Lunch at the Smithsonian

With an arty friend in town we've being doing the rounds at the different art galleries and of course all the usually Washington places, monuments and what not. This weekend we went up to the Reynolds center- part of the Smithsonian's American Art museum. Planning to be out the entire day we needed to grab lunch at some point and so we took lunch at the courtyard cafe- which sounded like it would be cold given the name- but in fact was at this great covered courtyard part of the Smithsonian called the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard. The design is absolutely stunning, with a beautiful wavy roof, gorgeous water features and tall ficus trees.

The food was pricey, but then we were in a tourist trap in the middle of DC. I got roast beef sandwich- which in retrospect was the wrong choice for me. Kym got a portabella panini which she thought was fantastic (although again probably not worth the price.
Still we enjoyed our lunch- the art was fantastic too.

Cafe on Park

Recently with my parents in town we had a scenario by which we wanted to get something for lunch, that wasn’t far, and that could be carried back to my Dad who was working on a powerpoint presentation for a conference. Not being exactly enticed by our very local ‘Philly Grill’ I decided to head over to Park Blvd where I knew there were a couple of little places that did sandwiches- namely Café on Park and Urban Grind. The corner of Park and University is not a nice location, and I must say my mother seemed a little hesitant to believe that we might find some good food there. We perused both menus ( both offering an interesting selection of sandwiches) and eventually settled on Café on Park- which had so many wonderful options. Inside the restaurant was incredibly nicely laid out, calming and fresh. I settled on a Avocado and Brie sandwich whilst my mother got the highly recommended tuna melt taking home a meatloaf sandwich for my father. Having been offered a nice selection of sides we settled on the Butternut Squash soup and headed home.
Opening up our little packages at home, we could not have been more thrilled, everything was excellent, incredibly fresh, meticulously prepared with the most high quality ingredients. The Sandwiches were all wonderful, but the butternut squash soup really topped everything- delightfully creamy and rich without being overly sickly as I often find soups can be, it really was heavenly. We are definitely excited to have found such a great eatery so incredibly close to our house, and I feel ashamed that I have not visited before now.