Washington DC like a local: where FT journalists eat, drink, explore and escape

Washington, DC is a curious town. It changes with the seasons. While the cherry blossoms along the Potomac come and go, presidents, politicians and administrations do, too. This can make the city feel like a one-shop city that’s always in flux, but it also makes it never boring and always alive. 

Despite the constant change, not enough is made of the restaurants, museums, parks, bookstores and other small pockets that give the city its identity and help it run. DC is big and grand, but also small, windy, crooked and cute. Its residents need to network, lobby and share secrets, which makes it ripe for an excellent cocktail scene. The embassies bring in a range of cuisines that are unique in the US: niche, comprehensive and true to the countries they come from.

On Saturday May 10, the FT is hosting the 4th FTWeekend Festival US edition in DC (in-person and online tickets are available here). In that spirit, we’ve compiled this introductory tour of the nation’s capital from our colleagues — the reporters, editors, columnists and critics who know the city best. — Lilah Raptopoulos, US editor, FT Globetrotter

Eat and drink

Try the vegetarian tasting menu at Oyster Oyster

1440 8th St NW, Washington, DC 20001

By Marc Filippino, FT News Briefing host and producer

I love meat. Nothing brings me more joy than grilling hot dogs or slow roasting a brisket. So I never thought a vegetarian restaurant would become my favourite place to eat in Washington. Oyster Oyster is that good. 

My wife and I try to make a yearly pilgrimage to Oyster Oyster, though maybe more visits are in order given its menu changes with the seasons. It has an intimate dining room and a fixed course menu, which helps with decision fatigue. I could have guzzled the umami mushroom broth. And the scallop-shaped sweet potato dumplings were some of the best bites of my life. In all the times I’ve eaten there, I didn’t miss my beloved meat once. Website; Directions

Get the city’s best truly Italian pizza at Stellina

399 Morse St NE, Washington, DC 20002 (and 508 K St NW, Washington, DC 20001)

By James Politi, Washington bureau chief

If you’re looking for an authentic Italian pizza in DC, head over to Union Market, the city’s small but usually bustling warehouse district. I was born and raised in Italy, and spent four years for the FT in Rome, so you can trust me when I say that the pizzas at Stellina are made in the true Neapolitan way: a thin, soft centre and a slightly charred thicker rim. I usually go for the simple margherita, but the fried artichoke appetiser and the spritz aperitivo have also kept our family, and many other Italians in the area, coming back. Website; Directions

For a memorable Ethiopian meal, go to Das Restaurant

1201 28th St NW, Georgetown, Washington, DC 20007

By Brooke Masters, US managing editor

Washington has long been a mecca for Ethiopian food and culture. But many Americans find the traditional way of serving the cuisine intimidating: diners tear at spongy injera bread to grab meat and vegetable stews, rather than using western utensils. Das, a white-tablecloth institution on the eastern edge of Georgetown, has long been one of my favourite ways to introduce newbies to the wonders of beef tibs and kik alicha (split-pea stew). The food is authentic, but the wine list has western favourites and no one will raise an eyebrow if you resort to a fork. I brought my parents here as a young Washingtonian, and later my children. Website; Directions

Have lunch near the White House at Alhambra at the St Regis

923 16th Street Nw, Washington, DC 20006

By Rana Foroohar, global business columnist

It’s tough to find a good place for lunch with a source near the White House. You want something quiet (so you can tape), but where you won’t necessarily run into people you know (the Hay-Adams, mentioned below, is great, but always full of the usual suspects). I’m not a steakhouse fan, which makes things even tougher. Recently, I’ve started doing lunches at Alhambra, a Spanish/Middle Eastern restaurant at the St Regis, which is beautiful, rarely crowded and has wonderful food. The labneh with pistachios and mint is delicious, as is the Persian rice and lamb kofta. Website; Directions

If you want to find the usual suspects, get a cocktail at Off the Record, in the Hay-Adams Hotel

800 16th St NW, Washington, DC 20006

By Alice Lascelles, HTSI drinks columnist and author of “The Martini: The Ultimate Guide to a Cocktail Icon”

This blood-red basement bar in the historic Hay-Adams hotel, just opposite the White House, used to be a favourite haunt of newspaper hacks and politicos. It was billed as the place where movers and shakers went “to be seen but not heard”.

Off the Record is probably more of a tourist destination these days, but it’s still everything I love in a classic American cocktail joint. You can sit up at the horseshoe-shaped bar and watch waistcoated tenders mix absolutely vast martinis (served historically with a presidential side of jelly beans), or hunker down in an upholstered nook with a long cold beer and a plate of fries. The beer coasters — which feature many of the same political caricatures that adorn the walls — also make rather good souvenirs. Website; Directions

Explore the neighbourhoods

Spend a day in Mount Pleasant

By Alex Rogers, US business and politics correspondent

If you don’t want to spend your Saturday watching policy debates at the Kennedy Center, here is a love letter to my neighbourhood, Mount Pleasant, a place where Washington locals love and eat and have a good time. Start with a breakfast taco at La Tejana or a coffee and pastry at beloved café Ellē. Peruse the exceptionally curated grocery Each Peach, and then spend some time at Bold Fork Books, which is dedicated to cookbooks. From there, find out what’s playing at Suns Cinema, our one-room arthouse movie theatre.

