About Teddy’s Roti Shop
 Best for Carryout |
 Vegetarian-Friendly |
 No Alcohol |
More than 12 bucks for a chicken roti might seem steep at a no-frills counter-service joint, especially if you’ve ever grabbed one of the wraps from a roadside stand in the Caribbean. Then the dish arrives like a mega-burrito—a seeming pound of tender, bone-in chicken and potatoes in a warmly spiced yellow curry, all wrapped in a delicate flatbread. Such are the home-style portions at Teddy’s, where diners get a taste of Trinidad and the island’s strong South Asian influence. (Curries and griddled breads abound.) A whiteboard menu offers two styles of roti—layered “buss up shut” (translation: bust-up shirt) for the heartiest eaters and a thicker, pancake-like sada roti—all with a choice of fillings such as chickpeas and spinach or goat. The latter is a must, stewed on island time so it’s falling off the bone.
Also good: Jerk chicken with peas and rice; doubles (flatbreads filled with curried chickpeas); fried plantains; callaloo.
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.
