Eat Great Cheap 2016Eating cheaply and locally don’t always go hand in hand, but don’t let the $10 artisanal pickles on the shelves of this independent grocery store/cafe dissuade you from exploring the prepared foods for eating in or taking out. At the adjoining bar, crowds sip Port City pints—drafts are $4 at all hours—and pour themselves wines from an eight-bottle vending machine. Order a pretzel panini stuffed with ham, Swiss, and Gordy’s pickles there, or venture into the shop and grab something to eat at the indoor/outdoor communal tables. Chef Travis Olson, formerly of 1789 and the renowned Copenhagen restaurant Noma, serves up hot and cold sandwiches made with Lyon Bakery breads and house-roasted meats and fresh vegetables; bright seasonal salads; and thin-crust sourdough pizzas scattered with toppings like lamb sausage, mozzarella, and mint. Half roast chickens, rubbed with herbs or smoked paprika, are our favorite order come dinnertime and are accompanied by two sides—don’t miss the potatoes cooked beneath the birds to catch all the delicious drippings.
Cuisine: Snacks and small plates
Where you can get it: 2001 S St., NW; 202-588-5698
Also good: Grilled cheese and tomato soup; Tony Wood sandwich (smoked turkey and roast beef, cheddar, and pickles); pizza with salami, mushroom, and pickled jalapeño; deviled-egg salad.
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.
