This year for Halloween, we visited Washington D.C. to spend the weekend with friends. We had a great time exploring what the city has to offer – the company was excellent, the food delicious, and the Fall color was absolutely stunning. The weather was perfect, too! October is definitely a great time of the year to visit. Highly recommend!
A handful of our friends have lived in the city for several years now and they spoiled us all weekend with amazing food, drinks, and all around good vibes at some of their favorite spots around town. Here are some of the meals and places that stuck out as favorites. Enjoy!
–MJ
Food + Drink
Compass Rose Bar + Kitchen
Our meal at Compass Rose was definitely my favorite of the weekend and a highlight of the trip. The food, drinks, atmosphere, service were fantastic all around!
Our group opted to participate in the “Tour of the World” dining experience – an unreal, 10 course meal including dishes from all over the globe. Every dish in this experience was something to write home about. So much so, that I wrote an entire post about it; read it here.
Call Your Mother
We grabbed bagel sandwiches from the Call Your Mother deli in Georgetown for a quick weekend breakfast. I got the The Sun City bagel – an Everything bagel with bacon, eggs, American + cheddar cheeses, and spicy honey. It was a really stinking good sandwich, it’s no wonder they tout the Best Bagel in D.C. award!
Pro tip: Order ahead online to avoid a long wait time, especially on the weekends. This place is popular!
Emmy Squared
Our group ordered a handful of Detroit-style pizzas from Emmy Squared. They all looked so tasty it was hard to choose, but I went for a slice of the MVP (house made vodka sauce, red sauce, garlic parsley pesto, sesame seed crust) and the Colony (pepperoni, pickled jalapeños, honey) pizzas. I didn’t get a pic, but double thumbs up!
Le Diplomate
Le Diplomate is the cutest little bistro serving up classic French dishes and an outstanding American cheeseburger lol. Every detail – from the antiques throughout the interior to the charming patio exterior that spills out onto the sidewalks – transports you and makes you forget you’re not actually dining at a Parisian café.
Pro Tip: If you know you’re traveling to D.C. ahead of time, plan to make a reservation one month in advance to secure your spot for weekend brunch. Our wait was ~1.5 hours without a reservation, but totally worth it!
Old Ebbitt Grill
Old Ebbitt is Washington’s first known and oldest saloon and the guest list is super cool with guests like President McKinley, Ulysses S. Grant, Andrew Johnson, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt and Warren Harding. Although it is no longer in it’s original location, you can still feel the presence of it’s rich history captured in the beautiful art and heirlooms.
The Old Ebbitt is just down the block from the White House so it is the perfect spot to grab breakfast before you spend the day sightseeing around the National Mall and Memorial Parks.
I was craving a classic breakfast and went with the buttermilk pancakes, but the full menu had some options that were super tempting! I was really happy with my choice and the Belgian waffle with berries was a hit too.
Dacha Beer Garden
The weather was so nice while we were in D.C. that we wanted to soak up as much outside time as possible. We ended up at Dacha Beer Garden, a happening little spot with great atmosphere. Dog friendly too!!
Drink your beer out of a “boot” or if you’re not feelin’ beer, the Mel cocktail with vodka, lemon, white peach puree and weizenbock was AMAZING!
Coffee Spots
Shopping
I’ve been buying less of your typical “souvenirs” lately. I’ve found that shifting to more of a minimalistic mindset and really being intentional about what I’m brining into my life has been a nice change of pace for me. You can read more about that – here.
I do love my knick-knacks though. Always have ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
So, lately I’ve been enjoying snagging something that catches my eye, but is either functional in some way, something I will wear daily like jewelry or at least regularly, or a piece of local art to have in our home.
We didn’t do much shopping while we were in D.C. this time, but I did stumble on a plant shop and a cute little vintage home & furnishing store I did snag a few items from.
Little Leaf
I eyed the Little Leaf plant shop from across the street while grabbing coffee at Aslin Beer Co and it was so cute from the outside I couldn’t not pop in for a quick second before our brunch reservation at Le Dip.
I ended up going back after brunch for a small pot and two of the Wool + Indigo perfume rollers to take back home as my trip souvenirs.
I couldn’t decide between the Plant Lady and Plant Boy scents and one of the employees I was chatting with (super friendly by the way!) told me he likes to mix the two together. I gave it a try and he was really onto something… I’ve been wearing them together every day since.
Miss Pixie’s Furnishings + Whatnot
I actually met Miss Pixie herself when I stopped in here and we chatted as she checked me out at the register. Her shop has some really unique items and I enjoyed walking through and browsing the collected items and art.
I found a neat pearlescent shell that was, for some reason, just really calling my name. I knew it had the perfect spot on one of my bookshelves and would be a great keepsake to remind me of our fun weekend with friends.
It was marked as “smudging shell”, which I didn’t have a clue what was at the time. As I’m writing this, I did a quick Google search and this is the first blog post that popped up. I’ve never smudged(?) before, but as I read the post there was a lot jumping out of the page at me that I’m really resonating with lately.
‘Spiritual goodness. All things high vibe’n. Clear negative energies. Creating a space suitable for healing and positive energies to emerge. Lift an anxious or ‘spiritually low’ mood. beautiful gift straight from Mother Earth’s ocean. They hold the strong calming + healing energy of the ocean. Creating room for transformations + manifestations have room to occur.’
Have any other D.C. recommendations? Please share with us in the comments below!
