NoVa Redeemed
After yesterday's debacle, I wasn't willing to take any chances today. So I went straight to the best NoVa has to offer: El Charrito Caminante on Washington Blvd. (right across the street from where Whitey's used to be). They didn't disappoint. For $5 I got a chicken burrito supreme, which was excellent, and a mandarina Jarritos soda. Their burritos are not enormous, you can comfortably pick them up and eat them with your hands, and they have a simple combination of meat, beans, guacamole, etc. The tortillas they use are perfect: fresh, a little bit crisp, but flexible enough to stay together for the entire time it takes you to eat it. The burrito I had today was just a little bit spicy: not bland at all, but not too much of a challenge for my over-sensitive (to hot spices) taste buds. It probably had just the right amount of spiciness for me--as I currently am--but next time I'm going to challenge myself by asking them to make it spicier.
The tremendous difference between today's and yesterday's burritos makes me think that for tasty but economical meals, first generation American establishments may be the place to go. This may be an obvious thing to say, but sometime the obvious needs stating. The only exceptions I can think of in NoVa are Elevation Burger in Falls Church and Tony's Pizza in Manassas. Can anyone think of any others?
posted by Charles P. Everitt at 9:53 PM
4 Comments:
What about:
Revolutionary Soup, Charlottesville VA or Cosi, various locations
These are two non first-gen eateries that are tasty and cheap.
Well, I'll grant that Revolutionary Soup is tasty, but it's not cheap. Everytime I've gone there with a certain special someone, the bill has been a little over $20 for the two of us. $10+ for lunch (per person) is not cheap.
With regard to Cosi: first of all, it is a first generation American place. It's a French restaurant that only arrived on these shores less than ten years ago. Second of all, the only really tasty Cosi I've ever had was at the original one in Paris before they franchised themselves (to death) and came to the States. At the franchised locations the bread is rarely fresh and hot, and the ingredients on the signature tomato and mozarella sandwich are only a slight notch above Subway quality. (I'm only talking about the sandwich; I know that their signature salad is quite popular in some quarters, but I've never had it.) Which isn't to say that I don't enjoy going: I like Cosi, enough, but not enough to merit commendation on these exclusive pages.
Thanks for the suggestions, anonymous.
Revolutionary Soup could be cheap if another certain someone didn't want two bottles of perrier and a cookie with his sandwich. I didn't see any cookies with the saigon sandwich.
I only get one bottle of Perrier at Rev Soup, thank you very much. And they don't sell Perrier, or cookies, at DC Banh Mi.
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