Food

Cheap Eats 2010: Tackle Box

100 places that offer great food at low prices.

Why go: Is this Georgetown? This shore-food snack bar sure doesn’t feel like it, with its beams of driftwood, beat-up American flags, and plastic fry baskets. The blackboard menu offers angel/devil choices of seafood—grilled or fried—plus an array of picnic-friendly sides.

What to get: Grilled calamari with basil-walnut pesto—a menu staple at higher-priced sister restaurant Hook; lightly battered fried shrimp or clams served with lemon-aïoli, tartar, or cocktail sauce or stuffed into a sandwich roll; thin filets of trout and bluefish, smoky from the wood grill; coleslaw; grilled vegetables such as carrots or asparagus; some of the best fish tacos around.

Best for: A low-key lunch or dinner; a break from shopping; satisfying a craving for fried food.

Insider tip: Spin-offs are planned in Bethesda and DC’s Cleveland Park. The $19 lobster roll remains an underfilled disappointment.

>> See all 2010 Cheap Eats restaurants here. 

Ann Limpert
Executive Food Editor/Critic

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.