DCity Smokehouse

8 Florida Ave NW
Washington, DC 20002
(202) 733-1919
Website

I had a chance to hit up the DCity Smokehouse on a recent trip to . . . DC. It is a hole in the wall that cranks out some amazing BBQ. Definitely a breath of fresh air from the usual DC eateries (Ben's Chili Bowl aside).

This place gets packed. You get in line, order, and shuffle aside to wait for your food.

It smells so good in there.

The "Tommy Gun" comes packed with house smoked turkey, crispy fried onions, melted cheese, BBQ sauce, and cilantro ranch on buttery, griddled Texas toast.

The turkey was very moist, and the sweet BBQ mingled with the creamy ranch just about perfectly. I was surprised I liked this sandwich so much, as getting turkey at a smokehouse seems like sacrilege. Let's just say there might have been someone else involved in that ordering process...

Look at the beautiful onion rings.

The "Brisket Champ" comes with onion straws and house made pickles, with a healthy serving of brisket. The meat was very tender, the pickles gave some crispy snap, and the fried onions added to the salty deliciousness.

Very well cooked brisket with a nice smoke ring. It was almost a shame to eat on a sandwich.

Perhaps my favorite was the fried brussel sprouts. These were shredded and deep fried to a crispy, paper thin result.

Even if you don't like brussel sprouts, you would probably devour these without a second thought. It is like a fried salad. Finally, someone made a salad that actually tasted good. All it took was a bath in hot oil and generous seasoning of salt.

House made pickles were another side. These were quite good as well.

A side of hush puppies erased any doubt that this was a glutton-fest. I will just finish with some fried dough please. Again - well salted, nicely cooked and they were oh-so tender inside. Highly recommend checking this place out if you are in DC looking for something that doesn't suck for lunch.

Barbeque Sauce

Well Spring is here, at least in part, and with warmer weather comes...grilling. Hands down one of my favorite things in the world is grilling. With grilling comes barbecue sauce. Now there are some good commercial sauces available, but it is SO EASY to make your own, so why wouldn't you? Here's how.


Start with a base layer of ketchup and apple cider vinegar. I just eyeball it. Add some brown sugar, some Worcester, and the spices of your choice. I usually use onion powder, garlic power, white pepper, salt, cayenne pepper (for some kick) and a couple of dashes of red pepper flakes. Be careful with the pepper flakes, because they really add a lot of spice when they cook. A whisk is the perfect tool for integrating the components.


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Now comes the fun part. The most important thing to add is... a secret ingredient. This can be any flavor you want. From whiskey, to beer, citrus, or any kind of juice, coffee, the sky is the limit. I really like adding some bourbon or whiskey, as it gives a great rich, complex, smoky flavor. If I also like to add some water before I let it simmer. This gives some extra liquid to evaporate as the sauce thickens. Let it simmer until the sauce reaches your desired consistency (should take about half an hour).


Now start charcoal! I used this sauce on some chicken tenderloins, which I started with olive oil, salt and pepper, and threw on a hot grill. I don't add the sauce early, because all of the sugar tends to burn, which is no good. Caramelization, however, is what you are after. I also skewered some baby bella mushrooms, and hit them with some olive oil salt and pepper as well.


Once the under side of the chicken is white, turn them and apply sauce. I keep the mushrooms on the outside, as they don't require the same heat and you want them to cook more slowly.


I keep the lid open and continuously basted the chicken, taking care not to let it burn, constantly moving pieces to different parts of the grill depending on which areas are the hottest. The thin tenderloins cook very quickly, so this doesn't take long. I like mine to be a bit crispy and these turned out perfect. The mushrooms were beyond delicious, and these were the star ingredients in a healthy, delicious weeknight salad.

Look at that char grilled flavor! Yum.


Some peppers, homemade croutons and homemade butter milk ranch (recipe to come later) made for an awesome, delicious, healthy weeknight main course salad.