Sunday, January 7, 2007

and it begins

Months after we started this sorry excuse for a blog, we finally get around to our first post. Introductions will come later. For now, its about food.

Our first post isn't a momentous one (no 1789 or Citronelle for us-- we're poor!) but we are in pretty classic jill&ant circumstances-- at ant's office, getting work done on a sunday, watching football as a distraction, jill's getting impatient. So she went down the street to Eamonn's Chippery, the cute little fish-n-chip joint here in Old Town. We've been hearing about this place for a while, since it is owned and run by Cathal Armstrong, of Restaurant Eve fame, but we usually aren't in the area with time to mess around. But today, a hungry jill passed up 5 guys and subway in favor of trying something new.

Eamonn's is in a great location, right on the corner of King and South Columbus. Its a long, thin little shop, with a bar down one side where you stand check out the chalkboard menu and order from the helpful by a slightly sheepish young men manning the cash register. And it smells good, as all things fried should. The menu is simple and spare; Eamonn's offers large or small orders of cod or skate, chips, coleslaw, baked beans, or "mushy peas" (which, the board declares, are 'imported'). Desserts include fried snickers bars, fried bananas, and doughballs, which are, we presume, also fried. The beer appears to be un-fried, however; we find bottled harp, along with a couple other brews, and guinness on tap, served in big plastic cups (thank goodness they aren't red and opaque). Personally, I opted for a small cod and a large chips, knowing I wouldnt be able to keep all of the potato-y goodness to myself. I waited about 10 minutes, chuckled when a dad asked the more sheepish guy at the counter for supplemental utensils and was told "no knives-- but stab it with one fork and sort of pull it with the other," and caught a glimpse of armstrong himself carrying flats of coke cans to the back of the restaurant. Eventually my food came out, bundled in a big paper bag already beginning to reveal the nature of its contents through its ever-spreading grease spots. Eamonn's offers 7 different sauces: a hot curry, an "old bay" sauce, a "fronch," which is dijon-french, a mayo-ketchup blend, one with sun-dried tomatoes, capers, and kalamatas... oh, a classic tarter... and one more that i can't remember. i'll leave it a surprise. but i'm sure you'll like it. They're supposed to charge $.50 for each sauce, but I wasn't charged-- maybe because i'm so damn cute? Anyway, I wrapped my hands around my increasingly slippery bag (supplemented with ketchup and malt vinegar packets) and headed back up king street.

(Momentary rant: i love old town. the people are cute, the dogs are cute, the restaurants are cute, the whole damn place is cute.)

Settled on the office floor, we explored the spoils. The fish was light and flaky, creamy on the inside, relatively flavorless but still piping hot. I've never really liked cod or your other basic white fishes, but this was about as tasty as it comes. I was a little dispointed to only get one piece (at about $4), but the huge mound of fries (excuse me, chips) made up for it. They're thick-cut, crunchy on the outside, and delicious. I got the ketchup-mayo sauce, which was perfectly fine, and the snazzy tomato-caper-olive one, which just about made my tongue turn itself inside out- its a wonderfully tart/sour/salty accompanyment to just about anything. Delish.

Long story short, this is not gourmet food, and its not fancy, and yes, its fried and greasy. But it is quality, and inexpensive (something like $7 for a big pile of food) and a fun treat once in a while. I like.

728 King Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 299-8384
www.eamonnsdublinchipper.com/

Ant we're done here at the office. Time to go home!

1 comment:

Lizard said...

ANTHONY, YOU WENT TO EAMONN'S?