Pizza, Lobster, Oatmeal Stout

The menu at Luke's Lobster.

I have spent almost a decade and a half being a Washington Wizards season ticket holder and as of today, the start of the 2013-2014 NBA season is only two weeks away. As a loyal season ticket holder from October to April (and sometimes, God willing, May) over the last 13 years I have spent a lot of time in Penn Quarter in downtown D.C. before, during and after basketball games. In addition to watching a ton of hoops, I've also needed a lot of liquid and solid sustenance, meaning I've scoured the blocks around Verizon Center for the odd meal or two and a few pints over the last baker's dozen years.

Since I made the commitment in 2000 to becoming a Wizards season ticket holder, I've had more pre- and post-game meals than I care to make a note of at all sorts of places, from countless 99 cent McDonald's double cheeseburgers to noontime lunches at the now closed China Doll (my dad and I used to go there because Red Auerbach used to eat there weekly) to excellent grilled cheese sandwiches at the also-closed Zola to multiple multiple small plates at each of Jose Andres' restaurants. Over the years, I've developed favorites, whether they be whole menus at awesome spots or finding one shining dish that I can't stop going back for at an otherwise unremarkable establishment.

The two home Wizards preseason games of the 2013-2014 NBA season are now in the books, so I've once again been thrust into what is inevitably an exciting culinary melting pot. It's always interesting to get back to this area and see what has cropped up after almost six months away. So to help fellow Wizards fans (or Caps) fans or just the casual visitor to Penn Quarter, I thought I'd put down some thoughts on three places I really love eating around Verizon Center. Two of these places are recent discoveries and I'm very much hooked; the other is a spot I've been visiting since before I became a Wizards season ticket holder.

Two final notes before I start. First, there is a Chipotle on the 8th Street side of Verizon Center. I never eat at this Chipotle because the lines are just way too long and there's one a block from where I live, but Chipotle is one of my absolute favorite places to eat. I would never recommend against eating here. Second, of all the Jose Andres restaurants around Verizon Center, my favorite is gone. If Jose ever reads this, please please please please bring back Cafe Atlantico.

OK, that's enough about what's not here. Let's get to the food.

Graffiato, 707 6th Street NW (across the street to the east from Verizon Center)

I can remember a time I didn't love pizza, but only just barely. If I thought it was healthy, I'd eat pizza every day as my one and only food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Unfortunately, I know better and my cholesterol level won't let me talk myself out of it.

I think my first memory of loving pizza was eating what I am fairly sure was terrible pizza at Pizzaland restaurants in my home country of England in the 1970s. My parents used to take my sister and me shopping on Saturdays to Leicester or Nottingham and sometimes I was rewarded with a stop at Pizzaland where I always ordered the chicken pizza (a whole pie by the way). I always ate it with a knife and fork and I'm fairly certain it was unsliced. Since then, I have had a list of amazing pizza (to me) touchstones throughout my life wherever I have lived: Papa Gino's and Mystic Pizza in Connecticut; Cottage Inn and The Brown Jug in Ann Arbor, MI; Bonzai Pizza (chicken and feta) and Varsity (vegetable pizza with carrots, cauliflower and lima beans) in Syracuse, NY; and Pizza Boli's and Liberty Tavern in northern Virginia. Last year, I added Graffiato to that list.

Papa Smurf 2.0 on top; Jersey Shore on the bottom.

I first visited Graffiato because I had watched chef Mike Isabella compete on Bravo's Top Chef and Top Chef All-Stars, liked what he cooked and was excited when he went out on his own. I think my first trip to his 6th Street spot was just before the 2012-13 NBA season where I ate his Italian interpretation of tapas and came away not super eager to go back based on the food. But on that first trip, I sat at the bar downstairs and while I waited for my food I watched pizzas being cooked in the 900 degree plus oven behind the bar; they looked delicious. So I figured it was probably worth another shot for the pizza alone. Great thought on my part.

Since that first trip about a year ago, I think I've eaten at Graffiato a dozen times. I've had pizza on every one of those trips and I've loved them all. I love the regularly featured Jersey Shore, which combines fried calamari and cherry pepper aioli with tomatoes and provolone on Isabella's incredibly light and crispy-chewy at the same time crust. I also love the Shark Bait (shrimp and pesto) and the Goodfellas and Porky's Revenge, although I'm looking for someone to split these last two with due to the grease factor.

But perhaps the best part about Graffiato's pies are the pizzas which you wouldn't ordinarily think of ordering. I've never ordered pizza with kale on it except at Graffiato and it was amazing with the blue cheese agrodolce. But the pizza which made me a believer more than anything else was the cheese-less Classic pizza which is nothing more than cherry tomatoes, garlic and oregano on bread. Look, there are people out there who are lactose intolerant and can't eat cheese, right? But this pizza doesn't need it. It is so incredibly good, tangy and sweet at the same time that honestly, you don't need the cheese. Go to Graffiato and get the pizza. Trust me. you won't be disappointed.

