Food, Drink & Hidden Gems

Half-smoke: Coarse-ground, smoked half-pork/half-beef sausage. Order it 'all the way' at Ben's Chili Bowl — mustard, onions, chili.

Mumbo (or mambo) sauce: A sweet-tangy red sauce that goes on wings, fried rice, and almost anything from a DC carryout. Origins disputed with Chicago, but DC has trademarked the spelling 'mambo.'

Jumbo slice: Massive pizza slices sold at 2 a.m. in Adams Morgan after the bars close.

Spanish chef José Andrés started in DC in 1993. His ThinkFoodGroup runs Jaleo (tapas), Zaytinya (Mediterranean), Oyamel (Mexican), and minibar (two Michelin stars — DC's highest in-city). Andrés also founded World Central Kitchen, the disaster-relief nonprofit, headquartered in DC.

Maine Avenue Fish Market (1805) is the oldest continuously operating open-air seafood market in America — older than NYC's Fulton. Eastern Market on Capitol Hill (1873) is the city's last surviving public market. Old Ebbitt Grill (1856) is DC's oldest saloon. Martin's Tavern in Georgetown is where JFK proposed to Jackie.

DC has the largest Ethiopian community outside Ethiopia. The blocks around 9th & U are informally called Little Ethiopia — try Dukem, Etete, or Chercher for injera and doro wat.