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FDB Eatery (Formerly Frozen Dairy Bar & Boardwalk Pizza), Route 50 in West Falls Church - Closed


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I guess I'm the last person on Earth not to know that FDB Eatery is now open under the same ownership as what used to be Frozen Dairy Bar & Boardwalk Pizza, and before that, Frozen Dairy Bar. 
 
(The original owner (Ray Fletcher) and the original location of Frozen Dairy Bar are both long gone - Joe H and I may be the only two people left in DC who fondly reminisce over the old building and the three original vintage-1946 Electro-Freeze machines.)

FDB.jpg <--- This really wasn't that long ago.

Anyway, I walked in, and there was a handwritten sign saying that today, they were featuring "Local Peach Sorbet," so I decided to take the healthy route, and got a Medium Cup ($3.75), even though this was non-dairy and anathema to the original concept of Frozen Dairy Bar. Time marches on ... and the sorbet was wonderful. But man it's weird to see this place succumbing to the three-character, stock market symbol-type nomenclature:

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We went there for the first time last night.  Boy, was I impressed with the food!  Nothing fancy, but solidly executed with fresh ingredients.  First, the foccacia bread - freshly baked, soft-ish with a saucer of olive oil/balsamic for dipping.  We had a bottle of wine- Malbec $25 - not bad!  Seafood crab soup - really good - there was even noticeable amounts of crab in it.  The caprese salad was excellent - big enough for 2, fresh mozzarella, very nice dressing consisting of olive oil, balsamic glaze, and tasty shredded basil.  I had the eggplant parmesan entree.  I'm always nervous about ordering eggplant because many places cook it days in advance and then you are eating old eggplant.  Not here - freshly made and plenty of it.  My husband had spaghetti and meatballs that he liked, but he liked my dish better.  The tomato sauce in both was good.  For dessert, I had to try the famed frozen custard - quite good!  Prices here are wallet-friendly.  Service was friendly and excellent.  The furnishings are very casual - so maybe not a first date kind of place.  Who cares - good food beats fancy digs every time.  This will be part of our regular rotation now.

meatball.PNG

eggplant.PNG

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56 minutes ago, hopsing said:

We went there for the first time last night.  Boy, was I impressed with the food!  Nothing fancy, but solidly executed with fresh ingredients. ...  Who cares - good food beats fancy digs every time.  This will be part of our regular rotation now.

[I just wanted to chime in and say that this is a really useful post - I had written off FDB based on one visit, but now you've given me reason to return. I drive by here several times per week, and always wonder how it's doing. Thank you for taking the time to write this. The number of people in this area who remember Frozen Dairy Bar - not the one in this location, but the original building with the Electro-Freeze custard machine - are dwindling, and FDB is something of a great, great grandson who never knew his ancestor (or, for all know, it's the guy's actual daughter; I'm just playing with allegory here). My post will be deleted, but I just wanted to say how much I appreciate you (and everyone else) taking the time to do this. - Hell, I would have never known J. Brown Bakery had closed. I also note that in the very first post of this thread, it looks like a hacker had some fun with us at one point - I'm going to write Invision before I delete that thing just so they're aware of it ... I've seen it a couple of times before - if anyone sees any others like it, would you please alert me? Thank you!]

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I have to step back from my effusive praise in October.  I've been there 3 more times since then and got eggplant parmesan all 4 times.  The first 2 times it was great--freshly made.  Last 2 times, I don't know. :( Was it frozen eggplant bought from somewhere--soggy, some spices on it, didn't even taste like eggplant.  All I can say is night and day.  The last time, I asked the chef what the difference was; he said they make it the same each time.  I don't think that is true.  I did notice that the first 2 times, the chef was different than the last 2 times -- maybe the first chef makes it fresh and the others don't.  All I know is I will be ordering something else next time or if I see the original chef, ask him how he is making the eggplant that day.  However, the frozen dairy custard still is yummy!:rolleyes:

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8 hours ago, hopsing said:

I have to step back from my effusive praise in October.  I've been there 3 more times since then and got eggplant parmesan all 4 times.  The first 2 times it was great--freshly made.  Last 2 times, I don't know. :( Was it frozen eggplant bought from somewhere--soggy, some spices on it, didn't even taste like eggplant.  All I can say is night and day.  The last time, I asked the chef what the difference was; he said they make it the same each time.  I don't think that is true.  I did notice that the first 2 times, the chef was different than the last 2 times -- maybe the first chef makes it fresh and the others don't.  All I know is I will be ordering something else next time or if I see the original chef, ask him how he is making the eggplant that day.  However, the frozen dairy custard still is yummy!:rolleyes:

[And this is every bit as useful as your first post. Truth does not always come easily, and the more data we have, the closer we get to it. Thank you.]

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7 hours ago, JBag57 said:

I haven't been, but DC Steakholders, from what I read in some story a while ago, is a food truck setting up a retail location (cheesesteaks) and keeping the frozen custard equipment running to serve FDB custard products.

Interesting, and thanks - remember also that Frozen Dairy Bar's original Electro-Freeze machine was long-ago put out to pasture (see the top post).

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