Word on the street is that one of the best places to get eat on the Mall is at the Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Indian which is housed in a gorgeous buildling at the Capitol end of the Mall. When we arrived we realized that word must have gotten around because there was a line a block long to get into the cafeteria. It seemed to be moving pretty swiftly so we waited and I’m glad we did.

The cafeteria is divided up into different regions of the Americas and they have a few representative dishes from each area. Some of the dishes are clearly cheats (ummm, did the Plains Indians really eat a lot of chicken strips?), but there are a few unique and interesting (and tasty) dishes to be had.

First there’s the classic fry bread taco — this one is served with pulled buffalo. We might be playing mix ‘n’ match with our tribes, but it was tasty.

This pickled turnip and bean salad was one of my favorites.

But the real winner was this barley mushroom salad. Doesn’t sound like much, but boy was it good.

And I don’t think the Indians of Key West really ate key lime pie, but they would have eaten this one, I’m sure.

After a walk around the Reflecting Pool, Lincoln Memorial and Vietnam War Memorial, we were a little famished (sightseeing will do that to you) and splurged on a taxi to take us directly to a diner in Georgetown called The Tacklebox. As the name suggests it focuses on foods of the sea and is the casual sibling of a more upscale seafood restaurant next door. I was perfectly content to order at the counter and sit at communal picnic tables for this inexpensive grub.

Oh man, were these fried oysters good. After eating the first one I almost ran back up to the counter to put in another order.

Grilled fish with grilled asparagus, fries and a side of mac ‘n’ cheese. The mac was the only bad part of the meal. It tasted like microwaved Velveeta.

Later we made up for the crappy side dish, by swinging by Thomas Sweets, an old school ice cream shop and I mowed my way through a pralines and cream cone.

Ben’s Chili Bowl is a DC institution that’s been around pretty much since the swamps were first drained. The nice folks behind the counter let us slip in under the breakfast deadline and we got one breakfast and one lunch dish.

Ben’s famous half-smoke chili dog.

gnam!

When we were making the rounds of the Smithsonian museums, I spied an On The Fly SmartKart, a lunch “truck” I’d read about. They travel in electric, zero emission carts and support sustainable practices. And, more importantly, they make some pretty darn good food. I got a Jamaican beef empanada.

We had a 9:00 PM train to catch to NYC so we figured we had time to cram in one more dinner in the Capitol. Decided to try a well-regarded Malaysian place near DuPont Circle called Malaysia Kopitiam. It was at least as good as my beloved Malay Satay Hut, but perhaps not quite as good as the hawker stalls of Penang. But, really, what is?

spicy mango salad

char kweh teow

chicken rendang

We raced from that meal to Union Station, sadly not getting much of an opportunity to enjoy the building, plopped ourselves into the last few remaining seats on the train and trundled off to NYC.