Girl Meets Food

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There once was a girl from Flushing
Who always wanted to go to Dublin
At Eamonn’s, take heed
There are fish ‘n’ chips to eat
Got so full she couldn’t do nutin’

That one’s on me, folks.  Last Thursday I drove to Eamonn’s to hire the man who would be my snack butler. Someone to sit beside me on the couch and hand me potato chips, one by one, thus eliminating the need to soil my delicate princess fingers with unsightly grease.

Much to my dismay, I found out that the Chip Butty is a sandwich.

“But who will tend to my late-night snacking needs?!” I cried.  The lad behind the counter just smiled and handed me a Chip Butty in a bag, confident that it would appease me.

Appease me, it did. The smell of butter lifted my sorrow like creamy, sweet sunshine.  A potato bread-like bun is covered with Kerrygold Pure Irish butter, then stuffed with meaty, cuboid fries.

It encompasses all of my favorite fats and starches.  Hot damn, it’s good.

And since Eamonn’s is a chipper, you must order the fish and chips.  Yet a small order of the cod ($5) is quite the contrary.  The thick, hand-cut slab of fish has weight to it, so moist the crispy coating can’t bear to hold on. If you don’t like cod, there’s grouper, whiting and ray, which I tried elsewhere. Choose from seven homemade sauces:

Curry – Ginger, garlic, chili, curry powder, chicken stock (served hot, so order at the counter)
Tartar – Mayonnaise, shallots, garlic, capers, parsley
Marie Rose – Ketchup, mayonnaise, Tabasco, lemon
Chesapeake – Old Bay seasoning, mayonnaise
Hot Chili – Serrano chili, cilantro, lime juice, mayonnaise
Kitty O’Shea – Oven-dried tomato, niçoise olives, capers, mayonnaise
Fronch – Dijonnaise

If you’re feeling anti-social, douse your fries (large $3.75) in malt vinegar. They’ll still be good and you can enjoy them alone.

For dessert, try a Scottish (!) deep-fried sweet.  I don’t usually eat candy bars, but I make it a point to when they’re deep-fried. Eamonn’s will fry up a Milky Way, Snickers, or Mars bar ($3.50) for yis.   The batter becomes a crispy shell not unlike a wonton skin, coated with sugar. Inside, the Mars bar is warm, gooey caramel and whipped, airy nougat.  If I were independently wealthy, I would eat one every day until I died of a heart attack.

But I’d go down fighting (the confines of a candy wrapper).

After dinner, walk around the corner to PX, voted one of the 25 Best Cocktail Bars in America by GQ Magazine.  The menu changes frequently, as all juices, bitters and tonics are made in-house.

I sipped on a cocktail of duck sauce soda garnished with a chip ($14), made with fresh chilis.  I watched the dramatic popping of anise seeds, admired labor-intensive muddling, and gasped as cherries were set ablaze before being poured into my champagne cocktail ($16).

Reservations are recommended at this tiny speakeasy, though a few seats are available for walk-ins.  Thank Cod for that.  You don’t want to miss the theatrical fun.

Eamonn’s
728 King Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
703.299.8384

Monday to Wednesday 11:30 am – 10:00 pm
Thursday 11:30 am – 11:00 pm
Friday 11:30 am – 12:00 am
Saturday 12:00 pm – 12:00 am
Sunday 12:00 pm – close

PX is open Wednesday to Saturday, 6:00 pm – close

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