Food for Thought* is the little cafe attached to Black Cat, a legendary DC music venue. We’d had plans for a card party on this evening, but it was cancelled, because our host’s sweet little dog, Kennedy, fell earlier that day and needed to rest. (He’s doing better now.) So myself, Joel, and another friend grabbed a bag full of games and headed down the street to Food for Thought (yes, we’re those people who play games in public). Food for Thought is awesome in a lot of ways: it has good vegan options, the prices are super reasonable, and it’s never packed — we showed up at 8:00pm on Saturday night and had our pick of seats. We started with the vegan lasagna, and if it’s your first time at Food for Thought, that’s what you should go for as well. I burned the roof of my mouth when I started eating it, because it was so hot, but I still couldn’t stop. I ate through the pain and it was worth it (my mouth still hasn’t completely recovered, and it’s three days later). (Pro-tip: save at least two slices of garlic bread to wipe up the plate droppings at the end.) Feast your eyes:
After our lasagna course, we remained unsated, so I ordered vegan nachos and two orders of fries for the three of us to share. For future reference, the orders of fries are very large, and two orders was gluttonous (aka: awesome). Let me start with the nachos. The vegan nachos at Food for Thought are interesting. The vegan cheese is heavy on the nutritional yeast/tahini, which isn’t my favorite, but it works here. The toppings are what I would change (or add to, rather). They come with onions, black olives, mushrooms, and (I think) banana peppers. I’d love to see some tomatoes (or at least salsa on the side) and lettuce on these bad boys — maybe even an option to pay 1.50 more guacamole. That would push these already damn good nachos over the top to stellar status.
Oh my god, Food for Thought’s fries are so good! So good! They’re seasoned, and there’s skin on the potatoes — they’re perfect, just perfect. But you’re still given the option to pour vinegar over them, and I respect that. See our game in the background? That’s Racko — it’s super fun!
Food for Thought also has a whole bunch of other stuff that I’ve never tried but want to, including dessert selections like vegan cupcakes, vegan pie, and vegan muffins. Word.
…And one more thing about Black Cat. Every Saturday night, they show an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for $0. It’s called the Hellmouth Happy Hour, and it’s just one more reason to love this place.
*FOOD FOR THOUGHT IS CASH ONLY, SO GO TO THE ATM FIRST!
I love the Black Cat. How close to it are you? Hopefully not TOO close! I had a friend that lived down the street a few blocks and walking back to his place was the moment in my life I felt most likely to get mugged. And I’ve been to Detroit AND Flint.
Just a few blocks – it’s at 14 & U, and he’s at 15 & S. It’s one of the nicest areas in the city, though, so maybe your friend lived in a different direction? There’s also been a TON of gentrification in DC in the past few years, so it may have just changed a lot since then. I live in the Capitol Hill Historic District, close to the Capitol, and one night while I was walking home I got mugged next to houses that cost well over $1 million, so you just never can tell.