Kosher Food and Drink

As a Maryland resident, I am always a little cautious of reviewing the local restaurants. It’s not that I’m worried about blowback; it’s that a long history with a restaurant can color your feelings and perceptions to the extent that a review can be hard to objectively write.

That said, I’m going to try anyways. The subject of today’s review is Char Bar (2142 L St NW, Washington, DC 20037; (202) 785-4314; charbardc.com; under Vaad of Greater Washington supervision; meat), one of the two kosher meat restaurants “really” in Washington, DC, our nation’s capital. My spouse and I were downtown so we could visit the Planet Word Museum (highly recommended!), and a nice lunch seemed like just the thing to make the trip more special.

Getting to Char Bar is pretty straightforward; you can either drive and park in a nearby pay parking garage, park on the street at a meter if you’re very lucky, or you can take the Metro to the Farragut North or the Farragut West stations and walk a bit. My spouse and I elected to take the Metro. It was about half a mile, which on a pleasant cool fall day was no big deal, but might have been somewhat less charming in the winter.

Once you’ve arrived, you’re greeted by a modern interior, with a well-stocked bar and (somewhat) open kitchen. They have a staggered height seating arrangement, as well as a separate party room; there’s a lot to look at here. I wouldn’t call it distracting by any means, but simply a more interesting interior layout than the norm.

We were seated quickly, and given menus. The single page menu is the same for lunch and dinner, and has a reasonable assortment of sandwiches, salads, and entrees. I think the summary of the choices is “sandwich shop with a bit of steakhouse”, which is fine by me; at least they avoided the kosher cliche of Mediterranean fusion.

After some deliberation, we landed on the cauliflower poppers appetizer, The Lower East Side sandwich (with additional beef bacon), and a Shemtov salad (with steak). Service was uniformly very good for the price point; they brought out the appetizer before the entrees, waited for us to finish said appetizer, and checked in with reasonable (but not bothersome) frequency.

The cauliflower poppers were roasted to a crisp, but not burnt – delicious! The buffalo sauce was slightly sweet and savory, and the sour flavor of the lime pickled shallots were a nice counter balance. I think the only real critique is that the poppers themselves could have used a bit of salt. Still, that’s a minor critique for an excellent appetizer.

My wife’s steak salad came with the steak exactly as requested – medium – with a very nice crust on the steak. The lemon vinaigrette was also tasty, but not overpowering.

I had the Lower East Side sandwich, and I was soundly impressed with it. It’s a big sandwich! The rye bread had a light toast to it, and the pastrami was both rich in flavor and clearly smoked. The beef belly bacon was also well done, and they put a generous quantity of it in the sandwich. I mean, yes, it’s a $27 pastrami sandwich, but at least it tasted like something more than you’d get from a local deli counter. The included french fries had a nice amount of crunch, and best of all, were salted before they made it to the table – another pet peeve avoided.

It’s a nice restaurant, so it wasn’t a particularly cheap meal (about $60 before tip and tax). However, for what you get with the quality, quantity, service, and ambience, it seems more than reasonable to me. I’ve been there a number of times before, and I’d gladly go back again for a nice lunch when I’m out in DC.