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Dining in DC: The Members Dining Room Restaurant @ the Capitol

February 16, 2025 / / 0 Comments 
Dining in DC: Notes from a Week in the Capital

We got to dine at the Congressmember-Only Dining Room!

Our trip to Washington DC was amazing, and one of the main highlights was having lunch at the Members Dining Room at the Capitol. This is a dining room reserved exclusively for members of the US House of Representatives, their staffers, (the US Senate has its own dining room) and their guests. It only operates when Congress is in session, though before the pandemic it had been open for reservations to anyone on the days Congress wasn’t in session. This no longer seems to be the case.

The Members Dining Room has actually two main dining rooms. One appears to be for Congressmembers only and the other for members and their guests. The latter one, named after Ernest Petinaud, who served at the dining room for fifty years, is relatively small, though on the day we were visiting it was also rather empty – only two other parties were dining there (no congressmembers that we could identify, mind you). It has a simple, old fashioned elegance – with a rich crimson carpet, yellow walls, crystal light fixtures and a huge painting of the British surrender to Washington at Yorktown. The tables had white tablecloths and blue napkins, and looks exactly like the photos of it you can find online. The dining room has been operating at its current location since 1858, and I daresay it hasn’t changed much.

The Dining Room was offering a buffet lunch that day with table service for drinks. The offerings were limited but broad enough that most people should be able to find something they liked.

“Bean soup” has been a staple of both the Senate and the House dining rooms for many decades, and while I don’t like beans, I urged Mike to have it. As it happened, they had both a black bean soup and a white bean soup. He thought the white bean soup was very good, with the black bean one less so. I had the DIY salad, and found it pretty average.

Mike had the salmon and the Brussel sprouts. He found the salmon to be good, though not particularly remarkable. The Brussel sprouts were very good, but he is a fan of them in general.

I had the chicken thigh, and it was well seasoned and moist – better than what you’d expect from buffet food. The roasted potatoes were a bit dry, as they usually are.

My daughter, a vegetarian, tried both the rigatoni and the rice pilaf. She found both of them to be fine but, again, unremarkable.

My cousin Adriana, who was with us, raved about the food – but I think she might be less picky than we are.

But, of course, regardless of the food, eating at the Members Dining Room was an extremely cool experience. We felt the history of the room, the uniqueness of the experience, and are extremely grateful to have been invited to enjoy it.


Dining in DC: Capitol Cafe

February 16, 2025 / / 0 Comments 
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

Dining in DC: Ocean Terrace Café

February 15, 2025 / / 0 Comments 
Dining in DC: Notes from a Week in the Capital

Expensive eats at the National Museum of Natural History

We had spent quite a bit of time at the National Museum of Natural History the previous day, but we hadn’t been able to see everything, so my husband wanted to return. Before leaving, we stopped by the Ocean Terrace Café in the first floor for a bite.

The café didn’t have much food when we got there, just some sweets and pre-packaged sandwiches. Mike got the a sandwich, perhaps a chicken salad one though he can’t quite remember. And, indeed, the sandwich was only memorable because i was expensive, somewhere in the high teens for a rather small sandwich. My daughter had a slice of chocolate cake, which she enjoyed.

Given the dearth of places to eat in the area, this place is not too bad, but it is expensive for what you get.

Dining in DC: Refreshment Kiosk @ The National Mall

February 15, 2025 / / 0 Comments 
Dining in DC: Notes from a Week in the Capital

Where we felt like St. Francis of Assis

After a morning exploring the magnificent National Museum of African Art and the National Mall, we were hungry, but he options for food in the area are extremely poor. We thus decided to stop at the refreshment kiosk in front of the National Museum of Natural History, our next destination. This is one of several refreshment kiosks at the Mall – all, I’m assuming, offering the same menu.

I knew the food was going to be expensive, but even I was shocked. A hot dog – a miserly hot dog – was $18! The other food had equally outrageous prices. I did notice, however, that the funnel cake was reasonable. I don’t remember exactly how much it was, but I think around $6.50. Now, we are just talking about fried dough here, dusted with powdered sugar, but at that moment it hit the spot. The funnel cake was actually quite tasty and large enough for all of us to share.

It turned out that we weren’t the only ones that liked funnel cake. As soon as we sat down, we started getting visitors at our table, and more and more came once we brought the cake to our table. It’s clear that these birds are used to being fed by humans. I totally get the appeal for them in winter, when I imagine food is hard to find.

One squirrel was particularly aggressive. Though I didn’t get any action pictures of the little rascal, he tried to grab the whole funnel cake off the plate, and even climb on Mike as he was eating a piece.

Louisiana Eats: Restaurant 1868!

May 6, 2024 / / 0 Comments 
A Taste of the South: Notes from a Trip to Louisiana

If you had asked me before we went to Louisiana where the Tabasco sauce company was located, I might have made a couple of wild guesses but never, in a million years, would I have guessed in a beautiful “island” in southern Louisiana. Not that I ever paid much attention to Tabasco sauce myself, not being a fan of spicy food.

