Locavore food & bakeries in Arlington/DC--where?

[kimgirl]

Hello wonderful Chowhound folks!
My family and I are headed to Arlington/ DC area in the next week and are searching for a few good places to eat. Looking for places with fresh, local fare...extra credit if good vegetarian options. We will have our kids with us (ages 3 & 7), so nothing too fancy--but they are well-behaved. We love all kinds of food, just picky about where ingredients are coming from, so looking for some advice from locals.

Also, best bakeries?
Thanks so much for your time!

[uhockey]

Georgetown Cupcake was a miserable experience and the cupcakes were quite poor - if you crave excellent baked goods, Baked and Wired is a must.

http://uhockey.blogspot.com

[chicken kabob]

I like Georgetown Cupcake-although the cupcakes are too small for the price-and just too small, in general. I LOVE the vanilla birthday cake best- and peanut butter lava is very good, too.

[kimgirl]

Thanks everybody! These places sound perfect!

[mordacity]

Founding Farmers is another good choice for a locally-sourcing place with a relaxed atmosphere.

-----
Founding Farmers
1924 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20006

[kimgirl]

Thanks! Those all sound great! Any must-see farmers markets?

[hamster]

The big one is in Dupont Circle on Sunday mornings (ends at 1).
http://www.freshfarmmarket.org/markets/dupont_circle.html

There is a smaller one in Clarendon as well. Sorry the formatting on this website seems a little screwed up.
http://www.clarendon.org/farmers.html

There was a recent thread on bakeries. Bakeshop has cupcakes and other treats in Arlington. I haven't tried it yet but reviews have been good. I am a renewed fan of Baked and Wired in Georgetown - lots of variety and a nice coffee shop feel.
http://www.bakeshopva.com/
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/7122...

[ktmoomau]

Bakeshop VA has very light cupcakes with normally whip cream frostings, but very tasty ingredients and flavor combinations. I really like them, they are my second favorite cupcake after Georgetown Cupcake. I like that you can really taste the fresh ingredients they use.

-----
Georgetown Cupcake
1209 Potomac St NW, Washington, DC

[ktmoomau]

The Arlington Farmers Market in Courthouse from 8-noon Saturday is very nice.

[CoconutMilk]

I second both the clarendon (wednesday afternoons) and courthouse farmers markets. Quail Creek Farm at the courthouse market has the best bread I've come across in the Arlington area. Their sweets are more hit and miss, even though they all look really good. There are also markets in Ballston on Fridays and the Columbia Pike area on Sundays, but those are probably a little less convenient for you.

[ktmoomau]

Ballston hasn't been doing their Friday market that I have seen this year? Maybe I have gone at the wrong times, but I swear I haven't seen it.

-----
Ballston Cafe
4601 Fairfax Dr Lbby 2, Arlington, VA 22203

[ktmoomau]

American Flatbread is very ingredient concious and very family friendly. Liberty Tavern is very family friendly as well (it gets louder at night, and the bar downstairs will be packed, but the dining room upstairs is still family friendly especially early evening) and they locally source many ingredients. And they make a lot of breads and sausages in house. And they can normally manipulate a lot of dishes to make them vegetarian.

For the best bakery go to Pastries by Randolph.

I am not great on who locally sources what though, especially in DC, maybe someone else can chime in. The only DC place that I know uses locally sourced and responsible ingredients that is family friendly is Dino. But I am sure that there are others.

-----
The Liberty Tavern
3195 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22201