Chef Tarik Frazier and business partner Alex Hamilton spent over a year testing recipes and launching pop-ups for MushDC, their vegan sandwich shop. Now, their indulgent, plant-based sandwiches have a more permanent home: Brentwood’s miXt Food Hall. They began serving up mushroom-based sandwiches there in late September.
Frazier has a DC resume that includes stints at Kwame Onwuachi’s late Afro-Caribbean hit Kith/Kin and Tim Ma’s now-closed American Son. Here, his menu puts ‘shroomy spins on popular sandwiches like banh mi and fried chicken. There’s a jerk “chicken” sandwich made with fried oyster mushrooms and a Philly cheesesteak riff made with a mushroom medley, caramelized onions, and a plant-based cheese.
Oyster mushrooms make up the backbone of the all-vegan menu. In 2019, the two friends and DC natives began eating a plant-based diet, and were looking for alternatives to replace all the proteins they’d cut out. Hamilton brought over a deep-fried oyster mushroom cluster and challenged his friend to create something tasty. Frazier succeeded with a sandwich piled with garlic aioli, house-made pickles, lettuce, and tomato (it’s now on the menu). In January of 2022, they started selling their mushroom sandwiches around DC.
Other menu items include bowls using the flavors and ingredients of Peru and the Caribbean, and sides like coconut milk-braised collard greens and fries. Sandwiches are served Thursday through Sunday from 11 AM to 8 PM.
MushDC, 3809 Rhode Island Ave, Brentwood.
