What's Smokin'

The Latest:

Barbecue D.C. Style
June 2003. The Washington Post. By Dan Gilgoff
Born and raised in east Texas (with a seven-year New York absence that stole all but a trace of his Lone Star drawl), Fontana is one of the area's barbecue proprietors native to stalwart barbecue country, and it shows on the menu. At Capital Q you can get smoked sausage from Elgin, one of a constellation of towns outside Austin settled by German immigrants and still home to legendary butchers and smokehouses.

Capital Q's dry rubs (spices dusted onto meats before they hit the smoker) and barbecue sauces (ladled over the meats just after they hit the plate) also claim a Texas birthright, with ancho and chipotle peppers giving the Q's tomato-based sauce a south-of-the-border kick. Fontana developed his recipes in consultation with "Barbeque'N With Bobby," a cookbook by Bobby Seale, Black Panthers co-founder and native Texan.
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Other Reviews:

100 Best Bargain Restaurants
June 2002. Washingtonian Magazine. By Robert Shoffner
"It is nothing if not eccentric: a purveyor of authentic Texas barbecue from a smoker in the back of a Chinatown storefront that is the smallest restaurant in the area with a bar."
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100 Very Best Restaurants
January 2002. Washingtonian Magazine. By Robert Shoffner
"Judging from the autographed photos of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, House majority whip Tom DeLay, and other Capitol Hill players, Nick Fontana is the local barbecue concessionaire for Texas Republicans."
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A Brisket in Every Pot
February 15, 2001. Dallas Observer. By Dave Faries
There is only one place in the entire D.C. metro area for decent Texas food. Congressman Charlie Stenholm; Anne Chettle of the High Speed Ground Transportation organization (and therefore a lobbyist); Jayne Schoonmaker, one of the ubiquitous staff members on Capitol Hill; and pretty much everyone else runs down to Capital Q near the MCI Center. “We’re pretty much the real thing,” claims owner Nick Fontana, a Port Arthur native.
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100 Very Best Restaurants
February 2001. Washingtonian Magazine. By Robert Shoffner
"Just when you thought you had a handle on the politically correct definition of barbecue--unsauced ribs crusted with a dry-rub mixture of spices, or pulled pork slathered with sweet-spicy Memphis sauce--the rules have changed."
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Texas tastes taking turn as toast of the town
January 26, 2001. Houston Chronicle. By Mona Shoup
"Capital Q, located in Chinatown between the White House and the Hill, serves an eclectic crowd."
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