Tucked away between Kramers and Starbucks in Dupont Circle is one of the region’s newest dedicated takeout/delivery restaurants: Underground Food Court.

Though the words “food court” might conjure images of an expansive mall eatery with dozens of options, Underground’s ghost kitchen model means it operates out of a tiny space on 19th Street NW just north of Dupont Circle. The business sells meals under several different brand names, including Sincerely Breakfast, Brioche Belly and Masa Taco. It operates Wednesday through Sunday, and customers can order on popular food delivery apps such as Grubhub.

But because of Underground’s extremely central location, it also set up a pretty sophisticated takeout model. Customers can also order all of its offerings in-person at kiosks located in the (quite literally underground) space, and then picked up to be enjoyed at home or at some picnic tables out front. 

Here’s how it works if you’re ordering in person: Kiosks are located right at the entrance. Customers use a touch screen to choose which restaurant they want to order from, pick their meals, and then customize as necessary. They can pay with credit card and then food arrives within a few minutes. People ordering through third-party apps can also select a “pickup” option and get the food themselves rather than waiting for delivery.

If you’re swiping through the menu on the in-person kiosk or ordering online, you’ll find old-fashioned breakfast foods like customer favorite “Nana’s Favorite” fried chicken biscuit sandwich($12) from Sincerely Breakfast and specialty French toast dishes like strawberry cheesecake French toast ($14) from Brioche Belly. After 11 a.m., Masa Taco serves tacos on tortillas made daily by Underground staff.

And there’s more to come in the tiny space. This week, Underground Food Court is launching two new taco brands. The Lonely Taco will combine different cuisines for dishes like Korean fried chicken tacos, while Tacotopia will make vegan-friendly food with mushrooms as a base. There’s also a third top-secret eatery in the works, according to Randall Matthews, the restaurant’s executive chef and culinary director, though he couldn’t divulge more. Matthews works with Underground owner and CEO Tiffany Fiedler, a former co-founder of ghost kitchen operator CloudKitchens who is now branching out with her own company with Underground.

Matthews’ background is in higher-end dining. He previously worked at buzzy Stephen Starr-owned steakhouse St. Anselm, as well as at True Food Kitchen, and as a corporate chef for celebrity chef Michael Mina. He garnered high praise from Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema for his cooking at Ada’s On the River in Alexandria.

Underground Food Court aims to be different from other ghost kitchens because “typically you have concepts where you just do a massive amount of volume, and the hospitality’s not there. You just kind of get cold food in a bag,” Matthews says. “We’re trying to reshape the thought of takeout.” To add that extra dose of hospitality, staff may handwrite notes for customers, he said. When I stopped into Underground, staff members were being warm and welcoming to customers and delivery drivers alike.

Matthews said Underground hopes to expand the concept to other places across the country, adding that they see a need for the model due to the pandemic shifting customers’ habits and comfort levels around eating in sit-down restaurants.

“I know great cities like Texas or Miami that can definitely use this,” Matthews says. “Because we really want to reshape the thought of this big restaurant and having this massive amount of servers and having this guest interaction, when some people aren’t even comfortable with guest interaction anymore.”

Underground Food Court is located at 1506 19th St. NW and open Wednesday-Sunday for in-person ordering and pickup or delivery via several third-party apps.

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect the correct spelling of the Underground Food Court owner’s name: she is Tiffany Fiedler. It has also been updated to remove a reference to Matthews’ forthcoming restaurant in Baltimore; that project is no longer happening.