Thursday, April 1, 2010

The Best of France in Washington, D.C.

If you're a Francophile like me, you probably seek out French things - restaurants, shops, activities - wherever you go. For example, the L.A. Farmer's Market is a feast for anyone's eyes, but my Francophile eyes were especially drawn to a shop called Monsieur Marcel, which carried all manner of French-themed goodies. I couldn't resist a visit to the cheese counter or the olive barrels, happily passing up the Korean BBQ stand and the old fashioned ice cream shop for yet another French fix.

Back in the nation's capital, I'm still looking to get that French fix on a regular basis. Luckily, Washington City Paper is here to help. This free, all-about-D.C. weekly just came out with its Best of D.C. 2010 issue, which is chock full of the eateries, activities, and personalities that make The District grand...including those that are French, French-themed, and yes, Belgian. Winners (which, not surprisingly, are all food and drink related) are as follows:


Best European Restaurant

Winner: Bistrot du Coin - The see-and-be-seen French restaurant in Dupont Circle.
Runners-up: Belga Cafe and Brasserie Beck - Both Belgian!

Best Macaron
Winner: Patisserie Poupon - Located in Georgetown, a chic neighborhood where you're more likely to bump into a Parisian than an American.

Best Cheese Plate
Winner: Cheesetique - Enjoy your Roquefort on their patio!

Best Wine List
Winner: Michel Richard Citronelle - Your credit limit will not get out of here alive.

Best Wine by the Glass
Tallula - Just enough French selections to make me happy.

Best Mussels

Winner: Granville Moore's - Another Belgian. I've never been, and I don't like mussels.
Runners-up: Brasserie Beck and Bistro du Coin - Belgian and French, respectively

Best Place for Beer and Frites

Winner: Brasserie Beck - You knew a Belgian would win this one, but they can't possibly be better than Maison Antoine in Brussels.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I personally find it outrageous that France doesn't get its own Best Food category and have to be lumped with "european" restaurants. There's a Best Italian restaurant category, best inidian, best peruvian... isn't Italy in Europe too?? And macaron is spelled with one o not two. Grrr City Paper. Grrr.

Tanya said...

@FrenchTwistDC, Agreed that France should have its own category. There are plenty of French restaruants in the are to choose from. Thanks for bringing my attention to the Americanized spelling of Macaron. Quelle horreur! Problem fixed on my blog. WCP is another story...

Darren Krape said...

I quite like Bistro La Bonne, a rather new French restaurant on U St: http://www.bistrolabonne.com/

Cancemini4 said...

And don't forget all the great new crepe places in town, too! Wish I coul dhave had time to do a comparison blog before I left, I can't believe we have so many now!

Anil said...

Bistrot du Coin is an awesome place, very lively. I used to go all the time w/ my teachers when I was taking classes at the Alliance Francais nearby.

It's also pretty funny when the servers start signing along to all of the hunting songs, the lyrics to which most of the people dining have no idea. It's probably better that way :)