s not too far away.
To The Trump House
You can also see the garden Michelle Obama planted, though without the flattering camera angles of TV news, it looks rather small and forlorn. There seems no sign of the Donald so I do what one does after visiting a famous place, I go to the Gift Shop.
Interestingly the Gift Shop seems more balanced than many Americans when it comes to the subject of Potus. About 75% is pro-Trump merchandise while 25% is satirical about him, if not downright disrespectful. For a monstrous dictator he seems quite happy to allow negative comments about him, even if only on a T Shirt.
170 tons of white marble. He gazes out over the reflecting pool and is a remarkable piece of work. Kings and Emperors have been commemorated with less pomp, but that’s America everything has to be bigger. And that makes me think of lunch.
Keep On Trucking
The Food Truck Scene in Washington DC is semi-legendary. A constantly changing scene that varies all the time with new trucks coming online and others retiring or taking a breather. The sheer number and varying locations could mean some wasted walking, but fortunately there’s an app for that, showing in real time what trucks are at which spots, as well as a DC Foodtrucks website.
After a large amount of coffee, tacos and cakes and other assorted treats there is a bit of a danger of more regurgitation, so I head back to the hotel to prepare for the highlight of my visit – Michelin-starred Kinship.
Make mine Michelin
The Michelin Guide Washington DC 2017, recommends 107 DC restaurants representing 33 cuisines. Nine DC restaurants earned a single star and Kinship in Shaw is one of them. So popular is it that I can only get a table at 5:30, when it opened, an unusual time to have dinner. Finding my UK Uber account worked in DC as well, I am there in no time.
The food is, as expected, extremely good but without pretension on the plate. Chef Eric Ziebold and partner Célia Laurent’s restaurant describe their place as a’modern American restaurant’ and it’s hard to argue with that, or their desire to have their own cuisine.
The majority of the dishes are divided into five categories: craft (dishes of a technique), history (classics reimagined), ingredients (ingredients), indulgence (wallet busting items) and “for the table†which means sharing dishes like whole fish or a 12-ounce dry-aged rib eye.
Of all the great dishes served, I like the butter-poached Maine lobster on house-made caramelized brioche best. Chef Ziebold spent many years at The French Laundry and this dish is his recollection of dipping bread in the lobster cooking butter at end of service.
Hot dog!
An institution here is Ben’s Chili Bowl at 1213 U Street. Founded by Ben and Virginia Ali in 1958 it saw the race riots out, the massive upheaval of the metro installation, the tough economic times of the 70s and 80s and now is part of the resurgence.
I’m actually a bit peckish again, it’s by now getting on for 11 pm after all, so I go in. Virginia herself comes to say hello, a dapper figure she moves effortlessly through the packed place, the customers parting respectfully to let her through.’Busy?’ she answers my question.’You should see it in here at 2 am!’
And I can see why DC is a popular place. It’s not all government buildings and offices as I imagined, but a real living place that has much more to offer the tourist hungry for some great food as well as seeing the heart of the USA’s administration
Thanks to capitalregionusa and also to SkyParkSecure who made leaving my car at Heathrow so easy.