Tonic – Washington, D.C.

A few weeks back, I won tickets to see a speaker at National Geographic. I invited my Mom to come out with me, and we met beforehand to grab something to eat. One of her favorite places for an easy meal is Tonic in Foggy Bottom.

It looks to be a place where a lot of GW students hang out. As you walk in, there is a bar straight ahead and a flight of steps taking you up to a dining area. We sat upstairs, which was pretty empty as they had just opened for dinner. This place is huge! I thought it was cool that you can draw on the paper table cloths and they also had books for people to read.

My mom ordered tea and I tried to order the Bell’s Two Hearted IPA on draft. Unfortunately, they were out but the waiter suggested I try the Spiced IPA from Widmer Brothers. This is part of the Rotator series. I really liked the beer. It had a nice balance of hoppy and spicy.

We both ordered burgers. I ordered the Southern BBQ burger, which came with Bourbon BBQ sauce, aged cheddar, apple-wood bacon, and fire griddled onions. I got it with a side of tater tots. This was a great burger, and I liked that when I ordered it medium rare, it was actually medium rare. The tater tots were also awesome and are hugely popular here.

This is a great place to grab some food and a couple drinks. It’s a very casual atmosphere, the food is great, and the prices aren’t too bad.

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Chicken Basket – Wheaton, MD

Hey everybody! I’m sorry that I haven’t had much time to post. I’ve been extremely busy with school and work.

Last week, I stopped in to Chicken Basket to get some food for the Super Bowl. I’ve been going to Chicken Basket for some time, although the management has changed within the last year. We always affectionately referred to it as Chicken Casket. There used to be a disturbing mural on the wall of a chicken pushing a wheelbarrow full of friend chicken.

Well, that mural is gone and the food is still really good. You can get a good meal and it’s nice and cheap. Some of my favorite things to order are the steak and cheese, the burger, and the gyro.

This last visit, I ordered 10 buffalo wings and a steak and cheese with fries and a soda. This set me back about $13.00. The steak and cheese was delicious and the crinkle-cut fries are just crispy enough and seasoned well. Truthfully, the buffalo wings were not all that exciting. I thought they used a little too much breading.

As I was heading to my car, somebody stopped me and asked if the food was still good after the change in management. Although I don’t eat here a ton, the food is definitely good, the prices are low, and the staff are extremely friendly. The woman taking my order was very friendly and seemed to know everybody that was coming in and out of the restaurant.

Chicken Basket is a great place to grab some quick food without any fuss. The staff are very nice and the prices are excellent.

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Mitsitam Café – Washington, D.C.

Last week, I had a chance to eat at Mitsitam Café at the National Museum of the American Indian. I’ve been once before and loved it so I was excited to eat there again.

The restaurant is set up cafeteria-style, and you go around to the different stations to get your food. We arrived around 3pm, and all of the stations were closed except one.

This did not matter at all. We ordered the buffalo chili with fry bread, pulled buffalo sandwich with squash, and a chicken taco. We also grabbed a couple beers.

There are plenty of places to sit, and we were able to sit right by the waterfall.

The buffalo chili was amazing. It’s got a nice kick and has plenty of meat. We also bought fry bread to dip into the chili. The bread was also extremely tasty.

The pulled buffalo sandwich was also really delicious. It comes on a bun with squash served on the side. I put the squash on my sandwich and it went together perfectly.

We also got the chicken taco, which was served on a piece of fry bread. This was my least favorite of the three things we tried, but it was still pretty good. I would have preferred it to come in a hard shell instead of the fry bread which is better suited for dipping into the chili.

The prices here are a little high, but the food is amazing and I can’t wait to go back when more stations are open.

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