Auld Lang Cuisine

[porcupine]

Coco Loco.
Xing Kuba.
Terramar.
Cesco back when it was good.
Cottonwood Cafe back when it was good.

[Tweaked]

Capital Lounge

seriously drinking on the Hill hasn't been the same since the Lounge burned down.

[qwertyy]

Rocky's... Catfish and sweet potato fries, bluefish salad and a Brooklyn Pilsner to wash it all down... Sigh.

[starfish]

luciano bistro

tom tom - the version from 10+ years ago when it was a good place to get a pizza and a beer

another vote for rocky's - more for the bar atmosphere than the food

1910 - really miss that joint

[Rick Azzarano]

Really dating myself here, but:

Seaport Inn in Old Town (a Starbucks now, sigh)

Lucky Traveller Steak House (on US 1 south of Alexandria), where you picked your steaks from a meat case

[Sthitch]

I am sure that none of these would be on anyone else list, but here we go:

Family Fish House - I am sure that today I would think it would suck, but it still has set the bar for what I believe a hush puppie should taste like.

Fritzbes - OK, there was not much redeeming about it, but their version of a French dip sandwich (called Dotties Double Dip) was the best I ever had.

Busch's Seafood - This was an old school seafood restaurant on Rt. 50 in Annapolis. It has some of the best crab cakes and deviled crab I have ever had.

[bioesq]

I have fond memories of:

Cantina d'Italia

Duke Zeibert's

Jean-Pierre

Lion d'Or

Le Bagatelle

Rive Gauche

21 Federal

[hillvalley]

Duke's, now that brings back memories. Especially of large matzah balls.

Mikado

The Mexican/Thai place that is now the Ugly Mug (in the early '80's when it was just Mexican they had a strolling Mariachi band)

The fountain at Kresge's on Penn. Ave.

Sushi Ko before the renovation

[DanielK]

Jean Louis at the Watergate. Only ate there twice - my engagement in 1991, and our 1 year anniversary in 1993. The food was as memorable as the occasion.

[ol_ironstomach]

Hunan Garden (Rockville) circa 1980, and specifically for their xiao long bao. Sure, the skins were too thick, but the flavor inside was incredible...still my benchmark. I must have hoovered hundreds of them at mom and dad's expense before their chef moved on in the mid-80s.

Dave

[Mark Slater]

Blue Diamond- who else is going to bring me roast pork egg foo young and combination lomein at 1 in the morning?

The breakfast tables at Schwartz's Drugstore at Connecticut & R, more for comic relief than the food (now a Starbucks)

Trader Vic's at the Hilton - best damn Poo-Poo Platter there ever was in DC. And, pressed duck, too!

[Erik Ox]

Nectar, how do I miss Thee? Let me count the ways...

Tuna with pine nuts and microbasil;

Scallops and Chorizo (with some curry thrown in?);

Foie with caramelized bananas (or sometimes pineapple);

Creme brulee (with that addictive secret ingredient);

and my fave, the almost too rich, chocolate torte

Jarad and Jamie were kind enough to close house and allow us to take over the place for our rehearsal dinner last year. Still talked about in the family as one of the Best. Meals. Ever.

Sigh....

*edited for spelling

Edited December 2, 2005 by eoksala

[Sthitch]

Nectar, how do I miss Thee?  Let me count the ways...

Tuna with pine nuts and microbasil;

Scallops and Chorizo (with some curry thrown in?);

Foie with caramelized bananas (or sometimes pineapple);

Creme brulee (with that addictive secret ingredient);

and my fave, the almost too rich, chocolate torte with

Jarad and Jamie were kind enough to close house and allow us to take over the place for our rehearsal dinner last year.  Still talked about in the family as one of the Best. Meals. Ever.

Sigh....

*edited for spelling

How could I have forgotten. I never had the foie with bananas, but loved the carmalized, nea bruleed pineapple with that perfect example of what offel could be.

[bookluvingbabe]

Blue Diamond- who else is going to bring me roast pork egg foo young and combination lomein at 1 in the morning?

The breakfast tables at Schwartz's Drugstore at Connecticut & R, more for comic relief than the food (now a Starbucks)

Trader Vic's at the Hilton - best damn Poo-Poo Platter there ever was in DC. And, pressed duck, too!

Blue Dimaond was a college favorite and the only alternative to Dominos late at night. They had the best greasy fried rice....

[Jacques Gastreaux]

Fio's, in the Woodner Apt. Bldg on 16th St.

[qwertyy]

Blue Diamond is closed? The one on 18th and ...T-ish, was it? Aw. That place sustained me when I first moved here...

[Principia]

Bangkok Vientiane

[Gastro888]

OK, they're not glamourous but I miss the following:

I miss Phineas on Rockville Pike. They made the best popovers and it was the restaurant my parents would always go to on an occasional Monday nights when my dad was off from work. I also loved their pita triangles that they had on the salad bar - they were oven baked with oil and some sort of pizza like seasoning with alot of papirka.

I miss Hot Shoppes. I loved, loved, loved the food there. Yeap. Loved the mashed potatoes with the scoop of brown industrial gravy and the squishy bread. I had my first non-Chinese food experience in a Hot Shoppe.

Boy, I've come a long way!

[Heather]

Bob's Big Boy, mostly for the special relish on the double-decker burgers.

Omega

Thai Amarin

The original Nam's in Wheaton, before it changed hands.

Farrell's in Wheaton Plaza.

Mr Eagan's (not a restaurant, but...)

[The Hersch]

The Benbow. Not much of a restaurant, but the best neighborhood bar Washington ever had.

The old Old Ebbitt. Those potato chips.

Lauriol Plaza of many years ago (long before the new location) was really pretty good, as was the original La Plaza on Columbia Road.

El Caribe on Columbia Road was a big favorite of mine for many years.

The old National Gallery cafeteria (in the basement of the West Building long ago, before they built the East Building). It was a wonderful, clattery, busy, cheerful place with surprisingly good food.

The Blue Nile Ethiopian restaurant in the Chastleton on 16th St., before they renovated the building and kicked them out. (They reopened on, I think, 17th St., but never made a go of it.) My introduction to Ethiopian, and a nice place.

Schwartz's Drugstore...more than breakfast, they served very bad food all day long. But always somehow comforting to know it was there.

Others have also mentioned: Fio's...yes! I loved that place. Omega...yes! Great cheap Cuban food.

