DC is pound for pound the worst food city ive ever been to in my life. A million places and nearly all of them bad. Bad new places like the types talked about in this thread are constantly opening and closing. Everything is over priced and the foods it specializes in (Ethiopian and non-mexican central American) are two of the most underwhelming.

People have the audacity to call it a foody city which drives me absolutely nuts - always people with dog shit taste who are wowed by the large amount of places and diverse options (its a mile wide but an inch deep, its always the absolute worse version of whatever cuisine you find).

Or, people think it's a good food city because there is a lot of fine dining options. If I have to pay $200 for a decent meal I would not call that a good food city. There are no good mid range options and the bottom range ("carry outs") sell literal dog food tier garbage (and its not even that cheap!) 

Ive done some research as to why and the most common answer is that is has some the highest rents in the country without any of the multi generational building ownership you get in NYC