For dinner, I recommend trying one of our many Salvadoran and Guatemalan restaurants, our local Filipino spot Purple Patch (get the sisig!) or my new favourite place in all of DC: Bar del Monte, owned by the son of a Washington pizza scion. Their anchovy pizza, with its crackling crust, is worth the wait. 

For a nightcap, check out our 90-year-old dive bar Raven or our speakeasy OKPB — that is, if you can find the door. Directions

Get lost in the stacks in Capitol Hill Books

657 C St SE, Washington, DC 20003

By Myles McCormick, acting Washington correspondent

If you’re a fan of that musty old-book smell (and not averse to cramped spaces) Capitol Hill Books deserves a prime spot on your DC to-do list. A used-book shop converted from an old house, each room is decked floor to ceiling with titles spanning every genre imaginable: from foreign languages in the bathroom to cookbooks in the kitchen.

Nestled just behind the grandeur of the US Capitol, bibliophiles can escape for hours in this slightly chaotic treasure trove of everything from first editions to the latest thriller. You might find me kicked back in a second-floor armchair, wading through a pile of obscure mystery novels.

When you’re done, I recommend you walk over to the nearby Eastern Market, a beautiful historic public market, for its local arts and crafts, baked goods and fresh meats and cheeses. Website; Directions

Enjoy modern art in an old townhouse at the Phillips Collection

1600 21st St NW, Washington, DC 20009

By Stefania Palma, US legal and enforcement correspondent

If you want to step away from the crowds, the Phillips Collection is a smaller gem than the giants on the national mall, and definitely worth a visit. It’s America’s first museum of modern art, housed in a 19th-century townhouse full works originally collected by Duncan Phillips, son of a Civil War veteran and husband of a steel heiress from Pittsburgh. There is a unique charm to stumbling upon a Mark Rothko, Georgia O’Keeffe, Alma Thomas or Pierre-Auguste Renoir in what still feels like a labyrinthine private home.

The special exhibitions are never banal: the latest show (until May 18) surveys Alphonse Mucha, a leading figure in the Art Nouveau movement. Also check out the music programme: performances are held in the home’s original, oak-panelled music room beside a prodigious stone fireplace. Website; Directions

Immerse in nature

Take a run in Rock Creek Park

north-west Washington

By Gillian Tett, columnist and Provost of King’s College, Cambridge

When you think of Washington, visions appear of dull power suits, long meetings in conference rooms or endless lunches. And insofar as anyone thinks of exercising, they tend to visualise hotel gyms, or the numerous exercise studios popping up around town (my personal favourite, Solidcore, now has at least three separate studios in the heart of DC). But for a totally different vision of the Beltway, lace up your running shoes and head to Rock Creek Park. This offers delightful jogs along the river that are (mostly) pretty flat and tree-lined, with plentiful birdsong and verdant smells. Some of the run is close to the road. But if you venture far enough, you are transported into a completely different world from the White House.

One word of warning: since DC attracts hyper-ambitious young interns and former (or current) military types, some joggers on the path are alarmingly fit. Another: running these routes during the summer heat and humidity is brutal; take water and don’t plan a meeting too soon after, unless you are happy looking beetroot-red. The best time to run the routes is autumn, when the forest becomes a golden roof, gleaming against blue skies.

If you don’t run, even strolling the route is the perfect way to escape the government dramas. And who doesn’t need some escape today? Website; Directions

Walk the gardens at Dumbarton Oaks

By Stefania Palma

Dumbarton Oaks is a 53-acre oasis in the heart of Washington’s Georgetown neighbourhood. A 19th-century home-turned-museum is imbued with city history — the estate was originally owned by a US diplomat and his wife, and in 1944 it hosted talks that eventually led to the United Nations charter. It is now a Harvard University institute, and its gardens, to me, are the main draw. Weaving through endless terraces, you’ll find a beautiful orangery and unexpected lookouts. There is a “pebble garden” with ornate floor motifs, and a rose garden where you can find the occasional wild rabbit. Pathways lead you to the ethereal “Lovers’ Lane” pond; in springtime, they turn into carpets of flowers.

Perhaps my favourite surprise of all is a plaque tucked under a wisteria arbour. It bears a quote from Dante’s Divina Commedia, which translates as: “Those who in olden times sang of the Golden Age, and its happy state, perchance dreamt in Parnassus of this place.” It commemorates the former owners’ friendship with the 1920s Italian ambassador to the US. They shared a love of gardens. Website; Directions

If you live in DC or know it well, what are the places you most often recommend to friends visiting town? Let us know in the comments below.

The FTWeekend Festival: US Edition returns on Saturday May 10 to the Reach at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Join us for a stimulating day of debate, discussions, experiences and tastings with speakers including Anthony Scaramucci, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Katherine Maher, as well as your favourite FT journalists including FT editor Roula Khalaf, FTWeekend editor Janine Gibson, Gillian Tett, Edward Luce, Gideon Rachman, Jo Ellison, Enuma Okoro, John Burn-Murdoch and many more.

We will be discussing everything from trade, tariffs and taxes to the big crypto debate and the future of dating. Join FT wine columnist Jancis Robinson in the Tasting Room for a tour of German wines, or a Japanese whisky tasting with the House of Suntory. Round off the day with a healing sound bath at the HTSI stage.

For in-person and digital passes for the day, click here.