[Waitman]

Old Macs. OK, not a restaurant.

[hillvalley]

Dominique's

American City Diner on Wisconsin in Bethesda

[brendanc]

Hunan Gourmet on Rockville Pike, their crispy eggplant remains to this day the only eggplant dish I have ever enjoyed.

Edited December 2, 2005 by brendanc

[Pat]

The Red Sea

[starfish]

the blue room - believe it or not when they first opened (late 1999) they were a serious restaurant for about 3 months.

[DonRocks]

Sammy's Villa, White Oak

Little Tavern, College Park (after 1 AM (Deathburgers))

Steve's Ice Cream

Nino's Pizza, Downtown (does anyone remember where this place was?)

Carnegie Deli (when it first opened)

Le Lion D'Or

[Waitman]

Sammy's Villa, White Oak
Little Tavern, College Park (after 1 AM (Deathburgers))
Steve's Ice Cream
Nino's Pizza, Downtown (does anyone remember where this place was?)
Carnegie Deli (when it first opened)
Le Lion D'Or

Nino's! I was just bemoaning that loss last Sunday.

You must be old.

[The Hersch]

Little Tavern, College Park (after 1 AM (Deathburgers))

Little Tavern in general. Long ago, I used to sometimes carry the US Mail in Clarendon, and would generally time things such that I would be in the neighborhood of the Wilson Boulevard Little Tavern around lunchtime. A handful of their tiny burgers and a beer from the 7-11 made a fine repast. Or, if I didn't have time for such an indulgence, I would buy a couple of LT burgers and eat them as I delivered the mail. Not that they were particularly good food, but I'd still choose them over McD's in a (clogged) heartbeat.

[porcupine]

MoDo. sigh.

[Waitman]

Little Tavern in general. Long ago, I used to sometimes carry the US Mail in Clarendon, and would generally time things such that I would be in the neighborhood of the Wilson Boulevard Little Tavern around lunchtime. A handful of their tiny burgers and a beer from the 7-11 made a fine repast. Or, if I didn't have time for such an indulgence, I would buy a couple of LT burgers and eat them as I delivered the mail. Not that they were particularly good food, but I'd still choose them over McD's in a (clogged) heartbeat.

One of my many illustrious food industry gigs was a six-week stint behind the counter at the "Club LT" on the corner of Wisconsin and N streets -- now Paolo's, I believe. Worked the overnight shift, three nights a week. Quite an experience, with the homeless guys hanging out at one end the the counter (Sky King, Little Jackie, the guy who used to do my mopping for a free breakfast, the bitchy homeless woman) and the drunks elbowing their way towards the register at the other end. One night some guy started breaking open his lithium capsuls and snorting their contents off the counter. "This is a great country. You can't do this kind of thing in Russia," he growled. I figured that if he was on Lithium, it was best to leave him alone.

Quite a show.

[MMM]

Second Mikado. And FIO'S - best calamari fritti in the city! I keep hoping Fio will resurface.

[Sthitch]

MoDo.  sigh.

Would you be referring to the cloyingly delicious Montgomery Donuts?

[porcupine]

Would you be referring to the cloyingly delicious Montgomery Donuts?

yes, indeedy. Maple iced. Late late late at night after a concert at Merriweather Post Pavilion, for example, too wired and tired and fired up to return to the 'rents, need coffee and sugar and fat to keep it up. Ah, for the glory days of youth.

Had to give my ma lift from an auto body shop last week; it was in the old MoDo plant. It was just wrong.

[Sthitch]

yes, indeedy.  Maple iced.  Late late late at night after a concert at Merriweather Post Pavilion, for example, too wired and tired and fired up to return to the 'rents, need coffee and sugar and fat to keep it up.  Ah, for the glory days of youth.

Had to give my ma lift from an auto body shop last week; it was in the old MoDo plant.  It was just wrong.

When I was in high school they used to sell them in the cafitorium (sorry gratuitous Simpson's reference). During wrestling season when I had to make weight, I used to curse those damned things. I had a weakness for the chocolate covered curlers, and one would take me more than an hour of running to work off, but at times they were worth it.

[ustreetguy]

Dominique's

Wow that brings back memories.... It's where we went on prom night and was my first taste of rattlesnake and alligator.

How about Bice?

[Mrs. B]

The Blue Nile Ethiopian restaurant in the Chastleton on 16th St., before they renovated the building and kicked them out. (They reopened on, I think, 17th St., but never made a go of it.) My introduction to Ethiopian, and a nice place.

In its day, this place had the best Kitfo in America. I don't believe I've had better since. sigh.

edited for grade school grammer.

Edited December 2, 2005 by Mrs. B

[DonRocks]

Wow that brings back memories....  It's where we went on prom night and was my first taste of rattlesnake and alligator.

It was the only in place in town you could get moose for dinner and mousse for dessert, chateaubriand and Chateau Haut-Brion.

[crackers]

Le Pavillion.

The first meal of my life that cost almost as much as the monthly rent. Worth every bite, and raised the bar way, way up.

[Jacques Gastreaux]

Cantina d'Italia. I seem to recall that it was on 18th where it merges into Conn. Ave. I recall one of my co-workers asking me the next day if I had garlic for dinner the night before.

[goldenticket]

I miss Hot Shoppes. I loved, loved, loved the food there. Yeap. Loved the mashed potatoes with the scoop of brown industrial gravy and the squishy bread. I had my first non-Chinese food experience in a Hot Shoppe.

Boy, I've come a long way!

Hot Shoppes - Wow - that brings back some memories!

The Crystal City Underground location was the first stop after the first 'unaccompanied' flight my sister and I made up here to visit the grandparents (on Braniff no less - how's that for another blast from the past). How exciting to be picked up at the airport and then go for hamburgers in a restaurant that was UNDERGROUND!

And I have fond memories (from other visits) of the blintzes smothered in gooey, gummy strawberries, from the Sunday breakfast/brunch buffet at the Bailey's Crossroads spot (where the Best Buy now stands ) I've come a long way too, but those are good memories (even if I wouldn't touch the food now).

Boss Cat's - where Raaga is - they had THE best sweet potato fries with a black bean dip...

[jm chen]

As someone else mentioned here recently, Arbor (18th not far from Columbia) was a lousy, lousy restaurant for dinner, but they had a great brunch. RIP.

