Google Maps recommended the curving route up 270 to 86; Rt. 50 cut directly across West Virginia — all switchbacks and hairpin turns. Even though, I wouldn’t get near California, I had to try.

Route 50

Route 50 is famous for more than dividing Arlington into south and north and transforming into the DC’s traffic-clogged New York Avenue. The DC route is hardly homegrown. It spans the country, stretching 3,000 miles from Ocean City, Maryland, to West Sacramento, California. (Once upon a time, it reached the Pacific Ocean at San Francisco).

Crossing West Virginia

The part of 50 that passes through Nevada, where it crosses barren dessert, has been nicknamed the “Loneliest Road in America.” The section of 50 that spans eastern WV should be called the “Road that’s still trapped in the 1970s.”

We came a half gallon from running out of gas on this isolated road. Motoring up and down the mountains drained my tank. Each time we surged up another incline, my meter dipped down into the red.  I started looking out for gas stations. We flew past trailers, mountains crests, streams and white washed churches, but there were no gas stations.  At last, we pulled into a one street town. To our left was a small store. Out front was a single gas pump — the mechanical style with the placards that turn inside the machine to show how much gas had pumped.

I parked and walked inside. The gas station didn’t take credit cards.  Greg and I pulled our cash — $8 total — and bought three gallons hoping that would see us to the next town. I snapped some photos, and we pulled out.

The next town we arrived at had another gas station. I sighed with relief. But as we pulled into the lot, I noticed that this place was even more of a throwback: It was full service only.

Another half an hour of driving brought us to civilization. We filled up at Sheetz, the part gas station part junk food Mecca that served sugary coffee drinks and sandwiches made to order. I looked out into the strip center. Across the street was McDonald’s. The restaurant had a huge sign across the top: “Introducing McCafe coffees.” Espresso had come to rural West Virginia — only about a year after those drinks appeared in Northern Va. franchises. Welcome to 2007, WV.

Crabcakes

Jimmy’s Grill

Maine Avenue Fish Market
1100 Maine Ave SW
Washington, DC 20024

Have a lot of free time? Jimmy’s, a stand in the southwest waterfront serving crab cakes, fried fish, clam strips and other artery clogging seafood dishes, is the place to go if you have a hankering for crab cakes and an entire afternoon to waste. First, you stand in line examining the 20 different signs hanging around the shack. Each is printed with a different version of the menu. One offers soft shell crab with fries. Another offers creamed spinach as a side. Then, place your order with the harried cashier standing at knee level inside the buried stand. Then, wait and wait – until the cashier calls your number. All the while, the other customers are interrupting the staff to complain about their order or demand drink refills. There’s no shade at Jimmy’s and no where to sit.

The food is worth it and prices are cheaper than you will find anywhere else in DC. Our crab cake platter was big enough for two. We ate it standing up, underneath a neighboring stand’s umbrellas, overlooking the Potomac. However, there’s another hazard of Jimmy’s. While we were munching on our crab cakes, to the left was a group of Hill interns smashing steam crabs and blabbing on about the Senators they’ve seen in Capitol elevators.

The bill: $9.95 for the crab cake platter

Cheesesteak

Al’s Steak House

1504 Mt. Vernon Avenue
Alexandria, Virginia 22301

While Geno’s, the Philadelphia cheesesteak institution, promotes cheese wiz as the authentic sandwich topping, our Philly source claims that’s false marketing. She says the shop promotes cheap cheese wiz to cut down on the food cost. The real cheese of choice is provolone.

If that’s the case, maybe Al’s Steak House in Alexandria is more authentic than Geno’s. The sub shop only serves its cheesesteaks with provolone. Also varying from your typical cheesesteak, Al’s stuffs its subs with onion, sweet peppers, green peppers etc. While the sandwiches could use a shake of salt, it’s worth the compromise. One Yelper puts it well: “I don’t know if they make a cheesesteak as good here as they do in Philly but I don’t really care. This place is five minutes from my house, Philly is not.”

The bill: $14 for a large

New Haven Pizza

Pete’s New Haven Style Apizza
1400 Irving St NW
Washington, DC 20009

The quest for clam pizza ends, however unlikely, in Columbia Heights. This unassuming lunch spot next to the Metro sells New Haven style pizza to NW hipsters. Although it’s in the same genre as what we ate in New Haven, it’s a distant imitation. My main complaint is their by-the-slice model. Pete’s doesn’t do a brisk enough business to sell by the slice, so the pizza just ends up getting cold. When they reheat it for you, the crust gets a bit burnt while the cheese is still not melted.

