DC-3, Hotdogs on 8th and D Street SE on Barracks Row - Closed

[Tujague]

This morning in his chat, Tom Sietsema said that the owners behind Matchbox and Ted's Bulletin are opening DC3, a hot dog-oriented place in the old Firehouse Cafe spot. But the Barracks Row Main Street blog says that Xavier Cervera, the owner of Molly Malone's, Lola's, and the Chesapeake Room is behind it. Are all these folks working together on this place, or is one of these sources wrong? It sounds interesting, though I remember the sausage place up in Adams Morgan didn't last very long, so I wonder how this will do.

[Tujague]

This morning in his chat, Tom Sietsema said that the owners behind Matchbox and Ted's Bulletin are opening DC3, a hot dog-oriented place in the old Firehouse Cafe spot. But the Barracks Row Main Street blog says that Xavier Cervera, the owner of Molly Malone's, Lola's, and the Chesapeake Room is behind it. Are all these folks working together on this place, or is one of these sources wrong? It sounds interesting, though I remember the sausage place up in Adams Morgan didn't last very long, so I wonder how this will do.

OK, the Barracks Row blog corrected itself; it is indeed a Matchbox/Ted's Bulletin enterprise. Cervera is busying himself with an oyster bar.

[leleboo]

OK, the Barracks Row blog corrected itself; it is indeed a Matchbox/Ted's Bulletin enterprise. Cervera is busying himself with an oyster bar.

The Barracks Row people should have just checked upthread.

[Tujague]

The Barracks Row people should have just checked upthread.

So should've I, but I thought there was a tiny chance maybe the two restaurant groups might be teaming up on this!

[fuzzy510]

This place will be moving into the Fire House Cafe space, serving up primarily hot dogs in a counter service setting.

Oh, and it opens next week.

Considering the dearth of good hot dogs in this area, I'm terribly excited to see if DC-3 can potentially get it right.

[fuzzy510]

Astute readers will have no doubt ignored everything I've ever said noticed that the "next week" claim has since come and gone, and DC-3 is still a hella long way away from opening. Not sure who told the Post it would be this month, but that ain't happening. I'm hearing "sometime in 2010" now.

[Tweaked]

Now Open and has been for a week or so.

Swung thru yesterday after work...the place has a retro aviation theme going. the Front contains several narrow tables with very high cushy benches for seating (I'm 6'4" and my feet didn't touch the ground!) . In the back is the grill area, place your order and wait for them to call your name. There were a handful of customers so no problem ordering, but I could see some traffic flow problems developing if the place is slammed. But the space is kinda long and narrow, so it is what it is.

There are about 15 different hot dogs, menu posted on the wall by the grill with photos...or you can design your own...plus a handful of "specials" items and fries.

I went with the ever trendy Q's Seoul Bulgogi & Kimchi. Beef hot dog, topped with beef bulgogi and kimchi and a generous squirt of sirachi. Nice mix of sweet, pickle, heat, and meat, on a nice big buttery bun. This was definitely a 5 napkin hot dog! At $6.99 at the top range of the menu price.

The one complaint was my hot dog was luke-warm...management was notified and they said that getting the dog temperature right was an issue they were expereincing, so I will file this under "working out the opening kinks." They offered to re-do the hot dog for me, but I had places to be. You can get the dogs grilled so I would actually suggest that as a good option.

Overall, a good first visit. There's not many places on the Hill to get something quick to go (other than a couple crappy chain sandwich shops or 7/11), so I think this will be a worthy addition to 8th Street.

http://www.eatdc3.com/

[Sthitch]

Overall, a good first visit. There's not many places on the Hill to get something quick to go (other than a couple crappy chain sandwich shops or 7/11), so I think this will be a worthy addition to 8th Street.

I have to agree, that this is certainly a worthy addition, not just to 8th St, but to DC - finally a place to go for a decent dog instead of just sucking up the history. The half-smoke is split grilled and topped with onions, relish, and mustard a combination that almost works, but the sweetness of the pickle relish just isn't right on this, I would certainly order it again without it. Being a sucker for a good corndog, I had to jump at the opportunity to give theirs a try, and I was rewarded with a flavorful dog encased in a nicely fried shell of corn batter, certainly better than you could get at any fair. I also have to give them kudos for an excellent selection of sodas by the bottle - a Dad's root beer was especially delicious with my corn dog, but next time I am going for the grape soda.

The line moves painfully slow, the cashier was also taking on the role of expediter and server, which caused the line to grind to a halt.

I do wonder why no bratwurst, could it be the guys from Columbus are still smarting from the #1 ranked Buckeyes being knocked off by the Badgers?

[hillvalley]

Ummmm, they sell cotton candy.

Enough said.

[Hannah]

Picked up an NY Coney (standard dog with chili/onions/mustard) the other night and was favorably impressed; the dog has that great snap when you bite into it, and the chili's excellent. The bun was toasted, too, which was a nice touch. I saw several of the options at other tables, including a pretty good looking Chicago-style dog, so it's going to take several visits just to work through the menu. No problem with temperature on mine, but I'd agree that the service speed could use some work. I think that'll just take a few more weeks of settling in though.

[Tweaked]

I wasn't as enamored with my Chicago7 hot dog last night.

For having so many toppings I didn't find that much flavor and it did not come across as very harmonious. additionally, the sport peppers are 3 rather hot whole peppers on top, basically while eating you either got a whole pepper or none (not sure if whole peppers are the traditional way to serve them in Chicago).

I asked them to throw the hot dog on the grill to give it a little char and thus did not have any temperature issues with the dog part...just the hot pepper part!

so far, after two visits:

Q's Seoul Bulgogi and Kimchi - good

Chicago 7 - not so much

[Dave Pressley]

Went here for lunch today. I had the Jersey Ripper (bacon-wrapped dog, jalapeno relish, deli mustard) which tasted exactly as it sounds--porky, spicy and vinegary. Delicious.

My wife and daughter each had their own dog as well. None of the three of us shared a bite with the others--I guess that says a lot about how much we each liked them.

Service was very fast and friendly. We ordered our hot dogs then I took our little one to use the restroom and as we were walking back to the table, our name was called to pick up our order. Great. From entrance to exit, our visit to DC3 lasted about 20 minutes total--a perfect Sunday lunch in my opinion. If I'm in the neighborhood and need a quick bite, I won't hesitate to return.

[nate]

Went here about two months ago. I had the roast beef sandwich. It was - as advertised - quite a lot of food. It was also extremely wet though pretty tasty. (Not close to as good as the Tune Inn's.)

The deep fried pickles that were ordered as a side were a big disappointment. It's the only time I've had them, but a friend who was more familiar said they rated poorly. They get some credit for stocking Moxie soda though.

Bottom line: given it's location, I'll probably go back, but am in no particular rush about it.

[Keithstg]

We've been a half dozen times since DC-3 has opened. As Shaggy said upthread, it's a perfect spot for a quick, cheap weekend lunch. The Jersey ripper is excellent, as is the half smoke, which is a good bit spicier than what one gets at Ben's...

As with almost any restaurant on Barracks row, DC-3 can be crowded, but they are already pretty efficient, so our waits have always been minimal, rarely topping 10 minutes for food.

[Pat]

Closed.

[dinoue]

Technically "moving" to Dulles. Guess I need to find somewhere else to get hot dogs from both my child hood homes of Chicago and Cincinnati in the same place.