Contributed by: Sharona Whisler | Last Date of Travel: [Author lives in DC]
Kosher Info: In the District itself kosher food and especially restaurants are slim pickings considering how many Jews live in the area. The most popular kosher restaurant in DC is “Eli’s” (http://www.elisdc.com), a glatt kosher deli/grill with a nice variety of dishes on the menu. Eli’s is located at the corner of 20nd and N streets NW. The closest Metro stop is Dupont Circle on the red line (leave through the Dupont Circle South exit when leaving the station stop) which is just around the corner and down the block.
[As of Sept. 1st, 2009, the JCC Cafe has been closed. See: http://washingtonjewishweek.com]Markets:
A new Trader Joe’s opened up on 25th street b/t L and M streets NW that sells kosher chicken and sometimes ground meat. This is exciting for DC residents.
There is a general market called Brookville in Cleveland Park (Cleveland Park Metro on the red line is a half-block away) which sells a nice variety of kosher and Israeli products and Zomicks Challah! There are many other restaurants and kosher shopping opportunities in Maryland, one of which is Metro accessible.
Sienna’s Pizza is in Rockville, MD is a block away from the White Flint Metro stop on the red line. They serve dairy Italian and Mexican dishes and you order at the counter.
Tourist Info: This is DC we’re talking about. The mecca of American history and government. How can I list tourist info for the nation’s capital? It can go on forever. Here is it goes. Go see the many monuments and memorials (free!), Tidal Basin (free!) Smithsonian Museums (free!), Arlington Cemetary (free!), walk around Capitol Hill (free!), Georgetown for shopping, and go to Dupont Circle, Adam’s Morgan, or Georgetown at night.
I’ve found this site to be very helpful for the DC tourist: http://www.washington.org.
Jewish Info: The orthodox synagogue, Kesher Israel which holds daily services is located on the corner of 28th and N streets NW.
The DC Chabad is located at 2110 Leroy Place, and offers a free Shabbat lunch.
Eli’s is great. I go there almost any time I need a good burger while in DC.
I also recently ate at the Hillel of GWU. I’ve been told that the (meat) cafe there is fairly new, and there is no guarantee that it will be around year after year. I would contact the GWU Hillel to find out.
Colonial Kosher Cafe: http://www.gwhillel.org/kosher-cafe/
In the blog you mentioned Sienna’s, which is a great pizza/italian place, but a few minutes away in a different shopping center there is a bagel shop (Goldberg’s Bagels),and Chinese (The Royal Dragon). Also in that same shopping center there is a rather large kosher food store (Kosher Mart), and inside they also have a resturant, and if you are there around Pesach they aer usually opened, at least they were this past year, and the food was not to bad.
I wrote this post, and yes I did leave out Krispy Kreme-great add (you’ll see it right when you get off the Dupont Circle metro, “circle south” exit)! There are several restaurants in Maryland so I just stuck to the ones that I know are metro/walk accessible because that’s the only way I know how to get around :)
But it’s also true that Max’s restaurant and Shalom’s kosher market are minutes away from the Wheaton Metro stop.
As of Sept. 1st, 2009, the JCC Cafe has been closed. See: http://washingtonjewishweek.com