The bill: $22.95 for a New Haven style clam pizza

Clam Chowder

Well, despite extensive research we couldn’t figure out where to get an excellent bowl of clam chowder in DC. Although we heard good things about Blacksalt Fish Market & Restaurant (4883 MacArthur Blvd NW) it’s soup features cockles (fancy clams) and costs $11 a bowl. Where can we get a decent bowl of chowder for a reasonable price?

Tubing Reviews:

Butt’s Tubes – If you want a big dose of drunken revelry with your tubing, try Butt’s Tubes. The company caters to rowdy groups and their cooler tubes brimming with Natty Light. Located right outside of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, it’s about 1.5 hours northwest (take 270 north and hang a left after Frederick) of DC.

Pros:
-The scenery is beautiful.  You’ll float by rolling mountains and craggy cliffs.
-Harper’s Ferry is a nice place to grab some food before or after your voyage.
-There are rapids and mini waterfalls throughout the river, which adds a little excitement.

Cons:
-Butt’s Tube must give discounts to Greek organizations, because beer swilling, frat boys overrun their trips.
-It’s pricey. A tube for yourself and an additional “cooler tube” costs $45.

River Riders: Also in Harpers Ferry, WV, this tubing company is the anti-Butts Tubes.  It caters to families and offers a “flat water” (read: good for children) option.

Pros:
-It offers a full day trip that breaks the ride into two parts — a flat water cruise in the morning followed by lunch and a float down the rockier part of the river. You also can do the first or second part only. The second is the same section that Butts follows.

- At $29 for a weekend trip, it’s cheaper than Butts.

Cons:
- You still have to share the river with the Butts partiers. But now you are also cruising along with little kids and vacationing families.

- Neither half of the full day ride seems long enough.  Just as you are getting into the drift of the river, it’s time to haul your tube back onto dry land.

Front Royal Canoe: Front Royal Canoe is located at the Western end of route 66 in Front Royal, Virginia. It is also about 1.5 hours from DC. This option is the cheapest of the three: one tube plus a cooler tube costs $16.

Pros:
-The clientele is generally pretty low-key, making for a very relaxing day of tubing.
- It’s cheap.

Cons:
-There’s no rapids or waterfalls. The creek is maddeningly slow. In August last year, the water lever was so low that we spent half the trip banging our butts on the algae covered stones at the bottom.

The Best Beer for the Trip

River tubing is not complete without beer.  The problem is most good beers comes in bottles, which you definitely don’t want to bring.  Bottles take up too much room. Mainly, though, they are heavy and the can shatter into hundreds of foot-cutting, tube-slashing pieces.

The answer is Oskar Blues.  This brewery, based in Boulder Colorado, packages all of its beers in cans.  I recommend Dale’s Pale Ale or Mama’s Little Yella Pills.  Both beers are flavorful and light, perfect options for a hot, humid summer day.  Here is a list of stores that carry Oskar Blues beer.

Although Northern Virginia’s wineries may not produce the country’s best wine, this Two Buck Chuck drinking blogger can’t tell. These wineries do rival their California counterparts for beautiful scenery. And hopping between tastings makes for excellent afternoon entertainment for out-of-town guests who have seen all the typical DC sites.

I’ve been to Sonoma. I’ve swirled and sniffed my wine like I was in Sideways. It was a fun trip, tipsily hopping from winery to winery.  However, having experienced the famous California wine district, I turned my nose up at Virginia’s version. This brew-loving blogger just stuck with what I know best: beer.

Then, my parents visited last weekend. Always before their visits to DC, I wrack my brain to come up with novel activities.  They’ve seen all the monuments and museums. We’ve been to Annapolis and Old Town Alexandria. I was planning a daytrip to the National Arboretum, but I was thrilled when they suggested winery hopping.

Planning the trip

We visited three wineries off Rt. 66 in Haymarket and The Plains.  Even on the Saturday, traffic was congested getting out of the city. So, expect about an hour drive. All were crowded, but in a festive, bustling way that’s great for hiding the fact that I don’t know anything about wine.

A tasting runs about $6 and includes samples of about 10 wines. The bottles of wine start at about $15. You are free to bring a picnic. We bought sandwiches and snacks from The Italian Store in Arlington and ate it on the porch at the third winery. I recommend all the places we visited.

The Wineries

Pearmund Cellars: Our first stop was up a winding road through the grape vines. The place looked like it had been pulled out of a calendar.  Behind the building, looking into the vinyard, was patio furniture. It would be perfect for relaxing with a bottle of wine.

The tasting included their full run of wines – whites, reds and even a port. Out of the two tastings we did, we agreed that this was the better. By the time I finished, I was feeling woozy.

La Grange: The staff Pearmund Cellars gave us a coupon for a free tasting at Le Grange, which has the same owners. So, we headed there next. The wines here were not as good. However, the house, a renovated, brick building, was gorgeous. Their tasting included a sample of the house Sangria.