And does anyone else remember when there was a food court under Dupont Circle? This would have been, eh, circa 1996? I always wonder whether they filled the whole thing in with cement or if there are still corridors (okay, one big circular corridor) down there.

Edited December 2, 2005 by jm chen

[johnb]

The Bread Oven on 19th St. When I worked in the 'hood I'd go there lunchtime and sit at the counter, watch them make bread with that big French thing with the canvas reels that they put the loaves into and took them out of the oven, eat the wonderful bread, and have their great specials of choucroute (Thursday??) and Couscous (Friday I think). Cassoulet too IIRC. I'd still be going there if it existed.

[Miguelito]

Roma in Cleveland Park. Trophies on the wall and a blind pianist -- what's not to like?

[Heather]

Little Tavern, College Park (after 1 AM (Deathburgers))

We called them gut grenades. Only edible when completely hammered, or stoned. Not that I would know that of course.

[Nadya]

Rocky's. Great biscuits.

[ScotteeM]

Fern Street Bistro out here in Burke Centre. The restaurant and bar were adjacent to an outpost of the Fern Street Gourmet wine shop. That was their wine list. They served good food, and diners wishing wine with their meal simply stepped next door to the wine shop to select a bottle. On some nights (Wednesdays?) there was live jazz, and they served brunch on the weekends.

We couldn't afford to eat there as often as we would have liked to when it existed, but if it were here now, we probably would eat there once a week.

I'm also sorry I never got to dine at Jean-Louis.

[Barbara]

And does anyone else remember when there was a food court under Dupont Circle? This would have been, eh, circa 1996? I always wonder whether they filled the whole thing in with cement or if there are still corridors (okay, one big circular corridor) down there.

It was originally a trolley turnaround. After the trolley system was removed, the space was used as a civil defense shelter. During the adminstraton of Sharon Pratt Dixon Kelley Pratt, a developer who had previous convictions for fraud was given the permit to redevelop the space. Half was supposed to be a food court and the other half was supposed to contain a branch of Washington Sports Club. One of the problems was that air conditioning didn't seem to work and/or be available. The Health Club never opened and many (most) of the food vendors wound up suing the developer, who went bankrupt and closed the space. I believe it is still in the same configuration as when the doors were shut for good.

If anyone has better info or corrections to this tale, I would be happy to be so corrected or informed.

[brendanc]

MoDo.  sigh.

the most sincere doughnut tragedy since the 1967 Krispy Kreme riots. I could always count on 2am MoDo runs when I was back home from college and needed the raspberry jelly doughnut and a coffee. I have yet to find a jelly filled doughnut that can come close to those from MoDo's

[Meaghan]

I'm a cub.

NECTAR

RUPPERT'S

Germaine's (just lying, never been there...but that name stand out so much. The critics liked it.)

Hibiscus Cafe (becuause it's a gym now, and it was fun)

[Scott Johnston]

hmmm...

Anyone remember the Peter Pan Inn? I used to love the hush puppies and salad/relish tray as a kid.

Gino's! Home of the Gino Giant. Local fast food chain (maybe more towards Baltimore)

Roy Roger's Yes I know there are a few around, mainly on the NJ turnpike, but in their heyday, nothing beat a roast beef sandwich and horsey sauce! Not to mention a Double R burger.

[porcupine]

hmmm...

Anyone remember the Peter Pan Inn? I used to love the hush puppies and salad/relish tray as a kid.

whoa! That takes me back. Fried chicken. It's been something like 30 years.

Edited December 5, 2005 by porcupine

[Sthitch]

hmmm...

Anyone remember the Peter Pan Inn? I used to love the hush puppies and salad/relish tray as a kid.

I was just talking to my wife about Peter Pan and the gift store that they had.

Roy Roger's Yes I know there are a few around, mainly on the NJ turnpike, but in their heyday, nothing beat a roast beef sandwich and horsey sauce! Not to mention a Double R burger.

That was discussed at length at this link. It appears Roys is making a comeback.

[lackadaisi]

the blue room - believe it or not when they first opened (late 1999) they were a serious restaurant for about 3 months.

I remember this. It was excellent!

[clchurch]

Fio's in the Woodner and Arbor's wine bar. Where else could you have a glass of wine from cruviner and play connect four?

[Waitman]

hmmm...

Gino's! Home of the Gino Giant. Local fast food chain (maybe more towards Baltimore)

More toward Baltimore indeed -- the chain was started by a bunch of Baltimore Colts, including Hall of Famer Gino Marchetti.

[giant shrimp]

Fio's in the Woodner and Arbor's wine bar.  Where else could you have a glass of wine from cruviner and play connect four?

i miss fio's too. on some tempestuous nights it was like watching a family wrestling, but they usually managed to patch things up. av cannot make up for its absence.

walking up 19th street the other day on a blustery late afternoon, the thought occurred to me that i also miss i ricchi, though i am unsure how much. i haven't decided what to do about this. i don't want to spend a lot of money just to find out that thomas wolfe was right.

i miss rupperts. viridian, so far, has not demonstrated to me that it can fill that void, but that is a story from the missing chefs department.

i miss susanne's above dupont circle, city cafe on m street and mr yung who died with his boots on.

[JLK]

For those of us who moved to DC AFTER Ruppert's closed, what exactly happened?

[bookluvingbabe]

For those of us who moved to DC AFTER Ruppert's closed, what exactly happened?

The Convention Center construction...

It was a lousy location to begin with in a very transitional neighborhood and once construction started and streets were closed and there was zero parking, they couldn't make a go of it.

At least that's what I heard.

The other Jennifer

[Waitman]

At the time, there were also quotes from some of the principals to the effect that they hadn't expected to spend a lifetime in the business, that they'd done what they set out to do, and that they were ready to move on with their lives.

[cjsadler]

And does anyone else remember when there was a food court under Dupont Circle? This would have been, eh, circa 1996? I always wonder whether they filled the whole thing in with cement or if there are still corridors (okay, one big circular corridor) down there.

It's been in legal limbo for a long time. A couple of health clubs were trying to put a gym down there. The most recent mention I found of the space is this from September, in a story about eminent domain and the baseball stadium:

"Ghiglino said the city tried to persuade her to move to Dupont Down Under, a failed project a decade ago in which developers tried to open a food court below Dupont Circle. The site has been boarded up.

