Eat Great Cheap 2016 Extra-Cheap |
 Best for Carryout |
 Good for Vegetarians |
From the outside, these casual, quick-serve shops appear to have all the charm of a Subway. But then you walk in and are hit with the marvelous whiff of yeast and baking bread—the same undeniable smell you pick up on at a patisserie in Paris. The owner, Gerald Koh, spent time there as well as at DC’s Bread Line, under Mark Furstenberg, learning the verities of bread baking. Koh’s loaves—warm, airy, crusty—are the foundation of every sandwich at Bon Fresco. Topped with melted Brie, a tangy sun-dried-tomato pesto, and caramelized onions or with slices of tender London broil and cheddar (to name just two of his smart arrangements), they make magic.
Also good: Tomato-saffron soup; spicy peanut soup; Genoa sandwich, with mortadella, soppresatta, and salami; Capri sandwich, with prosciutto, salami, and capicola; mozzarella-and-tomato sandwich; chicken-picante sandwich.
See what other restaurants made our 2016 Cheap Eats list. This article appears in our May 2016 issue of Washingtonian.
Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
