Capital Q - Texas Tastes Taking Turn as Toast of the Town

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Texas Tastes Taking Turn as Toast of the Town

Houston Chronicle - January 26, 2001
By Mona Shoup

In the '70s, Texas experienced an influx of Easterners most vocal about our cuisine -- or lack thereof.

Well, get ready, Washington, D.C. -- Texans are as proud and picky about the "real thang" in barbecue and Mexican food as Yankees are snobbish about pizza and deli sandwiches.

Transplanted Texans who can't find real barbecue and Tex-Mex in Washington generally give up and move to another cuisine, such as Chinese or the many other ethnic foods in Washington and its suburbs, says Larry Neal, spokesman for Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas. That's apparently what President Bush and wife Laura learned during their first stay in Washington in 1992 when he was helping with his father's re-election campaign. The couple recently was spotted dining at Peking Gourmet in Arlington, Va., an old Bush family favorite.

Pentagon employee Chip Smith of Fairfax, Va., got a taste of Texas during childhood visits to relatives in Austin. So with some discernment he shares his insights to good capital-city food, especially those places with good beer and music.

Downtown Washington has several swanky Tex-Mex restaurants that do a lot of grilling, but Smith and his wife, Meg, prefer the little hole-in-the-wall places representing traditional foods of Mexico's neighboring countries. A favorite is Abi's Restaurante in Arlington, Va., serving the cuisine of El Salvador. An evening at ethnic places such as Abi's is as much of a cultural event as a dining experience, Smith said.

"The crowd is half or more Spanish-speaking. Whole families are there; it's their big night out. They're dressed up. The girls have petticoats on. Truck mechanics and garbage men are eating alongside doctors and dentists. It's community as well as eating," Smith said.

"There aren't the fancy garnishes, but they have good traditional food. The ethnic places usually serve the beer of their country. It's a good experience."

Don't expect to find typical red and green Tex-Mex salsas at the ethnic places, Smith said. Depending upon the country, some salsas are mild; some are hot; some are brown. And a mole sauce might be served as a condiment.

The food at Chevy's Fresh Mex Restaurant, although a chain restaurant, tastes pretty darn good, portions are huge and the margaritas get good reviews, Smith said. He rates Rio Grande Café's salsa as outstanding; tortilla chips are made on-site, with the machine in view of the diners.

Washington-area restaurants offering American comfort food include King Street Blues, Alexandria, Va., and America Restaurant, which serves regional foods from across the nation, including chicken-fried steak and meatloaf. Smith recommends America's Union Station location.

Authentic Texas chili (no tomatoes) can be found at Hard Times Cafe in Alexandria and other locations. Hard Times is a local favorite because it also serves Cincinnati chili (tomato-based with cinnamon and cumin) and vegetarian chili, plus good, cold beer and mega onion rings, Smith said. Extras include beans, spaghetti, cheddar cheese and jalapenos. Or order your chili "wet" for extra grease -- really.

For barbecue, check out Red Hot & Blue, several locations, serving its ribs "wet," basted with sauce, or "dry," without sauce.

U.S. Rep. Ken Bentsen, D-Houston, says his children's favorite D.C. restaurant is Cactus Cantina, north of Georgetown, which serves good fajitas and quesadillas. Enriqueta's Restaurant, a traditional Mexican restaurant in Georgetown, is also good.

The upscale Red Sage Border Café, located downtown, serves good food, but it's not a typical Texas Tex-Mex family restaurant. "First, it has a chef. It's a famous restaurant in which you can spend your paycheck, if you're not careful," Neal said.

The Washington restaurant scene did, however, experience a Texas mini-boom around 1988 when the President George Bush moved into the White House, Rob Wilder, founder of Austin Grill in D.C. and founder of Amy's Ice Cream in Austin, said. Wilder opened the first Austin Grill, a Tex-Mex restaurant, in D.C. in '88. It was the first restaurant there to serve Shiner Bock, a Texas brew now commonly found on tap.

Next, Uncle Julio's restaurant chain came up from Dallas and opened Rio Grande Café, and some of Wilder's Texas friends opened a Tex-Mex place on Capitol Hill called Tortilla Coast that's become a traditional Republican hangout, he said.

"We just couldn't resist exporting a little taste of Austin somewhere that needed it, and the place that needed it the most was Washington, D.C.," Wilder said.

Now, with another Texan in White House, restaurants are jumping on the bandwagon to add Texas-style entrees.

"Everyone's scrambling to learn Texas cuisine," said Ellen Gray, who, with husband Todd, owns Equinox, one block from the White House. In honor of the Texan president, Equinox has added to its menu a special Cowboy Chop for Two ($58), a grilled Angus steak and cabernet red wine sauce served with gold potato cakes and baby spinach, presented in a copper pan.

The Ritz-Carlton's Washington, D.C., signature restaurant, Kobalt, will tally Texans' requests from last week and add to its menu a Lone Star salad, sandwich and entrée in honor of the Texan in the White House, general manager James McBride said.

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said she frequents D.C. restaurants operated by Texas transplants, including Capital Q, Austin Grill and Rio Grande Grill.

When in Washington, Rep. Nick Lampson seeks out his favorite barbecue place, Capital Q, owned by Nick Fontana, who is from the Beaumont area, the congressman's district. "The barbecue sandwich and the veggies are my favorite; it's a little taste of home while I'm away," Lampson said.

U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, is also partial to Capital Q. "Capital Q is a home-away-from-home for lost Texans. It is one of the few places in D.C. where you can wear boots and jeans, get a great meal, and even use Texas talk, like `howdy' and `fixin'. You can't get much better than that," Granger said.

A native of Port Arthur, Fontana opened the cafeteria-style barbecue joint three years ago after getting out of the hotel business. When he moved to Washington 11 years ago, Fontana says, he saw plenty of phony Texas restaurants that would hang a Texas flag and call themselves Armadillo- or Alamo-something. Not so at Capital Q. "You walk into Texas when you come through our front door. I have to do the real thing or I could never live it down."

The 100-percent-Texas, down-home menu offers beef brisket, pork ribs, smoked chicken, chopped beef, Texas-made sausage, and homemade side dishes, plus banana pudding, pecan pie, apple crisp and brownies.

Capital Q, located in Chinatown between the White House and the Hill, serves an eclectic crowd. Green Peace recently opened across the street; Brendon Sullivan's law firm is down the way; National Public Radio is around the corner, and the Department of Justice is behind them.

To many of his customers, especially Easterners, Fontana says, "Barbecue is hamburgers on the grill. They aren't used to smoked meats, where the chicken and ribs are pink. They don't understand that; they think it's not cooked. It's an education process. We're on the frontier."

Once customers get a taste of Texas, they're hooked, Fontana said. Some people eat lunch at Capital Q four and five times a week, every week.

Proof of his barbecue's authenticity is on the wall. Customers send Fontana signed photos that line the wall, including Texas (and non-Texas) Republicans and Democrats. "No Texan is going to sign their picture to put on the wall if it isn't great barbecue," Fontana said.

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