"It was a dungeon," said Ghiglino, who toured it with District officials. "There's nothing there. It's full of trash. And what about ventilation? I heard they had ventilation problems, and I have art projects that need a good ventilation."

Edit: I found a picture of what it looks like down there now (taken in January). It would be really interesting to get down there somehow and have a look around.

Edited December 6, 2005 by cjsadler

[tripewriter]

Zuki Moon ... it was a favorite lunch and pre-KenCen dinner spot.

Glad the location is still being put to good use :-)

[brendanc]

Although still operating in another location, I miss the Bethesda O'Donnels. Its appeal is imprinted on me from numerous Mother's Day and Easter brunches with my extended family. Norfolk style Chesapeake cuisine is not found many places here anymore. I think my devotion to capers in general stems from this restaurant

[smokey]

Zuki Moon ... it was a favorite lunch and pre-KenCen dinner spot.

Glad the location is still being put to good use :-)

My SO and I really liked Zuki Moon as well. It was no real surprise when it closed though--never saw more than an handful of people there. I just wish I had gotten it together to go to Nectar before *it* closed.

Does anybody remember a place called the Golden Booeymonger? It would have been (if memory serves) on CT Ave, South of the Hinckley Hilton in Dupont Circle? I went there once as a kid (early 80's? late 70's?) and remember being really impressed. Curious if it actually was any good. It was nothing like the sub shop Booeymongers that is currently in existence in DC.

[Waitman]

The Golden Booeymonger was located on the corner of Connecticut and R and is now the Scientologist's local HQ -- that's not a menu, that's personality quiz they're handing you. If I ever ate at GB, I was too wasted to remember.

After Golden Booey's went belly-up, it went through another incarnation, as Fourways. Despite the name and the relatively sleazy morals (I mean that in the fondest possible way)of the early 80s, the name somehow referred to a compass and the place had a vaguely nautical theme. It was never very good, but they had a great outdoor cafe location.

Speaking of which, anybody remember Cafe Rabelaise, just across the street, where the Cosi is now? That was a the greatest people-watching place in the Circle. No seats inside, no food, not much business, service charge added without being told, a rookie waitress from a different country every time you went by -- but the view from the railing on a summer night was spectacular. Everyone I knew assumed that it was being used as a tax write-off off or a way to launder drug money.

Edited December 7, 2005 by Waitman

[JPW]

Cafe Rabelaise

speaking of sleazy morals...

[lizzie]

Hibiscus Cafe (becuause it's a gym now, and it was fun)

Even before Hibiscus Cafe, there was Fish, Wings @ Tings in Adams Morgan - I loved that place. Too bad the Banks' cannot seem to make anything stick very long, they are so unique and creative on the cooking front.

[jm chen]

No seats inside, no food, not much business, service charge added without being told, a rookie waitress from a different country every time you went buy -- but the view from the railing on a summer night was spectacular. Everyone I knew assumed that it was being used as a tax write-off off or a way to launder drug money.

I still maintain that the Uptown Cathay restaurant in Van Ness is actually a front for an organ theft ring. I lived in Van Ness for five years and never saw a customer there.

On topic: there was a Tex Mex restaurant downstairs in the Chevy Chase mall, where the gym is now, that had a great goat cheese quesadilla. I don't remember the name because it had lit torches out front so we just always called it "the place with the fire."

[The Hersch]

The Golden Booeymonger was located on the corner of Connecticut and R

Strictly speaking, that's the corner of 20th and R.

After Golden Booey's went belly-up, it went through another incarnation, as Fourways. 

Wasn't it also the Golden Parrot, maybe before Booey?

Speaking of which, anybody remember Cafe Rabelaise, just across the street, where the Cosi is now? 

Cafe Rabelais, in its day, was possibly the worst restaurant in Washington. Remember before then, when it was the Crystal City (I think)? Fairly good dive bar, which some folks sort of migrated to when the Benbow, across the street, closed its doors forever. Then when the Crystal City also bit the dust, some started hanging out at the Cold Duck, up where Mourayo is now.

[Waitman]

Strictly speaking, that's the corner of 20th and R.

Wasn't it also the Golden Parrot, maybe before Booey?

Cafe Rabelais, in its day, was possibly the worst restaurant in Washington. Remember before then, when it was the Crystal City (I think)? Fairly good dive bar, which some folks sort of migrated to when the Benbow, across the street, closed its doors forever. Then when the Crystal City also bit the dust, some started hanging out at the Cold Duck, up where Mourayo is now.

I think, pre Booey, I was more Foggy-Bottom based: Mr. Henry's, the 21st Amendment and the original Red Lion.

I agree about Rabelais, but I loved that real estate.

I did spend a little time in the Cold Duck, a hangout of my Father-in-law when he was passing regularly through DC peddling Black Bush whiskey.

[giant shrimp]

I still maintain that the Uptown Cathay restaurant in Van Ness is actually a front for an organ theft ring. I lived in Van Ness for five years and never saw a customer there.

On topic: there was a Tex Mex restaurant downstairs in the Chevy Chase mall, where the gym is now, that had a great goat cheese quesadilla. I don't remember the name because it had lit torches out front so we just always called it "the place with the fire."

the tex mex place didn't last for very long and i can't remember the name, but i do recall that it specialized in extremely inept service and margarita pitchers that were tough to pour. we went back a few times, so there must have been something in the food.

[Banco]

I think, pre Booey, I was more Foggy-Bottom based: Mr. Henry's...

Is this related in some way to the place of the same name on the Hill, at 6th and Penn?

[lackadaisi]

I think, pre Booey, I was more Foggy-Bottom based: Mr. Henry's, the 21st Amendment and the original Red Lion. 

Ah, Mr. Henry's...... What a great place. They would accept a library card as ID (which was good, because that was the closest I could give them).

[giant shrimp]

Speaking of which, anybody remember Cafe Rabelaise, just across the street, where the Cosi is now?  That was a the greatest people-watching place in the Circle.

the dc vice squad used to run a prostitution sting operation above dupont circle and along connecticut avenue. one day, we watched a prospective customer get cuffed in front of the restaurant. we did our people watching from the other side, and a bit later the faux streetwalker and a few buddies stopped in to inquire about free popcorn. and what was the name of the thatch-hut place a few doors down? junkanoo?

