Socci - DC

One thing about staying at hotels is that you end up eating at their restaurant.  They just make it too easy.  You don't have to leave the building, you don't have to go outside and trying to find the way.

This is Socci, which is inside the Renaissance Capital View Hotel in Arlington.  And everything smells great.

I'm just impressed with the cup, because by the time you drink it to the bottom, you'll see their logo.

This is their hip decor, it is very impressive.  I just had to instagram one.  LOL.

Alright, let's talk food.... I had their crab omelet and it came with home fries.  The home fries needed some salt, but the omelet does have real chunks of crab meat.  That's really where your value is at.  Inside has spinach and cheese.  Talk about a perfect omelet.  Not too cheesy and over empowering, just right on the portion, and came out beautifully.

If you don't have time for a sit down breakfast, they do have a cafe.  In the morning, that's a popular spot, they do close middle of the afternoon.  Back at Socci, they have a very popular happy hour with pizza and appetizer to go with the bar specials.  You should give that a shot.  We tried but there were alot of people, so got discouraged and went somewhere else.  Otherwise, they do make it very comfortable that you don't have to leave the building.

Socci

2800 South Potomac Ave · 

Arlington, Virginia 22202

703-413-1300

http://marriottmodules.com/renaissance_arlington_capital_view_hotel/socci_restaurant/

Fontaine Caffe & Creperie - DC

As David travels, we have to find more gluten free friendly places.  Lucky for us, there are more up in the Northeast areas than in Texas.  As gluten free is gaining momentum, Texas is slowly catches on, but it sure makes it easy for travel when a city is already familiar with the allergy.

David found Fontaine  on Yelp.  And it was a great recommendation.  Located in Old Town Alexandria, it was quaint and cute.

You can see that they serve a wide arrange of alcohol if needed.  Opened by a pair of sisters who grew up eating whole foods, one sister went off to become a chef and opened this cafe after some experience with big named places.

 Lucky for us, they realized that there is a need for gluten free crepes and all crepes can be substituted with buckwheat batter.  

Here I ordered the Parisienne, which is chicken with ratatouille veggies, topped with a nice pesto sauce and inside there's baked brie.  It was definitely rich with the brie, I barely touched my side salad, I was full.

But how can you say no to a sweet crepe?  Of course you have to have some!  The sweet crepe wasn't as well done as the savory crepe.  This is just nutella crepe.  They didn't put alot of Nutella in it and it didn't have sufficient time to melt inside the crepe.  

By the way, if you order gluten free sweet crepe there's a $1 surcharge, however for savory crepe they don't charge you anything extra, so make sure to take note.

The place is small, they do have more seating on the back behind the bar, but if you go during peak meal time, don't be surprise if you have a wait outside the door.  Some nights they do French movie nights to go with the meal too.  Check their site for more info.

Fontaine Caffe & Creperie

Old Town Alexandria

119 South Royal Street  

Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 535-8151

www.fontainecaffe.com/

The Happy Tart - DC

We are on the road this week and we'll be showing you what we ate in Northeast!

In DC/Virginia area, we found The Happy Tart.  They are known for gluten free goodies.

Just so you know, it is in Del Ray area.  It's a neat little shopping and dining area.  Parking might be challenge, but if you drive too fast, you will miss the place... as you can see, it's tucked in a side of an alley.

Look at that cute little cart... I love it!

Inside, there's the delicious dessert case.  You have your frangipane, cookies, macarons!!! 

Since it's Macaron Friday, I have to give you the obligatory macaron shots!  That's a pistachio mac!

Here we have violette flavor. 

It was definitely more almond-y flavor than normal.  It's also very chewy.  Although, I think I'd like it more if they would put it in a refrigerated case.

Here's what else they have: pistachio cupcake (which by the way happened to have a huge bubble when they baked it).   The frosting was quite nice though.

Then we have a s'more cupcake.  It was nice and marshmallowy for sure... I like how it's chewy on the marshmallow part.  You can tell the cupcake is GF but it's not so obvious that you wouldn't like it.

They also have soup, bread (which I heard tastes closed to the real thing).  We tried their quiche, but it is not cheap.  On top of that, they also have mixes for you to bake your own cookies and lemon bar.

The Happy Tart Bakery

closes on Monday

2307A Mount Vernon Avenue, 

Alexandria, VA 22301

http://happytartbakery.com/