I'm going to tell you how to eat well without having to venture too far from the National Mall.
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I'm a tour guide here in the nation's capital.
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There are no shortage of great places to eat in Washington, DC,
but most of them are not located near the major sites on the National Mall.
Historically the National Mall has been a bit of a restaurant desert, and people often felt relegated to eating at a
McDonald's at a food court or a generic concession stand.
However, there are a few
diamonds in the rough, and I'm gonna tell you about five of my favorites. If you've been to the National Mall before and have any
personal favorite places to eat, leave a comment on this video and let everyone know what it is and why, otherwise
let's get started... The first place that I want to tell you about is the cafe at the Smithsonian's American Indian Museum.
This is a cultural museum, which is an important distinction from some of the history museums that are located nearby.
They want to immerse you in the culture of the various American Indian tribes and that
includes giving you a taste of their food. The cafe is split up into four stations
representing different cuisines from tribes all over North, Central, and South America. For example at the Great Plains station
you can get things like bison chili with cornbread; and at the Mesoamerica station
you can get things like stuffed peppers and tacos with a large variety of different salsas. Prices here are not especially cheap,
unfortunately, so before you go just make sure that you're expecting restaurant pricing moreso than cafeteria pricing.
My next recommendation is also in a cultural museum:
the Sweet Home Cafe is in the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.
This is, in my personal opinion, the single best place to eat on the National Mall.
However, unfortunately, in 2018 you do need free timed entry passes to get into the museum,
even if you just want to go in to eat.
I will have a link in the video description to a video where I describe exactly how you can get these timed passes.
This is an amazing museum that is worth visiting both for the exhibits and the food. Sweet Home Cafe showcases the rich culinary history of
African American people at four different tasting stations. Agricultural South has things like Virginia ham, corn and peaches.
Creole Coast has things like gulf shrimp and grits. At North States
You can get things like a New York City
oyster pan roast. And the western range has my personal favorite: the stuffed rainbow trout.
My next recommendation is the cafeteria at the US Department of Agriculture.
Now a cafeteria in a government office building is not exactly what most people think of when they think good food.
But this is the USDA, after all, so if you're going to eat at any government cafeteria
this is gonna be the one. The biggest downside is that since it is in an office building
It is not open on weekends or holidays.
You'll find hot foods, cold foods, a salad bar, whole fruit and some themed stations like the Asian station and other
rotating themes.
If you want to eat here
the entrance can be a little bit annoying to find, so make sure to go in the video description and watch my video where I
give specific instructions on how to get here. And one little bonus hack is that if you're okay with having a late lunch you can
get 30% off your meal if you come between 2:30 and 3:00,
which is the last half hour before they close for the day. Your next option,
which is probably the easiest option, is food trucks. Food trucks on the National Mall usually line up on
14th Street near the Washington Monument and
7th Street near the museums. The best thing about eating a food trucks is that there's usually a pretty good variety,
so everybody in your family or group can usually find something that makes them happy. That said, the quality of food trucks can be a
little bit hard to judge.
My tip is to simply look at the food that people are buying from the trucks and judge for yourself to decide if you would
like it too. Or you can Google the name of a food truck or look them up on Yelp.
Most of the best food trucks actually have a pretty good social media following. And my last
recommendation on the National Mall is the Sculpture Garden Pavilion Cafe. You probably shouldn't come here expecting anything gourmet.
The reason why I really like it a lot and come here is because it has an excellent atmosphere.
On a nice summer day, you can sit outside and catch a nice breeze coming off of the big fountain; in the winter
you can sit and watch people ice-skating on the rink. And on Friday nights during the summer
They have Jazz in the Garden,
which is an extremely popular and fun thing to do, and you can learn a little bit more about that by watching my What to
Do in DC During Summer video.
The other nice thing about the Pavilion Cafe is that it's not inside of a museum so you don't have to worry about
standing in line or going through security or anything like that. And that's it!
Thank you for watching this video.
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that'll take you over to www.triphacksdc.com where you can see the tours that I offer. Enjoy your trip!