Foods Eaten in Washington, DC

I've managed to eat pretty well considering I'm on a dorky business trip, working all day in an office building in an office park and staying in a hotel in the very same office park, all of it surrounded by chain restaurants. But I'm with people who like food, so we've found some good things:

• A tiny Caribbean place with just a counter and two tables. I had curried goat with beans and rice. On the side were sweet plantains and a sort of cabbage vinaigrette. This was one of the best meals I have ever eaten.


• A fancy Thai place. I had broiled tuna with basil and red curry. The fish was overdone, but the sauce was good. My boss's duck was excellent.


• An Israeli deli. I had a beef kebab sandwich on the best homemade grilled flatbread with cucumbers and tomatoes and tahini dressing. A nice boy in suspenders and a yarmulke brought us a complientary bowl of homemade dill pickles (SO good) and green olives.


• A little deli/grill with an Italian name run by a Korean family and featuring such varied offerings as Denver omelets and sushi. I have been eating piles and piles of perfectly prepared vegetables from the salad bar, some of them quite foreign to me. The bok choy is great; the snow peas with dried cranberries are, too.

But then, of course, there have been meals of mediocre chain pizza and mediocre prime rib in Elks Lodge-like surroundings. It does not help that Lawson's garden far to the south is spitting out eggplant and zucchini faster than he can eat them. I am ready to cook again.