During the last full week of October, I went to Washington D.C. for the Equal Justice Works Law Conference. It’s a job fair for students who want to go into public interest law (this can also be read as for law students who don’t mind being poor). I was only there for 2 days and there was not a lot of time for exploring between interviewing, but there were two restaurants that I enjoyed while in D.C. The first was Good Stuff Eatery in Capitol Hill.

I’m a huge fan of the show Top Chef and it is a goal of mine to visit the contestants restaurants in various cities. Therefore, Good Stuff Eatery has always been on my list of restaurants to try when I visit D.C. and it didn’t disappoint. In fact, we liked Good Stuff so much that we went twice. The second time was to the Crystal City, Virginia location the next day.

I had the Coletti’s Smokehouse burger that was topped with applewood bacon, sharp Vermont cheddar, fried vidalia onion rings and chipotle bbq sauce.  The only complaint I have about the burger was that it was smaller than I expected for $6. Otherwise it was tasty. I enjoyed the fries too, they were sprinkled with sea salt. Good Stuff also has an array of dipping sauces for you to try. My favorites were the sriracha mayo and the mango mayo.

The real star of the meal was the toasted marshmallow shake. It was probably the greatest shake I’ve ever had. It tasted like I was at a campfire.I believe the restaurant has two sizes of drinks, the mini moo and a larger size. Trust me when I say the mini moo is enough to fill you up.

The second time we went I had the salted caramel shake and the onion petals. The onion petals were soggy but delicious. The shake was way too salty and undrinkable after a few sips. I tried some of my friends’ pumpkin shake and that was quite good. It tasted like pie.

The next time I visit D.C. I’ll go back for a shake but I think I’lll try another burger place. I’ve heard great things about Shake Shack.

You can view the full Good Stuff menu here.

The next restaurant is District Taco.

District Taco started out as a food truck in 2009 and now has two brick-and-mortar locations in D.C. and Virginia. While perusing the menu in line I noticed many options that sounded similar to Chipotle. While I enjoy Chipotle’s food, when I travel to a different city I try to eat things that I could not get at home. With that in mind, I decided to order the Ceviche de Camerones. I received a giant bowl of shrimp drowned in lime juice. After researching some recipes online I found that this is how ceviche is supposed to taste (news to me). The dish is served with chips but I think I would have enjoyed it more had it been mixed with rice, but I suppose that is not the traditional way ceviche is served.

It wasn’t all bad though. In fact, all the non-ceviche food was excellent. My friend let me eat half of her Burrito Desnudo (burrito bowl). It was so very fresh and flavorful (clearly what I should have ordered) and did not taste like Chipotle at all. One of the owners was a native of Mexico and you can tell by the distinct flavors in the dishes.

Another feature of the restaurant I enjoyed were the sodas. District Taco serves Boylan’s all natural sodas which are made with pure cane sugar and no artificial ingredients. It’s fun to mix the flavors. I suggest black cherry and creme soda.

In review, please do visit District Taco, just don’t order the ceviche if you are not used to such flavors like me.