With COVID vaccines and boosters available, there has been less of a need to “eat vicariously” as there are now a growing number of venues offering outside seating, and even indoor dining is possible under the right conditions. Nevertheless certain places remain off limits as far as I’m concerned due to their limited space or policies regarding masks and social distancing. To enjoy these I have to rely on my fond memories of past visits and meals enjoyed.
For tasty like home-cooked soul food there is the Florida Avenue Grill, at the corner of 11th Street, NW. I have been residing on the fringes of DC for over 45 years and I am not sure how it is possible that I never crossed its threshold until eight years ago.
I did a little boning up on the history of the place beforehand and learned that it has been a mainstay along this section of Florida Avenue near Howard University in the Pleasant Plains neighborhood since it was first opened by Lacey C. Wilson, Sr., in 1944. Originally just a counter and two stools, the place is now has a long counter facing the grill and a row of small booths lined up opposite the counter under the windows. The walls are covered with framed head shots of the known and unknown who have been coming here regularly over the years, including my old boss, former Attorney General Janet Reno, who frequently ate here. It was lucky to survive the riots and fires that gutted this neighborhood after the assassination of Martin Luther King in April 1968, due in large part to Wilson sitting near the entrance armed with shotgun. His son, Lacey Jr., who had been a successful nightclub owner in the city, took over the ownership and operation of the diner in 1970. Described in an earlier Washington Post review as a diner “as greasy as it is venerable,” it is far from being your iconic greasy spoon diner. The food menu is basic, but the food and ingredients are fresh and served piping hot.
Known mainly for its all-day breakfast fare, it also serves lunch and dinner entrees, including pigs feet, chitterlings, fried catfish and croaker, fried pork chops, fried chicken, and half-smokes (a DC staple any time of the day). I was joined on my first visit by my old friend Michael G. Stewart, a gifted photographer and artist whose photos can be found throughout this blogspot, and his son Spencer, a noted authority on diners and currently the purveyor of fine vintage clothing at his store in Bozeman, Montana.
Michael and Spencer opted for breakfast, but being so close to lunchtime I went for the steamed pigs feet served with generous sides of collard greens and potato salad. Our waitress gave me a rather big-eyed stare when I placed my order, but I assured her I knew what I was getting myself into. There are lots of bones and fat, but once you navigate through these obstacles, there is some succulent meat to be had. I recalled a particular order of BBQ pigs feet I had several years earlier outside of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, so I figured I was up to the challenge.
The generous portion of pigs feet served up that morning was, I will be honest, not exactly what I was hoping for. This is not to say it was not good; it was just not what I was expecting and it was a great deal of work with very little reward. But thems the chances you take when you are adventurous with food. I’m sure there are many who think this is the bee’s knees, and they are probably right. Yet when I next return I will try something else.
I had heard and read that their scrapple is very good – Andrew Zimmern lauded it back in February 2013 on the seventh season premiere of “Bizarre Food America,” calling it a soul food “out of necessity.” I have never thought of scrapple as soul food (see http://www.lookingtowardportugal.blogspot.com/2012/03/everything-but-oink.html), but I did order a side just to see if it lived up to the hype. It did and then some! Crispy on the outside, soft yet not mushy on the inside. I could have made a meal out of it alone!
As it turned out Tim Carman of The Washington Post had reviewed the Florida Avenue Grille the very day of my first visit. So, did Carman agree with my own assessment? I read it when I got home and found it lukewarm, at best. He and some friends were there just a week ago before closing, the sole (not soul) customers ordering “a late-ish dinner” while the cooks and wait staff were trying to clean up, close up, and get to wherever they needed to be. But he claimed he was on a nostalgic mission . . . to see what all the fuss was about before the diner itself upscaled to match the evolving neighborhood around it. The new owner, who is also one of the local developers, is, according to Carman, thinking of adding salads and sandwiches to the long-standing soul food repertoire . . . like this is the only way to insure the place’s survival. It has been here for almost 70 years and is doing just fine. Unlike Carman, I did not come to see what the fuss was about, or to feed a nostalgia bug before what has been is no more. I did note with some interest that Carman had also ordered the pigs feet . . . “this glaringly unglamorous pile of steamed trotters whose tangle of softened skin, fat and gelatin almost melts on my tongue while its heat provides a welcome bit of irritation.” To each is own, I guess. Unlike Carman, I was not out to prove anything or satisfy anything more than the urge for a good meal where a good meal is by and large guaranteed. And unlike Carman, I did not leave disappointed. The Florida Avenue Grill is just what it claims to be . . . nothing more and nothing less.
Finally, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. It is an adage with which I happen to agree. If you want sandwiches and salads, or a beer or a glass of wine instead of juice and coffee, then the U Street corridor and all of its restaurants and bars is just three blocks to the south. Besides, Ben’s Chili Bowl, on U Street, has stuck to its original fare and look since 1958 and it is still going strong. Even President Obama and former French president Sarkozy have made a special effort to dine here. So I see no reason why there is a need to change the Florida Avenue Grill. It is fine just the way it is!
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