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Meggrolls, Megg Baroody's "Upscale Eggrolls" on N. Fayette Street in Old Town Alexandria - NOW OPEN!


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I tried out Meggrolls last night.  It's in the former Five Guys space at 107 N. Fayette Street in Old Town.  The space is pleasant -- navy and white, with a touch of dusty orange in the dining area, blond wood tables and chairs, and a bunch of framed '80s album covers in the dining area.  Right now, they're open for dinner hours only, at 5:00, so they can get a feel for the flow.  The menu is small, about a half dozen Meggrolls offered, plus some cole slaw variations, french fries, and chili, and the chalkboard advertises that pies are coming soon.   The chalkboard also says that 1 roll is a good snack and 2 is a meal.  Well, 1 roll and a side of slaw would be more than plenty of food for me; I did the 2 rolls (no sides) and it was a stretch -- remember, it's all deep fried.  At $6.75+ per roll (sides are a la carte), taking the chalkboard's advice gets pricey pretty fast for what is, at its heart, tasty craft junkfood.  The rolls are a cheeseburger, buffalo chicken, gyro, mac-n-cheese, and chicken parm.

The rolls are expertly fried, and fried to order.  I could see into the frying area and each chamber of the fryer was labeled for each type of roll so none of the flavors mingle.  They're using some sort of iPad register system and it looks cute but I wonder how it's going to hold up over the medium term, let alone long term.  Because it's done to order, and a small kitchen (one fry cook/roll splitter and one dressing the rolls at the pass, it can get backed up quickly and one even small order gone wrong can throw the whole thing into the weeds.  Case in point, I was in a mini-rush of folks getting off work and arriving about 5:45, and was 3rd or 4th to order and 10th or 11th to get my 2 rolls, one of which was done many minutes (and several intervening pick-ups) before the other.  

The rolls were dark brown, crunchy, not greasy, and held up well to a 30 minute car ride home, but I certainly wouldn't recommend that sort of holding time.   I tried the spicy buffalo chicken roll and the gyro roll.  The chicken was a mild-to-medium spicy piece of chicken that appeared to have been pre-cooked in the spiced coating, then egg roll wrapped with a little something else inside the roll, deep fried and then split lengthwise and topped with a small celery stick and dressed with bleu or ranch dressing (I had the bleu on the side since it was a to-go order).  I would have liked it a bit spicier and with more of a celery kick to it.  The gyro was a spiced lamb patty, sort of like  kofta, deep fried, split lengthwise and topped with (a very bland) tzatziki, shredded lettuce and halved grape tomatoes.  I liked this one a little better than the buffalo chicken, but felt it was a bit out of balance with too much yogurt/not enough herbs compared to the lamb.  The flavor of the lamb was good.  I scraped off most of the tzatziki  and ate it with the tomatoes instead, and a punch of fresh herbs and garlic would have done it good.  

Overall, it was a fun meal but I'd really put it in the category of a well-made junky treat and not something I'll eat very often.

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