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cho_bits t1_jb0yk1b wrote

There used to be a Starbucks where Cracked is. I feel like a neighborhood that can’t support a Starbucks can’t support any coffee shop, but maybe that’s too cynical a take. The Van Ness Starbucks is always busy and that’s definitely a quieter neighborhood.

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cowcubrub t1_jb18ff4 wrote

Van Ness also has Bread Furst which is also packed on any given day

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SchokoKipferl t1_jb1r5h8 wrote

Best baguettes in the city imo

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DCGinkgo t1_jb2vis4 wrote

I hope the croissants are no longer burnt. I gave up on them after weeks after too many well done croissants and no sign that some one person had been leaving them in too long. I just don't get the attraction for mediocre pastries. They do have a decent patio and obviously it's a neighborhood fave, so, hey diff strokes etc.

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cho_bits t1_jb3fcce wrote

I read an interview with the owner once where they asked him about how dark everything was and he said he liked them that way and he was far enough along in his career that he had decided that Bread Furst was where he was just going to make things just for himself/ the way he wants them. Basically that he has spent his whole career appeasing customers and now just wants to appease himself. So I guess you can thank the cranky-old-mannishness of Mark Furstenburg for the well done croissants?

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OneFootTitan t1_jb4uijd wrote

I respect that point of view a lot

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cho_bits t1_jb4y9gw wrote

Oh same, to be clear. He is a DC food icon. (And I love their croissants, especially the chocolate ones)

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DCGinkgo t1_jb8mxrb wrote

Thank you for that explanation. I mean, icon or no, I have never seen such a wide range of consistently burnt stuff, it's so weird. I take my $ elsewhere.

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SchokoKipferl t1_jb2y55s wrote

Never actually tried their croissants! Thanks for the heads-up.

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DCGinkgo t1_jbcoo0z wrote

Seriously they are bad. I mean, Giant has better croissants for the desperate.

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t-rexcellent t1_jb39934 wrote

I think the bread is the appeal more than the pastries

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DCGinkgo t1_jbcocdd wrote

That prob explains it. But they do have quite the spread of pastries, so disappointing.

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t-rexcellent t1_jbcwvdm wrote

I mean I personally don't think the pastries are bad, I can't really remember. They might be great. But I know the bread is great (if sometimes very expensive)

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ActuaryPersonal2378 t1_jb297ne wrote

Discovered Bread Furst last year and it's easily my favorite coffee shop/bakery in DC

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ProblematicFeet t1_jb2yyzp wrote

And we can’t forget Little Red Fox (RIP), Comet Pizza, and Politics & Prose

Van Ness is solid af

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Seppafer t1_jb34qpm wrote

None of those things you mentioned are in Van Ness. Van Ness is a section of the Forest Hills neighborhoods that stretch from CP up to those shops stopping before the CVS. The 5000 block of Connecticut ave is more its own little thing that fills the gap between Van Ness and Chevy Chase

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t-rexcellent t1_jb39fr0 wrote

I consider that block to be Van Ness...I suppose it's just as close to the Tenleytown Metro but being situation around CT ave rather than WI means I think of it as an extension of the rest of van ness. Definitely its own thing (with lots of housing / no retail separating it from the part of van ness near the metro) but until it gets its own name, I call it van ness. Or I call it "the area by politics and prose"

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spectral_fall t1_jdu6s48 wrote

As someone who lived there for a good time, most people I knew viewed themselves as an extension of Tenleytown or Chevy Chase rather than Van Ness

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gbphdxp t1_jb17zd4 wrote

There is a Starbucks across the zoo that seems to be doing okay, though!

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