Barrel Oak: Situated on top of a hill, this winery has a nice view of Rt. 66 – and the surrounding countryside too, of course. We decided to skip the tasting, buy a bottle of wine, sit on the patio and eat our lunch. Although Oak Barrel was nice, it was not as peaceful as the others. Maybe because of its hilltop location, the place was extremely windy – the kind where you have to pin down your napkins and half-empty plates. Also, Oak Barrel allows dogs, and they overran the porch.

More Suggestions

For more unconventional ways to entertain out-of-town guests check out this previous article.

Check out our previous post for more suggestions on entertaining out-of-town guests.

I’ve eaten my way through many of the restaurants at Eden Center, Washington DC’s suburban Vietnamese strip center. I’ve braved jellyfish salads, avocado smoothies and spicy crawfish — and lived to tell about it. Here are my restaurant recommendations and map.

The Eden Center is a baffling bit of Asia in the middle of Falls Church. It’s as overwhelming as a foreign country, albeit one in a compact strip mall and five minutes from the beltway. The signs are in Vietnamese, the waitstaff barely speak English and it’s easy to accidentally order a strange animal (or animal part). However, the excellent food and reasonable prices make it worth tolerating a dose of culture shock. These are my four favorite restaurants in the shopping mall (and how to find them):

Song Que: Anthony Bourdain visited here on his trip to DC for No Reservations. The sandwich shop/grocery/smoothie stand is in the far corner of the mall (the far left, if you stand on Wilson Blvd. and face Eden Center). I love the BBQ pork sandwich and the smoothies. The pineapple, strawberry and mango are all excellent. And nothing beats the prices: $3.25 for a sandwich (they raised it!) and $3 for the smoothies.

Seaside Crab House: 6799 Wilson Blvd., #5: This Vietnamese take on a Chesapeake crab shack is recognizable by its porch, which extends into the parking lot. If you want to fit in with the Vietnamese patrons, order a bucket of crayfish (by the pound) and a pitcher of Heineken. But I recommend the fried soft shell crab. I’ve also heard good things about the grilled clams.

Huong Viet, 6785 Wilson Blvd: A low-key restaurant with an overwhelming menu. The waitress enthusiatically recommended the pork and jellyfish salad. I couldn’t find a way to refuse without hurting her feelings.  I’m glad I didn’t. The salad was excellent.  The jellyfish tasted like hard, salty jello — in a good way.   Just hit the ATM beforehand. This place is cash only.

Viet Bistro 6799 Wilson Boulevard #11: This restruant is excellent for Eden Center novices. It was the first place I went. The staff speak English and, with a location at the front of the plaza, you don’t even have to forge past the hair salons and travel agencies. The clay pot dishes, baby clams, the caramel fish, the frogs’ legs, the eel, anything with lemongrass and the shaking beef are all recommended.

Interested in Asian food in the DC area?  Take a look at this previous post on  Annandale’s Koreatown.

The DC area only has one trivia competition worth competing in: Wonderland Ballroom’s Monday night quiz. With a top prize a generous $100 off your bar tab, first place is a guarantee of a free night out.

What makes it the best?

• With a top prize a generous $100 off your bar tab, first place is a guarantee of a free night out. Other bars offer $25 or $50 off a tab. But for a group of 4 or 5 friends, this barely covers a celebratory round of drinks.
• Every week is a new group of hosts. As a result, each week you have new questions, new interests and new DC overachievers trying to make their rounds as clever as possible. Last week, each of the seven rounds dealt with a different continent. I’ve also seen a picture round of celebrity mug shots, a music round where you had to guess the son from the final lyric and a round of classic brainteasers. However, the questions at Wonderland tend to be incredibly tough. Brush up on your world geography, Shakespeare, 90s sports trivia and Simpsons knowledge.
• A team names contest. Each week the team with the funniest (read: ridiculous), wins a consolation prize. The winning names are nearly always a pun on a current event. Let’s just say, Obama’s stimulus package, got plenty of play.
• The beer selection. Wonderland has a revolving line-up of excellent beers, including my favorite Hefewissen

Of course, there are other trivia nights in the DC area. If you don’t want to make the treck to the green/yellow line to catch Wonderland’s version, you can check out this second-rate games.

• Ri Ra/Tuesday /Clarendon – The host is annoying (he sings the music round!) and the questions are not nearly as clever as at Wonderland.

• Ireland’s Four Courts/Monday/Clarendon – This trivia has a corporate feel. Players are sprinkled throughout the bar, and questions are announced over the PA. The questions are like someone raided an 8th grade standardized test

Check out this article in OnTap magazine for an extensive listing of area trivia nights.