[Waitman]

the dc vice squad used to run a prostitution sting operation above dupont circle and along connecticut avenue. one day, we watched a prospective customer get cuffed in front of the restaurant. we did our people watching from the other side, and a bit later the faux streetwalker and a few buddies stopped in to inquire about free popcorn. and what was the name of the thatch-hut place a few doors down? junkanoo?

The Junkanoo -- boarded up for many years -- played a small but important role in the downfall of one of Washington's most powerful men, as the joint where he and his mistress got liquored up just before her fateful swim. Click here.

[Barbara]

Does anybody remember a place called the Golden Booeymonger?  It would have been (if memory serves) on CT Ave, South of the Hinckley Hilton in  Dupont Circle?  I went there once as a kid (early 80's?  late 70's?) and remember being really impressed.  Curious if it actually was any good.  It was nothing like the sub shop Booeymongers that is currently in existence in DC.

Before it was the Golden Booeymonger, it was Larry Brown's (he was a famous Redskin at one time).

[winonelson]

I can't believe no one has mentioned this late, great place:

Apana - still the best Indian in DC ever - periodically, Umbi Singh (New Heights, Butterfield 9) promises to get one of his chefs to do an "apana night" and invite all the old regulars.

Also, Chick'n Bucket - spectacularly great fried chicken (all cooked to order from fresh, not frozen, chicken) in Cleveland Park by the west side metro exit - the carryout menu said "what foods these morsels be"

[Joe H]

"Cruisin' From Maine Avenue To The Block"

When I was growing up in the '60's rock and roll was everywhere. Before the Beatles disc jockeys crooned, swooned, rhymed and mimed-from New York's Jocko Henderson to Philly's Jerry Blavat, Hy Lit and Joe Niagara to D. C. 's own Boss with the Hot Sauce, Barry Richards. Of course almost every city had a boss with the hot sauce or a geator with the heator but few of us knew that. We lived by a radio at night whether in our car cruising through the Queenstown 'Mo or Topps on Lee Highway or the Hot Shoppes in District Heights. When we were old enough we graduated to Rand's and the Rocket Room with detours to Hillbilly Heaven, the Crossroads (where Roy Buchanan picked with one hand and held his National Boh with the other) and later the Ambassador Ballroom at 18th and Columbia where one night I stayed straight long enough to wonder at Jimi Hendrix playing the Star Spangled Banner. On his guitar. Later we were both gassed at Dupont Circle along with a thousand or more others-all scared of the Draft-letting our feelings known about Nixon and 'Nam. About this time the Beatles stopped their occasional covers of Chuck Berry and began to search for inner truth and beauty and along came their White album. Soon McDonald's-which an enterprising and privileged friend had campaigned for senior class president at Montgomery Blair High School by insisting his wealthy father would open at Ertter's, the school's nearby all day hangout-forsake fresh potatoes and fresh ground beef for frozen. The Gayety on "The Block" on East Baltimore street began, for the first time, to card and Polock Johnny's began its downhill descent with fewer high school teenagers realizing manhood and the requisite two "Polocks all the way" afterwards. Today, I would note that the then six block block is, in fact, a half block block. Polock's is now on the Boardwalk in Ocean City. Of course after graduation, in '64, a group of us went to Ocean City to celebrate our new found freedom and apparent loss of innocence and virginity. There we found that we didn't lose our virginity after all but as compensation we found Thrasher's, Drumser's Dairy and Phillips which really WAS a crab house on what today is known as Coastal Highway. It was one room and the girl I had lusted for in home room waited tables there, too! There was no West Ocean City, no high rises and the Carousel was later to become famous for Bobby Baker and what otherwise, today, would look like a motel with residents named Vito, Angel, Candy and other appelations worthy of being tatooed on an arm, a butt or a boob. Back in Silver Spring, those who couldn't or didn't drive still cruised with friends around the Hot Shoppe, sometimes giving up on meeting anyone and ending up at Hofberg's around midnight. Or Krispy Kreme where Silver Spring Tire is today. Sometime in the late '60's the Alamo opened on Kenilworth Avenue and, for the first time, dates would plead, they didn't want spicy food. Hot was bad. Meanwhile Barry Richards left the half dozen different soul stations he was variously fired from and ended up in a cow pasture in Gaithersburg at WHMC, no longer rhyming but wearing paisley pants and crooning into the mike, telling the world north of Rockville that Jim Morrison had been arrested on stage in Florida for....

Hofberg's closed, later the Silver Spring Hot Shoppe too, Jerry's Sub Shop (which had moved in the early '50's from Kennedy street to Wheaton along with Weihle's which left for Langley Park) was sold and the new owners, UM grads, began to franchise. And no longer mix their hot relish with pickle juice as Max and Abe before him had. Or everyday roast a rump of beef for sandwiches. In fact after a while they did away with roast beef sandwiches altogether. In the early '80's Gifford's closed and sold their name although their ice cream and Swiss chocolate sauce lived on at York Castle opened by the former plant manager. One by one Pizza Square, Pizza Kitchen, Pizza Oven and Pizza Loven closed. All had opened in the '50's, all with similar dough "made fresh daily" with their "original sauce," all sold by an enterprising salesman from "somewhere in Pennsylvania." D. C.'s real homegrown and native pizza was almost gone. Pop's on Henderson closed, too, as did Leonie's and later Jimmy Comber's. Bish Thompson's wasn't the same but Busch in Annapolis rebuilt after a fire and was even better. For a while. Later the YWCA stopped selling their chocolate chip cookies and Boyd's on H street, the last bastion of D. C.'s original great Maine Avenue fish sandwich from Benny's in the '40's closed and moved to where it is today. Soon, it too would be sold and the sandwich changed. In 2006 Benny's/Boyd's is known as Horace and Dickey's but french fries are no longer fried in lard and the cole slaw is quite as mayonnaisey. The fish sandwiches are only three inches high, too and no longer use fresh filets. But Maine Avenue is still there. Or, at least half of the stands and stalls that one could smell a half mile away on a warm Saturday night in August in the early '50's. Today it just doesn't smell quite as inviting. Nor does the fish seem quite as fresh.

