Mexico City at Sundevich (Photo via Facebook)
Of all the irritating things about Washington—the phoniness, the showy cars, the utter inability of a metropolitan area of 6.9 million people to produce a single decent slice of pizza or a passable submarine sandwich with oil and not mayonnaise—none is more infuriating than the local insider habit of referring to the place as “this town,” as in “He’s the most important power broker in this town” or, more likely (and worse), “The way to get ahead in this town is to seem not to be trying to get ahead.” —David M. Shribman, The New York Times, July 8, 2013.
The above paragraph opens David M. Shribman’s New York Times review of This Town, a new takedown of fickle, incestuous, federal Washington by Times reporter Mark Leibovich. In the book, due out July 16 from Blue Rider Press, Leibovich, the Times Magazine’s national correspondent, skulks his way through the Capitol Hill staffers, national media figures, and White House operatives who every day do their damndest to ruin D.C.’s reputation. (All while being part of the very same machine.)
While there are plenty of things we might eventually say about This Town—we’re fond, in particular of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying “Fuck the White House Correspondents Dinner” on the eve of the mission to kill Osama bin Laden—our quibble today is more with the book’s reviewer. For its review of a book by one of its own, the Times recruited Shribman, the executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and a former Washington bureau chief for The Boston Globe.
And in true Times fashion, Shribman couldn’t resist a dig at D.C.’s perceived gustatory parochialism. In fact, it’s right there in his lede! And he couldn’t be more wrong.
While D.C.’s pizza might lack the ubiquity of New York’s street corner utility slices, there is an ever-growing list of places to grab a dependable piece of pizza. Pete’s Apizza, for instance, might be an appropriation of how they make pizza in Connecticut, but patrons of its stores in Columbia Heights, Friendship Heights, Arlington, and Silver Spring can expect a far better single-serving of pizza than what any jumbo slice joint is scraping up. Also in Arlington, The Italian Store dishes out reliable slices.
But where Shribman really blows it is on his sandwich diss. He might have been picking away at anemic grocery store sandwiches and underwhelming Subway during his years in the Globe’s D.C. bureau (he left in 2003), but the D.C. of today—yes, the very same Washington of This Town—has no shortage of fine options of ingredients stacked inside a bread roll. Here’s what DCist’s staff recommends to Shribman next time he’s in D.C. and wants a sandwich:
Mangialardo & Sons (Photo via Yelp)
LA GRANJA DE ORO: The chorizo sandwich at this Peruvian spot in Adams Morgan. (1832 Columbia Road NW) —Pat Padua
EL CHUCHO: The cemita is killer. (3313 11th Street NW) —Martin Austermuhle
FAST GOURMET: A chivito—that Uruguayan masterpiece including beef tenderloin, black forest ham, bacon, green olives, mozzarella, and, yes, mayonnaise—should be shoved up this guy’s ass. (1400 W Street NW) —Sriram Gopal
MANGIALARDO & SONS: The Italian sub from has a cult following. I bet Shribman never even knew the place existed. (1317 Pennsylvania Avenue SE) —Martin Austermuhle
Taylor Gourmet (Photo by Plantains & Kimchi)
TAYLOR GOURMET: From a single location on H Street NE in 2008 to five more in D.C., plus two in the suburbs, Taylor Gourmet has become a go-to joint for quality Philadelphia-style Italian sandwiches. Since Mr. Liebovich complained about not being able to find a “passable submarine sandwich with oil and not mayonnaise,” I’ll point to the chain’s Kelly Drive, which features prosciutto, sopressata and just the right amount of oil on thick bread (that’s still good, even thought it’s not from Sarcone’s anymore.) And no, Mr. Liebovich, we don’t like Taylor just because President Obama ate there. (Multiple locations) —Sarah Anne Hughes
BUB AND POP’S: The Italian hoagie or Pop’s Beef Brisket. Slathered in their hoagie relish. Actually, just slather me in it. (1815 M Street NW) —John Fleury
SUNDEVICH: The Buenos Aires (steak, chimichurri, sautéed onions), Kingston (jerk chicken, pineapple salsa, greens, spicy slaw, garlic mayonnaise), and Mexico City (ham, avocado, eggs, tomato, chipotle butter) all belong on this list. (1314 Ninth Street NW) —Staff
TAQUERIA DISTRITO FEDERAL: What’s so bad about mayonnaise on a sandwich? A monster torta from Tacqueria Distrito Federal wouldn’t quite be its fully delicious self without some mayo. (3463 14th Street) —Alicia Mazzara
A. Litteri (Photo by the_sauce_dc)
A. LITTERI: So what if it’s closed Sundays and Mondays and only stays open until the mid-afternoon. The Italian sub on a nine-inch hard roll is worth reconfiguring your schedule. (517-519 Morse Street NE) —Brett Gellman
A.M. WINE SHOPPE: It’s more than fair to grant that the Adams Morgan of Shribman’s days in the Globe’s Washington bureau did not have the same options as the 18th Street NW of a decade hence, but that’s a shoddy reason not to do any research. Some quick fact-finding will reveal that when it comes to lunch to go in Adams Morgan, So’s Your Mom has been displaced. Yeah, insert joke about fancy sandwiches and Boomtown here, but the delicacy-filled semolina rolls at the A.M. Wine Shoppe are unimpeachable. The Admorghese might make one chuckle at the faux-Italian spelling of the neighborhood’s name, but its contents—mortadella, prosciutto cotto, Provolone, spicy pickles, fennel, and olive oil—are not to be messed with. Same goes for the Pan Bagnat, perhaps D.C.’s best tuna salad sandwich, which serves the fish Provençal style with an olive tapenade and roasted red peppers. (2122 18th Street NW) —Benjamin R. Freed
ALSO RECEIVING VOTES: The pastrami at Stachowski’s Market (1425 28th Street NW), brisket cheesesteak at Smoke & Barrel (2471 18th Street NW), lamb sandwich at 1905 (1905 Ninth Street NW).
