Sometime
in the late 90s or early 00’s, I was living in Rosslyn, Virginia. Near the corner of Lynn Street and Wilson
Blvd., across from where Tom Sarris’ New Orleans Steakhouse used to be, a new
fast food joint opened up, one of the first – if not the first – in the Washington
metropolitan area: CHIPOTLE. It promised
upscale Mexican cuisine.
I’m
militantly bourgeois and antagonistic towards anything “upscale”, “trendy”, or “pretentious”. I don’t drink wine, IPAs, microbrews, PBR,
and stay away from overpriced restaurants that serve food on square white
plates. So naturally I was hostile to
the premise of Chipotle, and so continued eating at the Taco Bell up the hill
(Wilson, near the Arlington Courthouse).
One
day, out of boredom and morbid curiosity, I tried out Chipotle. As you may well know, they make the food in front
of you. The ingredients, particularly
the steak, look appetizing and fresh. I
ordered steak soft tacos – hot sauce, cheese, and lettuce – and my mouth woke
up. Even since then I’ve been addicted
to Chipotle. It’s too delicious to
ignore. I don't care how pretentious it is.
Mr. Hero. I also love steak & cheese subs. Over by Bailey’s Crossroads, next to the dry
cleaners I currently use, was this s&c place. In addition to
fantastically delicious steak & cheese subs, they also made waffle fries,
which it’s hard to find anywhere else.
To
my intense regret and sorrow, Mr. Hero went under a few years ago. RIP Mr. Hero.
Not relocated, out of business.
Gone. Dead. Etc. By
the way – the Bailey’s Crossroads, VA store was NOT the only location. The company started in Cleveland, OH, and several
locations still exist there. But there
are no locations within 150 miles of Virginia.
Too bad.
In its place came… Quiznos.
Quiznos. The first one I saw was in Rosslyn, on the
same block as Chipotle. Like Chipotle,
it was an upscaling, this time of subs.
Since I tried Chipotle, and liked subs, I tried Quiznos. BLECCH.
Not good. Throw it back. No no
no. So put Quinzos down as a NO.
Incidentally,
I’m not a big fan of Subway. They add
some onions into the steak & cheese, and while their meatball subs are OK,
I’m overall not impressed. Sorry, Jared –
though he has more to worry about these days than my sub sandwich preferences.
Firehouse & Jersey Mikes. By the way, Jerry’s Subs & Pizza were
very good – but they’ve been slowly disappearing in my area. I don’t know why, I can’t explain, but it's sad
but true. Two newer chains are
expanding. Firehouse I first encountered
in Manassas, on Sudley Manor. They have
a FIREMAN motif and exploit it mercilessly.
They even put up all sorts of tributes to the local fire department. Although I don’t share their fetish for
firemen, I do like their subs. And they
have those great soda machines with a zillion different flavors.
Jersey Mike’s is my current
favorite. Oddly, despite visiting New Jersey
every other weekend for the past 6 years, I’ve never been to one in NJ: the closest one to us in Northern NJ is in
Wayne, which is 40 minutes west on I-80.
A bit far for a sub, sorry. I go
to the one in Springfield, Virginia. Again,
fantastic, just a little better than Firehouse.
Chipotle
again.
Anyhow, it was with zero regret that I noticed the Quiznos that took
over from Mr. Hero also went out of business. Too f’in bad. I
picked up dry cleaning the other day and saw a notice that the next contestant
for “who wants to operate a successful fast food place at this location” is ….
CHIPOTLE. The nearest others are at
Seven Corners, Broad Street, and Tyson’s Corner. In the opposite direction there’s one in Old
Town Alexandria. So by all means, continue
expanding, Chipotle, and I’ll keep eating your delicious steak soft tacos. :D
No comments:
Post a Comment