We had a few meals worth mentioning while on our recent trip to Washington, D.C. The first was at Burger Tap & Shake near our hotel and The George Washington University within Foggy Bottom. They are located right across the street from the Metro station that we used regularly to get around. There is a nice size patio, but it was much too cold during our visit to make use.

Outside

Orders are placed at the counter, including beer orders. Then once ready the food will be delivered to a table of your choosing. We arrived around 4:45 on Saturday and were surprised to see the restaurant as crowded as it was. Fortunately we didn’t have to wait more than a couple of minutes for a table to open up.

Inside

I’m a sucker for a good veggie burger and the offering at Burger Tap & Shake is like nothing I’ve had before. They have a crispy falafel patty that comes topped with pickled vegetables, feta, and cilantro raita ($8). The falafel was perhaps a little overdone, but I wonder if that is done on purpose to help it stay together. With that said it was actually a very delicious falafel offering and the pickled veggies were a great addition.

Haight-Ashbury

My wife went with the SoCal PILGRIM turkey burger with provolone cheese, smashed avocado, greens, red onion, tomato, chipotle ranch, all served on a whole wheat bun ($8). This was a massive sandwich! The avocado was fresh and delicious, as were the other veggie toppings. The turkey was good, a tad dry, but that is often the case with turkey burgers. The one complaint here was the bun, which was too dense and chewy, and nearly dominated the entire sandwich. My wife chose to put it aside and focus on the good stuff inside.

SoCal PILGRIM

Their sweet potato fries ($3) were awesome! Do not skip over them, even if the massive burgers may seem like enough food alone. Our kids also enjoyed the regular fries, but if you are a fan of sweet potato fries you have to give these a try.

Fries

Our service was great. Our food arrived at our table quicker than I had expected it to be delivered. And what we tried was all mostly really good. One thing that I wish was offered was a kids sized burger. Currently the kids menu is just a grilled cheese (which my kids enjoyed) or chicken tenders. I see no reason to not add another choice to the menu.

Just before election day, my family and I took a trip to Washington, D.C. On our first day we explored the monuments via bikes rented from Bike and Roll DC. We followed that up with a trip through a visit to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

Our second day was mostly dedicated to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park. And we spent our last day at several museums that we had missed the day prior: Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

I loved that nearly everything we visited was free to explore, which made it great for the family. If we had quickly grown tired of a particular attraction we left without feeling bad that we had wasted too much money. Our family loved this action packed quick trip to our Nation’s Capitol.