How to Spend a Perfect 72 Hours Eating Your Way Through D.C.

As you complete a tour of the Air & Space Museum or American History Museum, no doubt you’ll work up an appetite. Chef Frederik De Pue to the rescue. His landmark restaurant is a haunt for K Street’s journalists and lobbyist types, and includes epic seafood towers, Chesapeake soft-shell crabs, and a thick and juicy cowboy steak. This restaurant also uses most of its space as private dining for experience-driven meals, also known for hosting elected representatives looking to go off-the-record … especially if it’s a three-martini lunch.

Just as the sun sets, the city’s 14th Street, NW corridor comes to life with dining options and nightlife. We can’t think of a more presidential place to eat than Le Diplomate, a D.C. institution that holds tables for diplomats — and also, yes, President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris — on the regular. Whether this is your first visit or you’re one of the many VIPs, this Stephen Starr homage to the perfect Paris bistro draws everyone for espresso martinis, bread baskets, and a bouillabaisse you’ll be talking about days later.