S Street between 18th and 19th Streets NW

This headline may not make a lot of sense to you, but I figured I’d do a very non-scientific comparison of my previous and current city neighborhoods. I lived for many years in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, DC, and loved the beautiful, vibrant feel. It is super convenient to downtown (I usually always walked or biked to work), it has gorgeous architecture, basically, it is great! Now, let’s see how Villa Crespo measures up…

Transport: How cool is this, they are both on the Red Line metro/subway! In BsAs, it is more commonly referred to as the Línea B, but its color is red! Both places are served well by metro. Dupont is closer to the city center than Villa Crespo is, but VC has better transport overall: The metro comes much more frequently and the area has a gazillion bus lines. Villa Crespo +1

Biking: Villa Crespo has some bikelanes, but I have not dared to try them yet. Biking in BsAs seems pretty scary… In Dupont, it is totally normal and there are lots of bike shops in the area, as it borders some of the most hipster places in the city. Dupont Circle +1

Shopping: While Dupont Circle does have some grocery stores, bakeries etc., it doesn’t really have everything you need, and many people go other places to shop. In Villa Crespo, as I pointed out in my other post, I have absolutely everything within just a couple of blocks. Villa Crespo: +1

Food: This is difficult because I haven’t  been here very long. In Dupont, I had some really good favorite places, such as Bistro du Coin (yum!!) and Sette (it did go down but I still liked it.) In VC, I just haven’t tried many places yet, but the ones I  have tried have been really good (Malvón, La Crespo, Café Crespin.) I will have to say that the jury is out on this one. Check out Pick up the Fork‘s reviews of places in Villa Crespo. No points given yet!

Pretty street between Corrientes and Murillo

Architecture: VC has some nice buildings, lots of cute houses and some adorable streets. However, I think Dupont wins from just the sheer quantity of gorgeous houses. Dupont: +1

Jewish presence: You might wonder how that factors in to my non-scientific review, but I just think it is cool that Villa Crespo has such a large Jewish presence: Outside the police station it says “police” in Hebrew, the area is home to the Scholem Aleijem School, and you can get great bagels and lox at La Crespo (and other places) – while people in DC were always complaining that the bagels were no good! So, a point to Villa Crespo: +1

Well, this leads us to a draw: 3 points to each place, and one yet-to-be decided… I guess I will have to do lots of eating so that I can decide this once and for all. Dupont has a very special place in my heart and Villa Crespo is definitely making its way in there as well.