Founding Farmers - Foggy Bottom, DC

Recently, my friend invited about 14 of us to get brunch at American restaurant Founding Farmers for her birthday. Located three blocks from the White house, there is street parking and hourly garage parking (one block away). The closest metro stop are Farragut West and Foggy Bottom on the blue and orange lines.

This is DC's first Certified LEED restaurant. That means the restaurant's architecture and interior have been constructed and created with a minimum impact on the environment. They also purchase ingredients from family farms, compost, recycle, and practice other methods of being "green".

I wasn't able to check out the top floor but the 1st floor could fit a lot of people. This 2-level restaurant has a modern-colonial look. The high ceilings, large windows and "slabs of tree" tables were casual but refined.

They gave our bustling group a few pitchers/bottles of water (how cute!), and the bf ordered an 'Arnold Palmer (iced tea and lemonade)' for $3. Since this drink is made to order, they didn't offer free refills like some other drinks. I wish they did though because it was refreshing.

Our table shared some orders of deviled eggs.
Top: Devil-ish Eggs: The Classic (A Platter of Our Traditional Deviled Eggs with the Classic Filling) for $4. Who doesn't love deviled eggs?
Bottom: Devil-ish Eggs: The Combo (Our Classic Devil-ish Eggs, with Maine Lobster, Gulf Crab, and Salmon) for $14. I found these to be overly salty.

This was a little less than 1/2 our table. Lots of people and food crammed onto one table! I'll be mentioning some other people's dishes so you can see what they look like.

My cousin ordered the 'Eggs Benedicts with Crab (Two Soft Poached Eggs on House-Made English Muffin. Served Leek Hash Browns)' for $13. She found the dish to be somewhat soggy, and lacked bold flavors. She also didn't finish the leek hash browns. Overall, she said it was ok.

The birthday girl ordered 'Southern Pan Fried Chicken (Crispy Fried Free-Range Chicken with Gravy and Waffles. Served with Mac’m'Cheese and Today’s Vegetable) for $16. This dish came off of the lunch/dinner menu, so the portions were huge! She found the fried chicken to be non-greasy, and the green beans cooked perfectly. The mac & cheese was a bit overcooked and bland.

The bf ordered 'Fried Chicken, Eggs and Waffles (Crispy-Fried Free-Range Chicken Tenders with Gravy, Two Eggs Any Way and a Golden Waffle with Whipped Farm Butter) for $12. I felt bad because he wanted to order the item above, but I pointed this out on the brunch menu thinking it was the same for cheaper. Nope! These are chicken tenders and apparently I can't read when I'm hungry. He thought the chicken tenders were better than ones you get at the bar and he actually liked the waffle even though he's not a pancake/waffle kind of guy. He ordered this dish because he wanted to relive our visit to Roscoe's in LA.

I ordered the 'New Orleans Style Stuffed French Toast (House-Made Brioche Soaked in Brandy Creme Anglaise, Flash Fried and Filled with Vanilla Pastry Cream with Maple Cinnamon Syrup) for $8. They looked like mini bricks of fried dough. Only one of them had filling, so they weren't as special. It tasted more like a dessert and though I enjoyed it, it wasn't what I was expecting.

Look at the cake her boyfriend surprised her with! A giant red velvet cupcake cake from Just Cakes in Bethesda. It's so adorable!

I love red velvet, but I think this cake might have become a bit dry because it was picked up a few days prior.

A pic of all the ladies!

We had such a large table of people, so at times food and drinks were coming out slow but that's understandable. The atmosphere makes it a cool place to eat with friends. The food was average/normal because no one said their dishes was spectacular or horrible. The prices are kind of high for breakfast food, but they offer large portions. It's always nice to support a place that is environmentally conscious (hippie at heart) and they offer around 8 vegan-friendly dishes too.

1924 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20006
(202) 822-8783
www.wearefoundingfarmers.com


Mon-Tue 8 am - 10 pm
Wed-Fri 8 am - 12 am
Sat 10 am - 12 am
Sun 10 am - 10 pm

Cafe Asia - Farragut West, DC

A few weeks ago I met up with my cousin and my closest girlfriend for "girl catching up" time. We all went to college together, and as we get older it's harder to find time to hang out. We decided to go to Cafe Asia in DC. It's a casual/trendy place that serves Pan Asian (Asian food from across Asia) cuisine.

Parking was a PAIN! There are meters but one quarter gets you 8 minutes. Who has that much change on them? It was a Saturday, and the meters said parking fees were enforced on Saturdays too, but many meters didn't have $ in them. On top of that, we asked the host at Cafe Asia for change and he said he didn't have any. We then asked our waitress and she told us to ask the guy up front because he has A TON of change. So I went back and asked for $3 in change out of a $5, and he asked if he could keep the $2 as a tip...ever heard of customer service?! So the closest metro is Farragut West on the Orange line. I'd highly recommend that, or remember your quarters.

There are 2 floors inside along with a very mod/white interior. Lots of plastic and sitting on ottomans. It looks like there are real chairs upstairs.

Here is the bar. I think it becomes a pretty happening place at night, but for lunch it wasn't anything special.

They have a fairly big menu. My cousin ordered the 'Drunken Noodles- Thai brown sauce with minced chicken & fresh basil on flat rice noodles' for $10. The portions were large though, so she took a lot of it back.

My newlywed friend ordered the 'Chicken Satay- 8 skewers of satay served with Indonesian fried rice, topped with peanut & fried shallots' for $12. I tried one and the chicken was very tender. Good large portioned dish.

I was in the mood for sushi, so I ordered a 'Ninja Roll- Eel, Fresh Crab Meat, Spicy Tobiko and avocado inside with Black Tobiko outside' for $7 and 'Yellowtail Roll' for $4.50. I thought the rolls were very mediocre...

The highlight of the meal was the dessert though! Women love dessert, so we shared a 'Combo Banana- Vanilla ice cream & Indonesian fried banana topped with dry coconuts, peanuts & honey' for $6.

I don't know if I would go through all of the traffic and parking troubles to go there again. Maybe it's different at night, because during the day its like any other normal restaurant. Perhaps if I go back I'd get something other than sushi because it was very mediocre. The prices are very fair with the amount of food they give you. Our waitress was fine, but the host was being difficult.

1720 I Street NW
Washington, DC
202-659-2696
www.cafeasia.com