What’s involved in a $65 sandwich? Typically, luxury ingredients (i.e. caviar grilled cheese, wagyu katsu) or something sillier (edible gold). But the “Colossal Short Rib” at newly opened Joy by Seven Reasons in Chevy Chase is the DC-area’s new most expensive sandwich thanks to its heft alone: it’s filled with an entire braised short rib.
Chef Enrique Limardo, who’s also behind fine dining spots Seven Reasons and Imperfecto, says he’s going more “casual” for this latest venture (as casual as a restaurant with a $65 sandwich can be). To create his “monster bite,” Limardo braises a whole grassfed, dry-aged short rib for 16 hours and tucks it into homemade, toasted ciabatta that’s slathered in garlic confit and Latin spices. The haute handheld comes dressed with veal demi-glace, plantain butter, pickled onions, crispy shallots, and smoked cheddar. He estimates it’s about two-and-a-half pounds—roughly the weight of a small puppy—and says it’s designed for two hungry diners. And yes, you’re actually supposed to pick it up—Limardo even includes a pair of gloves.
Limardo says the sweet-sour flavors are inspired by asado negro, a long-simmered beef dish from his native Venezuela. It also brings to mind a very fancy McShortRib—the kind we imagine Ronald might order if he hit the jackpot.
Joy by Seven Reasons, 5471 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda.
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.
