Town Hall
Bushies at the bar, Americana at the table.
By
Todd Kliman
,
Ann Limpert
,
Cynthia Hacinli
Published Thursday, December 01, 2005
"We're sort of going through an identity crisis," the young waiter at Town Hall admits ruefully. A couple of weeks earlier Jenna Bush and her posse had been in the second-floor bar of the Glover Park newcomer, and now the wannabes in halter tops and their button-down boyfriends are swarming the place on weekends for drinks and jerk-chicken wings. For a place bent on becoming a serious restaurant, being dubbed the new Smith Point--where the Bush twins used to hang in Georgetown--has to be a mixed blessing.
Still, the neighborhood is giving the new place, in the former Saveur space, a chance. On a recent Friday night at dinnertime, empty-nesters and families with young kids supped on trendy comfort food in the yellow-and-brown dining room. So far the kitchen could use some fine-tuning. Of the handful of plates sampled--including an andouille-and-Manchego quesadilla and a turkey pot pie that begged for more turkey--the pan-roasted pork chop with mac and cheese and caramelized apples was the only one that made us sigh. But what a sigh: A forkful of the elegant cream-and-goat-cheese-laden mac with a chunk of salty pork and a wedge of sweet apple was close to bliss.
We'll be back for another round--that is, if we can nudge through the crowds at the bar.
Town Hall: 2218 Wisconsin Ave., NW; 202-333-5640; townhalldc.com. Open Tuesday through Saturday for lunch, Sunday for brunch, daily for dinner. Appetizers $6 to $11, main courses $8 to $23, desserts $7.
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