Eating Vicariously I - The Florida Avenue Grill

This is the first installment of a new series I am calling "Eating Vicariously" - a romp through some interesting local eating establishments in the Washington, DC area . . . places I would like to be eating at right now if that were possible during the COVID-19 pandemic. I certainly plan to visit these places and others once this crisis is over and we are able to return to some degree of normalcy . . . whatever that will look like. This installment is a much revised essay which first appeared seven years ago in my now defunct blogspot A Flâneur in Washington, DC.

It has been almost two months since I have been able to enjoy a meal and a drink at a favorite restaurant or tavern. As such I have had to live (and eat) vicariously watching food shows on Netflix. I’m quite certain I am not the only one. There is the stable of old favorites hosted by the late Tony Bourdain; these never grow old. More recently I have discovered the two seasons of Ugly Delicious hosted by the equally irreverent David Chang. Whereas the Bourdain shows focus on the foods and customs of various countries and cities, many of which are relatively unfamiliar to the average American, Chang’s episodes are centered on a particular dish - BBQ, steak, curry, shrimp & crawfish, friend rice, etc. - showing how each has evolved over time. A New York Times review has called it "an extended television essay, in the form of free-associative, globe-trotting conversations about food and culture." That’s it in a nutshell.

Just yesterday I watched the episode on fried chicken, part of which was filmed at the Florida Avenue Grill, at the corner of 11th Street, NW here in Washington, DC. While dining on the episode’s subject matter, Chang chatted with Psyche Williams-Forson, a professor of African-American studies at the University of Maryland in College Park (one of my alma maters) whose scholarly research includes "19th and 20th century U.S. History - specifically social and cultural history dealing with race, gender, material culture, and food." Their discussion centered on racial stereotypes engendered by certain foods and those associated with eating them. Professor Williams-Forson was quick to point out how fried chicken, long associated (incorrectly) with African-Americans, is one such dish. A pretty heavy topic, if you really want to think about it. It’s definitely "food for thought" and that is exactly what Ugly Delicious is all about.

I first ate at the Florida Avenue Grill exactly seven years ago, when I joined two friends for breakfast at this long fabled home-cooked "soul food" establishment. At that time I had been residing on the fringes of Washington for well over 30 years and I was not quite sure how it was possible that I had never crossed the Grill’s threshold. As it turned out, that very same day the place had been featured in a review by Tim Carman in The Washington Post. So it was time to try it out.

As is my want before I try a new eating or drinking establishment, I like to do a little boning up on the history of the place. So that morning I read the Carman review which I found somewhat lukewarm, at best. He and some friends had eaten there the week before just before closing. They were 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. Carman claimed he was on a nostalgic mission . . . to see what all the fuss was about before the establishment began planned renovations to match the evolving "upscale" neighborhood surrounding it. The new owner, according to Carman, was thinking of adding salads and sandwiches to the long-standing soul food repertoire in order to insure the place’s survival with the influx of white Millennials. As if this were really necessary. It had been at the same location for almost 70 years at that time and seemed to be doing just fine. Unlike Carman, I did not go to see what the fuss was about, or to feed a nostalgia bug before what had been was no more. I was just in search of some good food outside my normal comfort zone.

My preliminary research revealed that the Florida Avenue Grill had been a mainstay along that section of Florida Avenue near Howard University, in the Cordozo neighborhood, since 1944 when it was first opened by Lacey C. Wilson, Sr. Originally just a small counter and two stools, the place had grown to a long counter facing the grill and a row of small booths lined up under a bank of windows. 

The walls are covered with framed photographs of the known and unknown who have visited and eaten there over the years, including my old boss, former Attorney General Janet Reno, who frequently ate there. It was lucky to survive the riots and fires that plagued this neighborhood in the wake of the Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination in April 1968, due in large part to the elder Wilson sitting near the entrance armed with a shotgun. His son, Lacey Jr., who had been a successful nightclub owner in the city, took over the ownership and operation of the grill in 1970 until he sold it to Imar Hutchins, a local artist and the current owner, in 2005. Described in an earlier Washington Post review as a diner "as greasy as it is venerable," it is far from being what I would call your average greasy spoon. It is a soul food restaurant pure and simple. Nothing more. Nothing less. The 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).

That morning a few years ago my friends opted for breakfast, but it was close enough to lunchtime that I selected the steamed pigs feet served with generous sides of collard greens and potato salad. Our waitress gave me a rather wide-eyed stare when I placed my order, but I assured her I knew what I was getting myself into; I recalled a particular order of pigs feet BBQ I had tried several years earlier outside of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. There were lots of bones and gristle to navigate, but once you clear these obstacles, there is some succulently sweet meat to be had. 

My choice was also influenced by Carman’s review. He had 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."

The generous portion I was served at the Florida Grill that morning was, I will be honest, not exactly what I recalled that long ago morning outside Hattiesburg. This is not to say it was not good. It was. It just was not quite what I was expecting and it was a great deal of work with little reward. But thems the chances you take when you are adventurous with food. I’m sure there are many who think it is the bee’s knees, and they are probably right. Carman obviously thought so.

An important footnote. I had heard and read that the scrapple served at the Florida Grill was good – Andrew Zimmern had lauded it during one of his Bizarre Food America episodes, calling it a soul food "out of necessity." Who can argue with that? I have never thought of scrapple as soul food per se, but I have long been a big fan (see http://www.lookingtowardportugal.blogspot.com/2012/03/everything-but-oink.html). So I ordered a side just to see if it lived up to the hype. It did and then some! Crispy on the outside, yet soft but mushy on the inside. I could have made a meal out of it alone!

To date no salads or sandwiches (save the egg sandwiches for breakfast) have been added to the menu; the Florida Grill is still your traditional soul food restaurant. And why not? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it; an adage with which I happen to agree. If you want regular 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 former President Obama and former French president Sarkozy made a special effort to dine there). So I see no reason why there is a need to change. The Florida Avenue Grill is just what it claims to be.

At the moment, the Florida Avenue Grill is closed during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. It has weather many storms and we all wish it well during these uncertain times. I look forward to dining there again very soon. There are so many dishes to choose from.