While the bakery features row upon row of sweet stuff, the highlight is the brats. They are served piled with sauerkraut, squirted with mustard and stuck on a fresh baked roll. Order one, sit down on at the tables (beware, space is limited) and munch away. And, at least on the weekends, help yourself to tiny cups of complementary coffee.

The occasion for the early morning hubbub was the bi-annual Liverpool v. Manchester United match. The English Premier League, the top soccer league to which both teams belong, schedules the match times based on the level of rivalry between the teams. The more intense the hatred, the earlier the match. The earlier the match, the less time for fans to get drunk and start fights. The Liverpool — Man United rivalry is one of the league’s most intense. As a result, it gets the earliest start time. Subtract the 6 hours’ time difference, and the match begins at 8:30 am here in DC.

I rolled out of bed at 7:20 am — the same time I do on a weekday — and arrived at Lucky Bar soon after the match started. I expected that no one would be at a bar so early in the morning. I was wrong. The backroom, which was outfitted with several big screen TVs showing the match, was standing room only.

I was bought to the game by two Liverpool fans, and we were outnumbered. Manchester supporters comprised nearly the entire the crowd. When Man United scored the first goal, they cheered uproariously. I felt surrounded. Then we scored — and then again and again and again (Liverpool beat Man United by 4 to 1) — I felt like the member of an obnoxious minority. People jumped in the air, hugged each other and danced around in circles. Someone ran over and high-fived my jersey-wearing friends. I was embarrassed. Not a sports fan, I haven’t seen fans get so excited since, well, ever. It was far too early in the morning — and I was far too sober — to participate. But like anything, the cheering, the dancing and cheesy stadium cheers all seemed more charming in an accent.

For lists of upcoming matches, here’s the link to the schedule for Premier League matches and World Cup qualifiers.

When I heard that Domku, a Slavic and Scandinavian restaurant in Petworth, the fringes of Northwest DC, had a monthly pierogi night I was thrilled. My grandmother whose family hails from Solvakia made the potato, sauerkraut, or meat stuffed dumplings. She taught me how to make them. But all that kneading, rolling and stuffing takes all afternoon. I have never made my own.

I plugged the event into my calendar a three weeks ahead of time. When 5:45 pm the day of role around, I called up to Domku. I asked them if we could get a table in a half hour. She advised us to wait until 8pm. I waited and held off snacking for the promise of pierogi. I and the other half of We’re Out of Here arrived at the restaurant at 8:15. While the long arm of gentrification has reached neighboring heights, only its fingertips have touched Petworth. The restaurant is the sole touch of quaint in what remains ghetto.

After deciphering Domku’s white-on-white glass sign, we walked in. The place is charming: exposed brink walls, miss-matched furniture and a mobile made out of sticks.Only about half of the tables were filled, but we stood entrance for five minutes before getting the waitress’s attention.

The waitress steered us to seats at the bar. She offered to take our drink orders but just disappeared. We sat there examining the menu for 20-odd minutes before I managed to flag her down again. I opened my mouth to order the pastry stuffed with lamb and pine nuts. She stopped me, took the list of daily specials and crosses out all but two things, the rice pastry and the cabbage pierogi, and dissapeared again.

After some ordering and some more waiting our food, the cabbage pierogi, the rice pastry and some sausages, appeared. Unfortunately, our silverware did not. I snatched some from another table, and we dug in. Despite the waitress’s reassurance that the cabbage pierogis were her favorite thing on the menu (We suspect she is a vegetarian, meaning that her opinion can’t be counted), they were bland. So was the rice pastry. But to Domku’s credit, not much can be done with bread, rice and cabbage.

We tore through the food. Still hungry, I ordered dessert: poppyseed role, another Eastern European food my grandma made. It never came.

As we waited another 15 minutes for our check. Meanwhile, the waitresses stood near us complaining about that night’s customers. One, she said, was demanding, but friendly, and left no tip. I was tempted to do the same. However, I put down a generous 5% and walked out.

For a bargain seeker like myself, the highlight of ACKC is the chocolate tasting parties. The shop/cafe hosts monthly — or so — events, where guests can sample their newest sweets. Last week, chocolate fans flooded the already cramped space to try the colorful Parisian macaroons. Join ACKC’s mailing list to be notified of upcoming events.

Beyond the freebies, the ACKC cafe serves the standard espresso drinks but prides itself on originally-named hot cocoas. Each takes its names from an old-time starlet. There’s the Lucy, which, with an infusion of hot peppers and cinnamon, captures Lucille Ball’s red hair and spicy personality. A cup of Liz (as in Liz Taylor) has a hint of lavender. The shop’s chocolate confections are equally creative. I sampled the chocolate with bacon, puzzled at another bar with Indian curry spices and stared longingly at a sea salt and almond confection.