Quest for the Best

“Finding the Best Burger in DC: The Story of Ten Gentlemen, Three Years, 18 Restaurants, and One Google Sheet”

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user Bekah Richards

Ed. Note: After our best burger talk last month I got word of a mythical burger quest by a group of friends and lo and behold here it is.

The gents write:

“Back in 2017 a group of 10 nerds, who also happened to be friends, decided to embark on an epic foodie quest to try the best burgers of DC. Our goal was simple: systematically and rigorously pinpoint the tastiest burger in and around the District. And we were serious. We even bought the domain to BrosWhoBurger.com (and then never did anything with it).

Our starting point was a list of 8 restaurants based on the existing “Best of” lists and hearsay. Over the next two years, this group of 8 ballooned to a whopping 18 burger joints. We still haven’t gone everywhere we have wanted to, but hope to in the years to come.

So how did we approach this journey? Each time we picked a new place, we tried to maximize how many people could join. Usually we got 4-7 of us, but sometimes as low as 2, other times we had as many as 9 of us.

We didn’t have pre-defined criteria for the ratings, but there were some elements we often found ourselves discussing; bun composition and texture, structural integrity, meat taste and juiciness, and overall flavor were key pieces to our rating. We did not factor cost into the equation.

With some minor exceptions, we all ordered the same burger at each place. When we finished, we shared our ratings directly with a designated data collector in order to minimize bias and plopped the ratings into a Google sheet.

NOW, without further ado, our ratings. With each we tried to add a description. Below these are our superlatives. (more…)

Let’s Do This – Best Ethiopian Restaurant in D.C.?

By Prince Of Petworth

You can see best Carryouts here, best Thai here, best liquor stores here, best Ramen here, best Bars here, best Indian and Pakistani here, best Italian/Pizza/Deli here, best Mexican/Salvadoran/Central/Cuban/Latin here, best burgers/fries here, best bakery/bagels here and best gyms here.

The upcoming opening of Tsehay got me thinking about Ethiopian again. It’s definitely time for a refresh since our last look back in 2008. Still high on Dukem? RIP Etete. Where’s your go to these days? Zenebech 2.0 in Adams Morgan? Ethiopic on H Street? Chercher on 9th? Shebelle on 9th?

Let’s Do This – Best Gym in D.C.?

By Prince Of Petworth

You can see best Carryouts here, best Thai here, best liquor stores here, best Ramen here, best Bars here, best Indian and Pakistani here, best Italian/Pizza/Deli here, best Mexican/Salvadoran/Central/Cuban/Latin here, best burgers/fries here and best bakery/bagels here.

A bunch of new gyms have popped up over the last few years so let’s have at it! Where’s your favorite? An old standby or one of the new spots? Who do we have these days – Vida, Orange Theory, Soul Cycle, F45, Rumble, CorePower, illumin8, Solidcore, Equinox, EPIC, Washington Sports Clubs, Planet Fitness, Pulse House of Fitness, Forze, Mint, Barre3, Lagree Fitness Gym, the Crossfits, Bodymass gym, Urban Athletic Club, Authenics Fitness Studio, Election Cycle, Barry’s Bootcamp, Balance Gym, District Pilates, Sweat DC, Cyclebar, Off Road DC, NUBOXX, Cut Seven, Cycled!, Flywheel, Blast, Gold’s Gym any Results gyms still exist? Who else? Where do you go?

Let’s Do This – Best Bakery/Bagels in D.C.?

By Prince Of Petworth

You can see best Carryouts here, best Thai here, best liquor stores here, best Ramen here, best Bars here, best Indian and Pakistani here, best Italian/Pizza/Deli here, best Mexican/Salvadoran/Central/Cuban/Latin here and best burgers/fries here.

The options on both fronts have improved so much in the last 5 years, I’m very eager to see your responses. I’m looking for all kinds of breads, pastries, and of course bagels. Who are your favorites?

Let’s Do This – Best Burger/Best Fries in D.C.?

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user Bekah Richards

You can see best Carryouts here, best Thai here, best liquor stores here, best Ramen here, best Bars here, best Indian and Pakistani here, best Italian/Pizza/Deli here and best Mexican/Salvadoran/Central/Cuban/Latin here.

And now no messing around. Down and dirty – where’s D.C.’s best burgers? And what the hell – best fries?

Best Mexican/Salvadoran/Central/Cuban/Latin Restaurants in D.C.?

By Prince Of Petworth

You can see best Carryouts here, best Thai here, best liquor stores here, best Ramen here, best Bars here, best Indian and Pakistani here, and best Italian/Pizza/Deli here.

At a risk of jamming too many together again but it worked last week so hopefully it will work this week as well – what are your favorite Mexican, Salvadoran, other Central American, Cuban, and Latin (inspired) restaurants around town?

Best Italian Restaurant in D.C., Best Pizza and Best Italian Deli?

By Prince Of Petworth

You can see best Carryouts here, best Thai here, best liquor stores here, best Ramen here, best Bars here and best Indian and Pakistani here.

Time to play my favorite game – best Italian in the D of C. It might be too much to handle all in one post but there’s so much overlap that I figure we should keep them under the same umbrella. Without further ado – where are all your favorites?

Ed. Note: Following this one very closely. Thank you in advance!

Best Indian and Pakistani Restaurants in D.C.?

By Prince Of Petworth

You can see best Carryouts here, best Thai here, best liquor stores here, best Ramen here and best Bars here.

There have been quite a few Indian options added to the D.C. dining scene over the last few years – Pappe, Spice 6, Karma Modern, Punjab Grill, Bharati, Duet, Bombay Street Food and more not to mention the old stalwarts like Rasika, Indique, Bombay Club, Jyoti and tons more – so where are your favorites?

Who/Where are the Best Bars in D.C.?

By Prince Of Petworth


2315 18th Street, NW. I miss their old sign.

You can see best Carryouts here, best Thai here, best liquor stores here, and best Ramen here.

Lest we get in to a debate over what a dive bar is, let’s just nip that in the bud and include all bars. Your favorite bar can be all fancy with leather stools with armrest that have outlets, bubble machines, and ice imported from the finest natural springs, if you like. Or it can be Dan’s Cafe. Or it can be someplace nicely in between: (more…)

Where’s the best Ramen in D.C.? The ‘burbs?

By Prince Of Petworth

Ed. Note: You can see best Carryouts here best Thai here, and liquor stores here.

Got a question on twitter:

“ISO good ramen in DC ? I know the Cherry Blossom pop-up on 7th is to have ramen & been to Haikan but know of anywhere else I can look into?”

And it sparked a heated debate so let’s settle it in two parts – best Ramen in D.C. and best in the burbs?

Some options mentioned were Daikaya, Toki, Maketto, Haikan, Bantam King, Chaplin’s, Oki, Reren, Ren’s Ramen, Saku Ramen, and others I can’t recall. So who are your favorites?

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