Dupont Legends – Eat in and Carry Out
I was sitting at work one day and came across an all staff email about lunch. Seems i’m not the only one scouring the internet from something new to try at noon. In fact, it’s really what everyone does, everyone, everywhere. Lunch is that time of the day we can steal away from work for an hour and enjoy the wonderful world of culinary cuisine made in under 20 minutes. That or run to Trader Joe’s for a salad.
This day though I decided to not suffer through another Subway Jared special and track down a good Gyro. I love Gyro’s even if my wife yells at me for pronouncing them “JI-RO” and not “Geer Ho” or “Heer Ho” or however the hell you phonetically spell it. So it was on this day that my eyes leaped and my stomach lurched when I saw a review from colleagues at work for a nice Greek carry out restaurant about 5-8 blocks away. I ctrl-alt-del’d my computer and head out the door to Dupont Circle area, little west honestly.
When I got there I found a very nice little storefront with some outdoor seating sitting on P street in NW. I walked in and a nice older man, who is I believe is the very proud Greek owner, asked me for my order. I didn’t need to look at the menu and simply ordered a “JI Geer-Ho” with fries. I took a seat inside and played some Uno on the iPhone while I waited.
The inside, as you can see, was heavily decorated Greek.
There is some pride here from the owners. This just so happens to be one of those little places that is owned by someone that is ethnically attached to the food. What I mean is, I like eating food that was prepared by someone that grew up eating it in their native country. Is the best Italian food in NYC or Italy? Though i’ve never eating in either, from numerous sources I’ve encountered over the years, it’s been overwhelmingly Italy. Same is true for Greek as it turns out.
My sandwich came in very quick time, the restaurant was a little empty, and I first noticed how packed it was. The lamb slices were thick and bulged the pita bread out so far it was hard to get a solid bite on it. Of course, that’s not a lot to stop a hungry man who has to be back for a 1pm meeting.
I dug in and was delighted. The lamb tasted as good as it looked. It was a massive bite though and took me sometime to gulp down. I ordered fries with it, which were honestly not so good. But come on, it’s a Greek joint, they didn’t invent the french fry so why should they be good at making it.
For the proximity to work and the deliciousness of the “Geer Ho” I give this place a solid thumbs up. I went back again after that first visit and it was still a solid Gyro. Onions rings on the second visit which were still kinda eh, but whatever, i’m not going there for their side items. If you work in the area and haven’t tried them out they are certainly worth a visit.
Legends is located at
2157 P Street NW
Washington, DC 20037
202.296.2333
URL: http://www.dupontlegends.com/
05.14.10 by AllenRay’s The Steaks East River
First off, let me apologize, no pictures on this one. I had the iPhone but was in a food frenzy and just didn’t remember to snap the pic. How did this happen do you ask? How could a blogger of food not post a pic about what he writes? Read on to find out!
My friend, Jon, called me a few nights ago and said simply “We’re going to dinner at Rays the Steaks”.
“No way!”, I said, “I’m not driving all the way down to Arlington from the Hill during the week. The traffic will kill us”.
“We’re not going to Arlington, we’re going down Benning road to the new location” Jon so smugly said.
Aghast! Could it be true? Could a quality steak house move just minutes from me? I quickly said yes and off we went to an adventure of food. What did we find? One hell of a good dinner!
We climbed into the Jeep Liberty, headed down H street, can’t wait for the construction to end, and crossed over the bridge into what Google Maps calls “Fort Dupont/Lower Central NE”. Never heard of it? Mostly because not much is there. It’s a poorer area of DC that honestly doesn’t have much to pull people in. Until now.
Once we found Dix street we pulled into the parking lot and headed inside. The restaurant had a nice big open space. We were greeted instantly and shown right to a table. There weren’t many other patrons but, hey, it just opened. The menu was pretty straightforward, steak, pulled pork, crab cake, pretty much what we expected. The beer list was, well, not so good. Budweiser, Heineken, and one specialty beer all in the bottle, nothing on draft. Oh and Michelob Ultra too. Fun times. I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting a blockbuster at this point. Location wasn’t great, tucked behind a shopping center and a little awkward to find, but there was parking which is nice for DC. Crappy beer menu but, again, they just opened.
The waiter, extremely nice, greeted us and told us about the specials. A sliced beef sandwich with choice of two sides for 12 bucks, which I ordered. Jon ordered the prime rib, 16 oz, for 20 bucks, and we sampled, well not sampled as we’ve had it many times before, the one good beer on the menu, Delirum.
Very soon after, like 10 minutes, the food arrived. First, let me say, both our eyes bulged as we saw the size of the prime rib. Ever see John Candy eat the big steak in The Great Outdoors? Was kinda like that. That beasty had to be 22oz+. My sliced beef sandwich oozed sauce and smelled of heaven.
We both dug in and after one bite we realized the enormity of what was happening. The sliced beef sandwich was dreamingly good. The sauce danced on my tastes buds and demanded I eat more. The slaw that came with was good too, and fit perfectly on top of the beef. How was the prime rib you ask? Cooked perfectly and perhaps the most tender meat I’ve had at a steak house in a long time. Jon said, and I quote, “This is one of the best steaks i’ve had in DC in a long time”. He was right.
Ok, so the french fries were eh, the beer menu was eh, maybe worse than eh, but this isn’t a frites and beer kinda place. The steak/meat? Ten out of ten stars. Really freakin good. Jon mentioned that the owner of Rays opened this store in a more impoverished neighborhood and hired only local folks to run it. Good move. Everyone that worked there was super nice and super on the ball. We didn’t wait for anything, though admittedly the place wasn’t that full.
So, if you want a nice solid steak head on over. The place isn’t so busy yet, which if you live off H street is a blessing, but the food is really really good. Super high quality local steak house only minutes across Benning road. The staff is very nice and the prices are dirt cheap for this good of a meal.
Oh and the enormity that I said earlier? That’s our waist line increasing as we’re sure to go back. Again. And again.
Ray’s The Steaks East River
Located at: 3905 Dix Street Northeast, Washington, DC 20019-1401
(202) 396-7297
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