Still, I’d read that 1868! was actually a pretty good Cajun food restaurant, so after touring the amazingly beautiful Avery island, seeing nesting egrets by the hundreds, and even trying some Tabasco flavored ice cream at the gift shop, we headed to 1868! for some lunch.

The restaurant’s menu is very seafood heavy and reflects the Cajun and Creole influences of the area. There are also a couple of specialties of the day. You order and pay at the counter and then find a table. The room is pretty informal, but I liked the old fashioned look with wooden tables and chairs. It’s quite popular with visitors, as the food is solid and not overly expensive for being a tourist attraction.

I had the fish po’boy ($17), which was a breaded fish filet with lettuce on a bun. The fish was really good, it was lightly breaded and nicely spiced. Alas, I didn’t see the point of eating this as a sandwich, so I mostly just ate the fish. It was large enough that the bun or even the accompanied fries weren’t needed.

Mike had me order for him while he went to park or something, and I decided on one of the specials of the day which was crawfish etouffee topped with friend crawfish. Mike liked the fried crawfish, but once again he was disappointed on the rice-heavy etouffee. He really much preferred it at Prejean’s, where the etouffee was served with the rice on the side. Still, he enjoyed it well enough.

For dessert I had an unremarkable bread pudding ($6.25).

In all, 1868! is a convenient restaurant to stop at if you’re visiting Avery island around lunch time, though I wouldn’t make a special trip to eat there.

1868!
Avery Island, LA
337-369-4227
M-Su: 10:30 AM-2:30 PM

Academy Cafe @ the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco – Review

May 28, 2014 / / 0 Comments

Last Spring break I took the girls to the California Academy of Sciences, using a couple of the free tickets the San Leandro library so helpfully provides for its members.  I hadn’t been to the Academy in years, since it was at its temporary space in downtown San Francisco.  At that time it had a small but actually pretty good cafe.  Alas, it’s now become much larger and the quality of food seems to have downgraded.

The Academy Cafe is basically a cafeteria with about four different stations. Make sure you identify on which are the items you want to avoid unnecessary time in line.  The prices are high, specially for drinks/deserts, but that’s to be expected.

My youngest daughter had the butter pasta. It was fine. The portion wasn’t too big for $7, but enough for a 9 yo.  My oldest daughter had the chicken & chips ($12).  She had to wait for the chicken, and then it was very, very dry.  I would not recommend this dish.  It was a generous portion, however.

I didn’t have lunch myself, but shared a very underwhelming bread pudding ($4, I think) with the girls.

They don’t have regular sodas, the Izze sodas they do have were good, but very expensive.

The Academy also has a full-fledged restaurant, the Moss Cafe. Prices are higher, in the high-teens/low twenties for entrees.

Academy Cafe
California Academy of Sciences
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, CA
http://themossroom.com/

 

Marga’s Venue Dining Reviews

Amtrak Coast-Starlight Dining Car – Review

May 28, 2014 / / 1 Comment

My daughters and I have taken the Coast-Starlight train twice in the last couple of months, from Oakland down to LA.  Both times we had at least one meal in the dining cart.  All in all the experience was pretty positive.

Amtrak requires you to make a reservation for the dining car a few hours before.  For this particular trip, it’s soon after you leave from Oakland.  An attendant will go by your seat, and you can get both lunch and dinner reservations.  If you get into the train later or decide you want to eat in the dining car at the last minute, you can go to the dining car and see if any reservations are available. Chances are they’ll have them.  You can also eat in the lounge car, though in our last trip, this one was busier.

Service is very good and friendly.  The tables seat four, and while they don’t split parties, they do seat people together.  In our first trip, my two daughters and I shared our meals with two different single ladies, who were fortunately both gregarious and interested on the children, so we all had a great time.  We got eat alone in our last trip.

The food would not win any culinary awards, but it can be decent if you keep your expectations low. Prices are high, but you’re eating there mostly for the experience.

Both times I had their cheeseburger for lunch ($10, + $2 for bacon).  The first time it was pretty decent, not something you’d write home about it, but I’ve gotten worse burgers in my life.  The second time it was overcooked and very dry so it was hard to finish.  It’s a large burger, however, and neither time I was particularly hungry for dinner later.

My daughters have tried the pizza from the kid’s menu ($7) and enjoyed it.  It’s your generic frozen mini pan-pizza, but it’s pretty tasty as far as these go.  I had it for my dinner myself on my first trip – when I could not envision eating, or paying for, a whole dinner entree – and it was OK.  But then again, I really wasn’t hungry.  I don’t think they usually let adults order from the kid’s menu, but by then I’d built a good rapport with the dining room attendant.

One of them also had the mac & cheese ($7) but preferred the pizza.

During our second trip, my daughter had the “marketplace special” ($12.50), which that day was panko-coasted chicken breast and mashed potatoes with some type of sauce.  Mika thought it was just OK, but I had her left overs and they were quite tasty.  I would order this dish if available in my next trip.

Coast-Starlight Southbound Menu

 

Marga’s Venue Restaurant Reviews

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