Goldie Hawn is 60. Connie Chung is no longer the heir apparent to Walter Cronkite or Dan Rather. And Ben Stein is a Bushie. Our high school reunion was in Ocean City a few years ago at the "new" Carousel, built in the late '70's. Phillips no longer uses Maryland crab meat and the Hot Shoppes is long gone. As is the "real" Hofberg's, the Omega, O'Donnell's on Pennsylvania Avenue and Stephenson's in Anacostia, home of the black and white checkerboard boxes where my parents would stand in line for over 30 minutes EVERY Sunday morning to buy cakes and pies. Of course the Warner no longer shows Ben Hur or Cleopatra and you can't stand in line to see Sean Connery as James Bond at Keith's. But you can see a stageshow or eat freshly shucked oysters at the Old Ebbitt which, then, was elsewhere.

Now when I cross the Potomac I no longer hear a southern accent. At least not until I reach Falmouth. Of course for every Reindeer or Polar Bear frozen custard, for every Emory's BBQ or Stone House Inn or Martin's Dairy there is the Virginia counterpart that is also gone. And the Peter Pan Inn, the Sunday Drive of my family's dreams is long gone. As is the Stardust in Waldorf which was the Saturday evening drive of my high school dreams, to sneak in, buy a drink and meet an "older woman" while playing slots. (Today that "older woman" seems like very real jailbait!)

And D. C. has lost La Salle du Bois, San Souci and Rive Gauche all of which, today, Dubya would still call upscale. Unfortunately, we've lost Jean Louis too which he never would have appreciated although his father would and did.

D. C also lost temporary buildings on the Mall. And built another Memorial or two or three. And a wall in front of each so that a van can no longer drive up and...blow it up. But we have great bread on Pennsylvania Avenue and I can buy Eppouises. On this side of the Atlantic. Of course cream top milk has not been tasted or even seen by almost everyone reading this. But it still exists! And a plug can still be pulled from a watermelon with a knife before buying-at the right market. Although I doubt if few have done this either. At least recently.

But as I type this I listen to XM Satellite Radio, which has Wolfman Jack recorded but he sounds for all the world like he must have in Modesto in the early '60's when I started this reminiscion. (I once cruised on Fourth street as they did in American Graffiti which was made in '72 and said "where were you in '62?" In fact I had one of my many last cigarettes ever on Fourth street. In '82. Listening to Wolfman Jack, then live and alive on KGO in San Francisco. It may be the same show that I am listening to now!) Lewes Dairy still has cream top heavy cream and I can plug watermelon at the Lexington Market. Crisfield still has Chincoteaque oysters and makes its crab stuffed flounder the same way as it did when it opened in the '40's. High school students outside of Denver are on CNN (CNN? Hmm...) railing against Bush just as we railed against Nixon. And Goldie Hawn was just on television. On High Definition Television and she has more wrinkles than she had when I looked over her shoulder in Plane Geometry. But she still looks good. Of course then I NEVER thought I would say any sixty year old could look good or that a granddaughter could be the "older woman" I might have thrown a line to at the Stardust. In '64.

Despite a wrinkle and a gray hair or three I do believe I am a better person and D. C. is a better place. I know our food is better. Now much of it is known as "cuisine." As it should be. But, once in a while, I wish that not just myself but also Roberto and Fabio and Michel and some of you on this board could have known a Benny's fish sandwich or a YWCA chocolate chip cookie or, for some others, how good a "Polock all the way" was after leaving the Gayety at midnight.

When we thought "The Block" would never be a block.

Joe Heflin

[dinwiddie]

I thought the Alamo opened in 1954. When I lived in Riverdale in the '80s, it was considered old, but it still had that great family feel and friendly folks who served huge portions of Tex/Mex food. Haven't been back in years, I guess I'll have to make a trip.

[Joe H]

You may be right. I first went there in the '60's after also going to a place downtown in what I think was the Ebbitt Hotel. I'm not sure of its exact name but at the time it was the best in the D. C. area. I never really liked the Alamo and actually thought that there was a little hole in the wall on Knox road in College Park that friends of mine and I would take 10 mile roundtrip bike trips to where they made their own tortillas since you couldn't buy prepackaged tortillas here then. That may have been in the late '50's. When Anita's opened in the early '70's or so I used to drive from Silver Spring to Vienna once every month or so just to eat there. There was also a place in Arlington near Red Top Cab called Speedy Gonzalez that was good. Speedy's must have closed sometime in the '80's but I'm not certain. Still, all of these places in the '60-'80's were basic Tex Mex. I think D. C.'s best "real" Mexican was Enriqueta's on M street in Georgetown.

[Drive-by Critic]

Le Lion D'Or. Ate there twice - once for lunch, once for dinner. Just incredible. I can't walk out of the DuPont Circle metro without thinking about those two meals...

Tanh Tahn (Wheaton). But you all knew that because I mention it every chance I get.

And while I can't honestly say I ever ate there...the Crow Bar.

Ellen

[Joe H]

Lion D'or was the primary competition to Le Pavillion; in fact I believe both were here about the same time that Jean Louis was open. In the early '80's I must have hosted 25 or 30 groups of ten who shared tables at Tony Cheng's Szechuan on I Street a restaurant that I still miss today. His H street restaurant has never approached what Szechuan once was.

[EdSz]

Back in the 70's there was a place on 17th Street, between Penn and H called Nick & Dottie's Black Steer. It was not part of the Blackie's chain, just a little steak house that had a great marinated luncheon steak and the world's best banana cream pie.

-Ed

-

[bookluvingbabe]

And while I can't honestly say I ever ate there...the Crow Bar.

Ellen

That's the god honest truth. I'm sure I had burgers or something there though...

Jennifer

[The Hersch]

I still miss the original Le Gaulois on Pennsylvania Avenue. There was a time in the mid-70s when it was my favorite restaurant in the whole world. I ate at its reincarnation in Alexandria in the early to mid 90s and boy it wasn't the same.

[Joe H]

It wasn't the same. The original felt like another country-there was something "rustic" about it.

Washington really has evolved in other ways, though. In the late '60's and 70's I used to drive from Silver Spring to Baltimore's Little Italy. Velleggia's, Maria's 300 (where Al Capone at when he was in Baltimore in the '20's-from their menu!) and Sabatino's which friends of mine liked although I disagreed with them.

There are some things from back then that I believe were better then rather than now:

1. BBQ For years the best bbq joint in the D. C. area was the original O'Brien's on Gude drive where the owner paid Sonny Bryan from Dallas to come up and set him up with the exact same recipes. It lacked the funky ambience and concrete floors of the Inwood Avenue original but the sauce, the beans, the sliced brisket, the ribs were the same. Then sometime in the early 80's or so there was a murder at O'Brien's and it was never the same.

