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The differences in two such meals -- and the restaurants that turn them out -- are numerous, of course. But they boil down to two essentials: classic as oposed to earthy cooking, and price. An elegant start a regal continental entree, a ritzy international dessert and a glass of wine at a first-rate restaurant here often produces a tab approximating $30 per person. This week I dined at the Trio, a veteran neighborhood restaurant three blocks eat of Dupont Circle where I found it all but impossible to spend $8 for a three-course meal -- Cutty Sark on the rocks, a good cup of coffe and tax included.
It was a joy -- and not only because of the money.
At those prics, the Trio usually is jammed, which tends to give it character. But its essence goes a bit deeper than that. The area around 17th and Q is in transition, so the restaurant’s clientele amounts to a delightful mix, a cross section of the whole city. the place fairly bustles with varied cultures, ages, languages and dress.
The staff does its share, too. Earthiness can be refreshing in any case, but when it’s presented in good humor it can become entertainment. Asked if the $4.55 (soup through dessert) roast turkey dinner was made with loaf turkey, the waitress, who later told me she has worked at the place for 13 years, gasped. “Sir,” she declared, “we don’t use that kind of stuff here.”
And they don’t. The turkey was for real.
When it came to dessert I told her I’d have chocolate pudding. “Oh no you won’t,” she declared. “We’re out of it; you’ll have rice pudding.”
Perhaps the air was best summed up when a dining partner’s whiskey sour arrived in a water glass.
There is nothing new about the Trio or its character. Depending on which employee you ask, the restaurant has been in existence from 35 to 55 years. No one seems to know for sure. A cashier did recall that it has always been a neighborhood place, a modestly paneled room with plain wooden booths and a few cafe-like tables seating about 80. A sidewalk cafe for pizza fanciers is etra. Certainly its waitresses have not been slow to speak out, but they do it with a smile -- or genuine hurt.
there is a need for bargain-priced restaurants these days, and the Trio is a good example of what they should be. Prices are so reasonable as to make serious complaints seem out of place. Certainly I have none.
Soups are homemade. The vegetable is thick with cabbage, black-eyed peas, celery, tomato, peas and who knows what else -- flavorful and rib-sticking.
Daily specials (with two vegetables) vary week to week, but they frequently include a good hot-pork sandwich with mashed potatoes and rich brown gravy, steamed franks with potato salad and fried select oysters. Their average price: $2.80.
Full dinners (juice or soup, main course, two vegetables, fresh read and butter, tea or coffee and dessert) are realy value knockouts, however.
Amoung them: fillet of sole, $3.50; fried chicken, $3.65 and $3,75; fried salmon cakes with cream sauce, $3.80; liver and onions, $3.80; chopped steak with onions, $3.80; grilled pork chops, $3.90; broiled fresh fish, $4.05; baked Swiss steak, $4.15; boiled ham and cabbage, $4.15; breaded veal cutlet, $4.15; roast turkey and dressing, $4.55; pork tenderloin with gravy, $4.55, and roast sirloin au jus, $4.55.
There was one a la carte possibility: New York sirloin with salad and french fries, $6.25.
In addition, there are numerous sandwiches, burgers and omelettes regardless of the hour. |
