Urban Fast Food Retreat: ShopHouse

Longbeans in Flight

The flagship restaurant for Chipotle’s new fast food concept shop is a true joy to eat at. The place is clean, sleek, and like CAVA in Bethesda steals liberally from the Chipotle model.

The environment makes the meal as much as the delicious food does. I love the minimalist atmosphere, the artwork is just a streamlined row of SriRacha bottles and the lighting is grease-free antique lightbulbs that give the place a sheen that glows. See images below!

SHOPHOUSE

Asian-style Chipotle at its very best

1516 Connecticut Avenue,N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20036

(202) 232-4141

Options are Limited but Uniformly Good

***important update from @ShopHouseTweets:
@mcibellis Thank you for the write up! Note: we do not serve bahn mi's and our vegetables rotate with the season! -Rusty"

Key elements that make this place great: really clean environment, terrific tasting food (avoid asking for your dish to be “hot.” Everything is hot here, and the staff, surely the friendliest fast food staff in the country, makes the place so inviting.

Saucing the Dish

The food options are limited but uniformly good:

• Rice bowls, or 
• Noodle bowls. 

That’s all she wrote; it’s all you need.

With a choice of one or two half portions of the meats (incredible grilled to medium rare hangar steak, drool-inducing pork/chicken meatballs,grilled chicken or seasoned tofu), two veg (eggplant, spicy broccoli stem, flavorful al dente long beans, or spiced white sweet corn—they're vegetables rotate seasonally, btw), and as many toppings as you’d like (three different vegetable and fruit slaws), as well as crispy garlic, chopped peanuts, and/or ground rice that make a texture to die for. It’s fairly unique in fast food cuisine.

Dashing the Dish With Crisped Garlic

I find myself coming back here again and again, in spite of the fact that my neighborhood is loaded with excellent less chain-like options. They must be doing something right; I’m really, really picky.

Here’s what I’ve learned over time:

• Always order the pork/chicken meatballs,
• Never order the hot sauces,
• All the vegetables have something great going for them,
• Never skimp on the crispy garlic or ground peanuts, but feel free to limit your intake of the ground rice.
• Buy a beer. At $4.75, it’s the cheapest bottle of beer at any restaurant in the D.C. area.

Whatever you do, try this place out before this flagship store goes nationwide (Oh, OK, it's a little late now that this reblogged post from 2012 is posting in October 2015, but...).

It’s a treat that I can see taking over airports, food courts, and high end shopping areas very soon indeed.

ShopHouse Store Front

Don’t miss all the incredible images taken by photographer, Alex A. Torres from yesterday's post as well. 

Find out more about Shophouse here. Meet Alice Porter, restauranteur, who brought the flagship store to life!

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