Before Sonny Bryan's, in the '50's there was a place on New Hampshire Avenue in Langley Park called Sweeney's. Later it was sold and became Emory's (or I could be reversing this...). Either way they served cold 12 ounce bottles of Coke with ice on them; when you opened the door the smoke was thick, surprisingly thick reminiscent of places like Dreamland in Tuscaloosa, AL. Sweeney's/Emory's had GREAT ribs and even better hush puppies.

(Speaking of bbq and cream pies: Johnny Ray's in Birmingham, Ala but that's another thread.)

2. Maryland style seafood. I believe with the exception of Jerry's in Seabrook this is a virtual wasteland for this. You'd have to go to Suicide Bridge in Hurlock outside of Cambridge to find a place as good as the original O'Donnell's on Pennsylvania Avenue in the '50's and '60's. Bish Thompson IN THE '60's and '70's NOT later when it went through an ownership change was awfully good, too. Busch's Chesapeake Inn-where they served a full stick of butter even if there was only one person at the table-had fantastic seafood until sometime in the late '70's and early '80's when it changed. In fact, in the '50's I remember my parents going to Crisfield ONLY because it was cheaper than going downtown, even cheaper than Kushner's at Piney Branch and Flower. Crisfield was good but it was a dump and a long way behind the PA Avenue O'Donnell's. (Crisfield's was excellent for frying ((GREAT fried chicken but nobody ever talks about that!)), Norfolk style, raw oysters and flounder stuffed with crab imperial. O'Donell's "Norfolk Style was better") Somewhere along the line Calvin Trillin called it "America's best fish house" and later Julia Child raved about it on one of her shows and, about the time they raised their prices 30 to 40% Phyllis Richman started raving. Steamboat Landing in Galesville in the late'70's and early '80's was outstanding, fifty yards out on a pier in the West River with floor to ceiling plate glass windows, dimly lit with candes on every table. Most important their recipe for cream of crab soup (best I ever had in a restaurant) and three or four other dishes was published by Southern Living which called it Maryland's best seafood restaurant about then. Unfortunately Steamboat Landing is still there (or was a year or two ago) but it has gone through at least five or six different owners and has nothing in common with what it once was.

3. Cheap pizza. D. C. had a unique style of pizza which was sold by places like Pizza Oven, Pizza Kitchen and a number of others. All of this was very similar with most of the places having been set up by a man in the '50's who I was told sold a "package" which included the Bakers Pride oven and showed people how to make dough as well as pizza, etc. There may have been 100 or more places like this around the D. C. area but several STILL SURVIVE: Pizza Pantry on Walter Reed Drive in Arlington, Pizza Oven in Rockville near the Court House and Pizza Oven in the East Pines Shopping Center. This is NOT great pizza, maybe not even good pizza. But it was a taste that was unique to D. C. and I don't think anywhere else. I haven't been to the three places mentioned above in about a year or so but my wife (who, like me, was born here) still makes annual pilgrames to Arlington to go to Pizza Pantry. (Hmm...a pilgramage is due...)

4. Great homemade ice cream. A lot of cities have places that used to do this but D. C. may have had the best of all. I am not talking about Gifford's or Bob's, both of which are/were good. I AM talking about the University Pastry Shop which was on Wisconsin Avenue near Macomb, the Calvert Pastry Shop on Wisconsin Avenue south of Calvert, Avignon Freres, Wagshal's (GREAT ice cream) and the best of all, the original Martin's Dairy near Olney. I am ONLY talking about the Martin's Dairy that operated in the 1950's which was a real dairy farm with cows mooing a few feet from where you ate the freshly churned ice cream. (There is a place called Longacre Dairy on route 100 on the road south of Allentown, PA that is very similar but not quite as rich; the cows aren't as close either but it's the same kind of "feeling.") I remember going to Gifford's (which, again, was great) but my parents would sit at Gifford's and say we should have made the drive to Olney!

And then there was Weile's, home of the $30 Lincoln Memorial. In 1958 $30 was a lot of money for a Sundae. They served it in a "bathtub...." Weile's ice cream was never nearly as good but for a ten year old's birthday party it was as good as it got!!!

[johnb]

(Crisfield's was excellent for frying ((GREAT fried chicken but nobody ever talks about that!)), Norfolk style, raw oysters and flounder stuffed with crab imperial.  O'Donell's "Norfolk Style was better")

Interesting you should mention great fried chicken in a fish house. This is getting a bit OT since the place is still in business, but Horace and Dickies, which is a fish house, has really pretty good fried chicken. I know you don't like their fish so much any longer (and it's true they use frozen Chilean boxed fillets), but the chicken is indeed pretty good. FWIW

[Joe H]

John, Horace and Dickeys is really very good. But I remember Mr. Boyd who I met in the mid 1970's when he had a place on H street near Popeye's first D. C. location. He and I were talking and he made me a fish sandwich and I said that it was just like Benny's on Maine Avenue. He couldn't believe that I remembered Benny's! This was the '70's! Anyway, later he moved to where Horace and Dickey's is now and, at some point, sold out. What they serve today IS good; but what Boyd and, before him, Benny sold was really something special: fried fresh filets piled four inches high on Wonder Bread with home made mayonnaisey cole slaw and Evangeline hot sauce served along side of fresh potatoes fried in lard with some of the skin still on. (Arthur Bryant's still does this on Brooklyn Avenue in Kansas City-I cannot tell you how addictive french fries are which have been fried in lard!). Still, sometime soon, I'll go back and try their fish sandwiches AND their chicken. By the way, Faidley's in Baltimore does a fish sandwich that tastes an awful lot like Boyd's.

[dcdavidm]

In addition to the then-big-name restaurants already mentioned, there are several neighborhood and specialty restaurants that I can taste only in my memory. Going back to when I first arrived in DC in the 1970s, I fondly recall eating many fine meals at a terrific Capitol Hill neighborhood Italian restaurant called Machiavellis. Good prices; some care put into ingredients and preparation; and a short walk home. The first "trendy" restaurant in the same neighborhood was called 209 1/2, and had for the time an inventive menue and a clean, modern setting. Another 1970s niche restaurant I miss, and whose name escapes me, was located on the second floor of a loft building on M Street in G'town, just east of Wisconsin, and served nothing but interesting cheese dishes, with patrons seated on pillows and lounges around low tables. Fun.

