Dining in DC: Notes from a Week in the Capital
Convenient Eats while Touring the Capitol
Thursday started as a miserable day. The rain which was supposed to stop mid morning had other plans, the streets around the Capitol were cut off, the line to get in – even with tour tickets – was very long and under the pouring rain. And, of course, the Felon-in-Chief was doing his worst to destroy America – but that’s another matter.
Once we actually got into the Capitol, however, things started to improve. Staff was very friendly and solicitous, they have a free coat check and there was much to admire while we waited for my cousin Adriana and her family to join us. As we’d arrived early, we also had time for some breakfast at the Capitol Café, located just to side of the Visitors Center.
The Café is really a cafeteria, where you order at the counter and then stand in line to pay at a checkout counter. They serve standard American fare for breakfast, everything from bagels and pastries to waffles, eggs, hashbrowns and oatmeal. Most of the breakfast food is sold by weight – they weigh your whole tray at the checkout. The attendants were very friendly, but I can imagine service could be slow if there were more than a few guests.
All I got was a mocha ($4) and a pastry ($2.25), as I’m not a big breakfast drinker. The mocha was fine, but my choice of pastry – a Danish with custard – was unfortunate. The custard just tasted off.
Mike had a breakfast sandwich with bacon, eggs and cheese and a side of scrambled eggs. He thought the was was unremarkable but fine – pretty much what you’d expect.
My daughter also had scrambled eggs, as well as a waffle, biscuit and potatoes. She also found the food to be unremarkable. The biscuit was dried, and she couldn’t find any butter to go with it.
I was more intrigued by the inaugural lunch menu, which featured seafood stew, quail stuffed with wild rice and duck confit and apple cinnamon cake ($25 for all), but we weren’t there for lunch.
In all, a perfectly fine place to eat with reasonable prices while visiting the Capitol.
I should note that the Capitol tour was great, and we learned a lot. Including that California still has a statue of Junípero Serra representing it – California has gotten rid of most of his public statues at home, as we came to understand the evil that the Missions brought upon the native Californian people – so it surprised me this one is still there.
Capitol Café
US Capitol Visitors Center, Lower Level
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 226-8000
Leave a Reply