PHOTOGRAPH BY SCOTT SUCHMAN
TOWN&COUNTRY POOLS INC. AFTER 33 YEARS
We Are Still One-Of-A-Kind
(Continued from Page 31)
and sometimes warm from the oven. Even the sandwiches (burgers, crab cakes, pulled pork, grilled vegetables) come with a choice of two sides. Notice the ketchup bottles on the tables? They are set upside down, thus easier to use. In these first months, however, what
I wanted most was a more consistent kitchen and servers with more focus. Landrum probably is best known for
Since 1977, over 2100 clients have honored us with their confidence and trust by selecting Town and Country Pools.
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WHITE HOUSE NANNIES, INC. Celebrating 25 years
serving President Obama not once, but twice, at Ray’s Hell Burger in Arlington (so popular it spawned Hell Burger Too, adding game burgers and waiters to the recipe). Yet my inaugural experience with the Presidential Burger at East River was a bust. What I got was a less- than-White-House-worthy sandwich: a dry and crumbly beef patty topped with two slices of pepper Jack cheese that smacked of having been retrieved from the coldest part of the fridge. Weeks later, I upgraded to the Crazy Burger, which starts with the half-pound Presidential patty and piles on bacon, two kinds of cheese, house-made chili and (don’t let your cardiologist see you eating it) a split half-smoke sausage. The combination is a primal, wicked pleasure. Like it hot? Up the fire with the “piranha” sauce, fueled with jalapeño and cilantro. The filet mignon is a pleasant
surprise, in part because my preference is for meat on the bone, and this soft, juicy fist of beef, deeply striped from the grill, ends up being my favorite cut at East River. It bested both a flat- tasting T-bone and the smoked prime rib, the latter of which launched a debate among my companions, half of whom thought the thick and rosy meat smacked of liquid smoke. I liked its pleasant chew and beefiness. It took several visits before I
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warmed to the signature smoked-then- fried North East D.C. half-chicken (plus an extra drumstick). The third time revealed the charm: The bird was crisp and golden on the outside, succulent with a hint of smokiness beneath the skin. The entree comes with a hot sauce that some customers obviously have found explosive. “Taste it first,” a server cautions. “I’ll bring you something else if it’s too hot.” The accent makes the top of my head itch and my tongue beg for relief. Thai chilies mixed with chipotle, vinegar and tomato will do that. I dig it,
Tikeya Witherspoon serves a T-bone and fried chicken.
and keep it. As for the side dishes, sweet potato
fries trump the white ones, and mashed potatoes outclass the bland macaroni and cheese. Baked apples are so sweet they belong in a pie, and the cooked greens lack tang, but the cole slaw is creamy and the corn tastes as if it had been sliced straight off a summer cob. (Ray’s largesse has a downside. When your order shows up, there’s not enough room to accommodate everything on the tiny tables, forcing customers to surrender water glasses and ketchup bottles for entrees and sides.) You might not need an appetizer, at
least not at dinner, when a green salad leads the main course. But if you want something besides bread, try a plate of fried shrimp. Juicy beneath their crisp jackets of beer batter, they come four to an order and make a good shareable starter. Crab soup brims with seafood, but its pink-with-tomato-paste cream could use more seasoning. Service? There’s the sense that not
everyone pitching in at East River has worked in a restaurant before. Who’s in charge isn’t always clear, either. One night, three people showed up at different times to take my order, the food came out in uneven spurts, and one dish went AWOL. But the reception at the entrance is inevitably sunny (“Hey, I took your reservation!” a young server saluted my alias one night), and some of the mothering is right on the mark, as at the recent lunch where I couldn’t finish even half of my Crazy Burger. “I told you it was going to get you full!” my waitress chided. Filling is good. Better would be more smoothness with the substance.
Ask Tom will return.
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