When I planned my trip to Washington D.C. to attend Frequent Traveler University I was excited about prospects for the weekend. Besides the opportunity to learn about all things in the points and miles universe, I’d get to walk around one of my favorite cities and I’d also have a chance to meet up with some close friends who moved to the area.
When we were making plans for the evening, I told my friends I didn’t care what we were going to do because that evening I just wanted to spend time with them catching up on the last couple of years.
As they put it, they “kidnapped” me from my hotel and asked what I wanted for dinner and they had two suggestions. The first was a pizza place near my hotel. I told them I had pizza the night before so I asked for option two. They said the second option was further away and it was a barbecue place. I did a double-take as I know my friends are vegan.
“Barbecue?” I asked, “Are you guys going to eat anything?”
“Yeah, they have some awesome vegan barbecue.”
Vegan Barbecue??
I trust my friends, probably more than I should, and went along for the 20 minute car ride from my hotel to the restaurant.
Smoke & Barrel
2471 18th Street, N.W.
Washington D.C.
Getting to visit places like this is one of the reasons Sharon and I love meeting up with friends and family when we travel. We get to see some awesome places we’d never discover on our own. Right away, I knew why my friends brought me here. They have some awesome BBQ and a full menu of bourbon (as well as one of the best Sazeracs I’ve ever tasted).
But what would my friends have to eat? They ordered the Vegan Sampler which included Veggie Chili, Vegan Spare Ribs, Smoked Tofu and the Vegan Wings. Yes, Vegan Wings. They more I looked these things up, I found out that they are famous in the vegan food world.
I was there for the company and not the food….. but the food I had was wonderful. It’s no secret that Sharon and I love us some great barbecue. 4Rivers Smokehouse is one of the places we recommend to people looking to eat somewhere outside the theme parks when in Orlando and we make sure to visit Salt Lick every time we visit Texas.
I was leery of going to get barbecue “up north” but this place does it right and if I can go there for dinner with my vegan friends, even better. We ended the meal by sharing an order of the Sweet Potato donuts for dessert. These are not technically vegan because of the honey butter but apparently neither are my friends 🙂
We all left stuffed and headed out to walk around the the monuments at night. This is also something I’ve never done before and I’d highly suggest it. There’s something majestic about seeing the monuments all lit up and you’ll get them mostly to yourself. If you knew me and the friends I was with, you’d know this isn’t a good thing.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
