Visiting D.C., Strategic shopping advice?

What hotel are you staying at, close to the Smithsonian can mean any number of things, but generally, there is not a lot of action near there. You can get to some of the spots on Cap Hill easily. You will be close to the Metro, but weekend track works makes it a bit unreliable. This place just opened in DC and is supposed to be fully stocked by the time you arrive, http://www.yelp.com/biz/batch-13-washington also it's not far from a Whole Foods that has a good selection. For bars, ChurchKey is my personal favorite, RFD, Black Squirrel. What I would do is if you can, change your hotel to Logan Circle, or DuPont area, then during the day find your way to the museums and monuments etc. but when it's time to head out on the town, you'll be a lot closer to the action of Logan Circle, U st. and have a lot more options.

 

Food wise by the Smithsonian metro area/mall is very weak... if you are just seeing mall sites, honestly the best food is the cafeteria in the Native American Indian Museum... but honestly...

this is what you need to do...

get on the metro... Go to Dupont circle (red line)... from here is a triangle that I use for making the rounds.. I do this often actually.

At Dupont you have lunch beer options, with Pizza Paradiso Dupont being the best, other taps you could check out could be Kramer's, but even then they have small offerings. Next go shopping, go to Connecticut Ave Wine and look for a few bottles of things that are normally not sold in the DC area. Here you can sometimes luck out by getting bottles from Dark Horse, Russian River, Alpine, Cigar City, Alesmith, Three Floyds etc... but do realise you are in DC and these bottles will not be cheap.

Also for shopping prices here are higher, so be prepared for some sticker shock.

From there get out and walk around, it's a great neighborhood. Walk down P ST, towards 14 to go to the Whole Foods and Churchkey area. If you want, you can also stop in the middle at Cairo liquor, who has very small selection but the place is very obscure and you can sometimes find something good here because very few people shop there (they still had bottles of Parabola last time I was there). Plus it's one of the few places that sells a few 12oz singles.

Go to P ST Whole Foods. Go shop.. If you want to maybe grab a quick tap look, go across the street to Stoney's there might be something interesting, or something local (like Port City). Then you are in the neighborhood with the best option if you are by Whole Foods, go to Churchkey which is right on 14th ST by Rhode Island. It opens at 4 PM, and is only open at lunch on Saturday.

If you want to know what Churchkey offers here is an interview I did with their beer director Greg Engert, it's a fantastic place to go have a beer, keep in mind though it is extremely popular so get there early, and if it's a special tapping you REALLY need to be there right when it opens otherwise you'll be stuck standing around.



That lexus between Dupont Metro and Churchkey is where I spend most of my time, and its convenient for what it offers. There are other places to go to too, but that's the most convenient in terms of access of drink and shopping I think.

Enjoy your stay.