Luke's Lobster, 624 E Street NW (one block south of Verizon Center)

Let me write two things before I get to my adoration of Luke's Lobster. First, I do not understand why people think lobster is so great. I mean, it's tasty shellfish, but for the money, I don't get it. I'd rather have crab or shrimp than lobster any day and keep the couple of bucks I've saved in the process. Second, I am almost completely anti-New England which I am sure is a product of growing up in the hotbed of the American Revolution as a recent immigrant from England. I don't like Cape Cod or Boston or lighthouses or beaches or quaint fishing villages or the Boston Celtics or the New England Patriots or Maine lobster. I'm just anti-all of it.

Having written all that, I love Luke's Lobster. I first ate a Luke's in Georgetown just before the holidays last year while searching desperately for a Christmas present for my sister who doesn't need anything at all. I'd heard good things about Luke's and thought I'd stop in for some lunch while not buying anything. Because I am not a lobster guy (see previous paragraph), I ordered the shrimp roll. Luke's shrimp roll is a cold buttered simply salted and peppered oh-so-sweet bay shrimp salad stuffed into and overflowing a warm buttered New England hot dog roll (split on the top rather than the side, for those of you not in the know). It's full of shrimp and is so satisfying yet it leaves me wishing I could eat these things all night.

Totally New England: Shrimp roll, Cape Cod salt and vinegar potato chips and Shipyard beer.

Shortly after my visit to Luke's in Georgetown, I found out they had opened another store just one block south of Verizon Center. This discovery has instantly made Luke's my quick low cost but still amazingly delicious food option before Wizards games.  A shrimp roll with chips and a beer is a mere $13. Try beating that deal in Penn Quarter. And it's served fast, hot/cold and friendly.  And we're not talking Lay's and a Miller Lite on the side here. No New England sandwich is complete without Cape Cod potato chips and I can't think of a better beer to serve with a shrimp (or lobster) roll than a Shipyard ale from Portland, Maine. For all my ranting about things New England that I dislike, there is no better potato chip brand than Cape Cod chips. No way, no how. If you are in a hurry before a game, go to Luke's. Heck, even if you are not in a hurry, go to Luke's anyway. There is no way you will be anything but satisfied.

A quick disclaimer about lobster: while I don't love it, my girlfriend does and she loves Luke's lobster rolls. I've had them and prefer the shrimp rolls but she swears the lobster rolls are good. Take her word for this not mine. She knows what she is talking about here way more than I do.

District Chophouse and Brewery, 509 7th Street NW (half a block south of Verizon Center)

A year and a half ago, I hadn't yet eaten at Graffiato or Luke's Lobster. I can't say the same about the District Chophouse and Brewery which is the third and final place around VC to get some grub that I will gush over in this post. When I first moved to the Washington, D.C. area in late 1999, my idea of incredible food was any place that brewed their own beer or served a great variety of beer on tap. So it's understandable to me that I would find the Chophouse on one of my first trips downtown to watch some Wizards hoops. And while my palate has evolved and I no longer drool over every dish on the menu, I've been eating and drinking here ever since so it must be good on some level. And it is.

I'll be honest, what first drew me to the Chophouse was the beer and what I interpreted as the upscale American comfort food they served in their dining room. It was a steakhouse without the ridiculous prices. Don't get me wrong, I think there are some good entrees on their menu but I think I've outgrown the slabs of meat with sides of mashed potatoes that make up pretty much every main dish. Over the years, I've migrated away from the entree portion of their menu and onto the starters section. And as with every restaurant that I have been eating at for years, I lament what's no longer available. They used  to serve a killer vegetable, olive and goat cheese flatbread that I loved to get after a Wizards game but there's still enough good stuff served here to draw me in four or five times a year or more.

When I look over the Chophouse's current menu, I am always tempted by the New Orleans style barbeque shrimp (although it's sometimes a bit salty) and the calamari. The shrimp is a true cajun barbeque dish served over a generous piece of garlic bread and smothered in delicious beer butter sauce. The calamari is perhaps my favorite in D.C. served fried with black and white sesame seeds and an apricot ponzu sauce which is awesome despite the hint of stone fruit.

But the true food star for me at the Chophouse is the chicken tenderloins, which are some of the best, if not THE best, I have ever had. First of all there is a ton of food on the plate; there's no doubt this dish can stand as a meal on its own. These things are always hot, juicy and tasty and are paired with two sauces: a honey mustard sauce which I don't care for because I'm not that big a honey mustard fan and a barbeque ranch dressing which is completely and utterly awesome. I always order two ramekins of the barbeque ranch instead of one of each.

And then there's the beer. You can only get their homemade beers on tap here. No Bud Light or Coors or any sort of nonsense like that. They usually carry a full range of light to dark beers and typically have a couple of seasonal taps. But my favorite is the oatmeal stout, which is quite literally a top 20 beer of all time for me. I don't have a top 20 beers list but I'm pretty confident it would make it. It's served a little warmer and a little flatter than most American beers and it's sweet and chewy and the foamy head is like a meal unto itself. This drink is truly a reason to go downtown to a basketball game some days.

A final thought on the Chophouse. The caramel apple pie is pretty darned good. Trust me!

So those are my thoughts on where to eat near Verizon Center. Those three spots should hold me or anyone else until I venture out the next six months and find out what else sprung up during the summer. Bon appetit!

Chicken tenderloins and oatmeal stout. Yum!