As a Major League Soccer player, you are given the opportunity to travel all around the country and in some special instances, the world, multiple times in every season. Amazing as this is, it also comes with the burdens of constant repetitive stays in strange hotels, eating in different restaurants on every trip, and spending most of your days with your roommate scanning the internet or television for some way to keep your attention occupied. MLS teams cover tens of thousands of miles each season and visit between 12-15 different cities, all the while being far away from your family and friends, with mostly nothing but your teammates for company.
You have to find ways to avoid going nuts spending all your time with the people you work with (in the hopes of not losing it and going ballistic on them). Nothing breaks this monotony better than a good meal with good company, and surpasses the sense of satisfaction that comes from a great dining experience. This is what we like to call “The Beautiful Dish.”
The goal of this blog is to enlighten our readers to the different, excellent possibilities for great dining experiences in each of these cities as found by the members of their local MLS franchise. We will search for that elusive “beautiful dish” in each city that can succeed in breaking up the monotony of a long travel day, and make your short visit that much more. We will spend our time visiting the different restaurants in each city using suggestions from home team players and organizations as well as spending much of the time examining our own D.C.'s best eateries and dining experiences. Of course, suggestions from readers and fans are most welcome (just send a note to the editor, Ryan Tronovitch at Rtronovitch@dcunited.com).
Please understand that none of us are what you would call “culinary experts” and are at best self-proclaimed foodies. All the knowledge we can share is: we know what we like and hope you like the same...but you are more than welcome not too. We will analyze the restaurants from the perspectives that we consider important, and of course we will employ a rating system that reflects our chosen profession. Each restaurant will be graded on the following categories, with all the scores being added into an overall grading:
- Food(and at times drinks)
- Presentation
- Atmosphere
- Price
The Overall score will be as follows:
- RED CARD: Straight Dismissal
- YELLOW CARD: Proceed with Caution
- DRAW: Neither good nor bad but can swing in either direction. Sometimes a point is good, sometimes a point is bad.
- NUTMEG: Sometimes you put the ball through the opponents legs in a game, and you haven't won but you are very happy with yourself for a good while after.
- UPPER 90: Best you can get. You're making Sportscenter's Top 10 plays of the day, and are a 'beautiful dish' finalist.
See the authors in action this weekend at RFK Stadium as they take on the New York Red Bulls Saturday at 7:00 p.m. Tickets still available
