11
PGTHE WASHINGTON POST.
FRIDAy, MARCH 27, 2020(turmeric cauliflower, feta, pick-
led onions, arugula and citrus-
thyme aioli on ciabatta), all of
which are poundable. You can
even get a mr. Chips meal kit to
make at home, which is just the
kind of virus-related convenience
we need.
Hardy’s BBQ, @Hardys_BBQ
Standing over his portable
smoker outside the montgomery
farm Women’s Cooperative mar-
ket in Bethesda, co-owner Corries
Hardy may be a few decades
removed from his playing days at
the University of miami, but he
still looks like he could crush a
quarterback. He definitely pro-
duces crushable barbecue from
his truck, which he operates with
wife, roxie. She’s the gloved one
who hands out takeaway contain-
ers, which you hold as Hardy
tongs your smoked meats into
them. Very sanitary.
They h ad only chicken and ribs
available on my recent visit. The
half chicken, browned and irre-
sistible, had retained its moisture
even after a prolonged cook over
smoldering coals. The ribs were
even better: smoky, slightly spicy
and slathered with Hardy’s mus-
tard sauce, these bones stand up
to anyone’s in the greater Wash-
ington area. The only problem I
had with the ribs: I couldn’t lick
my fingers clean.
[email protected]food-cost conventions or corona-
virus-related cutbacks.
Dirty south Deli, @Dirt-
ysouthdeli
A relative old-timer on D.C.
streets, the Dirty S outh Deli truck
still trades on its small collection
of sandwiches, which draw on
traditions far wider than the
American South. The founders of
the truck are long gone, replaced
several years ago by Eduardo Bo-
cock and Jason Tipton, the same
pair behind White Apron Special-
ty Sandwiches, which operated a
shop in Penn Quarter until it
closed in 2018.
Bocock and Tipton are old pros
(they made their bones customiz-
ing food trucks), and they haven’t
messed with the success of Dirty
South Deli. You can grab a mr.
Chips (chopped pork, jalapeños,
manchego, cilantro and citrus
mayo on brioche bun), a Chimi-
churri Bang Bang (a Peruvian
roast chicken sandwich on, ahem,
a baguette) and a Veggie 3000made foods in Alexandria, a low-
sugar condiment that’s darker
and more complex than your typi-
cal bottle of Heinz.
the Corn Factory, @thecorn-
factory
on a drizzly afternoon outside
the L’Enfant Plaza metro station,
owner farida Abou Draa was the
only person aboard her truck, and I
was the only customer. Business
has been slow since the outbreak,
she told me, and she’s had to scale
back her menu. She had been
trashing too much food lately, giv-
en that virtually everything on the
truck must be prepared fresh daily.
These days, she must wear every
hat: prep cook, short-order cook,
cashier, cleaning crew. As we chat-
ted, she was wearing a Superman
T-shirt, which seemed about right.
A native of Venezuela, Abou
Draa specializes in two staples
from her homeland: arepas and
cachapas. Her arepas are crispy
corn shells, soft in the middle,
each stuffed with your choice of
shredded meats and/or mozzarel-
la, all of which can be (and should
be) dressed with Abou Draa’s
avocado-based guasacaca sauce, a
sharp green monster of a condi-
ment. Her griddled cachapas are
lighter, sweeter and messier,
barely able to contain the fillings.
No matter what you order, you’ll
be met with a massive, two-hand-
ed bite, its generosity unbound bystreets on Dec. 31, which gave the
owners only a few carefree weeks
before the coronavirus creeped
into public consciousness. “What
luck we have,” deadpans co-
founder ross Brickelmaier. The
truck (they also have a bricks-
and-mortar shop in the works,
once restaurants are allowed to
seat patrons again) is the owners’
sole source of income. So they’re
charging ahead with a tidy menu
of sandwiches served on challah
buns so bronzed and shiny they
look like they’ve spent a week on
the beach.
The ingredient that ties these
sandwiches together (save for the
twin-patty burger, a delicious
handful all its own) is the egg,
either scrambled or fried. The
masterpiece is the Inigo montoya,
a rich chorizo-and-fried egg com-
bo cut, at least in theory, by a
lemon aioli, which does every-
thing in its power to convince us
the sandwich is lighter than it
actually is. Hunger pangs, pre-
pare to die! (Sorry, really.)
Cracked also serves Compass
Coffee, either drip or nitro cold
brew, should you hit the truck for
breakfast. In the afternoon, you
can pair the sandwiches with tots,
these thick coins of fried pota-
toes, which can be paired with
Cracked’s ketchup from True
CAsuAl from 10
Deb LInDseY for THe WAsHInGTon PosTthe ingredient that ties
these sandwiches
together is the egg,
either scrambled or
fried. And don’t forget
a side of tots, thick
coins of fried potatoes.Wines with the vegetarian
meal are 40 percent off!Q: Is there a way for
consumers to identify
restaurants most at risk for
not surviving this pandemic?
I know all restaurants survive
by the slimmest of margins,
but if I can prioritize
spending money at places
that are the most threatened
by the shutdowns, I’d love
that.
A: Hard to say, without being
privy to checkbooks, etc. I’m
most concerned for the many
moms and pops out there,
who are barely getting by and
who don’t have investors.
Everyone is pretty scared
right now.Q: The economists I have
spoken to said that the
restaurants most likely to
succeed are the ones that
have relied heavily on
carryout/delivery and not
very much on alcohol sales.
They suggested that I order
from the same places I would
normally get takeout — for
me, that is a Thai restaurant,
a taco shop, and pizza. The
sit-down restaurants are
likely going to go under, but
the carryout shops may
survive.
A: Interesting. makes sense.
Because they don’t have to
change the way they do
business as much.Q: I’d like to encourage
restaurants to consider the
reheatability of the selections
they choose to offer for carry
out and delivery. If I can
easily reheat my food without
a loss of quality I’m more
likely to order from a
restaurant for a couple of
reasons. first, I don’t have to
worry about leftovers or
items that have cooled down
during transportation. Even
more important, though, is
that being able to reheat
items I just received allows
me to reduce the risk of
infection and avoid having to
trust that each person
coming into contact with my
food wasn’t even
unknowingly contagious.
A: I was talking yesterday to
michael Schlow, the Boston-
based chef with multiple
restaurants in D.C., and he
shared a good way to reheat
pastas to preserve their
quality: add a tablespoon or
two of water to the noodles
before gently warming them
on the stove. Tom sietsema hosts a weekly
Q&A on Wednesdays at 11 a.m. at
live.washingtonpost.com.AsK tom from 6Ask Tom