World Eats | Alexandria, Virginia

Beyond Old Community, exceptional dining establishments bid in neighborhoods throughout the city. In contemporary Carlyle/Eisenhower, standouts consist of Whiskey & Oyster (301 John Carlyle St. Tel. 703.567.1533 whiskeyandoyster.com) for unusual whiskies and fresh Virginia oysters, including buck oysters on the 3rd Monday of monthly.

The Eastern culinary journey extends to Kismet Modern Indian (111 North Pitt Road. Cook Ajay Kumar, who earned Michelin Bib Gastronomist honors 2 years in a row for sister dining establishment Fate Modern Indian in D.C., increases on time-honored strategies with new ideas for his flavor-driven food selection. “Pleasant ends” consist of increased ice cream and coconut medallions.

My lifelong love of Greek taverna culture dates to the 1970’s, when we frequently dined out at Greek dining establishments in London. Sealing the bargain was our 1973 holiday in Athens, where the smoke and scent of barbecuing lamb wafting over our exterior table is seared into my memory.

Celebrating its 276th birthday celebration this year, Alexandria, which has earned an ideal rating from the Human Rights Coalition on LGBTQ+ equality for the previous five years, has a lively springtime in its action that consists of an eclectic globe-spanning cooking scene. From Old Community anchors to area centers, below is a menu of stellar dining destinations to appreciate throughout WorldPride, or any time you check out Alexandria.

Venture to Old Community North for Chef Jamie Leeds’s acclaimed Hank’s Oyster Bar (818 N. St. Asaph Road. Distinguished for her community-based advocacy efforts, including supporting females in the cooking sector and progressing LGBTQ management and equal rights, Leeds presented her area seafood restaurant concept, named for her seafood-loving papa, to the D.C. market in 2005.

Perched at the valued eight-seat cook’s counter, I attracted one ocean taste after an additional, from raw oysters and tuna crudo to the Maryland catfish confit and fragile hearth-cooked regional rock fish. Mostly European a glass of wine enhancements consisted of a Riesling from Germany’s Mosel River Valley and fruity, distinctive Albariño from Spain.

The appealing seafood-driven restaurant is an excellent person, participating in the Chesapeake Bay Oyster Recuperation Collaboration covering recycling program and donating a dime for every oyster sold to ALIVE!, a neighborhood company sustaining Alexandrians battling with food instability and financial disparity.

Chef-owners Katherine and Gabe Thompson have imperial New York City credentials, consisting of working at three Michelin-starred Le Bernardin and Per Se. After relocating to Northern Virginia in 2015, they opened their very first Thompson Italian in Falls Church before pertaining to Alexandria.

Established in 1749 as the southerly part of D.C. prior to being delivered to Virginia in 1846, Old Town Alexandria is the country’s third oldest historic district behind Charleston and New Orleans. The initial 60-acre layout comprised ten roads named after British aristocracy, including the central road of King Street.

Canopied under a hull-like wood panel and accentuated with red ceramic tiles, the wood-burning hearth is the focal point of the event kitchen. Complex great smoky tastes dominate the food selection, with the flames touching whatever from wood-fired chicken thighs and coal-roasted oysters to the salad of charred treasure lettuce, coal-fired mushroom lasagna, and option of custom-aged prime steaks.

Considered a premier example of Colonial Resurgence architecture, the structure was born-again in June 2024 as the store 134-room Resort Heron (699 Prince Road. Bring places include Excellent Fortune, Alexandria’s first al fresco rooftop bar, and KILN dining establishment. Influenced by Alexandria’s very first taped potter, Henry Piercy, and his nearby kiln, this modern open cooking area is centered around a live-fire fireplace.

Antique mirrors, velour banquettes, and various other touches create an alluring ambience inside Francis Hall, the resort’s craft alcoholic drink bar “hidden” beyond of the lobby. Order the “Dealership’s Selection” and allow your mixologist shock you.

West End champions include Taqueria Picoso (1472 N. Beauregard St. Tel. 571.970.0881. www.taqueriapicoso.com), which made the leading nine checklist for its outstanding street-inspired Mexican menu. Coming From Mexico City and good friends given that childhood, cooks Elio Gómez and Isaac Ramírez cook from the heart.

