Eastern Market Washington DC

A few years ago when we visited Washington DC we wanted to go someplace fun so we decided to drop by the Eastern Market.  We took the Metro over, walked from the stop towards the market, and discovered that it was closed.  It was a Monday and the market is only open six days a week.  Still, that visit put the spot on the map for us and was something we wanted to go back and experience.  We finally got the chance while we were staying in the city last May.

From Tuesday through Sunday, visitors flow through the South Hall Market, where merchants serve the finest meats, poultry, seafood, produce, pasta, baked goods and cheeses from around the world. On weekends, Eastern Market buzzes with excitement, live music, and local flair! Outside of the market, local farmers empty their trucks with recently harvested produce…direct from farms in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. Beyond fruits, veggies, and fresh flowers, over 100 exhibitors of handmade arts, crafts, jewelry, and antiques offer something for everyone!
--from Eastern Market website

My wife had bought me the book Grand Avenues, about architect L'enfant's design of the city of Washington DC before our trip and it was fun to see different elements of his plan visible as we toured the city, from the sight-lines from the Capitol to Eastern Market.

Pierre L’Enfant’s 1791 plans for the city of Washington designated space for local markets. Eastern Market, completed in 1873, emerged from this original plan. It was designed by a German-born immigrant named Adolf Cluss. A renowned local architect of his time, Cluss also designed the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building, which to this day is a prominent building on The Mall.
--from Eastern Market website

Inside you'll find a large, well market-style building.  It is very similar to Cincinnati's Findlay Market or Charleston West Virginia's Capitol Market if you've been to either of those venues (as we have).  We browsed for a while looking at the different venues to see what was available.  This seafood booth had plenty of different options if we'd been wanting to cook.

This venue had already closed up for the day unfortunately.

Finding fun different produce items are a definite benefit of shopping at a market versus a grocery store.  I've found some items that were locally grown or unique and not what you'd find at a mainstream store.

Do you like meat?  If so then you have many different options to choose from!

And don't forget cheese.  I was tempted to buy a fun variety of cheese for lunch, but ultimately we went another direction.

Finally I stopped by the Fine Sweet Shoppe where I picked up a hot dog for myself and a milkshake for my wife (she really likes milkshakes).

How do these desserts look?  I found it very hard to pick the one that I wanted to go with my meal.

Ultimately I settled on one of the huge lemon bars and let me tell you it was incredibly delicious!

Amy was in the mood for something a little different so we browsed through Paik Produce and discovered that they had fried dumplings, so we bought her an order which she really enjoyed.

After eating, we headed back to the Metro and went to the Mall so that we could tour some memorials.

If you're touring Washington DC and want to find a place to eat that is off the beaten path then you could do much worse than stopping by Eastern Market.  If you want to see all the photos from our visit check out this album.

~Matt