This page will list restaurants near the PyCon conference site. If you have a particularly good or bad experience with a particular restaurant, or discover a good one that isn't listed, please add your account to this page.

Georgetown, an upscale neighbourhood to the west of the Foggy Bottom area, has many fine restaurants as long as you're willing to walk there; parking is scarce and buses aren't particularly frequent. If you're willing to walk somewhere for dinner, though, you could consider Georgetown.

Several Metro stops are connected to huge food courts. Union Station is probably the largest. Washington's small Chinatown district surrounds the Gallery Place/Chinatown Metro stop.

The Metro station closest to PyCon is Foggy Bottom; walk up to Eye Street and turn left, walking a few blocks west.

If you're trying to use a store locator, the Cafritz Center's Zip code is 20052.

In the building

See this page for more information.

(On Saturday/Sunday, it looks like the stores in the building are all closed; March Break was the previous week. They should be open on Monday.)

In the building's food court on the first floor:

• Baja Sol Tortilla Grill - Tex Mex
• Burger King
• DM Express - grocery store
• Einstein Brothers Bagels
• Jamba Juice -- smoothies
• Miso - Asian Cuisine
• Starbucks
• Subway
• Tuscan Oven - Pizza and Pasta
• Wendy's

In the basement:

• District Market: grocery store with sandwiches, fruit, etc.

Across the street

If you leave the building by the main entrance, you'll see a large Tower Records across the street. This is actually part of a small mall (called "2000 Pennsylvania") which has a number of additional choices.

• Au Bon Pain
• Bertucci's -- Italian. The bar is on the first floor; sit-down and carry-out is in the basement.
• The Burro -- Tex-Mex
• Cone E. Island -- ice cream
• Kinkead's -- seafood, brasserie, live jazz nightly; entrees cost around $25, probably ruling it out for lunch.
• La Prima -- carry-out sandwiches, bagels, baked treats
• Vaccaro's Italian Pastry -- pastries and coffee

Nearby

There are many restaurants in the blocks surrounding the conference center. They're almost all located to the north of PyCon; southwards the area is mostly university buildings or residences.

In rough order of proximity (Eye Street is used as a more-readable synonym for I Street):

• Lindy's Bon Apetit, 2040 Eye Street (a block north) -- sit-down style pub/grill, or carry-out. Good burgers (including a veggie burger).

• Friday's -- NE corner of 21st & Eye Street

• Penn Grill, 825 20th -- sandwiches; not open for dinner
• Capitol Grounds, corner Pennsylvania. and 21st -- coffee, sandwiches, salads
• Prima Piatti, 2011 Pennsylvania

• Baja Fresh, NW corner of 20th & Eye

• Charlie Chiang's, 1912 Eye -- buffet-style Chinese
• Kaz Sushi Bistro, 1915 Eye
• Aroma Indian Restaurant, 1919 Eye -- ok, but a little pricey
• Juice Zone, 1921 Eye
• El Chalan, 1924 Eye
• Karma, ~1900 Eye -- new-agey coffee and drinks, sandwiches
• Thai Place, 2134 Pennsylvania
• Mehran House of Kabob, 2138 Pennsylvania
• Panda Cafe, 2136 Pennsylvania
• Froggy Bottom Pub, 2142 Pennsylvania

There are also restaurants on K Street. They tend to be pricier, so you may prefer to consider them only for dinner.

• Bombay Palace
• Mr. K's -- Chinese
• Legal Sea Foods
• The Prime Rib
• Thai Kingdom

Vegetarians can consult the Washington DC section on VegGuide.org.

Other nearby resources

Drugstores

The District Market store located in the basement carries some toiletries and over-the-counter medications.

There is a CVS drugstore at 1901 Pennsylvania (corner of 19th and Penn), and another one at 1990 K Street.

If you find any others that are closer, please record them here.

Bookstores

Reiter's is the largest technical and scientific bookstore in the DC area, and is definitely worth a visit; they also carry legal and professional titles. It's a few blocks to the north of PyCon, at 2021 K Street.

The GW University bookstore is on the first floor of the Cafritz Center.

There is a Borders at 600 14th Street, and a three-floor Barnes&Noble in Georgetown at 3040 M Street.

If you prefer to spend your money at independent booksellers, there are a number of smaller independent bookstores located in Georgetown, such as Bridge Street Books at 2814 Pennsylvania. Consult Evelyn Leeper's bookstore list for a complete list. (And don't forget the museum gift shops, too; Shakespeare lovers *will* want to go visit the Folger, for example.)

Copying Services

There is a Fedex/Kinko's in the basement of the Cafritz Center.

There is a UPS Store in 2000 Penn, the mall across the street (where the Tower Records is located).

For office supplies: a Staples is located at the corner of L and 19th, and an Office Depot is at the corner of K and 20th.

CategoryPyCon2005