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So here I am on my last night in D.C. before I head back to New York. I’ve tried a few cheap eats that are popular in D.C. I’ve tried burgers Five Guys, chili dog and chili from Ben’s Chili Bowl, cheesesteaks from Philadelphia Cheesesteak Factory, and deep dish pizza from Armand’s. So for dinner tonight, I set out to try another cuisine that D.C. is apparently famous for: Ethiopian food.

I didn’t know about the large Ethiopian presence in Washington until my Eritrean friend told me about it. I decided that I had to try it out before I go back to New York. I browsed around Chowhound to look for restaurant recommendations, particularly restaurants that offer take-out food to bring back to the hotel, since I would just be by myself. I read favorable posts about Dukem, and that it has a separate market and carryout section aside from the main restaurant. I first saw Dukem and other Ethiopian restaurants when I went to Ben’s Chili Bowl on U St NW.

I guess the most distinctive feature of their cuisine is the injera. It is some sort of pancake-like bread, with a slight sour taste. One side of the injera has a tripe-like appearance because of the air bubbles that form on its surface when it is being prepared.

I had the Dukem kitfo

and a combination meal of lamb wot and alitcha fitfit.

I had the kitfo done medium-rare (I heard the lady said lebleb.) since I wasn’t brave enough to have my first taste of Ethiopian food include something totally raw. The yellowish stuff on the kitfo tray seemed like mashed potatoes or something similar. The whitish stuff on the kitfo was Dukem’s own cottage cheese.

The lamb wot of course had lamb meat, and tripe — not sure which animal the tripe comes from. The fitfit is hard to describe, but it was equally tasty. Both dishes were spicy, but not hot enough to make me perspire the way Thai green curry makes me sweat.

All in all, I find my adventure into Ethiopian food satisfying, and I’m open to try it again.

So the second day of my D.C. trip is close to over. There were a lot of interesting presentations at the conference, and some others that are beyond my area of research.

We had lunch at Lebanese Taverna on Connecticut Avenue. I ordered their Shawarma and unlike the typical shawarma I’ve eaten in the Philippines, their version replaces the pita bread with rice. It has onions on the side, and some kind of (I think) tomato sauce. It also has the usual white garlic sauce. It wasn’t too bad, since I’m a rice eater, and eating the regular shawarma pita bread sandwich can get messy.

Yesterday, I finally got to try the burger at Five Guys. I first heard about it from a post on Gothamist about their branch in Queens. Since I’m too lazy to hike to their Queens location, I wasn’t able to try it out. I learned from their website that they had a few branches in Washington, so I made it a point to try it out yesterday. I had the cheeseburger (with tomato, fried onions, and fried mushrooms) and their regular fries. I liked the burger, but what they call as their regular fries was not regular at all. All orders came out in paper bags. And one order of their regular fries fills up a small styro cup AND much of the paper bag as well. Pretty filling.

After the conference wrapped up for the day before 7 p.m., I went back to the hotel to drop off my bag, and pick up my camera and tripod, as I’ve decided to do a quick stroll around the National Mall before it gets completely dark just to take some pictures. Here’s a pic of the Capitol:

Tomorrow, I’ll move across the street to the Holiday Inn on the Hill.