Welcome to Talk to Tom, the dining advice column that aims to point you toward good meals, steer you from the dross and solve your pressing restaurant queries. Look for a fresh Q&A every Thursday in this space.
Questions and comments can be submitted to TalkToTom@notus.com. Submissions may be edited for length and clarity.
I don’t have a ton of money, but I’d like to support the industry. What’s the best way to back those restaurants we love besides just dining there?
Every restaurant operator I reached out to appreciated your question. These are tough times for the industry; even small gestures of appreciation help.
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“Restaurants need and love praise from guests,” says Amy Brandwein, the chef of Centrolina and Piccolina in CityCenter. “So share your love with news outlets, social media and review [sites]. That is a way to generate more business without spending a dime.”
Word of mouth is crucial, says Anthony Jones, the chef at Marcus DC in NoMa, who makes a habit of frequenting area mom-and-pops, even if it’s just an ice cream shop.
If you have some money to spare, restaurateurs say buying gift cards is a boon to a business. “It’s an immediate injection of revenue for us and a promise of future business,” says Bill Jensen, the vision behind Reveler’s Hour in Adams Morgan. Patrice Cleary of Purple Patch and Joia Burger in Mount Pleasant likes the idea of purchasing, say, four $25 gift certificates and passing them out to a kids program or other charity. Who knows, she says; “You may introduce somebody else to a [new] restaurant.”
Remember that not every meal away from home has to be extravagant, says Matt Adler, the chef behind Caruso’s Grocery and Cucina Morini in the Capitol Hill East and Mount Vernon Square neighborhoods, respectively. “Even just grabbing a bowl of pasta and a glass of wine at the bar on a slower night makes a big difference for a restaurant,” he says, “especially during slower restaurant months.” Jones suggests forming a group or club to try a wider variety of dishes and spread out the cost of a meal.
Since moving to Montgomery County 15 years ago, I’ve encountered few really good restaurants. Can you recommend anything, aside from strictly sushi spots, with price less of a concern than quality? (I’m really glad you’re doing this here, along with many other of my favorite writers from The Washington Post.)
Thanks for the question and the welcome.
When I think about Maryland’s most populous county — with more than a million people spread over about 500 square miles — the restaurants I never tire of visiting suggest a U.N. buffet.
My tried-and-true spots are:
- The Salt Line for pleasing seafood, including an ace lobster roll, in Bethesda.
- Melina for polished Greek in North Bethesda.
- Beteseb for Ethiopian in Silver Spring, where my current fascination is dullet, or boiled, ground beef tripe spiked with jalapeño, mitmita and cardamom.
- Cielo Rojo for Mexican in Takoma Park, a fetching retreat that has me scraping the bottom of my brick-red bowl of pozole, thick with chicken and thrumming with dried chiles.
- Chennai Hoppers and Peter Chang for admirable Indian and Chinese, respectively, in Gaithersburg.
Different as the restaurants are, they share consistency, comfort and choiceness.
My biggest (pettiest) restaurant pet peeve is the ubiquity of tuna crudo. It’s a delicious dish, but everyone has it and I’m ready to move on!
Any day now, I expect Olive Garden to start selling the Italian appetizer — simply dressed raw fish, typically splashed with olive oil, salt and citrus — which I agree is seemingly everywhere these days.
Behind the “Odyssey”-esque ubiquity swim several forces: a raw fish boom led long ago by sushi, the ongoing popularity of Italian coastal cuisine, the wide availability of sushi-grade tuna and the ease of preparation. Compared to a cooked dish, crudo involves minimal labor and saves on waste.
Finally, tuna crudo gives even a mainstream menu a whiff of cachet.
Tom, my last trip to Germany was when the country name started with “West.” My husband and I are nonetheless heading to Frankfurt for a week in early September with friends who recently moved there from Baltimore, and we would love your recommendations for restaurants. Cost doesn’t matter; value does. One person doesn’t eat red meat and another doesn’t eat seafood/shellfish. Ideally, at least one option would serve spaetzle and schnitzel.
Some of the innovative places that should land on your list are Emma Metzler, set inside the Museum of Applied Arts and popular for its house-baked bread, nose-to-tail cooking and a terrace overlooking a park; Chairs, where the regionally focused menu changes monthly and the wines are natural; Rausch, which serves a tasting menu featuring modern German fare (and where I’m told Friday lunch is the prime time to go); and Main Tower Restaurant & Lounge, whose menu combines Asian and Austrian influences and whose dining room sits high in the sky in the banking district.
For more traditional German cooking, one option is the lively, cash-only Ebbelwoi Unser, dressed with communal tables and home to Hessian classics like schnitzel with green sauce and fresh apple wine.
Help! I need a “nice-ish” D.C. restaurant that can accommodate a range of appetites and won’t cost a fortune. (I’m paying.)
You want Unconventional Diner, the spirited American restaurant near the convention center (get it?) that never fails to please. No issue if one of you wants meat, one wants plants, another diner hopes for something adventurous. Chef-owner David Deshaies offers something for everyone on his menu: a meatloaf fueled with Sriracha for heat and Gruyere cheese for succulence; a refreshing and beautiful Thai salad; crackling duck confit with steaming bao buns in a circle of accessories. (The idea with the last dish is to create your own duck sandwiches with cilantro, hoisin sauce, chiles and more.)
Your question prompted a reunion with the restaurant over the weekend, when it was packed with Otakon attendees, many dressed as their favorite characters from Japanese video games and comics. A companion and I split a heaping helping of “nachos” coaxed from kale and striped with electric sauces, and a stellar chicken parm escorted with a bundle of spaghetti tossed in butter, Parmesan and chicken stock for added flavor. Busy as the place was, the staff took time to charm. As I debated between miso salmon and that duck confit, a server asked, “What’s your aim tonight?” before describing each dish in detail.
All this, at a price that will make you as happy as the food: The generous entrees — buttermilk pancakes for dinner, if you’re so inclined! — average an agreeable $24.
Direct me to your preferred banh mi in the DMV, please.
If forced to eat one sandwich for the rest of my life — and with apologies to France’s jambon-buerre, the Middle East’s shawarma and New Orleans’ muffuletta — I’d cast my fate with the Vietnamese wonder built with a crisp baguette and a combination of meat, tangy vegetables and a spread of butter or mayonnaise. And I’d eat them all at Bánh Mì Oi in Falls Church. (“Oi” is a call to attention in Vietnamese, similar to “hey.”)
The signature banh mi packs ham, pâté, pork bologna and pork belly along with traditional enhancers of cucumber, cilantro, pickled carrots, daikon and aioli between slices of a roll that’s at once airy, crisp and fluffy. The monster bread, baked on site, is so good, people ask to buy just the base; requests are limited to five rolls per order, says owner Yeanie Bach, citing the business’s small kitchen. Other fillings include a delectable warm tofu seasoned with star anise, and Nashville (truly) hot chicken.
Know before going in that there are fewer than 40 small stools spread across two small floors and outside. Expect a line. Know, too, Bánh Mì Oi delivers.
Clearly, I’m not the only fanboy. Bach says she sells an average of 1,200 to 1,500 of her hits — per day.
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