We were pleasantly surprised when we were invited to the “soft” opening of Town Hall, a new restaurant in Glover Park at 2218 Wisconsin Avenue. The location is seen to the left earlier this summer, before the remodeling. Back in May we had written about the difficulty of the owners to secure an extension of their liquor license. After some carefully lobbying of the neighborhood ANC by the restaurateurs – and an increasingly vocal lobby in favor of the business organized through the neighborhood Yahoo Group – the ANC voted to temporarily extend the hours for a trial period.
In addition to wrangling with the local authorities, on Monday we found the owners had been up to much, much more. We weren’t quite sure what to expect: based on what had been said about the restaurant we were thinking gourmet burgers in a laid-back setting. Perhaps we should have known better – the site is just steps from the trendy gym SomaFit, where Paris Hilton popped in November 2004, and the sign-less Bourbon, frequented by the Bush twins.
The interior had clearly been totally re-done from when the space housed Saveur, with a handful of LCD TVs and some tasteful framed photos of D.C. decorating the walls. While we’re not oenophiles the house chardonnay was superb and the food, ordered off the regular menu, was very good. We dined on tuna tartare for an appetizer (right – we’ve prepared Zola’s at home), a homemade turkey pot pie (and our friend the pork chop) for the entree, and a fruit sorbet for desert. The service was prompt and friendly and the only flaw we could identify was a clearly taxed A/C system, and the fact that they left the berries off of our desert. At $10 for an appetizer or salad and over $20 for most entrées, it’s not cheap, but worth the price. Although we’ll have to return to see if the kitchen can keep up the high quality beyond opening night, if they sought to impress us they succeeded. Well, there’s one more small thing – the website listed on their business cards – townhalldc.com – appears broken.
Town Hall
2218 Wisconsin Ave. NW.
For hours and other information, call (202) 333-5640.
