Cheap Eats 2007: EatBar

Reviewed by Todd Kliman , Ann Limpert , Cynthia Hacinli , Don Rockwell , Michele Kayal

EatBar

2761 Washington Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22201
Phone: 703-778-9951

Cuisines:
American, Modern, Tapas/Small Plates

Opening Hours:

Wheelchair Accessible:
Yes

Nearby Metro Stops:
Clarendon

Price Range:
Inexpensive

Dress:
Informal

Noise Level:
Chatty

Reservations:
Not needed

Special Features:
Late Night, Party Space

Website:
Click here to open in new window.

Best Dishes
Bacon-wrapped figs; steak tartare; hot dog; Guinness cupcake; Moscow Mule cocktail.

Price Details:
Starters, $2.25 to $13; entrees, $8 to $15.


 

Reader's Rating:
No Reader Reviews

The best part of eating at Tallula has always been chef Nathan Anda’s menu of two-bite snacks. In the restaurant’s newly renovated lounge, which has been rechristened EatBar and reimagined as a Notting Hill–style gastropub, he’s doing small plates all the way.

Anda’s a carnivore at heart: There’s a “pig of the week” special and a thick burger. He wraps butter-poached figs in bacon, and his aïoli-bound steak tartare is perfect bar food. The hot dog is made entirely in-house, from the thick all-beef sausage to the buttery bun and sharp mustard, and it’s often delicious. Seafood is less so—seared-tuna salad is bland, fried oysters limp. You can conclude the meal with a wedge of Lamb­chopper cheese or an unexpected treat: a Guinness cupcake with Harp-ale icing.

In the main room, lit by candelabra, chalkboards tout a list of obscure beers and such throwback cocktails as the Moscow Mule, a bracing vodka-and-ginger beer concoction that was Hollywood’s it-drink in the ’50s.

Open Tuesday through Friday for lunch, daily for dinner.