Housed in a historic home with white stucco walls painted with Greek numbers and an expressive seasonal patio area and garden, the village-like ambience includes a genuine katalogos (menu) of traditional, local, and island Greek recipes. From the silky tarmosalata to the broiled feta, the mezedes (small plates) all hit their marks, together with the salads and Greek red wines. I liked the deliciously simple Kalamarakia Tiganita, gently-fried squid with lemon, and fascinating exohikon, a Cretian specialty of lamb tidbits baked with 3 cheeses, artichokes, peas, carrots, onions, and ache nuts in filo dough. Conserve area for the Verikoka Aphrodite, an ancient Athenian treat of apricots poached in a white-wine-and-orange-flavored sauce and offered with fresh yogurt, honey, and walnuts.

Tel. 703.638.1400. Attractive layout elements consist of 15-foot floor-to-ceiling windows offering sweeping Potomac River sights, brightly patterned cubicles, and initial art works featuring Lovelace and her father, the poet Lord Byron, along with Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, and Emily and Charlotte Bronte.

Featuring a seasonal exterior patio, their community restaurant is the stage for cutting-edge Italian-meets-Middle Eastern food from Exec Cook Lucy Dakwar, whose occupation distinctions consist of being the first women butcher at Leader’s Royal residence in New Orleans.

Coming down a mile to the Potomac River waterside, this historical passage’s parade of restaurants and bars includes Thompson Italian (1024 King Street. thompsonitalian.com/alexandria), which longtime Washington Message food movie critic Tom Sietsema named one of Alexandria’s nine best restaurants in November 2024.

Bedded on masa tortillas nixtamalized internal from treasure Oaxacan corn, the taco parade consists of al pastor (pork), up and down roasted according to Mexico City custom and served with pineapple. Various other hometown standards include the Torta de Chilaquiles sandwich and Coctel de Camaron shrimp alcoholic drink.

Released that same year, Taverna Cretekou (818 King Road. Owners Christos and Denise Papaloizou, initially from Cyprus, oversee the joyful show, which can get energetic, consisting of dance with the Greek servers and damaging plates.

This month, our nation’s capital commemorates the 50th anniversary of this historical landmark by welcoming its first WorldPride (worldpridedc.org). Running from Might 17 to June 8, the festivities, themed “The Fabric of Freedom,” prolong throughout the Potomac River to bordering Alexandria.

“Every huge city needs an oyster bar,” shared the Brooklyn, NY-born pioneer when we fulfilled at her Dupont Circle flagship in 2015. Earlier, in 2007, she increased to King Street in Alexandria, prior to transferring in 2022 to her new digs, which features roof eating.

5 blocks away, Evening Star Coffee Shop (2000 Mt. Vernon Method. Tel. 703.549.5051. www.eveningstarcafe.net) has been a regional magnet for American home cooking and great times considering that 1997. The multi-venue restaurant integrates a bar, upstairs lounge, and yard smokehouse and beer garden, HiFi Tex-Mex BBQ (hifitexmexbbq.com), another leading niner for its slow-cooked Texas- and Carolinas-style bbq.

Named for its closeness to Arlington, VA and the El Salvadorean district where many locals map their roots, Arlandria-Chirilagua welcomes expedition of vibrant road murals and mostly Central American food.

Jeff Heilman is an acclaimed multi-genre reporter and video clip producer who has actually covered the worldwide travel, and friendliness and conferences markets given that 2004. He has actually been a normal contributor to Passport given that 2011.

Ticket Magazine has constantly been a resource to overview, influence and encourage LGBTQ tourists and their close friends to discover much deeper, richer and more meeting experiences in your home and around the globe through engaging story-telling online, in print, with video and through live occasions.

Housed in a historical home with white stucco walls painted with Greek numbers and an expressive seasonal patio area and yard, the village-like ambience consists of a genuine katalogos (food selection) of classic, local, and island Greek meals. Bring venues consist of Great Fortune, Alexandria’s very first open-air rooftop bar, and KILN restaurant. Attractive style elements include 15-foot floor-to-ceiling windows using sweeping Potomac River views, vibrantly patterned booths, and initial art works featuring Lovelace and her father, the poet Lord Byron, along with Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, and Emily and Charlotte Bronte.

West End winners consist of Taqueria Picoso (1472 N. Beauregard St. Tel. 571.970.0881.

Popular for her community-based campaigning for efforts, including sustaining females in the cooking industry and advancing LGBTQ management and equal rights, Leeds introduced her area seafood restaurant principle, called for her seafood-loving dad, to the D.C. market in 2005.