Nurturing my inner... georgetown on the cheap

When a friend of mine said, "Hey, there is this great place in DC you have to try called Surfside," I thought for sure she was talking about a seafood joint.  But no.  It's Mexican.  (Imagine that.)  And, affordable.  (Imagine that too.)

I didn't get a pic of the outside, I think the extreme heat distracted me, but it wasn't anything to catch your eye anyway.  So here is a link to their about page if you really want to see it.  They have some parking behind them, which is nice.  If you go early like we did, there was no searching the streets for a space.  Just park and cross the one way road.

The interior was simple and industrial.  Brick walls and boards with the offerings.  What may seem unfancy, cafeteria style at first glance to you will pleasantly surprise you in a few minutes.  You go up, order, get a buzzer (like Panera does) and then you can get your drinks and find a spot to settle down in.

People on bottom right filling out paper lists that
help you create specialized burritos, tacos and
salads. You can create whatever you'd like!

Yes, it was unnaturally, unbearably humid out, but we wanted to sit outside.  On the roof of the place, after you hike up a long flight of stairs, is a deck.  Complete with bar and tables.

Open tables to the side, but we sat in the ones
under the awnings in the shade.

Buzzer went off, I went back down to where I ordered, and there was my plate.  (You can create your own combos, but the menu was so good as is, I just ordered right off of that.)

Maui: Two grilled fish-of-the-day tacos in corn tortillas with black bean and corn salsa, guacamole, cilantro and lime sour cream.

Is this not a beautiful dish?  Everything was super fresh and talk about delicioso!  We also got a pitcher of margaritas to share with the group.  Refreshing and cool on such a hot day.  But how fun to sit and dine on a rooftop in the city!  Yeah, we were cool!  (Well, not in temperature, but in popularity.)

First time I've had fish tacos and now, I'm
hooked for life! (That was actually an
unintended pun. Seriously.)

After supper, because we went at 4:30 it was still nice and early, we drove over to another part of Georgetown to Sprinkles and found easy street parking just up a few blocks.  There are several cupcake places nearby but honestly, no, I'm not waiting 40 minutes in the extreme heat to get into the one that has the show on TV.  Plus, I have it on good authority from my friends that half of the hype for that place is the show instead of the cakes and that other places are actually better.  One day I'll find out and post my first-hand opinion, when the line is shorter or the temperature is more reasonable, if that place is worth the line.  As for that day, the Sprinkles' queue had about five people in it before us.  (Instead of 45!  That's crazy!!!)

Simple storefront.

The case inside was very modern looking.  The cupcakes were uniform in size and decoration, save for different colors, and in sectioned out holes in a board.  Extremely orderly.

The decision: so hard! I'd like to try salty
caramel or banana chocolate one day.

Everyone was getting two.  (Apparently I will give in to some peer pressure and follow suit in certain circumstances.)  I got one for myself and the other to bring back for a friend who couldn't make it out with us.

And a bottled water because, I'll say it again, it
was HOT! They had wood forks to help you eat
your cupcake. Might as well be neat.

Seeing as I was so full (feel free to scroll back up to the plate of fish tacos for a reminder of why), I took them home and refrigerated them.  The next day, I visited my friend and had taken them out to room temp before eating.  Mine was the one on the left - key lime.  With bits of lime zest in the cake and the icing.  Oh my, it was scrumptious!  I try to diversify my flavors when I get the chance, so I don't always order red velvet, and I was not disappointed.  My friend is a marshmallow fiend (borderline obsessed to be honest), so I got her chocolate marshmallow.  It had a core of the white fluff inside.

Don't bother to eat the fondant dot on top.
Yucko! For decoration only! (And for them to
mark the type of cupcake. It's code.)

I think we locals just assume that going into Georgetown means shelling out the big bucks.  Untrue!  Tacos were $9.95 (generous portion!) and the cupcake $3.50.  Not bad at all!  It's good to go on recommendations from friends and to see where you can go that is not super fancy.  The best food can be found in the craziest of places!