If your in near the Washington, D.C area you should take time to stop by Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe’.  Business has been thriving since 1976 and I can see why. Here is my experience:

As you walk in you may suspect this place is just a typical book store. To my surprise you walk towards the back and there goes a full bar and restaurant, with your choice of sitting in or outside. Menu is simple with gourmet sandwiches, unique pastas, seafood dishes, and colorful salads.

This place is definitely for the young, hip, old, business persons, and families. Its great when a restaurant can combine all these in one. After a long day of traveling I ordered a cup of chamomile tea with honey to escape the chilly DC air.

Next to me an older woman, around 56 or so, raved about how great her pasta was..” I didn’t intend to eat it all but it was so good” she said (I just knew I had to get pasta). To go she ordered a slice of red velvet cake that looked delicious as we walked passed the display upon leaving. I decided to go with the Fettuccine New Orleans.  It consisted of Gulf Shrimp, cafe’ made sausage and chicken breast, with onions, sweet peppers, and scallions, covered in a light sweet cream sauce. Soon my food came…

Looks great!!!

The sausage were delicious.  Overall, the pasta was good,but not as flavorful as it looks.  Mixing Great food and a relaxed ambiance means The Afterwords cafe’ is worth the visit.

For dessert I had a slice of the carrot cake. Of course you can go wrong with this (because some carrot cakes tend to be dry), but the cream cheese frosting was really good, not too sweet, texture smooth and complemented the nuts, caramel, and raspberry puree drizzled across the plate well.

After paying for the bill I checked out a couple of books on the neatly stacked tables and shelves.  Typical book prices were between $10-$20, depending, with a variety of subjects ranging from a How to Guide for Sex to the lies in American Politics.

To Check Out more of Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe’ go to www.kramers.com.