Join Jules on the East Coast

Google Maps Washington D.C. & New York City

Click the link below to take you to a Join Jules curated map of must-stop spots in D.C. and/or NYC

Join Jules in DC

Join Jules in NYC

I’m getting too old for red eye flights so we opted for the 8am out of San Diego which got us to Dulles airport in DC about 4pm EST. After a slightly nauseating rush hour Uber, we arrived in Georgetown!

Foreshadowing the rest of this action-packed trip, we took hardly a few minutes at the Airbnb before meeting up for drinks and bites at KYOJIN Sushi. This new spot (only open ~6 weeks when we visited) was awesome. A fun bar program and delicious food, we plopped down at the bar a few minutes after they opened at 5pm and the place was packed by the time we left.

Little did we know that was going to be the start of a spontaneous eating & drinking tour of Georgetown. Thus began our “no reservations” (a la Anthony Bourdain) tour of some of DC and New York’s finest establishments all weekend.

Our first stop after sushi was L’Annexe, the highly-regarded sister bar to the French restaurant next door, L’Avant-Garde. Props to DC, the happy hour crowd was strong (lots of suits and presumably politicians?) and we only managed a small standing-room table. No problem – it was perfect for our cocktails and the real standout here, the fromage board. 

At this point our momentum was really going – we stumbled over to another French joint, Apéro, and just in time for their 9pm late happy hour! Once again, we sat down at the bar amongst regulars and couldn’t help but think of our good luck. The martinis were cold and the bites were fantastic. 

After Eric (the Georgetown grad himself) got us turned around for a few blocks, we found our way to Filomena, a classic Italian dinner spot. We split a tortellini dish in a beautiful mushroom sauce and still couldn’t finish it, that’s how heaping the portions were. Don’t tell my grandma (and maybe it was the cocktails talking!) but I did suggest that the pasta here reminded me of my family’s Italian cooking.

We woke up the next morning (still full, another common theme of the trip) and grabbed a quick latte down the street from our Airbnb at YELLOW before hustling over to the Capitol for a “VIP” tour (shout-out to Willie Sleiman for the connection and to Emma for the fabulous tour). From there, we metro’d over to the Washington Monument and took the official tour to the top, catching amazing panoramic views of DC and really checking the tourist boxes. Lastly, we stopped by the new Smithsonian, the National Museum of African American History and Culture. This place was absolutely fantastic and a must-visit in my opinion – in particular, the musical exhibits stood out to me (and for Eric, the sports displays).

Then – back to YELLOW in Georgetown for an outstanding lunchtime pita creation stuffed with braised lamb and feta cheese. We walked that off with the mandatory tour of Georgetown University with Eric. 

The evening began with fabulous drinks at the highly recommended Jane Jane (check out “golden hour” for discounted drinks and bites from 5-7pm) where we enjoyed the Mezcal 75 and the onion dip. Then, we caught up with friends at a nice tapas dinner at Barcelona Wine Bar next door. A night cap (come on, this was only day 2) was in order, so we headed to The Fountain Inn, a stone’s throw away from our Airbnb, and had a fantastic time chatting with our bartender and enjoying beverages in a historic DC building.

Alas, the next morning we hardly had time to enjoy our bagels from Call Your Mother Deli (seriously, we need one of these and more legit bagel spots in San Diego) before heading over to Reagan airport to catch our flight to NYC!

This is where things got…interesting.

That Friday was apparently a record-setting day of rain in New York City, so much so that airports were flooding and shut down. So we sat as our flight got delayed…and delayed…and delayed. Ultimately we realized that our highly-anticipated happy hour & dinner plans in the city would be missed, the only consolation prize being a heavy pour of Chardonnay at the airport bar. 

Finally, we DID make it to New York, only several hours later than planned. We walked past a few restaurants that were either full or closed before “settling” (is it really, though?) for the quintessential quick, late night meal in NYC – a slice from Joe’s Pizza. With our bags dropped off and some food in our bellies, we were happy to stumble over to Dante for some fabulous drinks, especially their more complex take on an Espresso Martini (the chili tincture was outstanding). We had a quick nightcap and what seemed to be a college dive, Nancy’s Whiskey Pub, before heading home to rest.

Day two in New York started with a bike ride (by the way, always our favorite way to get around a new big city) over to Lafayette Bakery where I had to check out the pain au chocolat. Eric wasn’t full yet so we stopped by Levain Bakery down the street for their famous huge cookies. We walked through the crazy busy Chelsea Market (on a rainy Saturday, it made sense) before heading over to Mel’s for lunch. This meal was absolutely fantastic. Our trip had been a little light on greens so we devoured the Bibb Salad to start, along with the shrimp appetizer that was delicious as well. We saved room for one pizza (but unfortunately, not their famous gelato sundae desserts) and it was awesome as well; we opted for the sausage with red onion and whipped ricotta. 

At this point we were rocking and rolling in New York! I took a pit stop at the hotel to rest and get ready for the evening, and Eric didn’t hesitate to use that time to head over to a dive bar with a friend (Bud Light was drank and college football was watched). We stayed at the Arlo SoHo this time around; while I was a bit surprised about the size of the room when we arrived (welcome to New York), it grew on me as the trip went along, especially the comfortable king bed and smart layout of the meager space. 

One of our best stops of the whole trip was happy hour that day. We headed over to Nubeluz, José Andrés’ new cocktail bar on the 50th floor of the new Ritz-Carlton, NoMad. By now the clouds had cleared and we were afforded stunning views of New York City. We had a nice mix of performative/Instagrammable cocktails as well as classics like a mezcal Last Word. 

Back on our “no reservations” train, we debated our plan before heading over to Broadway to see if we could score some last minute tickets. Score we did…a few minutes before curtain, the box office offered a pair of tickets for Merrily We Roll Along (featuring Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, and Lindsay Mendez) that we couldn’t refuse. The show was unbelievable and we’ve been singing our favorite songs from it ever since. 

Without having grabbed a proper dinner, we stopped by the 24/7 Coppelia for some quick, delicious Latin bites.

Suddenly, it was our final day of the trip. We had a proper breakfast at Bubby’s, just walking distance from our hotel, where I enjoyed the fall omelet that featured apple slices! From there, we took a long bike ride all the way up the city to Central Park. I opted for the e-bike while Eric toughed it with the classic bicycle (and was plenty tired for it). We walked around the park on what turned out to be a stunning day, just about 80 degrees and sunny. 

To wrap up the trip, we headed back down to West Village for an awesome snack and glass of wine sitting outside at Jeffrey’s Grocery. Then, we rushed a couple of drinks during Martini Hour at Dante West Village, and we were off to the airport (btw, also had a rough experience at Newark airport. New Yorkers, is LaGuardia the only right option here?!)

After an action packed few days, we were definitely ready to get back to the beach and our cat. We had so much fun, though, and can’t wait to get back to the east coast for more food, drinks, and fun.

---