Washington DC: Hotel Eating

A lot of people, I would think, liked to plan itineraries when they travel somewhere, especially if they are trying to squeeze in as much as possible in a short amount of time. I am not one of these people, however, because I feel like my inability to estimate time and preference to meander would lead to disappointment. I’d rather have fun at one place than continue to rush to get through a schedule. Instead, Lauren and went back and forth mentioning things to do between our estimated arrival in DC and the Cook concert, about 4-5 hours, and settled on “something” as the plan. After 5 hours on a bus, with only a bagel, a cup of coffee, and a bottle of water inside of us by 2:30 it became clear that all we wanted to do was eat. Which is exactly what we did, right after hopping in a cab, checking into the hotel, and picking up race gear; we get distracted easily.

We decided on eating at the Potomac Bar and Grill which, you may recall was located in the hotel lobby last year. We came to this decision for two reasons, the Crown Plaza was located next door to the pickup location and also because of the Happy Hour appetizer menu we had enjoyed so much a year ago. The mouthwatering pulled pork sliders, fried ravioli, and mozzarella sticks were no longer offered so we decided on Potato Skins (not my favorite food but how could you screw that up,) Pot Stickers (they are delicious at Costco,) and Chicken Quesadilla Rolls (which I was told were not as spicy as the Steak Quesadilla and because it meant eating that delicious Guacamole again.) the Potato Skins might have been the greatest that I have ever tasted, but sadly the Pot Stickers were underwhelming. The Quesadilla Rolls were golden brown and crunchy but, unless the steak quesadilla recipe has been changed, the waitress was insane. After a few bites of the extremely spicy filling, Lauren said she was expecting fire to shoot out of her mouth, and though I felt the Guac neutralized it a bit, she quit with 2/3 of them left. Nobody screamed for milk but we did each finish up the meal with the Apple Crumb pie with Vanilla Ice Cream which was even better than last year.

Both Saturday’s Breakfast and Sunday’s dinners were eaten at out hotel, the MARRIOTT COURTYARD in Crystal City, Va. From the sparse breakfast menu we both decided on the French toast which was, as advertised, a generous portion served with strawberries and fresh maple syrup. The syrup was delicious as were the berries but the bread was whole wheat, I would have preferred white bread but the Coffee was Starbucks Verona Bold and that’s all that really mattered. When it came to dinner the next night, we decided to eat burgers there because it seemed all the Crystal City fast food restaurants (and for that matter most of Crystal City) are closed on Sunday. The French fries were okay but the burger patty resembled something from McDonalds and had almost no flavor. I was expecting something not resembling cardboard and if I ever stayed there again (which I definitely would do or recommend others do since aside from no food options the Hotel was lovely, the staff kind, and the hot tub and pool delightful) I will make sure to eat all of my meals somewhere else. I will give the café credit for one thing, the offer Starbucks coffee until 10 or 11 at night, which is important since Crystal City seems to believe people don’t drink coffee in the evening so they close their shops mid afternoon.