I was in DC the other day on business, and had an hour to grab lunch near the Georgetown area.

I don’t really know Washington DC well, but fired up the web browser on my phone and found Veg DC – a great site with information on restaurants, grocery stores, and other organizations in the area.

That pointed to JavaGreen as being in the right area and well recommended:

All-vegetarian cafe with a nearly all-vegan menu, including mock meats, vegan soy cheese, and so much more. Try the VegDC sandwich (soy ham and vegan cheese), veggie drumsticks, veggie chicken rice wrap, and the many tofu dishes. Priced from $5.95 to $12.50. Also serves delicious soy drinks and caters. A local favorite. Donates 15% of your bill to COK the third Saturday of each month. A 5-minute walk from both the Farragut North and Farragut West Metro stations.

Happy to see their support of Compassion Over Killing (the folks behind the free vegetarian starter kits, among other things), I talke d my colleage into having lunch there.

What a fantastic find. I knew we were in for some good food when I saw how busy their outdoor patio was (on a rather hot DC day) compared to the three other sandwich shops on the block.

Check out the menu – I had the (faux) Chicken Java with Soy Cheese – easily the best vegan panini I think I’ve ever had – as well as their links to the community.

It’s almost enough to make living in DC palatable. Well, maybe after 1.20.09.