Rayburn Special Orders Deli

The House of Representatives hired a new vendor, Restaurant Associates, revamping and overseeing food services for the entire House campus. A number of changes have been instituted in all the cafeterias, most notably in the Rayburn Deli.
Gone is online ordering for sandwiches, indeed sandwiches of old-​Rayburn-​deli quality can now be found in the main cafeterias. Rayburn deli now offers as their specialty a flatbread sandwich-​pizza concoction, made to order and heated until crisp while you wait. The flatbread isn’t enough of a delicious food item to justify the distance and wait-​time involved in procuring it.
Redeeming the deli from mediocrity is the frozen yogurt machine. Frozen yogurt is now the sole reason I find myself weekly in the Rayburn deli, providing a sweet afternoon treat and meager reward to the slaving of our office intern. The quality of the frozen yogurt has actually improved and flavors like vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate are now discernible and pleasant. I’m most excited over the TOPPING BAR. Give me a bowl of frozen yogurt and I’m happy for the time it takes to consume it, give me a bowl of frozen yogurt with any combination of sprinkles, oreos, peanuts, caramel, chocolate topping, butterfinger, and marshmallows and I’m elated for the rest of the afternoon.
Come for fro yo and come early — there’s usually a line and a painstaking goading of the machine the later it gets (is frozen yogurt supposed to dispense… that…slow…ly…from a machine?). Double check your Congressional calendar before you come as well — if the House doesn’t meet that day, the deli doesn’t open.

Where else can you buy frozen yogurt by weight while standing in line with Congressmen? The best dessert/​afternoon snack deal around! Just beware of the heavy toppings when calculating costs.
The salads tend to have too much mayonnaise, but the sandwiches are tasty. As the ultimate bonus, you can order online for pickup to skip the line. These people have thought of everything!

For being a restaurant at the US House of Reps, the «Special Odors» deli isn’t terrible. On the upside, you can order online and your sandwich will be ready when you arrive. On the downside, some of the meats are, um, unique interpretations of what they’re supposed to be (beware the turkey and capicola). And the service, well… at least your eating adjacent to the Capitol. Hmm… Subway really isn’t THAT far a walk…