[johnb]

(I cannot tell you how addictive french fries are which have been fried in lard!). Still, sometime soon, I'll go back and try their fish sandwiches AND their chicken.

I know. My mother used to fry chicken and french fries in lard. Mmmmmm good. Everything else too--eggs, you name it. And as to the health impact, she is 91 and my dad is 94, and they are both still fairly healthy and living in their own house.

Bring on that lard!

[Joe H]

In addition to the then-big-name restaurants already mentioned, there are several neighborhood and specialty restaurants that I can taste only in my memory. Going back to when I first arrived in DC in the 1970s, I fondly recall eating many fine meals at a terrific Capitol Hill neighborhood Italian restaurant called Machiavellis. Good prices; some care put into ingredients and preparation; and a short walk home. The first "trendy" restaurant in the same neighborhood was called 209 1/2, and had for the time an inventive menue and a clean, modern setting. Another 1970s niche restaurant I miss, and whose name escapes me, was located on the second floor of a loft building on M Street in G'town, just east of Wisconsin, and served nothing but interesting cheese dishes, with patrons seated on pillows and lounges around low tables. Fun.

I remember that cheese restaurant but can't remember the name. Downstairs on the south side of M a block or so east of Wisconsin was a place that sold only desserts-nothing else. Many of their pies and cakes they received from bakers elsewhere in the city who sold to them. This place was in business for a number of years and, I thought, did a really good business. Still, it would seem difficult to maintain consistency when essentially you are using "cottage" bakers to support you.

[The Hersch]

several STILL SURVIVE:  Pizza Pantry on Walter Reed Drive in Arlington, Pizza Oven in Rockville near the Court House and Pizza Oven in the East Pines Shopping Center.  This is NOT great pizza, maybe not even good pizza.  But it was a taste that was unique to D. C. and I don't think anywhere else.  I haven't been to the three places mentioned above in about a year or so but my wife (who, like me, was born here) still makes annual pilgrames to Arlington to go to Pizza Pantry.  (Hmm...a pilgramage is due...)

Does Pizza Pantry still survive? I saw THIS saying it had closed, but it's still listed in many directories. I grew up a few blocks from this place, and it was one of two sources of carry-out in my childhood, usually when the parents were going out. The other was a place called the Oriental Carryout Kitchen, on the north side of Columbia Pike, west of Walter Reed. In retrospect, both were pretty dreadful. I have a certain nostalgia for the Pizza Pantry pizza, but it really wasn't very good. I mean, the crust was almost crumbly. The Oriental Carryout Kitchen was the typical American-Cantonese of the day: leaden egg-rolls, sticky-sweet Sweet and Sour Pork with lots of pineapple, fried rice. Actually, I'm feeling nostalgic for that too.

[jpbloom]

In addition to the then-big-name restaurants already mentioned, there are several neighborhood and specialty restaurants that I can taste only in my memory. Going back to when I first arrived in DC in the 1970s, I fondly recall eating many fine meals at a terrific Capitol Hill neighborhood Italian restaurant called Machiavellis. Good prices; some care put into ingredients and preparation; and a short walk home. The first "trendy" restaurant in the same neighborhood was called 209 1/2, and had for the time an inventive menue and a clean, modern setting. Another 1970s niche restaurant I miss, and whose name escapes me, was located on the second floor of a loft building on M Street in G'town, just east of Wisconsin, and served nothing but interesting cheese dishes, with patrons seated on pillows and lounges around low tables. Fun.

Boy, a blast from the past! I lived on the Hill in the '70s and loved Machiavellis. The cheese restaurant was called The Big Cheese. The one time I tried to go, they wouldn't let me in because I wasn't wearing a jacket. (I didn't expect a "hip" restaurant like that to require one.)

Lots of places I miss have already been mentioned, but the one that stands out most is Cantina d'Italia. The concept of spending over $100 for a couple for dinner (including wine) shocked me, being on a starving law student budget, but it was worth every penny each time.

One that hasn't been mentioned is Maison Blanche. In the early Reagan years, it was not only the place to see and be seen, the food was excellent.

[The Hersch]

Paru's.

[Chris Cunningham]

Growing up in Alexandria, I have to say I miss Hot Shoppes. They had the best chicken noodle soup and a burger called the Mighty Mo(something akin to the Big Mac, but much better). As for barbeque, I also miss the Dixie Pig-they rocked.

[Chris Cunningham]

I just woke up. so instead of coffee, i start my day with a Cup of Don Rockwell Anyway, I have to add that I miss Ecco Cafe in Old Town. Not the best food always, but the Straw and Grass pasta-spinach futtucine with italian sausage and cream sauce was great. Their 4 cheese pizza was outstanding as an appetizer, and they has a good side salad with blue cheese. R.I.P. Noe I'm off to Ted's Montana Grille for a Bison burger and to catch a movie-my day off

[cucas87]

I miss Ruppert's. A number of years ago I went to Spain and had a wonderful trip, but was stunned by how heavy the food was. I was convinced that the only vegetables eaten in Spain are olives and potatoes. I came back in early April and my traveling companion and I immediately went to Ruppert's. I still remember the incredible fig salad I ate that night.

[Escoffier]

Trinkas on M Street at 31st if I remember correctly. A dive of the first class but some of the best gyros you've ever eaten.

[Jacques Gastreaux]

Henry Africa's formerly on King Street in Old Town. Best bar scene in Alexandria, and they served food. I recall that the circumstances of their closing were somewhat ugly, with a lots of acrimony from a group of regulars.

[Escoffier]

Roy Roger's Yes I know there are a few around, mainly on the NJ turnpike, but in their heyday, nothing beat a roast beef sandwich and horsey sauce! Not to mention a Double R burger.

Get thee to Leesburg or Frederick. Roy's is alive and well and expanding once again. I stop there every time I'm in Leesburg and have the roast beef or the fried chicken just so I can go to the "fixin's bar".

[DanielK]

Get thee to Leesburg or Frederick.  Roy's is alive and well and expanding once again.  I stop there every time I'm in Leesburg and have the roast beef or the fried chicken just so I can go to the "fixin's bar".

You don't have to go as far as Frederick - there are two in central Montgomery County, in Gaithersburg and Germantown.