REAL TALK: there is kind of nowhere to eat in the middle of the afternoon in DC. There is lunch, there is dinner, there are happy hours, but if you were hungry/wanting to have a meeting/catch-up with someone mid-afternoon you’re kind of stuck in Coffee Shop purgatory, which is sort of ok but also really not ok at all. This is a major city! A capital of the free world even! We should be able to eat food around the clock!
So, it is with open arms that we welcome DBGB‘s FAMILY MEAL which is available at the bar, lounge and patio 3-6pm and features a rotating selection of small bites that the whole kitchen collaborates on.
The menu is rotating weekly, so telling you WHAT TO order may seem like a waste of energy, but we still stopped by last Thursday to check out the inaugural selection. Chef Ed Scarpone, Executive Sous Chef Justin Schreiber, Sous Chefs Isaac Hutchins and Michael Martin & Chef Tournant Eric Evasic whipped out a wonderfully diverse, fun selection, ranging from fried matzo balls in hollandaise sauce to shishito peppers to crispy sweetbread tacos and japanese pork katsu sub, with not a single dish over $11, and everything sized so that it is both shareable and acceptable to order in multiples.
The international influences of everyone involved were obvious, but the stand-outs probably included the tacos (the crispy sweetbreads topped with red onion and bacon jam) as well as those matzo balls (if we had one regret it was probably that we didn’t order fries on the side to make sure we consume every drop of that hollandaise sauce).
To round things out: all beers on draft and wines by the glass were half off, and while Chef Boulud’s ice cream sundaes are not on the Family Meal menu, if you are in the tasting mood – go for the Menage-a-Trois sampling which allows you to try a smaller portion of all three seasonal offerings (Peach Melba, Key Lime Pie and Chocolate Fudge are in rotation now) and finish things off just so.
BONUS: the restaurant plans to bring back some of the audience favorites so if you like those peppers, make sure to say so)
Can’t make it by 6pm? Don’t worry, after that, the dishes will still be available but at the bar only (ALL NIGHT LONG). Bottoms up.
