Nationals Park Neighborhood Eateries: Justin's Cafe

Happy almost New Year! After a little side discussion, I am pleased to announce my first guest poster (and she's bringing a feature that will hopefully be a recurring guest post series until baseball season starts!) Meet Beth. She's one of my Nats park buddies, and she lives right in the neighborhood. The Nats Park neighborhood! She's been exploring the new eating places as the neighborhood grows. Since we are always looking for the inside scoop on the new munchies in town, the gang proposed that Beth be our Nats Neighborhood food critic. Only she didn't have a place to post her reviews. I am glad to share them over here - now we can all take advantage of Beth's knowledge and plan our next visit to the ballpark. Welcome Beth, and I hope all of you enjoy our tour of the restaurants around the ballpark. Hopefully we'll have a new post about once a week, and that should take us close to opening day. (Hurry up April! We miss baseball!)
~ Jen.

*Guest post by Beth Dahlman*

Justin’s Cafe

1025 1st St. SE

Opened: April, 2010

I’m going to start off the first write up in this little series with a disclaimer: I’m totally biased about Justin’s. It’s the only place that I’ll be writing about that was in the Navy Yard/Near Southeast neighborhood before we were. Eating there after we toured the condo we would eventually move into in August 2010 is part of what made Dan and I know we could make the neighborhood our home. We’ve met dear friends playing trivia there on Tuesdays. The checks come with our names on them instead of a table number. After dozens of pizzas and hundreds of pints of Racer 5 IPA there’s just no way I can be “objective.” But I hope I can be helpful.

Since it was the only sit down eatery close to Nationals Park for many years it’s probably the spot most familiar to Nats fans, but I couldn’t leave it off the list of places I was going to write about (due to all the sentiment expressed above).

For those of you who haven’t been, Justin’s serves an American food menu focused on salads, pizzas and sandwiches. Dan is partial to the buffalo burger and I always take a couple of the 5 Guys-esque fries when he orders one. But to me the pizzas are the standouts among the Justin’s menu (and offer the most vegetarian friendly options). They are “neopolitan-American” style with a crisp, chewy crust (the chew reminds me of a good bagel, though it’s way less dense). One is more than enough for one pretty hungry adult. Less hungry couples could probably split one and be fine. My standard order is the Wentworth plus arugula (if you could start ordering that as “The Beth” and make that a thing that would be cool). Drinks are focused on American craft beers. There’s also wine and a full bar but to be honest I can probably count the number of times I’ve ordered something other than a Racer 5 without taking off my shoes.

Go if you’re looking for:

• Fun, neighborhood atmosphere for lunch or dinner. It’s the “Cheers” of Navy Yard.
• American craft beer
• Pizza!
• A selfie with a MASN personality
• The chance to lose to my team in trivia on Tuesdays

You might want to skip if:

• Crowds bother you (a smaller space + being the only option for so long means the place can get pretty packed, especially right before and after Nats home games).
• You’re looking for a leisurely, traditional brunch. Justin’s has a tasty but limited brunch menu (and it’s not served on game days).
• You’ve got little ones in tow during prime time. While I’ve always found Justin’s warm and welcoming, I can see the seating situation and crowds of baseball revelers making it a tricky option for families when it’s crowded.
• You’re a strict vegetarian with a soup craving (most of their soups are made with chicken broth)