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Showing results for tags 'Chivitos'.
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Surprised I have not seen a thread on Fast Gourmet. I travel to Latin America a lot for work, and many of my colleagues (all Latin Americans themselves) started talking recently about a great sandwich place in a gas station in DC. Since I love a good sandwich, I resolved to try it out yesterday. First, the location -- it's in the "Lowest Best Price" gas station on 14th and W -- no real signage, and from the outside you would think it's a regular exxon-type grab and go place. But, inside they have made a huge effort to make it clean, appealing, and, dare I say, cool, with a neat color scheme and a cute menu with chalk drawings. There are also tables to sit at. Still, you'll know you are in a gas station, and the crowd is funny, a mix of Latin Americans (both from the neighborhood and more upscale embassy/IDB types), hipsters, cab drivers, and a few cracked-out people wandering in off the street to buy cigars from the gas station part. The food. Oh my god, the food. The menu is a mix of regular american sandwiches (turkey, steak and cheese, etc.), salads, empanadas, and some Latin specialities. There is a supposedly good Cubano, and, in my opinion, one of the best Latin national sandwiches, the national sandwich of Uruguay, the chivito. Turns out, the owners are two Uruguayan brothers, so they know their chivitos. For the uninitiated, it is a sandwich with a thin beef steak cooked "a la plancha" on medianoche bread with mayo, ham, hard boiled egg, lettuce, tomato, and mayo. It is heaven, and, for you Spanish speakers, even though it is called a chivito it does not have goat in it. I ordered the chivito yesterday ($12, all sandwiches come with ok, but not great fries) and it was FANTASTIC. It was as good as, if not better than the chivitos I have had in Montevideo. My partner, who had never had a chivito before, ate some of mine and proclaimed it the best sandwich he ever had. The only MINOR quibble would be that there was a lot of mayo, but that is how they like it in Uruguay, and I, too, like it that way. You may want to ask for a little less mayo if you are mayo-squamish. Also note, the $12 price tag may seem high, but this is a huge sandwich, enough for two people or two meals. My partner wanted the cubano, but they were out of the ingredients until 2 pm, so he ordered the greek salad with lamb. We expected it to be a boring salad, but, actually it was great, with many large chunks of freshly grilled lamb. I highly recommend this place! They are open long hours and do delivery. I couldn't find the menu online, but I did find their facebook page -- http://www.facebook....ET/103364437659 As my partner said to me when we were leaving, this might have to be the year of the chivito!
